Callie and Angel (Backdated)

[x-firestar.livejournal.com]

Angel finds Callie enjoying tea and quiet. The quiet doesn't last long.



Angel stretched her arms lazily over her head as she made her way across the grounds, a towel hanging around her neck and an over-sized t-shirt covering her bathing suit-clad body. With summer basically over, she wasn't going to get many more chances to go for a lazy swim - or a swim at all, really. She needed to take advantage of this. But a spot of pink was caught in her peripheral and she stopped and turned, calling, "Hey Callie!" as she headed over to where the girl was sitting.

She had been sitting on the back porch, lazily taking in one of those perfect late summer days, drinking a mug of tea, when the sound of her name reached her ears. Her heart jumped and began to race, and Callie could feel the muscles in her body tense in an unconscious fight or flight reaction. But Callie held her ground, reminding herself that she needed to try and interact with people, that she had chose this spot knowing that there was a high probability that someone would come along. She couldn't stay cooped up in her room forever, it wasn't healthy. So, with a steadying sip of tea, and a deep breath, Callie calmed herself down enough to turn her head in the direction of the voice that had called her eyes. She brought a hand up to shield her eyes from the sun, as she squinted to see the familiar figure in the distance.

"Uh, hi? Angel."

Whoops. Angel's expression was somewhere between a comical grimace and an apologetic smile as she stepped onto the porch, leaning against the railing. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you," she said sheepishly. "Ya all right? What's up?"

"Oh yeah." Callie forced a small smile, then let it fade and shook her head. "No. Not really." She clutched the mug tightly in both her hands and glanced down at the steam rising from the hot liquid inside, watching it curl up and drift away. It was easier to pay attention to the small things going on right before her; kept her centered and focused. "I'm just sitting here, drinking tea. Enjoying the day."

Angel slid down until she was sitting on the stairs and leaned back against the railing, positioning herself so she was looking at Callie. "It's a nice day," she agreed quietly, tilting her head just a bit. "What's wrong?"

The chloropath gave a small noncommittal shrug and took another long sip of her tea. "Just... you know." Shadows under her eyes from trouble sleeping, eyes still slightly red from crying, her mouth permanently set in a thin line all betrayed any notion that things were going well. Callie figured it would be easy to ascertain why she was currently out of sorts. "I'm taking this semester off. Maybe spring too.

"Apparently," her lip turned up in a half wry smile, "being kidnapped and turned into a weapon qualifies as a medical reason for suspending studies with no penalties. Even letting me keep my scholarships."

Ah. Angel had only briefly seen Callie during her stint as a mutate - and that had been when they were getting ready to change her and the others back. But she had seen Sarah, and she could imagine that Callie had been pretty much the same. "Time off is good. Get your head on straight, don't try to do too many things at once, right?" God, she was so far out of her element here it wasn't even funny. "Crazy freaking summer," she commented idly. Come on Angel, say something that -doesn't- sound entirely idiotic. Oh screw it. "All right, I'm not good at this and I'm not going to pretend I am, but ya know, if you need...an ear to talk into or a shoulder to lean on or...insert some other comfort cliche here...I mean, I'm here. Or you know, if you don't want to talk but need someone to drag you out and be social, I'm really good at that."

Callie set her mug down on the table, and rest her chin upon her hands, staring at her former classmate. She watched Angel for several moments, taking in the other girl as she was before her now, the nervous energy, the awkwardness that was radiating from her. Despite all this, it was obvious that her words were sincere- Angel really did want to help, she just didn't really know how.

"Thanks, Angel." Callie's smile was just as sincere, and awkward, as Angel's words. "I appreciate it. I'm working on the being social. I'm seeing one of the therapists the Professor knows."

Angel couldn't help but smile a bit at that. With everything that had happened lately, it was always goo to hear that someone was taking steps to take care of herself. "Good," she chirped happily. "Being social, seeing therapist, good. Hey, what're you doing right now? I mean, obviously you're drinking tea, stupid question alert, I know. But I know this really neat place in town that has awesome pancakes - and other really good food - and it's really, really not crowded because it's one of those hole-in-the-wall places that no one knows exists, but it's so good, and - breakfast on me?" It was less of a question and more of a 'I will not hesitate to frog march you to the car and push you in.' It never hurt to make sure someone was eating, right?

It was then that something broke inside Callie- she started giggling. She had known Angel long enough to recognize the tone of voice, and know that there was no way to escape when that tone came out. It had already been decided that breakfast was on the menu, and Callie was just going to have to deal with it. And something about this familiar feature of Angel made her laugh.

"Sure. That sounds like a good idea."

"Brilliant!" Angel cheered, jumping up and pumping her fists over her head in victory. She paused and looked down at her bare legs. "Uuuhhh...after I get pants. Meet you in the garage in five?"

"That's fine. It'll give me time to finish my tea."