AllFreeNovel
Share Us
They read his writing plain as day, Little Bird.
Sam slams a fist into the front door, “Cocky son of a bitch! He’s not even trying to be subtle!”
Emily reaches out a comforting hand to Sam, “Would we expect anything else from him?”
Raven almost laughs at the obviousness of the answer, “Definitely not,” as she heads to the hall closet to bring them towels. As Raven leaves the room, Sam paces. Brooding. So angry she just doesn’t know what to do with herself.
Emily clears her throat, “Uh, friend…”
Sam snaps back, “What?”
Emily grabs Sam by the arm and drags her to the window, “You may need to cool your jets for a minute. I’m afraid it’s about to get real awkward up in here.”
Sam stares out the window to see Callie’s car pulling down the long gravel drive.
Raven, sensing the new emotional element to the atmosphere, comes around the corner and very much dislikes the color she sees coming off of her friends. She follows their gaze and sees Callie’s headlights shining bright outside. Suddenly she feels hot and cold all at once. She wants to see Callie, hear her, feel her. She wants to be as far away as possible from her and right by her side all at once. She feels paralyzed with indecision. Her stomach tumbles and nausea climbs her throat. What had she been thinking, inviting everyone here? She can’t see Callie. She just can’t take it. Especially not with an audience.
Holy shit.
She can feel her heart breaking all over again.
Callie has been in her car just sitting for what feels like an eternity. The engine is off and the car is growing cold, but Callie just can’t seem to work up the nerve to walk inside. She is the last to arrive and she knows they are watching her. She can feel it. She also saw them all crowd around the window, but still. She can feel their eyes burning through her windshield.
This new layer of awkwardness in their friendship is disheartening. It was always so easy for all of them, even when it was hard. They had forged a bond all those years ago and had forever thought it was unbreakable. Who knew this was all it might take?
Callie was the outsider from the beginning. She hadn’t been a member of their original group. She had been welcomed in after all the things they all went through together. They had become a sisterhood with her, she had thought, but maybe all along they were just waiting for her to screw up. She hasn’t felt this insecure since before she was a part of them.
Taking a deep breath, Callie finally climbs out of the car and braces herself for what might be waiting on the other side of that door. Each step leaves her feeling more and more nauseous.
Sam and Emily meet her at the front door and she can still feel the warmth of their friendship swallow her up as they bring her into the house with a crushing embrace. She smiles as she returns their love with every squeeze. These ladies are her home.
Callie can feel the ability to breathe again in relief, but Raven is standing to the side. She isn’t in this embrace and that makes Callie’s heart break in ways she didn’t know it could.
Heartbreak. It was something she was growing quite accustomed to here lately. It seemed to be a constant companion.
Callie feels tears prick the back of her eyes, but doesn’t want to cry. The last thing Raven needs is the guilt of another one of Callie’s tears.
Not wanting to make this worse or more awkward, Callie breaks the embrace and moves toward Raven. A gesture of enduring friendship, no matter what.
“Hi,” she says with an outreached hand.
Raven thinks it over for a moment but decides better of returning the gesture. Instead, a single tear escapes her eye and she turns to leave the room.
Callie is crushed. It’s been months. How can this still hurt so much? She can’t let it be like this. Callie moves to follow after Raven as she has done so many times over all these years, but Emily stops her.
“Don’t. Just let her be. You apparently wanted it to be over and now it is. Let her be.” Emily’s words are not harsh just blunt. Still, it hurts to hear.
Sam is now eyeing Callie with what could very well be pity and Callie isn’t about to let any of them feel sorry for her. No way.
Tears well in her eyes and she can feel them on the brink of spilling out, leaving behind evidence of her pain. She won’t let them see her like this. Not now. Not when they are here for reasons so much bigger than the end of a relationship.
Turning on her heels, Callie charges through the front door and back into the cold night. She holds it all in as best she can, but by the time she reaches the tree line full sobs are shaking her whole body. She was so afraid this would happen that she almost hadn’t come at all. The only reason she had come was for Willow. Willow needed to be their priority.
Just like that, the mere thought of Willow brings about what sounds like her voice calling from just a little further into the woods. Callie immediately goes on high alert. Without a single thought, she races toward the voice, toward what must be her friend.
Off she goes into the dark and unforgiving wood that, given the chance, could eat her alive.
Sunday mornings with her mother are Willow’s favorite thing in the entire world. She loves it even more than she loves books and that is really saying something.
