21. Callie
Chapter 21
Callie
Fuck this night. Oh my goodness, this was a horrible idea. I wanted to change my mind immediately after closing the door on Will. Seeing him made it perfectly clear that I’m not ready to move on. So now, instead of sitting at home in comfy clothes and wallowing, I’m now sitting at the bar wallowing in non-comfy clothes and heeled boots that are pinching my toes. And the worst part—this tool won’t leave me alone.
“So, I’m just saying when Prez tells you to go long, you go fucking long even when it’s a beer can,” Kyle drones on. The moment my butt hit the bar stool he appeared in the empty seat next to me and hasn’t stopped talking about his glory days in his fraternity.
Kyle continues to go on despite the many times I’ve told him I’d rather finish my glass of Merlot alone. I look down at my glass—there’s at least half left—but I need to get out of here or I’m going to lose my mind.
“Right.” I fake laugh and slide out of my chair. “Kyle, if you’ll excuse me?—”
“Where do you think you’re running off to?” he snaps as looks me up and down. “I thought our night was just getting started.”
Shit, I don’t like his tone at all. I know I owe this asshole nothing and I should tell him to fuck off, but this guy screams “I have roofies in my wallet.” I need to play this smart.
“I just have to use the bathroom, that's all.” I smile but then he clocks my purse in my hand. “I need lady things in there.” Oh yes, let’s confuse him with lady business because I need to take my coat too. “And actually, I think I put my tamp?—”
“Just take whatever you need, dollface. I don’t need the details.”
I smile, what a pussy. But as I step toward the door, he stops me. “I think the bathrooms are back there.”
Fuckity, fuck, fuck.
“Thanks,” I mumble and I make my way through the crowd. I don't know if there's a back exit, but I’ll sneak out the bathroom window if I have to.
Searching for my escape I don’t even see the waitress coming. With a small bump I’m knocked to the side, and I see a girl who looks about my age with long black hair. “What the—” I start but she cuts me off.
“Hi, I’m sorry, that was a little harder than I intended. I am one of the bartenders, and I couldn’t help but notice you seemed uncomfortable, so I just wanted to check in, but I didn’t want to raise suspicion by outright stopping you.”
Thank God. I exhale. “Your girl-dar was right, I’m very uncomfortable. Is there another way out of here by chance? He caught me when I tried to sneak out the front and I don’t want to deal with any confrontation.”
“For customers, technically no, but this qualifies as an emergency. Come on.” She motions for me to follow her back through the kitchen and I try to stay as close as possible so I’m not in the way of any of the other staff.
“Listen, I really appreciate this. What's your name?”
She laughs. “It’s Jensen. I know, it’s an odd one for a girl.”
“Ha! Try having the name Calliope.”
As she opens a black door she turns back to me. “Ah, are we weird name twins?”
Oh, I like her. “Calliope and Jensen? We sound like an old crime duo.”
“Damn straight.” Walking out the door, we enter a dark alleyway where some of the employees are smoking off to the side. “Okay, the main sidewalk is just up that way and you’re home free, my girl.”
Unable to help myself, I give her a quick hug. “You’re a lifesaver. Here let me give you cash for my drink and a tip. Goodness knows that dickwad is a horrible tipper.” I start to rifle through my purse but Jensen smacks at my hand.
“No way, this is tip enough.”
“Well, I need to give you something.” I pull my coat on and it comes to me. “Oh, here.” Pulling out one of the business cards Shannon made me order, I hand it to her.
“If you ever want some tickets to one of the Blues games let me know.”
“Wow, I definitely will! Have a good night, Calliope.”
“Call me Callie!” I shout back as I head down the alley. It’s really quite sad that this dark alley feels safer than sitting at the bar. That should really tell Kyle something, but he wouldn’t be able to understand that even if I got the frat house president to explain it to him.
When I get back to the sidewalk I’m not entirely sure what to do next. I could call a car and head back home, but I’d rather not wait out in front of the restaurant. I glance at the front of the building and note the number of windows. Yup, I want zero chance of Kyle seeing me in my escape, so heading left it is.
After a block or two I think I’m in the clear, so I pull out my phone to call a car, but I can’t help but overhear a group of girls dropping names that make my ears perk up.
“I’m telling you, that’s Beck Daines!”
“Holy shit, and Tripp Pierce!”
“I think the whole team is here! I’ve been dying to introduce myself to the new players.”
And with that last one, I march my butt right in the bar they are standing outside of. I truly have no reason to be jealous right now. I was just trying to move on—unsuccessfully, might I add—and I have no claim on Will. As much as I wish I did, I don’t…and can’t.
Skidding to a stop in the middle of the bar, that reality hits me hard. Those girls have every right to want to talk to him, which sucks but it’s true. We’re just friends. We’re only allowed to be friends .
Maybe I should just turn around.
“Ahh, look who it is!” Beck says way too loud. “Callie’s here!”
Welp, no turning back now. I guess this is some sort of punishment from the universe for me being so dumb tonight. I make my way over slowly and more of the players start to greet me…but I don’t see Will.
“Hey, guys,” I say and pull out the empty seat next to Beck. “I barely made it through a glass of wine, and it looks like you’ve already lost some players.”
Beck pats my head, clearly teetering from buzzed to drunk. “Don’t fret, Callie Bear, everyone’s here. Some of the guys are just in the back playing darts.” And as if I can actually see the thought entering his head, he exclaims, “How was your date?”
“Callie was on a date?” Mateo chimes in next.
“No, Cals, you were supposed to be with me.” Tripp places his hand over his heart dramatically.
Oh, great they’re all walking that line.
