Something in the Way You Move [O'J]

Part 14

Again...don't know what to call this chapter...

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Danny's POV

Fifteen minutes later I get out of the shower and change into my clothes. I mess up my hair quickly before walking out into the living room. Callie's sitting on the arm of the couch with her back to me. I can't tell what she's doing. I carefully sneak up behind her and I'm about to tickle her when she says, "Don't even try, Dan."

"How'd you know I was here?" I ask, letting my hands drop to my sides.

"I could see your reflection in the pages," she replies, showing me the glossy pages in a photo album. I nod and state casually, "Well, next time I'm sneaking up on you I'll have to make sure you're not looking at a photo album."

"I'll just carry one with me then to look at!" I laugh at the thought. She starts to protest, "I'm serio---" but I cut her off by tickling her and making her laugh. She tears herself away from me and runs away, laughing. I chase her around after giving her a few seconds head start. Within two minutes, I catch her and toss her over my shoulder in a fireman's hold. She wriggles and I tease, "Hey now, little worm, you stop your wriggling or I might just drop you!" I start bringing her back into the living room when I feel her put her hands very firmly in the small of my back and push off as hard as she possibly can. She slips from my grasp and I whip around and watch as she rolls over the island in the kitchen and drops to the floor. I hurry over to find her but she's...gone. And I know she didn't run off because I didn't see or hear her.... Before I have time to wonder what happened, the door bell rings. I walk over to the door and pull it open.

"Hey!" I greet Jessie. She looks stunning in a pair of black leggings and colorful shirt.

"Hey, Danny!" She comes inside and kisses my cheek. "Where's Callie?"

"Umm, funny story about that..." I say, closing the door behind her.

"She ran away?"

"What, no! She's just..." I look for the right word. "...vanished just before you got here."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we were playing a game and I caught her and was bringing her back into the living room from the kitchen in a fireman's hold and she pushed herself out of my grasp and did like a flip thing off the island and then poof! Gone."

"Bet I can find her first!" Jessie says after a moment, running into the kitchen. I hurry after her. We start flinging open cabinets and anything big enough to hide her, which is most of the stuff in the kitchen, seeing as she's so small. After five minutes or so, we find out she's not in the kitchen. We checked and double-checked anywhere big enough for her to hide! Jessie runs down the hall and into the guest room, where Callie had been staying, but by the time I get there, she's running out, having thrown open all the drawers and her closet. She then runs into the music room and I run into my room. About a minute later, I hear Jessie yell, "I told you I could find her first!" I run into the music room and see Jessie pointing at the piano bench. I frown and open the top of it. Instead of sheet music, tuners, capos, and other musical things, there is Callie, bent at extreme angles.

"How on earth did you fit in there?" I demand. "And where's all the stuff that was in there?"

"Well, my mom was a contortionist, so that's how I fit in it---I can be all contorted, too! And that stuff's in the piano itself," she tells me.

"Doesn't it hurt?"

"Not much hurts me anymore..." she lets her voice trails off as she pulls herself out of the piano bench. Jessie and I swap looks; it's so sad that someone so young could have gone through so much pain. Jessie must notice her flinching as she pulls herself out of the bench because she asks, "Callie, how are your bruises?"