Callie and Fred: Before Prom

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Before prom, Callie meets Fred and he whisks her off to dinner.



Callie glanced one last time in the mirror, searching for something to fix. Somehow, though, there was nothing she could find. Monet had done a wonderful job at making her look and feel like a princess. Her hair and makeup looked flawless, and as she stepped back to admire the dress, Callie had to admit that she looked good, probably the best she had ever looked. Now it was time to meet her date and hope that he agreed.

They had decided to meet in the lobby, and unlike her normal fashion Callie was late. She bustled through the halls as quickly as she could while maintaining her composure. A lady never rushes, but the last thing she wanted was to keep Fred waiting. She had been the one to ask him to prom after all. As she arrived at the stairs that led down to the first floor, Callie hoped that her tardiness hadn't made Fred believe that she stood him up. Her heart skipped a beat and a wide smile appeared on her face as she noticed her date at the bottom. She tightened her grip on the white rose she had cut from the grounds and turned into a boutonnière while her other hand held onto the railing as she hastened down the stairs.

"Sorry I'm late Fred," she called down. "It took longer than I expected to get ready."

Fred couldn't sweat. It was part of his mutation that his body temperature was always regulated internally. Though, currently, it felt like he was sweating bullets. He'd put on his best black dress slacks and shined his boots...at least twelve times since he'd woken up. He'd pulled out one of his favorite shirts, a heavy longsleeved shirt with a tux design imprinted on it, and had it dry cleaned the other day. He'd figured if he were going to prom, he'd go on his terms.

He'd spent the last few hours kicking himself for this decision. What if it pissed her off? What if she wanted traditional? What if-?

He caught her voice, and it pulled him out of his own nervous thoughts. He turned, a calm smile on his face, "It's alright, Cal. No ru-"

The smile on his face died, as did his sentence. He stared up muted, eyes wide, as Callie descended the stairs.

She caught that, the abrupt termination of his sentence. Something was wrong. Obviously he hated her dress, or her hair, or her makeup, or whatever. She should have gone with something else. Not this silly dress that showed off her back and made her look silly. She turned her head to toward him, a look of sheer panic in her eyes. "What's wr-ONG!" The last syllable of the word mixed with a shriek of surprise as Callie found herself losing her balance and slipping down the last few steps.

Fred reacted faster than he ever had in his life, and was under Callie before she could hit the ground. One of his hands was between her shoulders and the other right behind her knees as he compensated for the weight and she rolled back into his grip. He walked her slowly down to the bottom of the stairs, and set her down as gently as he could.

"N-nothin's wrong, Cal. You, uh..." Fred chuckled a little, but his eyes never left Callie's...

"Thank you."

'I can't believe I tripped in flats,' Callie thought as she straightened out her dress. 'He must think I'm a total loser.' She felt her face flush pinker as she bit her lip in discomfort.

"I know, it's ridiculous." She motioned to her dress. "I should go change."

"Callie..." Fred chuckled again, "I, uh...You're the most..." and sighed, "...I don't think I've ever seen anyone look more beautiful than you do right now. I, uh...I mean that," he finally managed to say. After a moment he realized what he said and winced a little as he turned away from Callie to cover his embarrassment. 'God, that sounded retarded...' he thought.

Her eyes met with his once more, a look of pure joy firmly on her face. Her face almost hurt from how hard she was smiling. He thought she looked good! And not just good but beautiful. "Really," she almost squeaked. "You really think so? You don't think it's too..." She sighed, she was being silly. This was Fred. She saw him every day. But tonight was different. It was prom.

"You look really good. I love your shirt. It's very you. I like it."

"uh, Thanks." Fred had composed himself quickly and turned back to Callie, "It was easier than a tux. Oh, and I..." He mulled through his pants pockets, regretting that he hadn't worn his jacket as well, and finally managed to extract a small black plastic bag, "I, uh, figured you wouldn't want a dead flower for a corsage, so I, uh...this is for you..." and handed the small parcel to Callie for inspection.

The expression on her face expressed the confusion as to what could be in the plastic bag that could be a corsage but wasn't a flower. As she pulled the origami flower out of the bag she let out a small gasp. "It's beautiful," she declared as she slid it onto her wrist and held it up for them both to admire. "I love it! Thank you Fred!" Her normal reaction would have been to hug him, but she was aware of the rose in her hand. Even though the pin wouldn't hurt Fred, it wasn't very polite, and knowing her she'd end up pricking herself and bleeding. Not very cool.

Oh that's right, the rose. Callie lowered one arm and raised the other as she showed Fred the flower she had picked. "I didn't make it really. I mean I helped it grow. But I cut it for you. Do you, um, want me to pin it? I warn you, I might stick you in the process. Not that it's a big deal for you but... yeah."

Fred smiled broadly at Callie, and moved closer so she could pin the flower to him, "Nah, I wouldn't worry about stickin me or, uh, or nothin..." His accent had gotten thicker since he'd seen Callie on the stairs. It happened when he got nervous...

She bit her lip hard in concentration as she fumbled with the pin and fastened the boutonnière onto Fred's shirt in the correct place. Thankfully she managed to complete her task without poking either of them. It was this small victory that allowed the tension in Callie's face to melt away and be replaced with a proud and ecstatic smile on her face once more. "There. All set!"

Fred gave Callie a quick nod, and looked down at the flower now pinned to him, "It looks great, Cal. Thanks!" He jerked a thumb towards the door, "You, uh, you hungry? I figured we'd go grab a bite to eat before the festivities started. I, uh, I arranged for some, uh, some transportation..."

Having been too busy to eat since breakfast, Callie was acutely aware of the hunger pains that were plaguing her stomach. So at the mention of food she instantly perked up and replied with, "Food sounds great! Um, did you have somewhere in mind? I guess lead the way?"

Fred grinned, "I can't rightly think of anywhere of the top of my head, but..." Fred moved over to the front door, where a large black limousine idled "...since it's Prom, I figured we'd stick with ah old tradition when it comes tah wheels..."

Callie's head was spinning as she glanced between the limo and her date. She was at a loss of words. It was completely unexpected and at the same time completely wonderful that he would do this. "Fred this is... this is amazing. You shouldn't have!" She turned back to face him. "You know you didn't have to do this right? I would have been more than okay with just grabbing a hamburger or something. I mean it's incredible... I just wasn't expecting it."

"You know I'm all for hamburgers Cal but...." Fred grinned as he opened the limo door for Callie, "I was thinking that new Italian place on the other side of Salem...You, uh, you mentioned you, uh, you liked authentic Italian, right...?" Fred looked a little nervous, hoping he'd remembered correctly...

"Thank you!" Callie lifted up the hem of her dress slid into the limo as gracefully as she could manage (though truthfully she was more worried about not hitting her head than looking graceful). "Well, I mean I love Italian food, generally speaking, so yeah. But only if you want to."

"Course I do!" Fred maneuvered as best he could into the limo, and closed the door behind him. He smiled and tapped twice on the glass that seperated the cab from the rest of the limo, and the pair were off...