A Sugar Summer

Chapter 7

The silence seemed to stretch on as Callie nervously glanced at a straight faced Fallon. The blond girl had been quiet for a few minutes, eyes cast to the ground as she crossed and uncrossed her arms repeatedly. When she finally lifted her hazel eyes to meet Callie's light blue ones, the storm of emotions brewing behind her eyes surprised Callie. 

"That bastard." Fallon gritted out as she rung her towel. 

Callie blew out a breath she didn't know she was holding. "Yeah well, he definitely wasn't the person I thought he was." Callie sighed, suddenly feeling exhausted. 

Fallon tossed her towel over her shoulder as she collected her clothes. Callie followed suit and hopped off the counter. 

"Okay, " Fallon cleared her throat. "Okay, but let me just get this straight." Fallon trailed off cautiously as she peeked at Callie. The two girls walked slowly back to their cabin in the dark with only the sounds of the crickets accompanying them. 

Callie nodded to Fallon for her to continue as she focused on the ground to keep from tripping. 

"Um, so if you know Eric is a mega asshat then why are you still, um, listening to him?" Fallon asked softly. She wasn't sure where the boundary line was with her new friend. 

Callie slowed to a stop as her head whipped to Fallon. Even in the dark, she could see the wavering confidence on the blond's face. 

"What?" Callie breathed as she tried to think of where this conversation was going. Fallon stepped closer to her cabin mate and fought the habit to grab her hand. 

"What I mean," she chose her words thoughtfully as she studied Callie's confused, borderline hurt expression, "is that Eric fed you all these things about your brother seemingly abandoning you but we know these things are not true. Callie, I don't know Ryleigh that well but anyone can see he really cares for you."

"I know he does." Callie admitted as she stared past Fallon down the path. 

"So, why the reluctance to talk to Anika?" at being called out, Callie's head hung as she thought about the day's events. After contemplating for a few seconds, Callie took Fallon's fidgeting hand in her own and gave a friendly squeeze letting her know she wasn't upset. 

"Rye hasn't asked me about what happened last summer. I thought he would. You know? He's always so protective, but he hasn't said a word." Callie sighed. "I don't know what he thinks anymore. So maybe I've been taking it out on Anika. Even after Eric, I guess I felt like Rye was too focused on her to ask me about the things he used to ask." Callie's voice died as she exposed her last thought. 

"Callie," Fallon offered a small smile. "I'm not going to make excuses for him but maybe he felt like you would be the one to break the ice. If you and Eric were together for a while, than maybe he thinks you don't want to talk about what happened. That maybe it's, well a sore spot for you and he's afraid to unleash something that you don't want to."

Callie studied the blond girl's honest eyes before she tugged on her hand to start walking again. 

"I guess I never thought about that. He's always been the one to pry when he can tell something is off."

"Well maybe he doesn't know how to read you anymore either." Fallon added quietly and continued after she felt the weight of a gaze on her face. "It's okay for the both of you to change. People change all the time, Callie. It's what happens as we get older, but it's up to you on how you react." Fallon squeezed her fingers between hers as they broke away and climbed up the two steps into the cabin. 

Fallon left Callie to her own thoughts as they finished getting ready for bed. Even after Callie heard her cabin mate's breath even out, she kept thinking about the words that were spoken to her.