Chapter Fifteen
Drive-In Movie Date (not a date)
Jacks had red hair. That was the first thing I noticed when Callum picked me up. He was sitting in the back—we decided to use Callum’s truck because the back was much more spacious and less rusty and dirty than mine.
“Here.”
Jacks handed me a yogurt after we said hello.
It was one of those drinkable yogurts.
“Thank you,”
I said after a beat.
It was no secret kids made me nervous.
I always thought they could see right through my bullshit.
And they were honest, judgy, and blunt.
Bottom line was they are scary.
“Are you supposed to be Anger?”
I broke the silence.
“Anger?”
Callum repeated.
My brows furrowed. “Please tell me you’ve seen the first movie.”
He chuckled nervously.
“Jacks,”
I deadpanned, “Callum hasn’t seen the first movie.”
Jacks sighed, “he told me he’d watch the first movie before today.”
“I know,”
Callum cut in, “I was busy, I meant to, trust me…I was going to.”
I chuckled as I opened my yogurt drink, “you’re pretty smart, I think you’ll catch on.”
“I hope so too,”
Callum said as he slowed down in front of a red light.
In just a few seconds we were moving again after the light turned green
I tasted the yogurt as I licked my lips, “mhmm,”
I hummed. I took another sip. “It’s really good,” I said enthusiastically as I looked back at Jacks.
His green eyes squinted as he smiled at me. “Yeah, and it’s good for you.”
I nodded and turned around to face the front at the same time Callum stomped on the brake with his whole foot just to not crash into the car in front of us that came to a complete stop. It was so harsh that my whole body moved forward.
“What the fu—”
He bit the words down as he gritted his teeth.
I looked down at the spilled yogurt on my chest as my breathing quickened and so did my heartbeat.
I turned around to check on Jacks. “You alright? Is your seatbelt on?”
I looked at the seatbelt strapped around his waist.
Jacks nodded. “Yeah, just a little nauseous.”.
I nodded as I grabbed my purse, fishing out a small water bottle then turning around and handing it to him, “drink some water.”
I watched him drink the water until he was satisfied enough to hand me back the rest. I closed the water and dropped it in my purse and I was back to staring at the mess on my chest.
Callum glanced at me. “Sorry,”
he whispered. He glanced back at Jacks. “You okay, buddy?”
He nodded.
Callum looked at me again, but it was brief because he was still focused on the road. “This a-s-s-h-o-l-e,”
he spelled out the word, “just discovered free will and decided to exercise it on the road like a maniac,” he said, still upset about the situation.
“Are you alright?”
he asked in a soft tone.
“Yeah, apart from my ruined shirt, I’m great,”
I said as I continued to wipe my shirt.
It was a white shirt so the material was thin, and the pink yogurt stained deeply—wiping was only making my skin sticky at this point and it was slowly driving me crazy. I sighed.
“Did you just spell asshole?”
Jacks said, like he’d been decoding the letters for a while.
I suppressed my laugh because Callum has officially ruined someone’s child.
Callum’s mouth dropped open as he did a double take on me and Jacks.
I shrugged because this was out of my control.
“You can’t say that word,”
Callum said.
“Why?”
Jacks challenged.
“Because it’s a bad word,”
Callum tried to reason with him.
“You said it.”
“Yeah, but I’m a grown up,”
Callum said with his stern, grown-up voice.
I cleared my throat as I tossed the paper towel that was totally not helping my case. “You’ll get in trouble,”
I said, trying to help out.
“Oh,”
Jacks said, his recoil clear in his voice.
It worked like a damn charm.
I shared a look with Callum as he parked.
“Thank you,”
he whispered.
I nodded as my eyes dropped on my stained shirt again.
“I have a jersey—”
he pointed at the back, “if you want to? You know, uh, change?”
“Okay.”
He got out of the car and helped Jacks out as well. The sun had just set, it was getting dark. After sitting through fifteen minutes of previews before the movie started it’d definitely be dark-dark.
In just a few minutes, Callum knocked at my window.
I opened the door and he handed me his blue jersey.
“I’m sorry, again,” he said.
I shook my head. “Not your fault.”
Callum scratched the back of his head. “Change. Jacks and I will have the back set up.”
