After All This Time
By Bella Taggart
Part 15
"When was the last time you went on a date?" Christina asked, reclining on Callie's bed, watching her change into yet another outfit.
"An actual date?" Callie held up two shirts, one black and one navy, with a questioning look in her eyes.
Christina pointed to the black one, and popped a piece of popcorn into her mouth.
"A long time ago."
She buttoned up the black shirt, pulling her hair free, and looked at the mirror. She was wearing dark navy jeans and a satin black shirt that left a good amount of cleavage to the view. "What do you think?"
"It's okay...let's see the other one."
"The shirt or the jeans?"
"Shirt."
"I don't even know where to take her," Callie complained, changing her shirt. "I guess we could go to Mario's."
"Italian is good. It's a safe bet."
"Yeah, but, is it boring?"
"Not really, it's a nice place."
"It is right?"
"Yeah."
"How about this?" She asked, standing in front of Christina. The navy shirt fit well with her figure, but was relatively more conservative.
"It's nice," Christina nodded, "colors look really good on you."
"You think?" she fidgeted in front of the mirror, "Maybe I should try the black pants with it again."
"Oy vey."
Callie walked into the closet and shouted back "What about Paper Moon?"
"Really trying to impress her aren't you?"
Callie poked her head out, "Why? Is it too fancy?"
Christina just stared back at her. Callie rolled her eyes, "Fine, it's too fancy." she went back into the closet. "Then you come up with something."
This date was too important to screw up. She flipped through her hangers looking for the right fit. The right clothes, the right restaurant, every little detail counted. And for one time in her life Callie wanted everything to be perfect. Not just good, not just great, but perfect. How the date itself actually went would be up to Erica and her of course, this she knew. But still, she figured, preparing for it couldn't hurt.
"Just take her someplace you like."
"Thaaanks"
"No seriously," Christina carried on, "What's your favorite restaurant? If you take her somewhere you like, you'll be comfortable and so will she."
"You think?"
"Definitely."
That made sense. She poked her head out once again, "There actually is a little Thai place that I kinda love. Very small, like ten tables at the most, but very cute and cozy, and great food. They make this pad-Thai that just melts in your mouth,"
"Sounds great..." Christina salted her popcorn and started shaking the bucket, "I went to a place just like that the other week with Owen."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah, right off of Main Street; you take a left from the gas station."
"Girl, that's the place I'm talking about. With the thingy hanging from the ceiling."
"The butterfly."
"Yesss." Callie chuckled, "I can't believe you know it. Nobody knows this place; it's so hidden from the street. But once you go in..."
"I know,"
"It's like a gem of a place."
"It is."
"It so is," Callie nodded with a smile, returning to her search inside the closet.
"And it's romantic, with the little lights on the walls. Not too fancy, not too casual. Just go there."
"You think?"
"Yeah, for sure."
"Okay," she said, feeling happy with that choice, "I think I will."
"Good."
"You know, you're not bad at this," Callie said, poking her head out once again, while trying to get into a pair of pants.
Christina looked up at her suspiciously, "Oh?"
"Yeah, I think you have a future here. Giving dating advice to singles everywhere, what to wear - where to go,"
"Ha ha." Christina said dryly.
"We can open up a place, Dr. Yang's Love House, and you can make a lot of money."
"Creative," Christina mumbled, shaking her head.
"You don't even have to quit your day job," Callie continued, getting really into it now. "Dr. Christina Yang, fixing hearts during the day and broken hearts at night."
"Aha," Christina replied sarcastically, amused against her better judgment. "You're wasting your talents Cal, I had no idea you had such an imagination."
"Admit it, it sounds kinda catchy."
"Are you about done in there?"
"Yes, yes I am," Callie chuckled, "and I think I found what I'm wearing."
"Let's see it then."
"Ok, I'm coming out."
"She says from the closet," Christina mumbled.
"Funny." Callie walked back into the room. "Who's the creative one now?"
She was wearing black pants, a burgundy satin shirt, and her signature leather jacket. Her high heeled boots added a few inches to her height and her hair was left hanging over her shoulders. She reached over to the table and picked up a pair of hoop earrings, put them on, and turned towards Christina, "So, what do you think?"
Christina smiled and nodding her head appreciatively, "You look nice."
Callie opened her eyes wide, "Just nice?"
