Walking Blind :: Brallie AU [COMPLETED]

fourteen

                                                               F O U R T E E N

                                                             "World-Changers"

                                                      .                       .                     .

INCOMING CALL : MAMA

Callie stares in disbelief at the lockscreen of her phone. Is she dreaming? She has to be. Her thumb hovers over the 'accept' button, hesitant to answer. This could be my only chance, she thinks. Brandon is sitting across from her, solemnly flipping through a new book he bought on music theory. They went to the mall over the weekend for baby clothes but ended up in Barnes and Noble with empty wallets and armfuls of books. 

She sucks in a long breath and blows it out before a rush of adrenaline shoots through her veins, her thumb lowering on to 'accept' and inevitably picking up the call. Callie eyes the screen for a moment, raising it up to her ear. 

"Hello?" she answers.

"Hey, Callie." Lena says in return on the other line. Callie chews on her lower lip, a bit worried as to where the conversation will lead as she begins to pick at her pastel blue painted nails anxiously.

"What is it?" Callie asks, trying her best to hide the crack in her voice. "I-I'm sort of busy at the moment, sorry, I can't talk for long. . ." More like she doesn't have the strength to talk for long. She wants to stay cowered in the corner, at least for now; she's too afraid to confront the reality of the situation, although the daily kicks both of the babies give her a day remind her enough what is to come in the following months. She doesn't need any more of that.

"Oh, okay. That's fine. I just. . . Your grades seem to be slipping and I wanted to talk to you personally about them."

Callie holds in a sigh of disappointment mixed with relief. "Alright. What's going on?"

"I, um, I understand why you would be slipping a bit. I mean, you're having a baby, things must be a bit hectic, but if you are still concerned about your grades -- Not that I'm saying you wouldn't be! Maybe you just forgot! But, um, I . . . Anyway, I was considering getting you a tutor? For specifically, uh, math and physics. They could come over to your house some days of the week if that's more convenient for you. I could talk to Robert about it and about your senior project--"

"Babies." Callie says and it's almost inaudible to Lena.

"Hm?"

"They're twins. I'm having babies."

Lena nearly chokes on her tea. She coughs a few times and sits her cup down, wiping off her mouth. It takes her a moment to recover and gather up a response. "O-Oh," she sputters. "Well that's, um, that's something. . ."

"Yeah, it is. I'll, uh, I'll consider the tutor thing. I'll talk to my dad about it, if he's willing to pay for one then um, sure. And I'll think up something for my project. . . Thanks for calling about it, Lena."

Lena leans over her paperwork and rests half of her face in her hand in distress. She mutters a 'no problem' and the call ends, just like that; Lena shocked to her feet, yet again, and Callie half-disappointed, half-relieved, yet again. Callie sighs deeply, collapsing into the couch cushions. Her hand instinctively creeps up over her belly and her palm spreads out underneath her belly button, where she's been feeling most of the kicks.

"Mommy's a dumbass now, apparently," she mumbles. "Can't even keep her grades up in night school. Sleeps 'til twelve every day. That's only cause you two keep her up all night, though. Especially when she's learning, but I don't want to blame you both for making me stupid or whatever . . . I should be more focused anyway. I'm just so stressed. You have no idea. Or maybe you do -- can you feel it? Must suck if you do. Maybe all three of us have major depression. Wouldn't that be great? . . . Okay, no, it wouldn't be. I don't want my kids being mentally ill. Disregard me. Oh fuck, you can't, you can hear everything I say. I'm sorry I'll shut up. I'll just think everything . . . Wait, can you hear everything I think too? . . . No, I don't think so." Callie glances over and out the window, where Brandon is sat on the porch, playing around with her -- or well, his old guitar. She chuckles to herself. "If you could, your innocence would be shattered. Alright, c'mon, let's go eat some more Cinnamon Toast Crunch."