I nodded, still gazing at him because I was afraid to admit I’d never met a man like Callum.
He was so easy—so easy—to be around. There’s nothing I could possibly fear about him. He was soft, kind, and compassionate. It was all the little details with him, and I noticed everything. And it’s not easy to be as kind as he is, it was easier to pull up a barrier and push everyone out to protect yourself or to just avoid the kind of pain that comes with caring for others like you would care for yourself. Callum carried that kind of kindness that could make you become a better person.
“Well, I hope it’s big enough,”
he said before he closed the door.
I held the jersey up to see the size of it and it was big enough to swallow me whole, even with my pregnant swollen belly. It was a number seven hockey jersey, the front said Callum and the back said Oakes. I shook my head as my cheeks burned.
After changing in the car, I got out and closed the door.
We didn’t park near all the other cars, but it looked like we had the best view of the screen. Indistinct chatter filled my ears as I walked behind the truck, and I totally didn’t expect to see the back of Callum’s truck so glammed out. A thick blanket covered the whole back, there were countless pillows—he even got a little cooler. My brows furrowed as I tried to listen in on his conversation with Jacks.
“Why would you sit in the middle? I know why I want to sit in the middle but why do you?”
Jacks asked.
“I have to be next to Juliette,”
Callum replied.
“Why can’t I be next to Juliette?”
Jacks’s shoulder dropped. “I’m doing you a favor by sitting in the middle, Juliette has cooties.”
“You have cooties,”
Callum retorted in a petty tone.
“I don’t have cooties,”
Jacks defended as he balled his little hands into fists to stand his grounds, “I’ve never ever touched a girl.”
Callum sighed, maybe finally coming to his senses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Alright then, Juliette has cooties, sit next to me.”
I scoffed under my breath. Had he lost his mind and forgotten he was arguing with a ten year old about sitting next to me?
“I want to be in the middle,”
Jacks whined, “why do you want to sit in the middle?” He pouted and I was instantly reminded of his age — he was just a ten year old boy, whatever he wanted and couldn’t have he’d cry about it or throw a fit. And Callum didn’t seem to care. He had other plans.
“Because.”
His reasoning stopped at that.
“I’m the kid,”
Jacks pointed at himself, “I’d feel safer to be in the middle.”
“I’ll get you anything you want,”
Callum pressed.
Jacks remained silent.
“You can sit in the middle,”
I said as I approached them.
Callum’s lips pulled into a thin line and Jacks looked conflicted as he stared at my stomach.
Callum’s eyes were fixed on me, and it was starting to make me feel self-conscious. Maybe his jersey looked weird on me.
I tugged at the hem of it and shifted my footing as I tried not to think about it too much.
Callum cleared his throat as he looked away, the tips of his ears were bright pink. “Your fruit salad is in the cooler,”
he pointed at the blue cooler, “I also brought water and lemonade. We can just get popcorn and snacks from the stands,” he said as his eyes swallowed me again.
The big screen lit up and the previews abruptly started playing.
“We should get the snacks now,”
I said as my eyes sliced to Jacks, then to Callum.
Jacks smiled and Callum nodded.
We walked to the stands and Jacks got to pick out what he wanted first, Callum just grabbed a popcorn. I grabbed a popcorn and a pack of cherry Twizzlers with some Milk Duds. I turned to follow Jacks and Callum because they were already leaving but a grumpy voice stopped me.
“Just what do you think you’re doing? The snacks aren’t free.”
Fuck. My purse was left in the car.
I froze.
I swallowed as I glanced back at Callum who was already walking back to the car with Jacks, my brows dipped as I frowned, “but he just—”
“No!”
The tall man raised his voice, “you can’t just—” his eyes fell on my jersey.
“Oh you must be the famous, uh…”
he thought about it for a second as he scratched his head, “Juliette,” he snapped his fingers like it took him some serious strength to remember, “Cal’s girl.” He grinned. “Given that you’re wearing his personalized jersey you two must be very close. Okay then, the food’s free.”
I released a breath in relief, for the first time I was appreciative of the stupid rumors in this town.
