The Other Roommate

7 - Where's Your Heart, Calista Odette?

There was a sense of emptiness every time Alex showed up for work after Callie switched schedules. But that night, she went to work smiling to herself after replaying her roommate's beautiful smile over and over in her head. It was Callie’s day off and Felicity wouldn’t be able to use her roommate for her games.

She still didn’t know what it was but she was almost positive Felicity was up to something.

Then again, she’d just grown to doubt everything her ex-girlfriend did.

"Rivera. Burk." Mason walked into the bar and in an instant, two pairs of eyes were on him.

Alex was polishing little shot glasses while Randy was finishing up his shift, wiping down on the bar. He took over whenever Callie was on her day off and his would be the day before hers.

"I need to talk to you two." Mason stated, waving his employees to come close. "So, Randy has to attend his mother's birthday tomorrow." He began, slapping a hand on his shoulder.

"Okay. So, what's the problem?" Alex asked, tossing the rag between her hands. "It's a Wednesday tomorrow, I'll be fine. He can come to work late or leave early. It doesn’t matter."

"There's no problem." Mason assured her and if the playful grin on his lips was any indication, he had some good news but Alex was intimidated by it. "It's just that he doesn't want to completely skip work tomorrow."

"I was thinking Callie could cover for me and I'll cover for her. So, tomorrow, I’ll still come to work at ten and she can come at six." Randy proposed, trepidation hindering his words from coming out audibly.

But Randy didn’t have anything to worry about. As soon as she caught on, the corners of Alex’s lips steadily tugged upwards. She glanced at her boss, finding his wide, unrestrained grin. He just knew just how Alex would love to work with Callie again.

"And since she’s not here and you both live with each other, I am asking you to tell her when you get home tonight.” Mason said. “If it's not a problem with you."

"Oh, no. No." Alex shook her head. "It’s no problem at all."

She felt as if she could jump as high as the clouds with the joy she was feeling. She was exhilarated, elated even. She could spend the whole eight to nine hours of their shift watching her roommate again.

It was perfect the perfect set-up.

“Great.” Mason nodded. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Randy. And thanks, Alex.”

“Yeah.”

She was too caught up in her thoughts that she didn’t notice Mason had gone back to his office and Randy went back to his cleaning. She just stood there, wringing the small rag in her hands, a wistful look in her eyes.

"Hello, Alex." Felicity suddenly appeared, taking advantage of Alex’s distracted thoughts. "How are you?"

In an instant, Alex's grin vanished. Where there was bright blue skies and sunny days at the thought of Callie, Felicity covered it all with a thick sheet of dark clouds. Without acknowledging her, Alex sauntered back to the glasses she was polishing. To her dismay, the stubborn woman followed her to the other side of the bar and stood right in front of her.

"Alex, listen to me." Felicity reached over and tried to grab Alex’s wrist. "We have to talk. I can’t ask you how you’re day is going now? I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. You never talked to me."

Alex huffed in frustration, throwing the rag onto the tray of red wine glasses and perched her hands on her waist. She c****d her head slightly and forced a fake smile for the patrons who might see. Apparently, her desperation was forcing Felicity to forget about decorum in the work place.

Not that she was worried about it when she was flaunting her fake relationship with Callie.

"You know, Felicity, my day was going really, really great until the clouds decided to spit you out and cursed me with you."

"It's just funny how fast you moved on.” Felicity jibed, affronted. She tried her best to conceal the hurt she was feeling, cutting through her chest. That was the woman she’d fallen madly in love with and she couldn’t even look her in the eyes. “It's nice to know you loved me."

"And you loved me?" Alex scoffed. She could sense her blood boil and it was going to melt her façade.

"Yes, Alex!" Felicity insisted, her loud voice was muffled by the blaring music streaming through speakers all over the club. "I did and I still do!" She pounded her index finger against the middle of her chest. “Why is that hard to understand?”

"Cool, then." Alex mocked, nodding aimlessly as she protruded her lower lip, pretending to think things over. "It's nicer to know you loved me so damn much, you just f*****g had to share it with someone else. Does this mean your love was overflowing, you thought I couldn't handle it all?"

“That’s not—”

"You threw me off the damn boat, Felicity! You cheated on me when all I ever was to you was faithful. Even if my friends don’t like. Even if you’ve been too possessive to share me with them." She leaned into the bar, standing on her toes so she could be much closer to her ex. Her eyes filled with rage, her heart remembered the pain it had endured over a month ago. She could feel the prickle of tears and she was quick to blink them away. "I did not voluntarily dive out into the open f*****g ocean and just land in Callie's arms. You kicked me off and welcomed Marvin with open legs! You disgust me!"

