Angel and Callie

[x-firestar.livejournal.com]

Callie, armed with bribes, comes to talk to Angel about what Julian said. Some air is cleared and then it is decided to have some non-drama fun.



Callie knew the quickest way to Angel's heart was through her stomach. And she was going to need to be on the pyro's good side if she didn't want to end up being whooshed up in flames. So she brought along a plate of fresh baked cookies. Hopefully this would at least keep Angel placated while Callie broached the difficult topic.

So she picked up the plate and out into the mansion to hopefully find her fellow redhead. Hopefully the cookies would still be warm by the time Callie found her.

Eventually, Callie located Angel in the tree house. She'd left the packed mansion with some books, her Nintendo DS and a couple of sodas and had headed to the tree house for some alone time. She paused in the middle of rooting around in her backpack for another game when the smell of cookies reached her.

Edging to the opening, Angel stuck her head through and soon found Callie walking her way. "I smell cookies. Do you have cookies? Or did you just bathe in the kitchen?"

"I feel like I just bathed in the kitchen," Callie called up, using her hand to shield her eyes from the bright sun and using the other to hold up the plate. "I thought you could use some cookies. Because I baked a bunch. Mind coming down? I don't think they'd survive a climb up a tree unfortunately."

"Anything to save the cookies!" In a flash, Angel had reversed herself and was coming out of the tree house at a faster rate than what was probably safe. But she'd been doing it for what felt like forever, so in a moment she was on her feet in front of Callie with only a bruised elbow to show for it.

Now that Angel was firmly on the ground Callie gave the girl her widest smile and held the fresh baked treats out to her. "These are for you," she said again. Not that Angel probably needed hearing it more than once, but it couldn't hurt.

With her powers, Angel couldn't tell if the cookies were still warm or not but she still liked the gooey chocolate. So she scooped one up and warmed it further with a flash before she dropped to sit on a gnarled root of the tree. Half the cookie disappeared before she looked up, patting the ground with her free hand.

"Giving cookies to everyone or are these Angel Special Cookies?"

There was no point lying. "Well the recipe made a bunch but I did make them especially for you." Callie wandered over near to where Angel was and lowered herself onto the ground a foot or so away. "Since nothing can remain a secret here very long I suppose you should know I did have an ulterior motive in making them for you."

"Well, I suppose since Ulterior Motive cookies still taste the same as regular cookies, I can't get too mad," Angel said as she snagged another one. "So, why the bribes?"

"Cause I don't like relying on the rumor mill to tell me what happened between you and Julian?" Well that and there were a couple of things Julian said that she really wanted to check out. "I'm not trying to mediate, believe me. If you want to hate him that's your choice, I'm just sick of hearing all the half-stories because you're both my friends. And I'm sorry if this makes me a meddler, but I can't help it. I'm curious. I've heard his side, and now I'd like to hear yours?"

For a moment, Angel concentrated on picking out chocolate chunks with her fingers, despite the slight mess she was making. "Thanks. For, you know, coming to me. I actually do appreciate it." She sighed. "Since you've heard his side, I'll give you mine but a slightly shortened version. I caught him kissing Esmee at the dance, I got angry. And yeah, I admit, I didn't want to hear him out but, seriously, he kissed her at prom! I had the right!"

She shook her head and stuffed the rest of the cooking into her mouth, eating it before going on. "Manny set us up on this awful date to have us work things out and it didn't work. We were both mad and the exchanges started to get worse. I left after he pretty much said that he should have taken Inez up on her offer of sex because I sure hadn't been putting out."

As Callie watched Angel pick out the chocolate chunks then inhale the cookie she found herself nodding along. Everything pretty much matched up with what Julian had told her, well except that it was painted with her view. Which was completely expected. "Yeah, I heard about prom." How could she not have? The whole school knew. "And the rest of the stuff really." She paused and picked at a blade of grass, her brow knit in concentration.

"I really hope I'm not overstepping some sort of boundary here, but did you happen to say anything about how his family doesn't love him as much as yours does?" Julian might kill her for asking, but then again he might not.

As Angel had gone from picking out chocolate pieces to plucking at grass, when Callie asked what she did, Angel squawked and clenched. She ended up with a handful of grass and clods of dirt as she stared at her friend. "I would never say anything like that!" she gasped, looking incredibly bewildered.

"Dude, I know I've got it good with my folks. And Julian's not the only one here with problems at home - I'd never say that to anyone!"

With a long sigh Callie stretched her arms over her head, trying to wrap her head around the whole situation. It was hard to understand what was going on. Everything was so confusing. "Maybe some things got lost in translation," she ventured with a shrug. "Sometimes what we hear isn't what was said."

She paused for a moment and looked at Angel. "No offense, but this whole situation sucks majorly. I'm not saying go run and make up with Julian because that's your business. He hurt you." She began to fidget with the grass she was touching, causing it to shrink back into the earth and then grow to a height of a few inches. "And I like both of you guys. So I'm not going to pick sides. And I don't know if this helps or whatever, but Julian knows that if he becomes one of those jerks who uses women and tosses them away when he's finished then I get to hurt him. He can be an ass, but not like that. Not if I can help it."

With a groan, Angel flopped down next to Callie and stretched out, staring at the tree limbs above them as they moved in the breeze that started up. "Thank you for, you know, not picking sides. I don't want to hurt him, Callie, I really don't. But he said some really awful things and now he's telling people that I..." She sighed and shook her head. "At least you came and asked, yeah? Most would just spread rumors and I really, really appreciate that."

"Julian has a classic case of 'Foot-in-the-mouth.' He doesn't really think before he speaks and usually comes to realize this after the fact which I guess is better than not realizing it." Callie shifted so that she was sitting beside Angel. "I know he didn't want to hurt you. And you didn't want to hurt him. And believe me when I say I had to pester him to get anything out. He's trying not to talk about it." She laid a hand on Angel's shoulder and managed to give her a smile. "I just hate seeing everyone like this. All the fighting and backstabbing. I mean I know it's high school, I'm not stupid, but I don't know. I wish we could all just, I don't know, not want to kill each other?"

It was stupid but Angel sniffled a little bit - she really was touched by the fact that Callie was trying so hard to learn what had really happened and stay friends with them both. "It's a small mutant school," she said after a moment, reaching up to squeeze Callie's hand. "I think the drama and everything else also have mutant powers, it's the only explanation, right?"

She sighed and shook her head. "Come on, I've got a headache. Want to finish eating these cookies and go do something fun, summer-y and completely lacking in drama?"

"Uh yes!" Callie's face lit up at the suggestion to avoid the drama. While she had had her fair share of it, it didn't mean that she enjoyed it at all. "What are your feelings about creating a massive slip-n-slide?"