Jacks didn’t sleep through the movie, and I was semi-impressed because I was always told kids did that a lot. By the time the movie was done, I finished my fruit salad, well, my grape salad. They were these big green Korean grapes that tasted like heaven. Before I could even finish my grapes, I knew I’d have to grill Callum to fess up where he got these grapes. I’d shopped at almost all the stores in this town and I hadn’t tasted grapes like these in a very long time.
There must’ve been a H-Mart somewhere that I didn’t know about.
I packed up all the trash at the back of Callum’s truck. I closed the cooler and turned around finding Jaks fast asleep.
I looked at Callum and he shared the same look back.
What do we do?
“Alright, grab his legs and I’ll grab his arms.”
Callum sent me a long look. “It’s not a dead body, Juliette, I can pick him up, go wait in the car.”
I shook my head feeling useless. “I have to do something.”
“Then you can. . .”
he awkwardly looked around, “fold the blankets and throw the trash away,” he said as he started to pull Jack’s body into his arms.
I looked around and nodded. I waited until Callum got off the truck with Jacks in his arms to fold the blankets just to realize they were thick comforters.
I stood up and held the small part of my back. “Callum, you idiot, why would you put such quality comfort on the dirty floor of your truck,”
I mumbled under my breath as I tried my best to fold it.
It was the kind of comforter that probably belonged to Ardley and Celeste.
I shook my head with another sigh and grabbed the small bag of trash. I slowly got off the truck and started making my way to the trash can they had hidden in a dark part of this place—I remembered seeing one by the stands, but the stands were closed, lights out everywhere. Most of everyone left already, there were just a few cars left, probably cleaning up as well.
I was throwing away the trash when Amber ambushed me. Right when I turned around, she was behind me, and it startled me a little bit.
She’s lucky the baby didn’t feel too heavy on my bladder today, otherwise I would’ve peed my pants and ripped her precious blonde hair out.
“I see you forgot about our little talk, huh?”
she said as she looked at me up and down.
I sighed as I dust my hands off. “I’m too old and too pregnant for this.”
Tonight was the first night in months I’d been out past eleven. I was tired, I wanted to get back home, in my bed, with a cold water or soda in my hands. With a movie in the background, most likely A Walk To Remember. And I wanted to wrap my hair up. I felt so annoyed and overstimulated with every curl that was in front of my face.
I definitely did not want to stand here and talk about Callum with Amber. It was weird. And it was none of my business.
She kept staring at the jersey, her eyes were in flames glaring at it. For a split second I thought of explaining myself, but I realize with situations like Amber’s situation nothing would help, so why bother wasting my breath?
She wrapped her arms over her chest. “Then back off Callum. What is it that drew you to him? The money?”
“Amber,”
I pressed, “it’s not what it looks like at all. By all means, Callum is your man, keep him on a leash or something.” My tone fell flat.
“Yes, he’s mine, and he’d never be interested in you. You’re trailer trash.”
I remained silent with a sigh as I placed a hand on my back to try to relieve the pain.
“You’re just a knocked up nobody, and Cal is so sweet enough to even want to help you out, so enjoy it while it lasts. Because him and I are meant to be, since sandbox—”
“Amber,”
Callum’s sharp voice snapped.
I’ve never heard his voice this loud and this sharp before. It cut right through me and hit Amber right in the face—I could see her startled reaction.
Probably wondering the same thing I was wondering.
How long has Callum been standing there? How much did he hear?
I raised my eyebrows as Callum strode past me, and instantly Amber started to aggressively push her hair behind her ear with a shakiness in her movements. She didn’t stop until he grabbed her wrist and dragged her a few steps away from me, where they could talk and I wouldn’t be able to hear.
I scoffed under my breath as I rolled my eyes, I didn’t do anything wrong.
Callum was kind enough to agree to help me reconstruct my shop, he somehow got three tickets to a movie and invited me, then the whole jersey thing was an accident. I spilled yogurt on my shirt and he offered me his jersey to wear. Absolutely nothing romantic has happened between us, no lingering touches or long hugs…nothing like that, we’ve just been talking. The only thing I’ve done so far that would get anyone the wrong idea was wearing this jersey.
I glanced down at my body and noticed how much the jersey swallowed me and my belly whole. My leggings were black, so it wasn’t very noticeable at night. All you could see is the blue jersey. And Callum’s name in big letters.
