The Final Choice

45 Colby

I climbed out of the pool, and turned to help Callie out. I saw her making her way to the shallow end stairs, instead, so I jogged around to meet her. "I would've helped you out," I smirked, as I held out my hand to her. 

She blushed a little and smiled, before sliding her hand into mine, like it was the most natural thing in the world. "I feel better using the steps," she murmured, looking around, before reaching down and grabbing my black tank top off the concrete. 

She dropped my hand and slid it over her head, quickly, like she was hiding from me. Which I knew was exactly what she was doing. Every time she did something like that, I wanted to cuss out her family and to kill Will. Every damn time. 

I swallowed down the flash of anger and took her hand again. "Let me grab us a couple of towels," I said, pulling her over to the grill area. In bottom of the cabinet that held the cups, there were a stack of fresh, fluffy gray blue towels. I grabbed two of them and passed one to her.

She returned my smile and started drying off. I watched her drag the towel over her legs and wanted to follow the trail with my tongue. Jesus, Colby, stop it! I cleared my throat and started drying off myself. 

When we were both relatively dry, I wrapped my towel around my waist. When I looked back over to her, she was a few feet away, wrapped in her own towel, picking up her purse and dropping her cigarettes in them. She took out her phone, looked at it and frowned. 

I bet I could guess why. Fucking Will. I walked to the sliding glass door and waited for her to join me. "What's wrong?" I asked, reaching out for her hand again. She took it, but I could tell she was distracted, as she worried her bottom lip with her teeth. "Huh? Oh, um, nothing. I have a bill due that I forgot about," she lied. 

She wasn't a good liar. Her cheeks flushing and the way she averted her eyes were a dead giveaway that she wasn't telling the truth. I decided that I could let her change and get comfortable, before pushing the subject. 

We both went to our separate rooms to change, with me finishing before her. I just threw on the same cut off and joggers that I had on earlier. I walked to the room next to mine and rapped my knuckles on the door. "Cal? Is it safe to come in?" I called out. I heard low, harsh murmuring, but couldn't make out what she was saying. She definitely wasn't talking to me. 

"Cal?" I called out again. "Just a sec," she replied, with a shaky voice. I clenched my jaw and held back from just opening the door. I knew she was talking to Will and he was probably being a dick, upsetting her about something. 

Another minute later, the knob turned and she opened the door. The light that had been in her eyes earlier had dimmed, and her mouth was drooping at the corners. "Cal," I whispered, holding my arms out to her. 

Her shoulders slumped and she fell into my open arms. I wrapped them around her shoulders and brought her close, tangling one hand in her loose, wet hair. "I'll kill him for you," I murmured, in a soothing voice. Yes, I know that's contradicting, but it seemed like the right thing to say, because she let out a troubled giggle. 

She squeezed her arms around my waist, and held on a little tighter. We stayed there, at the door, just hugging each other for a few moments, before she pulled back a little to look up at me. Her eyes were shining with unshed tears again. This was only her second day here and she had already cried a couple of times. 

It was starting to give me a complex, even though, rationally, I knew it wasn't because of me. 

I reached up and stroked her cheek with my thumb. As soon as I did, a tear escaped, so I wiped it away. "Tell me what's wrong," I urged her. She was out of her bathing suit, wearing a baggy yellow shirt, with the words 'It's always Halloween in my soul.' She had the same pair of jean shorts with the ragged hem on from earlier. She was fucking perfect.

"It's nothing, Colby. The same shit that I always have to deal with," she sighed, heavily, pulling away from me, to go sit on the foot of her bed. I followed her and sat down beside her, taking her hand again. "Will?" I blurted out, before I could stop myself. Her eyes widened with the malice in my tone, and she nodded. "What's he doing now?" I asked, gritting my teeth. 

"Just talking shit. Like he always does. He knows that I'm not staying at the hotel, because Ben told him. He knows that I'm staying with you guys. It wasn't a secret and Ben thought he was just talking to the man that is supposed to be his father. He went over to get help changing his oil, and Will asked him if I was having fun on my vacation. So, Ben was just telling him about it. He thinks its cool that I'm staying here with 'famous' YouTubers...Will definitely doesn't."

My grip tightened on her hand subconsciously, so I loosened it before I hurt her. "Who cares what he things, Callie? You've got to stop letting him make you feel like you're doing something wrong all the time! He has nothing to do with your life anymore and hasn't for a while. Thank God for that," I replied, stonily. 

"I know that, Colby," she snapped, with fire sparking in her eyes. I almost smiled, when she clenched the hand I wasn't holding into a fist. "I know! That doesn't make it any easier, just because of who I am! Who HE turned me into! I don't know how to not be that person! He knows the exact words to say, and what to do, just to torture me. To make me hurt, to manipulate me and my son. I don't know how to deal with it, or what to do about it. When he found out that I was staying with you, he proceeded to tell MY SON that he always knew I would go crazy when we broke up. Ben told me that he said 'your mom is probably turning into a bit of a slut. You should talk to her.'" 

She turned her face to me, her eyes flashing, fire swirling in them. "WHO THE FUCK SAYS THAT TO THEIR SON ABOUT THEIR MOTHER? Now, he has Ben thinking that I'm going crazy in Vegas, sleeping around, getting drunk, doing drugs, and all kinds of other shit. If he's telling Ben this, then he's definitely spreading it to everyone he knows, as well." She sighed heavily, all the anger draining from her, leaving only defeat in its wake. 

That was okay, because it flowed right into me. I was boiling mad, doing everything I could not to just jump up and punch a fucking wall, while I imagined it was his rat looking face! I gritted my teeth and clenched my jaw, calming myself a little before I spoke again. 

"Who fucking cares?" I replied, noting that my voice was still very hard and filled with anger. It was the best I was gonna get right then. At least, I wasn't screaming my words. The people that believe him, don't fucking know you! Does Ben believe him? Like, really believe him, Callie?" I asked, praying that he didn't. 

I didn't think he would really think that about his mom, because he knew her better than anyone, even me. She looked up, meeting my furious gaze, with her sad one, and shook her head, slightly. "No," she whispered, as she bit her bottom lip. "Not really. He said that he just wanted to let me know what he said and to make sure that I was okay. But, it's still not fair that Will would even put those hateful thoughts in his head. He's a kid! He's MY kid!" 

I wrapped my arm around her and drew her close to my side. Her signature fruity scent floated around me, reminding me of days gone by. Here we were again, me taking care of her because Will had hurt her so badly. He was going to get what was coming to him one day. 

"Do you want me to text Will? Or call him?" I asked, wanting her to say yes. She shook her head and lay her head back on my shoulder, looking up at me. "No. Not right now. I just want to forget it right now. I've talked to Ben, so that's fine. I have a million texts from Will that I just don't want to deal with, so I'm not. I don't want to talk about it anymore. Let's just talk about something else, please," she begged me. 

So, I complied. "Okay. Ready to talk about us? And what this thing is that we're doing?" I asked, since it was the second thing on my mind, right after wanting to kill Will. Her eyebrows shot up, almost reaching her hairline, making me hold back a chuckle. Guess she wasn't expecting that. 

"Oh, um, okay? I guess that would effectively distract me from this other bullshit," she said, wryly with a small smile. "In here? Or do you want to go somewhere else? We can go to my room, if you want," I replied. She swallowed hard, flames of a different kind dancing along those green orbs of hers, and I felt my own need rise again. "Yeah, your room is fine," she croaked out, then cleared her throat. 

 I smirked, unable to help myself.