"You son of a bitch."

Alex snickered, shaking her head, disappointed. She was finding the whole situation pathetic. She found her ex pathetic and all that mattered to her at the moment was protecting herself. Felicity wasn’t the woman she fell in love with that she almost doubted she was talking to the same person.

Where had that sweet, thoughtful woman go?

"Technically, I'm not a son. I’m a woman. You’ve seen me naked." She taunted as she took a step back, observing the disheveled Felicia Mead. "And my mother's a very lovely woman, mind you. No one would dare call her such demeaning words." She narrowed her eyes as she slowly said the last sentence, as if showing remorse.

“Wh—”

"You should have just went with 'you're a b***h, Alex.'" She made an exaggerated frown on her face, mocking her ex. "You would have been spot on, honey. I mean, I wasn’t until you cheated." She taunted as she took a step back, observing the disheveled Felicity Mead.

Felicity balled her fists, clenching it tight. She stomped her way out of the front of the house and went to the back, finally getting ready to go home.

Alex stood there, smiling to herself. There was a sense of liberation, having to say the words that had weighed on her chest. She wasn’t afraid of confrontation but she had no desire to save their relationship, which made talking unnecessary. But with the chance dangled in front of her, Alex just took it without thinking twice.

-

Callie was sitting in the dining table, writing a grocery list, which she’d already had in her phone. She needed something to do while waiting for Alex. Her roommate was expected to come home any minute. Knowing her roommate was safe calmed her down and she wouldn’t admit that even a meager minute of her being late caused a pandemonium in her chest.

Just in time, she heard footsteps from the other side of the door.

"Three, two, one." She mumbled to herself and just as she expected, the door opened.

Alex emerged with a lighter mood, the lightest Callie had ever seen. She was even whistling. Callie had no idea what news she brought and the excitement it brought Alex.

"Morticia." Callie greeted with a flair of disinterest, desperately trying to keep her composure. She bowed down to her sheet of paper to hide her face from Alex's view. Her grin was stronger and she was barely able to contain a giggle at how childish the nickname was.

Alex's lips formed into the sweetest smile. The mere fact of being acknowledged by Callie brought her into a state of bliss. But like Callie, she felt like she had to keep her annoyed façade so as not to reveal anything - yet.

"Merryweather." She muttered sounding breathless, battling against the boisterous laugh that was about to echo around the room. She had not expected to find the hilarity in the word but she felt lighter than usual and it was difficult to stifle her smile where her previous dismal disposition could easily consume.

Alex tried to call her the two letter nickname she coined in a stern manner for redemption but her laugh was like an untamed beast and she had to leave the place, fast or she would be exposing her rarely heard laughter. She bit her lips to make sure not even a whimper could escape.

That was the word that made both girls lose it. It was too hilarious to ignore.

Alex's cheeks flushed as she rushed to her room. The urgency to get to the secluded area intensified as shoulders jerked despite the absence of the sound. Who could keep a straight face after saying Merryweather? She thought.

Both muffled their laughs with their hands. Alex barely made it to her room while Callie silently prayed for strength. Alex stifled her joyful song by sinking her face in a fluffy pillow. Callie pushed her palm further into her mouth as her body uncontrollably jerked from happiness, tears were beginning to well her eyes.

That was cute. Callie thought.

It took Alex several attempts to calm herself down before going back out to the living room. She was elated to find her roommate still around the dining room table. She searched for her cellphone but it was nowhere in sight, and she didn't get a reply when she sent a message as Sydney a few hours ago.

It was a good thing.

Callie wasn’t supposed to like texting with her.

"Hey, BB," Alex began as she made her way to the refrigerator. She was back to her usual arrogant, insensitive act. Her heart was trembling with force with Callie's presence but she was determined to sound as cool as the cucumber in the salad she had for dinner. "You know what's on the menu tomorrow night?"

Callie decided on just talking and not mocking her roommate. She didn't want to wake Denise up for the umpteenth time. Her threats had been seared in her mind and she didn’t want to find out if Denise would follow through considering how tiny she was next to her.

"They haven't said anything yet."

"I do." Alex proudly stated, twirling around with a beer can in her hand.