Before my mind could wander off into thinking what he could possibly have said to Amber, Callum was already walking in my direction.
He walked up to me and stood so close I could see his sharp jawline under the moonlight—his blue eyes looked dark, and his dark brown hair looked like midnight.
The compressed black shirt he had on outlined every single one of his muscles. And the veins on his arms didn’t go unnoticed when he planted two hands over my arms. My breath hitched when he started to move them up and down like he was looking for any sign of stress on my skin.
“Are you alright?”
he asked softly.
I finally managed to tear my eyes away from his muscles, and the countless veins in his arms, and looked up to meet his eyes.
They were undoubtedly apologetic.
“It’s okay.”
I softly chuckled as my stomach twisted.
Just. Like. Last. Time.
“No, it’s not okay,”
he said as he squeezed my arm, “that was completely uncalled for and very disrespectful.” His brows furrowed in frustration. “I’m really sorry you heard all of that. No one deserves to be treated this way.”
I flinched as I felt a violent kick in my stomach. “Ouch, you little—”
Callum’s brows quickly pulled together as he took a step back, tilting his head to meet my eyes. “Is everything okay?”
I nodded with a grimace as I felt more violent kicks. “Yeah, just the baby.”
Callum swallowed. “It’s coming?!”
he said in a panicky tone.
I quickly shook my head as I grabbed his hand. “He’s excited,”
I said as I placed Callum’s hand under my swollen belly where the baby was moving around the most. I stood straight and I was closer in front of him.
As if I could see stars shoot out of his eyes—Callum looked very moved, feeling the baby move in my stomach. He was in complete awe. He started to move his hand over my stomach by himself, following every single movement, but what he didn’t realize was the fact that the baby was following his fingers. His kicks were a lot stronger whenever Callum touched my stomach. Like he was really excited to feel Callum.
I had to admit, seeing and feeling them both being this happy felt fulfilling.
I winced in pain again and Callum pulled away—he held the side of my face. “It hurts when he kicks?”
he asked softly.
“It feels really weird, but when he adds some strength into it, it hurts a little,”
I explained.
“Does that mean he’s kind of like the Hulk?”
My eyes snapped to meet Callum’s just to find him smiling.
A slow smile spread across my face to match his contagious one. “Yeah, it does seem that way.”
I chuckled.
And the kicking ceased. Just the remains of the burning sensation I keep feeling whenever I’m around Callum lately.
We shared a brief awkward moment of silence, and it was enough for Callum to realize he was still holding the side of my face.
He cleared his throat as he pulled away and took a step back like he was suddenly crossing a line between us.
His eyes remained on my body, glaring at his jersey on me.
I shuffled on my foot and glanced down at the jersey again. “I’ll give it back tomorrow, I know it’s weird to see it on me—”
“No!”
he quickly shouted.
My brows furrowed as I looked around the almost empty lot.
Callum cleared his throat. “I meant, no. Um, you can give it back another time.”
“I won’t see you tomorrow?”
“You will.”
“But?”
He scratched the back of his head. “Just, um.”
He closed his eyes, clearly trying to think of something on his feet. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath.
“I want you to wash it.”
I blinked. “What?”
He nodded, “I want you to wash it before you give it back, you know?”
“Oh!”
He nodded.
“Okay, another time then.”
We started walking towards his car in silence. I kept trying to steal some glances of him—he just looked so focused with his hands in his pockets.
It was like he was thinking really hard, his brows were furrowed and his gaze was casted on the ground.
It was almost cute.
“You don’t look weird in it,”
he said in silence.
I glanced at him over my shoulder as we walked. “Huh?”
“My jersey,”
he clarified. “It doesn’t look weird on you—” he chuckled, “if anything, it looks like it was made for you.”
I suppressed a smile and remained silent until we reached his truck.
I got inside and noticed Jacks was fast asleep in the back, and the car had been on the whole time.
I kept staring at him, the way his long lashes kissed his cheeks and the fact he looked so adorable. His hands were small and he was thin.
He was curled up and asleep and it felt like I could watch him sleep forever.
I said bye to Callum after thanking him for the movie, the amazing grapes, and for lending me the jersey.
Then I went inside and closed the door behind me.
I realized one thing tonight.
The look a man could have on his face could make you want to have babies.