The Choice (a Painful Past)

110

"No big deal, huh? I don't see why you would scream about it, if it wasn't a big deal." She responded.

I sighed and looked back up at her probing gaze.

"Okay. Fine. He's hot now. He was always so sweet, and adorable, but now, he's like, majorly hot. Like, how in the fuck did he come from here, HOT!" I replied.

Her eyes lit up and she held her hand back towards me.

"Lemme see!" She insisted.

I laughed, went to Colby's profile, scrolled down to one of my favorite pics and handed her the phone.

"Oh. Oh my DAMN!" She exclaimed. "Girl, if I wasn't desperately in love with Bryon, I might fight you for this one. HE was your best friend? Wait, this isn't the little kid that you told me about, is it? The one that tried to fight Will at your party?" I nodded, slowly, and felt the grin spread across my face. "Hot damn." She murmured.

I watched, as she scrolled her finger along my phone screen, so that she could see more of his pics.

"Wait, is this dude wearing fucking Louis Vuitton? Seriously? Is this mother fucker rich now?! Okay, Callie, I love you, but you really fucked up and made the wrong choice with Will. You know that, right?"

I closed my eyes for a second, against the quick flash of pain that seared across my chest, then looked at her and nodded. "I know. All too well."

"Where does he stay? You think he might wanna come out tonight?" She asked, as she used her fingers to finish off the stray hairs that were out of place on the top of her head.

"He stays in LA." I laughed. "California may be a little too far to travel to go out with us."

"Damn, really? We might have to plan a vacay, cuz you need this one. This man needs to be your rebound lay. Absolutely, positively. Yup, I gotta talk to Bryon, because we need to go to LA. Immediately." She replied.

"Yeah, right." I laughed. "Colby was a really good FRIEND to me. I might need him, but not in that way. Come on, we really need to get going. Are you about ready?"

"Yup, this is as good as it's gonna get." She replied, standing up.

I walked over to her and she wrapped her arm around my waist, while we looked at each other in the mirror.

"Selfie time." She said, then snatched her phone off of the makeup desk.

I put my arm around her waist, and smiled at the camera. We did a few different poses, but she promised to let me see them, before she posted them.

"Do not take any embarrassing photos of me, if I choose to get drunk tonight. Promise?" I asked, with my hand on my hip.

She rolled her eyes and smiled.

"Promise." She said, as she put her hand behind her back.

"No crossing your fingers!" I yelled, laughing along with her.

I went around the house and told my mom and Ben that I was leaving. After giving them my love, I found my brother and asked him to keep a check on them, while I was gone. He agreed, so Denise and I were out the door, piling into her car.

"Wait, where are we going?" I asked, when she pulled out in the wrong direction.

"Oh, gotta pick up Bryon from the police station. He got off of work ten minutes ago. He said that he'll just ride with us and leave his cop car at the station."

"Probably a good idea." I laughed, imagining how people at the club would react when a cop car pulled up.

It was only ten minutes away, so it didn't take us long to get there. Bryon was waiting outside when we pulled up.

I started to open my door and give him the front seat, but he jumped in the back. I pulled my door closed slowly, confused as to why he would do that. Will always took the front seat.

If I had a friend with me, he made them get in the back. If we rode with his friends or parents, he took the front. The only time I got the front was when we were with my friend, but that rarely happened.

"Are you sure you don't want the front?" I asked him, as Denise pulled out into the street.

"Yeah, I'm fine back here. You guys have your girl time." He replied, smiling at me.

"Um, okay." I replied, returning his smile.

It made me uncomfortable for him to be in the backseat while I was in the front, but I didn't fully understand why. Maybe he was just putting on a front for now and would get angry with Denise about it later. I hoped not, but that was something that Will had done before.

Bryon acted nothing like Will, of course, but Will didn't act like that in front of other people either. I didn't know what their private life was like. Only what Denise told me.

So, I sat quietly, fidgeting in my seat, while Denise rattled off about something. I was too nervous to pay attention. Besides the fact that I might've been setting my friend up for an argument with her boyfriend, I also felt actual fear climbing up my back.

I had agreed to go to this club and try to have a good time. The closer we got, the less I thought that was an option. I was scared.

I was scared of all the people that would be there.

Would it be anyone who knew me? If there was, they would definitely be talking about me to their friends. There was no telling what stories would get around to Will and the rest of the town.

People loved to run their mouths and speculate about other's lives in this city. I was worried that people would laugh at the way I was dressed. I didn't have the body or the confidence to wear something like this.

I felt like an overweight child that was playing dress up, trying to be sexy like the women on TV.

What if the impossible happened, and someone asked me to dance? I couldn't dance. Yeah, Denise and Sherri told me that I could, but they were just being nice.

I did not dance in front of other people, unless I got a little drunk. I always regretted it the next day.

My friends had even recorded me dancing, so that they could show it to me the next day.

"Oh my God, delete it now." I insisted, yanking Denise's phone from her hand.

"I will not." She exclaimed, yanking it back. "You've really got some moves, Callie. I mean, look at how those hips sway! My hips don't move like that."