"What is it?" Callie shifted her gaze to meet Alex's, genuinely curious. She thought it was another house special she had to learn to mix or a food item their limited kitchen offered.

But Alex looked suspicious to Callie. Her smile was dangerous.

"Me 'n u."

Callie scrunched up her features, genuinely confused. "I don't get it."

That was anticlimactic.

"Seriously? That was the perfect pick up line and you don’t get it! I need to work on my game. Or you’re just really dense." Alex dropped her shoulders, defeated. "You’re working with me tomorrow, my dear BB. Back to the old six to two shift." She winked at her roommate and cracked the beer can open, taking a huge swig.

"What?" Callie grimaced externally. On the inside, she was dancing. She had been thinking about returning to her usual shift, mostly because of Alex.

It was probably the dumbest decision she would ever make but she liked having her in her midst even if she loved to rile her up.

"Randy has somewhere to be at seven thirty. He didn’t want to miss work. He asked Mason if you would be willing to switch with him.” Alex explained. But then, she asked something Callie didn’t expect to hear from her. “Are you okay with that?”

“Of course. It’s not like I have anything better to do.”

The following day, Alex was out of sight when Callie started her shift. Randy was just leaving and told her she was on her half-hour break, the only one she had in her twelve-hour shift. She’s picking up some hotdogs down the street, he’d told her. Callie tried to feel the same disdain for her, even going as far as checking to see if she left the bar empty but everything was filled and each ingredient had back-ups. And since she wanted to paint Alex in a terrible light in her head, she assumed they were all Randy’s efforts.

"How are you always late?" Callie grumbled the moment her partner walked in the bar, their backs on each other. She chose to focus on polishing the bar counter and if she rubbed harder, she might just dent it. She was keen on picking a fight and what she said didn’t make sense to her even as she said it. "We live together and this place is like two blocks away."

"Three, BB." She corrected, aimlessly moved bottles on the display rack about, aligning them with meticulous eyes.

Callie whirled around, crossing her arms as she narrowed her eyes at the dark brown hair in front of her. "And that makes a difference how?"

"It's one more block away. It takes more time." Alex mocked, chuckling in amusement. "Stop badgering me about punctuality. You're not my mother."

In actuality, she liked being pestered by her. It was more than she could ever ask for as far as talking with her roommate was concerned.

Callie rolled her eyes and went back to her duties. "You'd wish I was your mother."

"Actually, BB, I don’t." Alex stated with her signature smirk, finally standing next to her coworker. Her voice was lowered, seductively even. She perched her right elbow on the counter, resting her chin on her palm, watching Callie intently. "And always is too big of a word. Assuming I was actually late, this has only been the second time I've been late since you started working here. Can't you just admit that, I don't know, you miss me? Working by yourself in the morning has to be sad." She shrugged her shoulders to act nonchalant.

Callie could feel her entire face heat up as Alex spoke. She could see Alex's red lips moving from her peripherals, looking seductively beautiful. They were too close, so close and it was too much that breathing suddenly needed more force, reaching deep into her lungs.

“You’re not funny, Alexis.”

“I wasn’t trying to be, Calista Odette.”

“I hate that you know my middle name.”

“Well, you know mine. So, really, Calista Odette, we’re even.”

Callie saw movement to her far left and found guests spilling into the bar. Just what I needed, Callie thought. She left Alex and ambled her way over the where she anticipated they would sit, her welcoming smile already in place.

Throughout the night, Callie speak with Alex, save for when it was absolutely necessary. It gave her the chance to drop some playful jests without any snarky comments coming from Callie but by her reactions, Alex knew she was not being ignored. She was enjoying herself despite only earning narrowed eyes, huffs and grunts, relishing the little smiles she tried to bite back.

It was cute.

Everything changed when Callie found a very familiar silhouette emerging from the entrance of the club. It was of this familiar man wearing a gray button down. His short, straight sandy hair was neatly swept back and polished by hair products. His jaw was strong, defined and his deep set blue eyes made a striking gentleman. And that stance of his always oozed with what Callie saw as unreasonable confidence he was shattering the line of arrogance.

"It can't be." Callie murmured as she focused on the man slowly approaching the bar, her mouth dried up and her hand started to release minute beads of sweat.

She could sense panic rise, wondering how he found her or if he just wandered into the club without knowing she was there. She wasn't ready to see him yet. He was one of the reasons why he left her aunt's in the first place. She scrambled to look for a way out but she was working and the counter was steadily filling up with patrons and the machine hadn’t stopped flowing with more orders.

