12. Callie
Chapter 12
Callie
Well, this is twenty-six. Sitting on my couch, still in my Christmas pajamas with a hot cup of peppermint tea to really set the mood.
I’ve been lazy so far today. I don’t usually like to lay around for hours, but today I didn’t get out of bed till eleven. I put my phone on Do Not Disturb and just snuggled in my bed until I finished my current read. I can’t tell if that sounds sad or not. I only missed a “Happy birthday” text from Adam and a call from Wyla and Stevie, so it’s not like I had much else going on.
Pulling out my phone I click on Wyla’s name, FaceTiming her back.
“Hey, it’s the birthday girl!” Wyla answers. “Stevie, Auntie Cals is on the phone.” As soon as the words are out of her mouth, I can hear the pitter-patter of Stevie’s feet barreling to her mom.
“Auntie Cals! Merry Christmas-Birthday!” Stevie giggles as she takes the phone from Wyla. Her blonde hair is pulled up in her favorite “fun buns” with some red bows pinned in.
“Thank you, Stevie Bug. I sure do miss you.” Sometimes FaceTiming these two bums me out a little. It reminds me how much I miss having their close friendship. There was never a dull moment with Wyla and Stevie, and here I only really have Adam…and Will, oddly enough.
“We miss you too.” Wyla forces Stevie to share the screen so I can see her too. “We’re about to head over to my parents for Christmas lunch. What are your big birthday plans?”
“Oh, it’s going to be a real rager. I rotted in bed all morning, and now I’m going to rot on my couch until Adam comes over. He's supposed to be bringing whatever takeout that’s open on Christmas, and I’m going to see how many Hallmark movies I can get him to watch before he loses his mind.”
“Oh, my girl, please calm down.” Wyla laughs.
“Hey, not everyone knows how to party like Wyla Bennett.”
Wyla scrunches her nose. “I haven’t partied in a long time, thank you very much.”
“Yeah, it was…what? How old are you again, Stevie Bug?”
“Four!” Stevie yells. “Almost five.” She smiles so proudly.
Wyla shakes her head. “Then add nine months before that and then you’ve got the last time I partied. Maybe you're right. Stay home.”
“Hey!” I can hear Jett yell off screen. “Best night of my life. Go have a one-night stand, Cals.”
Rolling my eyes, I take a sip of my tea.
Stevie looks up at Wyla so sweetly. “Mommy, what’s a one-night stand?”
And now I’m choking on my tea, trying to fight off the laughter.
“Jett! Look what you did!” Wyla sighs.
I’m about to make a smart-ass remark when my door swings open and Adam bursts in.
“Happy birthday!” With that loud announcement and the pop of a confetti tube, I scream and nearly spill my tea on the carpet.
As the confetti falls, Adam reaches for another tube. “Adam, don’t?—”
The loud pop cuts me off as my room is blasted with more confetti. “Get up. We’ve got to leave in thirty minutes.”
Shaking the tiny pieces of paper out of my hair, Stevie’s little voice comes through the speaker with so much concern in her tone. “Auntie Cals, are you okay?”
“Yes, Stevie, I’m fine. Adam was just being insane! And making a mess in my new apartment.” With the confetti now in my mug, I cut him some major side eye, but he shrugs me off.
“It’s Christmas and your birthday. Did you seriously think I wasn’t going to do something special? Also, because it’s your birthday, I’m not going to make a comment on the fact that I got in here because your door was unlocked again .”
Rolling my eyes, I flip him my middle finger out of the camera frame so Stevie can’t see.
“Hey, Stevie, Auntie Cals gave me a silent bad word.” Adam squats behind me, leaning on the back of my couch.
“You deserved it,” Stevie says very matter of fact. That’s my girl.
“Rude,” Adam mumbles while I laugh at her sass.
Wyla rests her head on Stevie’s. “Alright, little miss. Tell Auntie Cals ‘happy birthday one more time then let’s let her get to her partying.”
Stevie gives me a big, toothy grin. “Happy birthday, Auntie Cals! Oh, and Merry Christmas!”
Wyla takes her phone back. “Happy birthday, babes. We love you.”
No tears on your first actual birthday, Callie.
“Thank you. Love you big.”
The moment I hang up Adam jumps over the back, crashing beside me on the couch. “Nice, pajamas. You know it’s like noon, right?”
“Okay, one—leave my Christmas jammies out of this. Two—I thought our plan was to have another sad sibling dinner.”
“Not this time, Cals. Go get ready. We’re going to actually celebrate this holiday properly.”
Properly? “What the hell does that mean?”
“It means go get dressed before Will leaves to go have Christmas with his family without us.”
Will? Wait, Will’s family? Damn, that shouldn’t make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, but it does. However, knowing that Adam has been invited too kind of helps dull those feelings. He probably remembered how sad our Thanksgiving was and felt bad for us.
“We don’t really have time, but can we talk about the absolute chaos that is your living room?” Adam looks around at my half-Christmas, half-birthday decorations.
The warm and fuzzy feeling comes back as I look around. My Christmas tree is full of warm lights and colorful ornaments. My Christmas pillows make it officially annoying to try and sit on my couch now. On the far wall I have the colorful lights worked in with the old curtains I ripped to shreds to make fun streamers with balloons tied in on the ends.
All of it Will helped me put together.