The Final Choice

40 Colby's POV

When we finally made it to the swimsuit area, Callie was tensing up. I could feel it in her shoulders. "You're okay," I whispered, before I kissed the top of her head. I knew that I shouldn't be acting like her damn boyfriend, but I couldn't seem to help it. 

It had always been like this for us. It used to be just a really good friendship. Best friends. We had blurred the line somewhere along the lines, and never really knew how to go back to 'just friends.' We both knew it, but it wasn't something that we ever talked about. I knew that she thought it was too dangerous, because we lived so far apart. I didn't know if I would ever stop trying to find a way around that though. 

She sighed and leaned into my side. "I'm okay. I'm just already overwhelmed. Look at all of them," she hissed, motioning to all of the different suits. "Are there even any that have an entire ass to them? I'm not wearing something that has my ass hanging out, Colby! I know it's the 'norm' now, but it's not me. I can't."

I swallowed the chuckle that wanted to erupt and led her to a rack that I thought might be more up her aisle than the tiny bikinis that left practically nothing to the imagination. Not saying that I hadn't admired those bikinis on other women, but Callie wasn't gonna go for it, and I respected that. 

"Let's check here. There are several different kinds and I think they have most of the ass, at least. What are you looking for? A one piece, or...?" I trailed off, looking at her expectantly, with my hand on the rack.

She chewed her bottom lip, looking at the suits with indecision and maybe a little fear. "Um, a tankini is what I usually wear," she murmured, reaching towards the rack connected to the one I was on. "Okay, so let's start there. Just pull off any that you like. Do you want me to pull off any that I think you might like, or you want to do it yourself?" I asked. She kept her eyes down on the suits, but I saw her cheeks flush. She was so innocent and I found it fucking adorable. 

"You can help," she whispered, pulling a black top off of her rack. It was cute, low-cut, with a strap to go around the neck. No decorations or anything, but it would look good on her. I actually had to look away and clear my throat, when the image of her actually in it popped into my mind. 

I turned my attention to the suits in front of me, instead of commenting on it, and started looking through the suits. I found three tops. One blue, one pink, and one yellow, before I started looking for the bottoms to match. Some guys might've been embarrassed to do this kind of thing, but I didn't really think about it. Why? It was just clothes. 

Besides, I had learned how to put together pretty good outfits, in my opinion. My own fashion was something that I took pride in, and enjoyed. 

Finding the bottoms that had a complete ass was an unsuccessful mission, so I settled for the ones that had the most coverage that I could fine. They weren't thongs, but they weren't full coverage either. They would have to work, unless she wanted shorts instead. I should probably suggest that...

"Okay, I guess I'm going to try them on now," she said, quietly, appearing beside me. I looked at the couple of suits she had in her arms, then back to my three. I nodded and passed my choices to her. "Alright," I replied, with an encouraging smile. "Take your time. Remember that I'm here, if you want...any help choosing." 

I waggled my eyebrows at her, goofily, to make her smile. Mission accomplished. She cracked a grin and rolled her eyes, like she loved to do. "Yeah, you wish," she retorted, as she walked towards the dressing room. "Yes, I do," I sighed, as I watched her hips sway. 

I took a seat in one of the open chairs, next to the dressing room and pulled out my phone. I had missed a couple of texts from Sam, and a couple of other people, so I took the time to text them before I opened Sam's. I had to actually pay attention to his texts, so I saved them for last. 

"Hey man, I kind of need to talk to you. I hate to mess up your reunion with Callie, but something happened and I just need to someone to talk too. It's important. You don't have to call. This needs to be in person, I think."

"What the fuck?" I muttered to myself, earning a stern glance from an older lady sitting in the chair next to me. "Oops, sorry," I said, sending her a smile. Her eyes widened, before a hesitant smile formed on her lips, and her cheeks flushed. She nodded at me, and went back to her own phone. 

"Are you okay? Do I need to come home now? What's up, Sam? I'm worried now." I hit send on the text, then tapped my fingers against my thigh, while I waited for him to hit me back. I opened the text as soon as my phone dinged. "No, brother, you're good. I'm okay. Physically, anyway. I broke up with Katrina and I'm kind of freaking out, but I'm okay. I'm not even home, right now. Probably won't be for a while. I'm actually over at Kat's friend's house, trying to...I don't know, really. Don't worry about me, though. I'll be okay. We can talk later, when I'm home. Love you, man." 

No way! He actually broke up with Kat?! That was almost impossible for me to comprehend. I mean, he had talked to me about it a few times, but I never actually thought he would do it. He loved her too much. It had to be tearing them both apart, because I knew that Kat was just as deeply in love with him. What the hell was going on?!

"Um, Colby?" I heard a soft voice say. I looked up from my phone to see Callie sticking her head around the corner of the entrance to the dressing rooms. "Can you come...help me?" she whispered, earnestly. I furrowed my brow, but got up and started walking over to her. "Yeah, of course. What's up?" I asked, rounding the corner to find her standing in one of the tops and her shorts. 

Something about the top didn't look quite right though. "This is so stupid and I can't believe that I actually have to get your help, but I can't figure out these straps to save my life. I tangled one in the back and now I can't even get the damn thing off. Help me!" she whispered, frantically, with her cheeks flushing bright red. 

"Okay, no problem," I replied, folding my lips inside my mouth to keep from laughing. She looked so frantic and tortured over this dumb suit. I couldn't help it! 

I followed her into the dressing room and turned to lock the door. When I turned back towards her, her back was to me, giving me access to the tangled straps. We were facing the mirror though, so I could see her chewing her lip, hesitantly. "Why does this thing even have this many straps?" I muttered, as I started pulling at them. "I don't know, and I don't know why I even thought I would be able to wear something like this," she groaned, in embarrassment. "You can wear whatever you want. They shouldn't make clothes this complicated though," I replied, still working with the straps. 

I sighed and placed my hands on her bare shoulders. "Cal, I'm gonna need to unhook it from around your neck to even get started on untangling it. Is that okay?" She looked up, meeting my gaze in the mirror, before nodding, slowly. 

"Okay," I murmured, practically needing to tear my eyes away from hers. I couldn't stop myself from letting my fingers trail over her skin, as I moved her hair out of the way. It had fallen down her back, when she nodded. 

She didn't have any tan lines, or imperfections on her back. Just smooth, porcelain skin that my fingers literally ached to caress. The thin crisscrossed straps that slid across only made it more enticing. 

I took a deep breath and locked onto the task at hand. My fingers moved up to the hook that was keeping the main strap connected around her neck. I stopped for just a second, when I saw movement. I looked up at the mirror and saw that she had brought both hands up to cup her breasts, holding the suit in place. 

"Control yourself, Colby. You're not that teenage boy anymore, and she's not the same girl," I told myself, inside my head.

My subconscious spoke up, disagreeing with me. "Aren't you, though?" it asked. "You're older, but still essentially the same people." I ignored the voice and focused on the thin straps of fabric that were in my hands. 

I unhooked the straps quickly, then went to work, pulling and tugging on the rest. It only took a couple of minutes to untangle after that. It still wasn't positioned in the correct way for her to wear it, but it was enough to where she could take it off. "Thanks," she said, softly, turning around to face me. 

All of a sudden, the small dressing room seemed a helluva lot smaller. Callie was less than six inches away, looking up at me, while she held her top up. "You're welcome," I murmured, licking my bottom lip. Did it just get hot? Was there a fire? Because it was definitely hot and something was sucking up all the oxygen in the tiny space.