Rolling my eyes, I sigh. “It wasn’t a date; I just went out. But I did have to make friends with a bartender to sneak out the back from a pushy asshat.”
“You ditched your date?” Mateo asks, too drunk to hear me say “wasn’t a date.” Clearly, I’m going to have to stick to shorter sentences.
“Yes, I ditched a guy. Don’t judge me.”
The table erupts in laughter.
“Shut up, this is great,” Beck chokes out while laughing.
“What’s great?” I hear my brother say over my shoulder and as I turn, I see Will’s a step behind. An involuntary sigh comes out when I don’t see any girls on his side.
Adam’s eyes get wider as he realizes I’m here. “Hey, little sister. What are you doing here?”
He gives me a bear hug from behind in my chair. “Okay, I see you’re at about the same level as the rest.”
Beck shakes Adam’s shoulder. “Reyer, Anderson, you guys are going to love this. Callie was just telling us how she snuck out of her date.”
“You what?” Will slides into the seat across from me. God, it’s so good to see his face.
Adam finally lets me go and comes around to my side. “You stole my seat, scoot over.”
I try to scooch over but my brother is huge. “Adam, go find a new seat.”
Adam and I push and elbow each other to get the chair, until Mateo snaps. “Okay, children, enough. We need the story, Cals.”
I huff and give up, letting Adam take the larger portion of the chair. I’d really rather not talk about my fuck up of a night, but it doesn’t seem like they are going to let this go. “There’s not much to tell. This guy was awful and kept talking about his glory days in his fraternity. Halfway through a glass of wine I couldn’t handle it anymore, so I bailed.”
Beck boos next to me. “Come on, Callie Bear, paint us a picture. How’d you escape the bastard? And do we need to hunt him down and teach him a lesson?”
“He probably needs one but not from doing anything to me. I saw the warning signs with flashing lights.” I spend the next five minutes recapping my exit from my not-a-date, and everyone gets a good laugh when I tell them about my “lady stuff” excuse. Well, everyone but Will. Will only stares at me with this blank look.
I tell myself it’s because he doesn’t have the same emotions toward me as I do him, but deep down that doesn’t exactly feel right. I know I haven’t made up these moments between us—I couldn’t have.
Not that it matters now, I keep forgetting the whole point here—we date, and I lose my job. And at that my heart sinks into my chest.
With my arrival the guys agreed to let this bar be the end of their crawl so, according to the time on my phone, we only stay another hour tops. It felt a lot longer with the cold shoulder I was getting from Will. I tried to not pay him any mind, but I’m not that strong yet.
With him being one of the DDs, he had to take some of the guys home. Thankfully, Mateo’s wife, Avery, said she would come get him so I could ride with Will. Dropping off the three other players only added to the eternity of this night, but now we are finally riding up the elevator to our floor and we only have one drunk catcher left.
Getting out my spare key for Adam’s place, I get his door open while Will leads him inside to the couch. As his head hits his throw pillow he’s practically out already.
“Is he going to be okay here?” The sister in me wants to stay here and make sure he’s okay, but Will nods.
“He’ll be fine. The morning might be another story, but sleeping it off is what he needs.”
“Okay, well…” I grab one of the throw blankets and lay it over top of him. That helps my conscious a little bit.
“Come on, Callie, he’s good. I promise.” The softness in Will’s voice feels like a weight off my chest. Maybe it was the crowded bar that was keeping him quiet.
I follow him out, hitting the lights, and locking the fucking door. Goodness knows I would never hear the end of that one.
Will shoves his hands in his pockets as we make our way down the hallway. “So, the date?”
Ugh, it wasn’t a date! “Going out was a mistake. Definitely one I don’t intend on repeating.”
Will nods slowly.
I don’t know what to say. How do I explain to this man that I don’t want to date anyone else but him, but I can’t date him because then I would lose my job? And at the same time not come off as crazy because he’s agreed before that we’re friends. Now here I am walking down this dreaded hallway, and I don’t know what to say or how to act because not a single thing about this makes sense to me.
“Callie,” Will says softly as we reach my door.
“Yeah?” God, I need him to follow this up with some sort of sign because I’m going to go insane.
He sighs. “Good night.”
Soul shattered.
I force a big fake smile on my face. “Right, good night. Thank you for the ride home.” Spinning on my heels I reach for my doorknob and let that smile fall with the twist of the knob because, yeah, I didn’t lock my door again. I’m hoping to get in my place quickly and put this whole night behind me.
Swinging my door closed, I don’t look back until I hear a loud thud and next thing I know, Will’s stepping into my apartment. “Fuck, Callie. I need to know what’s going on in that head of yours.” He shuts the door behind him and closes the distance between us until he’s just a small step away.
Too stunned to speak, I manage to sputter out, “Wh-What?”
“Because you are the only damn thought in mine, Callie. I hate that you went on a date tonight. I hate that I’ve barely spoken to you in weeks. I hate that I haven’t gotten to hear your rambles and long-winded explanations. And I fucking hate the idea of only ever being just your friend.
“Listen to me, I know you’ve got this thing with baseball players, but whatever it is, forget it. Whatever it was, take it out of the equation, because right now I’m not the Blues’ pitcher. I’m your neighbor who is sick of being in the friend zone because I’ve never wanted someone as badly as you. So please, Blaze, tell me what’s going on in your head, because that’s what’s in mine.”
“Will…” My heart is beating out of my chest and all other words seem to be lost to me.
Will’s eyes track down to my mouth. “Callie, am I still allowed to touch you?”
Swallowing, I nod, and in that instant Will’s hands thread through my hair and his lips find mine. Holy hell. Will’s kissing me.