“I brought wine,” Callie said, holding up the bottle as Alicia opened the door to her house. “You know, to make up for me just inviting myself around and everything…” She trailed off.
Her mind was still reeling from the events of the day before. She had been playing her encounter with Paul over and over in her mind since she’d woken up that morning and, finally, she hadn’t been able to bear holding it all inside any more. Als was always the person Callie turned to first when she wanted to talk. Callie had always thought of her more as an older sister than an aunt.
Laughing she held open the door to let Callie in. She figured if Callie was showing up without warning there was probably a reason more than a hello.
“Well, let me get some glasses and we can sit on the porch,” she offered as the dogs all angled to get pets from Callie. Alicia led the way to the kitchen where she paused long enough to grab two glasses, a block of cheese, some bread and a cutting board with a cheese knife.
Once they were outside, she turned to her niece. “I take it this isn’t just a ‘drop by for a glass of wine’ sort of visit?”
Callie had tried to give each of the dogs equal attention as she’d passed through the house and out onto the back porch but, as she flopped down into one of the chairs, she’d shooed them away with one last pat each, knowing they’d be her constant companions all night if she didn’t.
She sat forward a little, screwing the top off of the wine bottle and pouring equal measures into the glasses Alicia had sought out for them.
“It kind of is,” she replied with a little shrug, having no idea how to start saying what it was she actually wanted to say. “I mean, there is wine and I am just dropping by.”
She picked up her own glass and took a sip, putting the rest of the bottle aside.
“It feels like we haven’t really talked in ages, that’s all,” she continued, blinking innocently.
Smirking, she let Scuba curl up on her foot when Callie stopped petting them all. The others headed back inside up the stairs most likely finding Laura or off to bother Erik or Logan if they were home.
Taking a sip of her wine she nodded, she had a feeling there was more to it but wasn’t going to push it either.
“You didn’t end up stuck with one of those apples yesterday did you?” Alicia asked about the stupid apple that had put her and some others into a deep sleep.
Callie’s eyes widened over the top of her wine glass and she almost spluttered on the mouthful she’d just taken.
“Not me,” she replied slowly, lowering the glass but lifting her free hand to its pair clasped around it in her lap.
“Did you?”
Laughing softly at Callie's reaction she nodded. Alicia was lucky that the dogs were around and Erik read a lot and wasn't against waking her up.
"Don't worry, I was woken up pretty quickly, a housemate of mine happens to read a lot and figured it out," she laughed not adding much else to it.
“That’s good,” Callie sighed. She felt bad. She hadn’t even realised Alicia had been asleep. She’d been too busy with... other things. She was very glad someone had taken the initiative and woken her up nice and quickly.
“I had to wake someone up,” Callie ventured hesitantly. “I remembered what you said about the rose sleeping curse that happened before so I took a bit of a guess at what might break this one..”
She ran her tongue over her lip, remembering, then quickly took another sip of wine.
No one really knew that Alicia had been one of the apple victims. She hadn’t really told anyone given she’d been lucky that Erik had been there.
“You did, did you?” Alicia asked with a curious smirk. “And how did that go?” She asked wondering if this would lead to whatever had Callie showing up today.
Callie could feel her cheeks colouring, her heart picking up its pace, as she thought back on how it had all played out. She found she couldn’t meet Alicia’s eye so instead she looked down into her wine glass, trying to keep the smile on her lips from taking over her whole face.
“Well, it, erm, worked.”
She desperately wanted to tell Alicia everything but she didn’t know how. This was all so new to her.
“Do you remember I told you about the guy who kissed me at the Solstice Party? With the all-blue eyes?”
Taking a slow sip of her wine to stop herself from smiling too much she nodded as she gained her composure.
“I’m glad it worked, seems like it might have really worked?” Alicia asked. “The dreamy blue eyes?” She followed up with getting an idea of where this might be going. She wasn’t going to push, but she was going to at least keep asking questions.
Callie’s smile widened and she chanced a glance up at her aunt.
“The intense blue eyes,” she said breathily, feeling a little shiver as she pictured them.
