Just as the months went by and Spring arrived, Julian and I grew closer. He would pick me up at home and then take me back after school. Alejandra was improving at school. Her grades were greater than usual except Spanish. Marcus and Tori were still dating. They were the number one couple at school after Kayra and her boy toy Francis. Don’t ask me why. She always had a guy with her. Mom and Tom were living their fairy tale story like two teenagers lost in love.
“Calli?” I heard a knock on my door. I kept my eyes focused on the wall in front of me. I had decided to dedicate my weekends to drawing on that wall. The mysterious hands were still there. I don’t remember why I drew them. “Calli, it’s me.
“Come in.” I placed my paint brush on the newspaper I had lying on the floor before turning around. Julian stood at my door with Ale and his hands inside his pocket. “Hey! What are you doing here?”
“I thought I’d stop by.” I smiled at him and turned my attention back to the wall. Julian’s footsteps were slow and gentle against the wooden floor of my room. “What are you drawing today?”
“Different locations in Miami. The ones I want to see.” I turned to see him sitting on my bed. “My wall doesn’t bite Julian.”
“Oh! I’m just giving you space. I know how much you love drawing.” I smiled at him.
“Always the gentleman.” He chuckled. I grabbed a pencil and threw it at him. “Let’s see if you can draw.”
“Compared to you, I can’t.” I rolled my eyes.
“Give it a try at least.” He rolled his eyes. I knew he was going to give in eventually. He always did.
We spent a few minutes on the wall as I finished painting Miami. Julian and I spent the afternoon with Alejandra. She was bored and considering her friends weren’t allowed in El Paso, Julian and I decided to keep her company. We all watched a Toy Story marathon thanks to Julian’s request. Alejandra got along with him but every time he left she would mention Austin was way better than him. I didn’t think the same or maybe that was my conscious talking.
Before you ask about the letter Austin sent, just a week before the day Julian came over I wrote my reply and sent it. I wasn’t sure if I was going to get an answer. I even attached my phone number in case he wanted to talk. I tried.
“Calli!” I snapped out of my daze and turned around to see Ale standing by the door with Tom. “Tom says he needs to talk.”
“Uh, I’ll go.” Julian was about to stand up but Tom stopped him.
“You can stay Julian. You’ve been part of Calli’s life since last year.” I nodded my head at Tom to thank him. Julian sat down beside me again waiting for Tom and Alejandra to come sit with us. They sat on the couch across from us. “Well, I don’t know how to say this. Uh, You know I’ve been dating your mom for a few months now and I was wondering if, maybe, if I could ask her to marry me.”
“Marry? As in you’ll be living with us?” He nodded at Alejandra. A big smile plastered on her face once she knew the answer. “Yes!”
“What do you say Calli?” I smiled at them.
“Yes! Yes!” I jumped off the couch to hug Tom. “Yes! Marry her please!”
“I will. As soon as I ask her.” I let go off Tom and turned to look at them. “We’re going to be a family.”
“A family? We’ll be a family!” Alejandra got even more excited hugging me tighter.
After having our moment, we helped Tom set everything up for the proposal. He wanted something nice yet simple. We helped him make dinner including Julian. We set the table before Julian and I ran to the supermarket to buy white lilies. My mom loved flowers especially those considering those were the ones my grandfather gave to her when Alejandra was born.
We went back home and helped Tom finish everything. Alejandra and I packed our bags to sleep over at Victoria’s. It was the only way Tom would be okay during the night. Even when Julian offered for me to stay at his house, in the guest room, he said no. I laughed when he suggested I stayed at Victoria’s. I missed staying there. Just an hour before mom got home, we said goodbye to our future stepfather as we were about to leave. We wished him good luck making sure he had everything.
“Hey girls!” I smiled when I saw Victoria open her door. “Come in! Welcome to La Casa de Victoria.”
“What did she say?” I looked down at Ale chuckling. She wasn’t that good at Spanish.
“She said Welcome to Victoria’s House.” My sister nodded as we followed Victoria to her room. Her parents were out but they let us stay anyways. We weren’t ones to make a mess around the house.
“What do you girls want to do?” I shrugged as I sat down on her bed.
“Can we watch a movie?” Tori and I exchanged looks with before looking at Ale.
“We can have a princess marathon.” The little girl in front of us began to cheer like a kid on Christmas Eve.
Throughout our Disney Princess marathon, we got to watch The Little Mermaid, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and The Beast. Alejandra fell asleep half way through Snow White. She had a long day. We had woken up early to clean the house like mom ordered us to and we helped Tom get everything ready. She was tired.
“So Tom will be asking your mom to marry him?” I nodded. I had just told Victoria about Tom wanting to ask mom to marry him.
“He should’ve asked her by now.” Tori and I smiled at the same time while laughing. “I hope she said yes.”
“She should say yes. She deserves it Calli.” I nodded. As I was about to answer, my phone began ringing. “Dios mio! Julian stop calling!”
“Shh.” I grabbed my phone from the desk in the corner. It was some weird number. I shrugged and slid my finger across the screen as I stepped out of Victoria’s bedroom.
“Hello?”
“Uh, hi Calli. It’s Austin.”
“Who?”
“Austin. Austin Mahone.”
“Austin?”
“Yes.”
“Oh.”
“You said to call you in the letter you sent?”
“I did?”
“It says that right here.”
“Oh. Hi.”
“Hi. How are you doing?”
“Fine, I guess. You?”
“I’m fine. I’m getting better every day.”
“That’s great.”
“Yeah. I haven’t forgotten about you though.”
“You haven’t?”
“Why would I want to?”
“Maybe you would like to go back to your old life?”
“Maybe I don’t want to.”
“Why not?”
“Everything was easier back when I was with you.”
“It wouldn’t be.”
“Why not?”
“You deserve your old life.”
“It feels weird being back. I feel like I don’t know anyone.”
“But you do. You know your mom, Alex, your friends.”
“You’re different from all of them.”
“I am. They’ve been in your life the longest. They know you better than I do. I only knew you for a short time and I,”
“It doesn’t matter. You know me better than all of these people. You know I’m scared of Jessica because of what happened. You know how I feel about you.”
“Please stop.”
“Why can’t you understand that I don’t want this so called old life back? I wish I could go back to Texas, to El Paso to be exact. Just to see you one more time.”
“We’re very different from each other Austin. You’re famous and I’m just old me.”
“You mean a lot to me.”
“I don’t. Go back to your old life Austin.”
“Listen to me Calli! You are what keeps me going right now. Just because you think you’re normal doesn’t mean I can’t like you.”
“You can’t like me! Just stop joking around with yourself Austin. Good night!”
I hung up. My mind couldn’t keep processing his words. It felt like being stabbed in the gut. What was I going to do?