But there was one safe place she thought of.

Callie looked to her surroundings in search for stunning green eyes and found Alex putting pourers on bottles of tequila while conversing with a waiter. In haste, she approached her and yanked her by the shoulder, making Alex swivel, dragging the silver pourer she was clutching along with her.

"Whoa there." Alex smirked the moment she realized it was Callie, her shock wearing off the instant she saw her. "Miss me already? You don’t have to be so rough, BB."

"I need you to do me a huge ass favor." Callie urgently confessed with no hesitation.

"Kinda like yours?"

"Stop it!" Her roommate grimaced as she hit Alex on the arm with the back of her hand.

Alex couldn't hide her amusement for the life of her even as she asked, “What is it?”

With a sigh, Callie closed her eyes tightly. "I need you to pretend to be my girlfriend." She begrudgingly admitted.

Alex raised both eyebrows in surprise. She c****d her head slightly, her arms crossed. "So, the tables have been turned."

"It’s just for tonight. Just please do it for m—”

Before Callie could continue, she was cut off by the deep voice that she thought she had escaped. She cringed, shutting her eyes as if that would protect her from him.

Alex could see the stress the man had been causing her roommate and she did not like it one bit. Her natural tendency of aggression was set aside. Instead, she assumed the sense of protectiveness for Callie with her professionalism intact.

"Calista?" He probed as he perched himself on one of the bar stools in the middle of the long, slick, curved counter.

There was a patronizing lilt in his tone that didn’t sit well with Alex. Her eyes darted towards the well-dressed man who looked to be a little aggravated himself. His eyes were narrowed on purpose as his brow bones provided a hood. He found her arrogant and his ego had been prodded.

This is going to be interesting, she thought.

She moved around an anxious Callie but not before she pressed a kiss to her temple and walked towards the mystery man, beaming a sarcastic smile.

"What will it be, sir?"

Her green eyes inspected the man who had a thick gold bracelet around his right wrist while his left wrapped a crocodile skin strapped, eighteen karat white gold Zenith watch that sold for over ninety thousand dollars. He wore an Armani band collar, zip-up sweater over the similar branded gray shirt. The man looked to be over his mid-thirties which confused Alex even more as far as who he was to her roommate.

"Calista." He immediately said, bluntly pointing to Callie who was busy building a drink for a frequent guest. “I want her.”

Alex felt something stir in her chest, the vile feeling spread all over her body. She was jealous, territorial even. There was something about him that was rubbing her the wrong way, especially the way he demanded for Callie as if he was asking for an object to be handed to him.

Who does this dude think he is?

"Sorry, sir, but as you can see, she's not available right now." She raised her thick brows, feeling a surge of confidence. But kept her cool, he was a customer after all. "So, what will it be?” Scotch on the rocks?"

"The most expensive one." He added as he dunked his hand in his back pocket to retrieve his wallet and then his platinum credit card.

“We have a Macallan.” She said instead of scoffing at the way he brandished his money but it wasn’t his words that made Callie stiffen, it was hers. And she wondered why.

“Fifty five?”

“Yup.”

“Perfect.”

Alex wasn't really surprised to see the thin, rectangular plastic that quantified to big bucks. Everything about the man just spoke expensive. She accepted the card and soon built the desired drink.

Not long after, Alex gave him the drink and charged the purchase to his card, hitting buttons of the digital register that was perched close by. The man's name, according to his credit card was Colin Grant and that was all that she knew about him apart from the smarmy, disrespectful attitude.

Colin chugged the contents of the old-fashioned glass down in one gulp. Swallowing hard, he let out a breath as he slammed the glass down, rattling the ice cubes that remained. His gaze found Callie who was finally just cleaning up the little pools of water on the counter.

"Calista." He said, louder this time and it was more apparent that in his demand, he saw Callie as an inferior.

There was still an apparent coat of anxiety in the way the Callie stood, prompting Alex to approach her. She wrapped her arm from the back, initially surprising Callie but eased in the moment she realized who it was.

Callie shut her eyes and laid her hand over Alex's. She relaxed in the tight, secure chain that surrounded her as she took a deep breath. Courage seemed to fill her veins as she savored the seemingly lasting embrace.

Alex dropped a surreptitious kiss on Callie's shoulder and rested her chin on it afterwards. It sent a calming effect on her despite her assuming it was just for show. However, it wasn't.