“He’s called Paul. We’ve seen each other a few times since the party - we had dinner on the cruise - and we were supposed to be having coffee yesterday morning so, when he didn’t show up, I was worried…” She paused but not for long. It seemed easier to talk when she was in the flow, without trying to think too much about what she was saying.
“Charlie Montgomery let me into their house and his room was locked so I kind of broke in and he was just, like, unconscious on the bed with the apple on the floor. I remembered what you said about the kissing last time so I kissed him and he woke up! Then he told me that he’d known I was coming for him. He can kind of see things, like the future, but he’s never been able to see anything about me before so I asked him what that meant and…” She took a deep, shuddering breath. “He said it meant that there is more for us, that I wasn’t just a blip in his life anymore.” She still felt tingly when she thought about his words. “And, well, then we kind of had sex…”
Callie squeaked, pulled her knees up in front of her and buried her face in them to hide the red flush of her cheeks. She couldn’t believe she’d just said it, out loud. She couldn’t believe it had actually happened! Her stomach did happy flip-flops at the memory.
Luckily Alicia hadn't just taken a sip of her wine when the last words came out of her niece's mouth. She figured it was something big, but she wasn't sure she was ready to hear that. She had nodded a lot as Callie had talked, and she really wanted to know who this bloke thought he was to say she wasn't a blip in his life.
"Was it good?" Alicia asked after a moment. "First times can be a little awkward sometimes." She didn't add that even with new partners, it wasn't always perfect. "And if he doesn't treat you well..." The warning had to be in there, she wouldn't be Alicia if she didn't add a bit of warning.
Callie nodded into her jeans. It had been fantastic. Incredible.
She wrapped her arms around her legs, holding the wine glass in front, and peeked out from behind her knees, trying to read the expression on Alicia’s face.
“I felt awkward but he was…” She grinned and bit her lip. “It was really good.”
She lifted her chin over the top of her knees and took a gulp of her wine.
“He’s…” she began to say but stopped again, not sure of what thought it was she wanted to voice.
“He’s like no one I’ve ever met before,” she sighed. “His world is so different to ours. He’s really intense and… kind of entrancing.” She gave a grimace. She sounded so cheesy.
"Course you felt awkward, it's normal to feel awkward the first time, hell, even the 10th time, it's okay to feel awkward." Shrugging as if it really wasn't a big deal, it wasn't. She knew that. Hell, she'd been nervous with every new partner the first time. Her mind started to wander for a second, but she quickly brought it back to the moment.
"I'm really happy it was a good experience," if it weren't Alicia would most likely be grabbing one of her siblings and doing something about it.
"Intense and entrancing, I hope kind is somewhere in the way he is too," Alicia had to do an Aunt moment. "What's his world like?"
Callie smiled, appreciative of Alicia’s reassurance.
“I think he is kind,” she replied, remembering the way he’d offered to let her have his coffee the day they’d properly met. “He’s just kind of different too.”
“He comes from a desert planet,” she explained, “and… he’s the Emperor. Not just of the planet but of the universe, or a big part of it, at least. And... he’s also his people’s Messiah.” Again, she bit her lip. “So, yeah, kind of different.”
“He said he’s never had the chance to just be himself in his own world, he’s always had to be what other people wanted him to be, but now, here, he can just be Paul.” The lover.
“Seems we get all sorts here,” Ask Alicia three years ago everything Callie just said would sound insane to her, ask her now and she’d say another person in Atlantis. The different kinds of people, the different responsibilities people had in their homeworlds always did amaze her but the surprise of it had worn off.
“I don’t care if he’s the savour of all of us if he doesn’t treat you well…” She warned but smiled. “What matters is that he’s good to you and you like him.”
“Different isn’t bad, actually it usually makes things more exciting and interesting,” she admitted. If she thought about the blokes she’d either dated or had moments with in Atlantis, they were all very different. Except maybe Flint. But even he had his moments.