"Great, spectacular, breath-taking."
Callie smirked, "Better."
* * * * * * * *
Callie walked into the Thai restaurant ten minutes early. She took off her knee length black jacket and quickly checked her reflection in the mirror at the entrance. Her green satin dress-a last minute impulse she had decided to heed- fit her body nicely. Her hair was tied up in an elegant ponytail and she had on a pair of dangling diamond earrings in her ears. She had spent an extra five minutes with her eyeliner and mascara and as a result her eyes looked bigger and darker than ever. The light brushes of color were evenly distributed between her cheeks accentuating her cheek bones and giving her a healthy glow. And her lips, wearing a layer of rich, light catching lip-gloss, shone proudly. After a quick glance at her cleavage she took a deep breath. Everything was where it should be, she looked ok, she looked good; she could do this.
She walked up to the maitre'de, an older Asian woman, who smiled at her welcomingly. "Good evening," the woman said in an even and jovial tone.
"Hello," Callie replied, smiling back. "I have a reservation for Torres, for two at eight o'clock."
Meeting at the restaurant had been Erica's idea. Callie had called her in the afternoon to finalize their plans. "Where can I pick you up?" she had said, and Erica had suggested that they meet at the restaurant instead of Callie coming to her home or even just meeting in the lobby of the hospital. Though Erica hadn't said it, Callie guessed that Erica didn't want to start the gossip mills in the work place when there was barely anything between them to gossip about.
Perhaps she had a point. Callie wanted to believe that Erica's caution wasn't a negative indication of anything. And so even though Callie didn't give a damn about what people said; even though she would have liked to have seen where Erica lived, she hadn't pushed. Because she sensed that she had to walk a very thin line between pushing and not pushing Erica, this time around; if she wanted to keep her in the game. Not that this thing between them was a game. Callie chuckled humorlessly; no, Callie knew that this couldn't be further than a game if it tried.
The woman looked down at her list and checked off a name. "Yes, I have you right here, if you'll follow me."
"Sure," Callie said, trailing the woman's steps, "has my friend arrived yet, or?"
"No, you're the first one dear."
"Right," Callie said, sitting down at the appointed table, "thank you."
"Have a nice evening."
"Thanks."
It was good that she was early, she could settle, relax, and watch Erica as she walked towards their table instead of the other way around. She looked at her watch, 7:56 pm.
In a few minutes Erica would arrive and their second first date would officially begin. Callie hoped that the air between them wouldn't be too awkward. In fact she'd make sure that it wasn't. If all else failed she'd talk about the weather, no erase that, she would talk about work. Work was a comfortable enough topic to talk about, safe and relevant. Or she could talk about her life these past three years, though what was there to say, really.
At some point, she figured, she might have to talk about her feelings; that Erica would expect her to talk about her feelings, but that was better left for later. One had to warm up to conversation before baring one's soul, didn't she? Yes, as late as possible in fact. Perhaps she could even leave it for another day. That would be good, she thought, though highly unlikely to happen. Erica wouldn't let her get away with that. Not that she was trying to get away with anything, but... it was scary, that was for sure. What if Erica didn't like what she had to say, or what if she said something she didn't mean by mistake and lost the one and only chance Erica had obviously given her? Because that much was obvious; Erica wouldn't be giving her any more chances if she screwed this one up.
She shook her head from side to side in reflex. No she wouldn't think about that, she couldn't think about that. She would see how things went and she would take it easy and everything would be fine.
Perhaps she could talk about movies and books and such. Those were safe enough, though the last time she had read something un-related to work was...she couldn't even remember when that was. In her free time she often went to bookstores and picked up a few novels that she thought she'd like but she never seemed to have the time to actually read them. A holiday would be the perfect time to read and she honestly believed that she would at least get to a few of those books on her to-read shelf at home, then. Whenever 'then' might be.
Maybe she could go away for Christmas after all. Though how good of an idea was it to leave town when things were just starting up between her and Erica, if that's what was happening. Not very, her mind offered. Then again, if things did start up, and things went great then maybe they could go somewhere together. Like to Paris or Rome or something like that. Was that rushing things? Probably; she shouldn't be doing that either, she knew. She had to sit back, relax, and not think about the future or the past, she had to concentrate on the now. Wasn't that what her yoga teacher was always telling her? And going away to Europe together after just one date would definitely be considered rushing things. Maybe they could go to Martha's Vineyard instead.
