Blank Space

Chapter 1

Callie Johnson wasn’t your typical California girl. She had attended high school in southern California, Venice High School to be exact, and she had attended USC graduating near the top of her class. After graduating from USC her world completely changed. She was doing her internship to be an elementary teacher at a private school on LA’s west side, she was engaged to Liam, an elite businessman who realistically could’ve carried the two of them without Callie working. 

When she would think about staying home and not going to work she could hear her mother’s words playing over and over in her head, “don’t rely on a man for anything.” Boy did her mother end up being spot on. It was a beautiful spring day the day her world fell apart. At least in her personal life. 

She was wrapping up a day of interning at the elementary school and was actually going to get out of there early for once. Pulling into the driveway of the mansion she was living in with her fiance she parked next to a car she didn’t recognize. 

Instead of going in through the garage like she usually did she unlocked the front door and made her way inside the luxurious home. The sounds coming from upstairs told her everything she needed to know. 

She called in sick the next day and after Liam had left for work she cleaned out everything that was hers loading her BMW down and drove away never looking back. She ended up in Dallas, Texas before she finally stopped driving. She didn’t know anyone there when she pulled up to the Hilton hotel in downtown Dallas that day. All she knew was she couldn’t go back to California. 

She pulled some strings and had her internship transferred to a school in Dallas where she finally finished her training. She was offered a position at the school teaching first grade english, but she hadn’t accepted or turned down the offer yet. 

As happy as she was in Texas something was still missing. All of her friends and family were still in California. Her parents lived in Ventura in the house they moved in to after she moved on campus at USC. Her best friend Jessica lived in San Francisco now, her other best friend Samantha had moved back to LA from Hawaii, and finally there was Madison, the only girl of the group who hadn’t ever left LA. 

Callie grabbed the pink envelope off the table and tore it open. It was a bachelorette party invite for Jessica. She knew it was coming, obviously she had helped plan the thing. Jessica was marrying Colin Kaepernick, quarterback for the 49ers. Callie was a huge sports fan, but she hated the 9ers. She was a huge Giants fan. 

The bachelorette party was taking place that weekend in Las Vegas. All four girls would be attending. It was after that Callie would have to make a decision on where she wanted to be. 

She sat the envelope on the bar and walked into the kitchen grabbing the bottle of wine out of the fridge and pouring a generous amount into a wine glass. She was just about to take a sip when her phone started ringing. 

She grabbed her phone along with her glass of wine and made her way over to the couch. She smiled seeing Madison’s name on the caller ID. 

“Hey girl,” Callie smiled answering the call. 

“I get to see you in three days,” Madison screeched through the phone.

“I know. I’ve missed you guys,” Callie laughed.