Long Distance Lover || Quackity ✔️

two

he won't let his phone ring

—04/20/21—

real life

"Hey! We have to go quickly, Lauren's bitching on twitter." Nick said to Callie as she got into the car. Callie nodded, buckling up and leaning her head on the door. "Cal, are you okay?"

"Yeah." Callie whispered, opening her phone to text in the group chat Lauren was bitching in. Her and Clay's car had broken down on the side of the road. Clay never actually told Callie what happened, just that Nick was coming back from the gym to pick her up.

"What's going on?"

"Do you believe that there's only like one person in the whole world for you? Like romantic soulmate wise?" Callie asked, turning off her phone and staring out the window.

"No, why?"

"I think it's cruel to make 8 billion plus people and have you only be made for one. You only meet like 1 in a million people, Nick, its cruel to do that. Right?" Callie ranted. This is something she'd always believed in. That you aren't bound to be with just one person.

"Sounds like you believe in that, Cal." Nick said, glancing over at her.

"I used to, now not so much i guess." Callie whispered. She closed her eyes, trying to make the thought of their ex leave their mind.

"How come?"

"I don't wanna unload my trauma on you, Nick."

"I asked, come on, talk to me."

"I thought I was over my ex. It's been two years i think, maybe a tad more. I had a scare a few weeks ago when Lauren and Clay came to visit. I thought I saw him walk in and panicked and suddenly now all I can think about is why I left him. He did some fucked shit, but I feel like it could have worked out with better communication and I would have been happier. Now it's like, what if he's the only one out there for me and I just fucked everything up over nothing."

"Callie, i don't believe the world is that cruel. Life sucks, world is shit, but to make it so you meet the one who didn't treat you 100%?"

"But like, right person wrong time, right?"

"Callie, right person wrong time is a fantasy. You can make it the right time."

"What if you need to take time to make it the right time? Wouldn't that be the wrong time?"

"Not necessarily. If it were meant to be, you guys would be working out. You wouldn't be left wondering, Callie. If you needed time to make it work, if it wasn't meant to be he would have waited it out."

"Nick, I left him."

"Callie, he should have fought for you. He should have supported you and waited for you. Callie, I don't know what went down between you guys but I do know from the warnings Lauren gave us that it was just 'fucked shit'. I don't need to know, Callie, but i do know that you deserve to not question if something were to work out had you changed."

"Thank you, Nick." Callie smiled at him, trying to blink away the tears she felt forming.

"Of course, now you'll probably need to drive my car back home. Are you okay with that?"

"Yes, but give me the bluetooth shit so I can connect my phone." Callie said with a smile. He talked it over with her before they pulled up behind Lauren's car.

————

flashback

"Callie?" She heard a familiar voice call out to her. Her heart froze and she forgot how to breathe. "Oh no! Are you not Callie? Im so sorry!"

Callie turned around and put on her best smile for the woman who helped mother her more than her own for three months. "No, no it's me."

"Hi, sweetheart, how have you been?" She asked kindly.

"Im good, how are you?"

"Im okay, hunny. Hayden told me about your split, how have you been doing?" She asked, looking at her sympathetically. The mention of his name made her heart ache. Her chest tightened and her stomach curled upon itself. She was used to the pain, it having been constant after she left him, but it never did cease to make tears form in her eyes.

"Uh, okay i guess." She said, smiling small.

"May I ask what happened? Hayden wouldn't talk about it and Henry was sworn to secrecy. As often as those two fight they really do look out for each other." The older woman laughed softly. She would be lying if she didn't smile thinking back on the day she was over and they were wrestling on the floor in front of her. The memory made her heart ache more, but she deemed it worth it, he was worth the pain no matter how much he hurt her.

"I love him, I always will. It was never my love for him that faltered, it was the love i had for myself that faltered. He was great to me, treated me well, always respected me, but I couldn't continue loving him the way I did when I didn't love me."

"That's reasonable, Callie. I'm glad you found the strength to walk away when you needed to. As much as he's my son and I feel for him and a part of me will always be upset with how broken up over it he was, you did what was best for you and I respect that to the highest level."

"You raised an amazing son, Nancy. When Hayden moves on, he'll treat whomever he moves on with amazingly."

"Maybe you'll end up back together, Cal."

"I doubt it, but it's a hope I hold onto." Callie smiled small. "I do have to get back to work, but I hope you're doing so well, Nancy."

Callie excused herself to the bathroom and cried. She cried until she was throwing up in the bathroom. The pain in her heart and her stomach was too much to bare.

She didn't know how she made it past it, and sometimes it feels like she never did, but she lived through it.