"Would you like to drink something while you wait?"
She let out a startled gasp as she looked up at the waiter that had suddenly appeared by her side.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to..."
"It's okay," Callie cut him off, "my fault really, my mind was off somewhere"
He smiled at her understandingly. "No problem, so, can I get you anything?"
"Um," she checked her watch, and her eyes widened in surprise, "just water, please."
"Sure, I'll be right back."
"Thanks."
It was almost ten past eight. That was unusual, especially for someone as punctual as Erica; although these things happened to everyone at some point or another. You intended to get somewhere right on time, and despite all your good intentions sometimes things came up that were simply unavoidable. Being a doctor, Callie knew that better than anyone. A last minute patient, traffic jam, hell, a bad hair day was enough to make Callie late to most things. So what if Erica was a little late.
"Here you go." The waiter placed the glass of water next to her plate.
"Thank you."
"Let me know if you need anything else."
"Thanks."
She took a sip of her cold water and then reached down into her bag to retrieve her cell phone. There were no text messages on the screen, but just to make sure she dialed her mailbox and listened for new messages. There weren't any. Good, she told herself; that meant that Erica would be here at any minute. She was probably lost and trying to find the place. Callie cursed her own stupidity for not taking Erica to a place that she knew, or at the very least for not giving good enough directions. It was probably her fault that Erica was now going around in circles trying to find the hidden restaurant.
She took another sip, then another and finally finished the whole glass. She had said 'the gas station off of Main Street," hadn't she. Cause there was another gas station down by Taylor Street, and Callie hadn't specified that it was the 'Shell' gas station. Maybe she should call and clarify. On second thought, by the time she called her, Erica would probably walk through the door. And either way it was too late now, by this time Erica would have already gone to the other gas station, looked across, figured out that she was in the wrong place and would be on her way back here. All Callie had to do was wait, and when Erica arrived she'd apologize for giving crappy directions. The poor woman was obviously lost.
Ten minutes later, Callie wasn't so sure of that anymore. This was beyond unusual now, and even if Erica was lost, by now, she would have called Callie to let her know. Callie tried not to think of possible disaster scenarios but as the minutes ticked on by; she found that harder and harder to do. What if Erica had fallen and broken something. What if she had gotten into a car accident? What if she was hurt or injured someplace, and here Callie was waiting for her to show up; only Erica wouldn't be showing up, because she was in a hospital bed somewhere.
Argghh, Callie had to stop watching crappy television.
She tried calling Erica's cell phone and was forwarded to her voicemail. "Hey Erica, it's 8:20 at the moment, and I'm in the restaurant. Um, I'm worried about you, please call me when you get this. I'll be waiting," she said into the phone, and just before hanging up, added, "It's Callie by the way."
By 8:27 pm Callie had already called the hospital and learned that Erica had left at seven as she had said she would, and hadn't been heard from since. Callie held up an arm and called the waiter over.
"Excuse me, can you tell me, what time do you have? I think my watch might be going a little out of whack."
"It's exactly 8:30 pm ma'am." The waiter provided.
"Right, right, thanks." That wasn't what she wanted to hear, "Um, may I have a glass of wine, please."
"Of course; red or white?"
"White."
"Would you like to see the list?"
"Just bring me whichever you think is best."
"All right, I'll be-"
"Right back, yes."
By 8:45 pm, Callie had downed three glasses of wine and had resigned to the fact that Erica wasn't coming. At least that fact was clear; although the reasons were not. Maybe Callie had pushed too far when she had said that she wanted everything from Erica. Maybe Callie had cornered Erica on the stairwell and Erica had had no choice but to say yes at that moment; then later had thought better of it and hadn't known how to tell Callie. Maybe she had taken one more look at Callie's date and tell list and decided that she didn't want such a slut after all. Whatever the reason was, Erica was not coming and Callie felt the pain of that realization deep in her bones.
She had never known Erica to be cruel. But as she physically felt the sting in her heart, as she felt the dark, hollow, emptiness fill her deep down, she realized, that's exactly what Erica had been tonight; cruel.
Callie had been stupid to think, to hope...but then again she had never claimed to be otherwise, in the matters of the heart.
Continued...