“Right?!” Callie agreed fervently, letting her legs fall back down as she sat up straight again. “The boys at school, even the other boys here, they’ve never made me feel the way I do when I’m with him.” She took a deep breath. “I mean, when I’m with him, I feel completely giddy. It’s crazy!”
She stopped, a thought dawning on her.
“You know, I’m actually starting to understand why my mum couldn’t resist the pull of my dad. It’s like, I know he’s not the safe option.” The safe option was someone happy and kind and uncomplicated, like Flounder. “But just being with him makes me feel completely alive.”
“I don’t think he’d treat me badly,” she added quickly, trying to reassure Als and minimise the risk of her enlisting Rocco to go try and break some Atreides kneecaps. “But I don’t have a clue where this is going either. It feels like…” She tried to think of a suitable analogy. “Disapparating but not knowing where you’re going to end up.”
Callie stopped, pressing her lips together in an embarrassed smile.
“I’m not really selling this to you, am I?”
It was adorable to see Callie so smitten. Alicia opted not to use the word, but it was cute. She figured that was how it was supposed to be, especially the first time with someone.
Alicia laughed softly knowing if this bloke was anything like Trent there would be a problem, but she didn't think that was the sort of person Callie would go for. "Well, your Mum found a better guy here, a bit of a grump and horrible at stringing a sentence together but at least seems to be good." It was bizarre that Alicia and Elle had managed to find an actual sisterly relationship.
"That's sort of what relationships are like sometimes, the unknown but the rush of something and the odd security all in one." Alicia shrugged, hell she didn't have a clue where her own love life was going.
"You aren't not selling it either," she offered.
Callie heard that word, ‘security’, and immediately felt a cold finger of doubt at the back of her neck. Her thing with Paul didn’t make her feel secure at all. The opposite, in fact. There was the matter of the mother of his child which played on her mind, not to mention the fact that he had a destiny to go back to. She couldn’t help feeling like it was all a bit finite. Still, she didn’t want to share that particular concern with Alicia just at that moment. Despite the insecurity she felt, she really liked Paul and she didn’t want her family to be worried about her for however long their thing continued.
“Tommy’s adorable,” she said instead, grasping hold of Alicia’s comment about Elle’s new man. “Mum says it’s not serious or anything but I totally ship it.”
When she’d first met Tommy, she’d wondered whether it would be weird: to see her mum interested in someone that wasn’t her dad. Although she didn’t really remember them being together, she’d always liked to believe that they’d been some inseparable, romantic duo. It had been easier to rationalise everything that had happened that way. Still, it had been surprisingly easy to get 100% on board with the non-committal thing her mum had with Tommy. She could see that it made her happy and she liked that.
“What about you?” she asked after a moment, giving Alicia a raised-eyebrows look as she sipped from her wine glass. “Is there anyone I should know about? This phantom roommate-kisser, perhaps?”
Alicia watched her niece carefully and wondered if there was more to it but decided not to push it, and she also had to remind herself that the first one has that strange pull of insecurity, and she supposed if she were honest about it, she was speaking about herself at that moment.
"He's something," Alicia wouldn't go as far as to say the bloke was adorable. "Well, he is when he is a bear," she countered almost to herself. "But I think he's good for Elle, so, I ship it too," not a word she usually used but went with it.
Laughing, she sighed. "Let's just say working it out." Whatever was going on with her and Erik, she wasn't even sure sometimes what it was. The only thing she did know for sure was that she had really strong emotions when he crossed her mind. "And, I promise when I have a better clue, I'll let you know." The truth was, was that seeing him when she woke up, well, she rather liked it, a lot.
“I’ll let you bring the wine for that conversation,” Callie replied with a grin. Now she had to know more, even if she did have to wait for it.
“Thanks, though,” she added, her tone and face becoming more serious again. “For letting me talk to you about this stuff. I really needed to tell someone - it’s been driving me mad all day.”
"Deal," although Alicia didn't have a clue when that might be. Roger barely got anything out of Alicia on the subject.
Smiling, she nodded. "Always, just remember to be safe, and if he does do something to hurt you..." She grinned playfully. "Well, you are a Spinnet!"