"It's going to be okay, babe." She whispered lovingly, her breath wafting against Callie’s skin. "I got you." She promised.

Babe. Callie's eyes shot open. Did Alex just say that? She felt like an i***t of immediately imagining a future with the lady that was holding her. She knew she would be happy even with their bickering, and she was wondering why she was still not admitting to anything. Even Callie momentarily forgot what was stopping her but it always made itself known every time she thought of Alex, the vengeful tendencies that indicated that Alex might not be over Felicity.

The embrace felt longer despite the fact that it only barely lasted a minute. It felt like an eternity that both would be undeniably happy with. With a delicate, lingering kiss on the cheek, Alex reluctantly let go of her coworker. Callie could feel her skin tingle underneath Alex's lips. It was as if she had some sort of revitalizing elixir.

Because of that, Callie realized that Alex could easily draw her soul out and kill her or give her life.

Colin watched the two women closely and assessed their actions. He could see the intimacy in the way their bodies were pressed together but didn't think much of it. He shrugged it off, he was too self-absorbed to consider other possibilities.

Callie took a deep breath and gliding her way to the man who was waiting intently for her. Her roommate and temporary partner trailed behind her and stood close to her right, a good protective distance.

"What can I do for you, Colin?" She forced a smile, perching her hands on the counter. “I see Alex has already served you a drink. Do you need another one?”

Colin stitched his brows together, looking incredulously at the bartender. "That's how you greet your fiancé?"

Alex's brows rose, creating creases on her forehead. She was taken aback by the revelation. A surging wave of jealousy hit her harder than she expected. She had not heard Callie mention any boyfriend, let alone fiancée. Their friends would have told her, too. However, she couldn't quite understand why Callie was fearful of the man.

Callie's smile suddenly looked too confident, the left corner of her smile pulled upwards as she raised her brows.

"I don't have a fiancé. Funny you said that. I didn't know I could still be engaged after I said no in front of quite a lot of people." She cringed, as she nodded her head. She knew it would rile him up.

Colin clenched his jaw, gritting his teeth as his bright blue eyes took a darker shade in his angered state. He balled one fist as his other hand gripped the Irish lace old-fashioned glass tighter.

Callie knew not to play with him when he was aggravated but the years she’d suffered with him was spurring her on, telling her to finish him.

"I do have a girlfriend, though." She looked at Alex lovingly, she didn't care about what her look said, she just cared about the fact that her roommate was with her.

What happened next, Alex did not expect but definitely craved. Callie grabbed her by her lower back, pulling her closer. They were close enough that their bodies were pressed against each other.

He’d never believe her without it.

Callie alternated between the green of Alex's eyes to the red of her lips, searching for a go signal. Anticipating the kiss, Alex instinctively shut her eyes which Callie took as a go signal. Within a split second, sparks erupted as the initial contact took place.

Callie’s lips tasted a lot like heaven. Their chests heaved as they took deeper breaths to cope with winded feeling that descended upon their lungs as their bellies suffered through a kaleidoscope of butterflies fluttering about.

Their lips molded against each other so naturally as if they have always been there and yet so alien that each connection felt new and exciting no matter how many times they've done it. But that kiss was passionate and every caress was embedded with affection that they have been keeping to themselves. It was hypnotizing, making them forget where they were.

Alex lifted her hand and pressed her palm against Callie's neck, her thumb brushing her jaw while Callie settled hers on her waist, bringing her impossibly closer.

A loud crash of glass colliding against wood erupted to Callie's right, making the pair jump away from each other's grasp. Shards of glass and ice sprawled across the bar area were they stood, some hitting against their legs. Colin Grant had thrown the glass that once held his expensive whiskey to the red, long cabinet compartment that ran from one end to the other. He missed the stairs glass shelves holding an assortment of bottled liquor only by a few inches.

The music in the bar barely subdued the crash but only managed to catch the attention of some patrons and employees, including Mason Dorsey. The crowd watched as they waited for what was to come while others were still oblivious to what had transpired. At least one of them alerted the bouncers who were strutting closer to the heated area.

It was Tim and Alex was grateful for it.

Colin was fuming now. His nose flared while his unruffled self-absorbed demeanor quickly switched to an enraged version of a spoiled brat. He glared at Callie who was still recovering from her euphoria and the crash that interrupted it.

"What the hell was that?" He scoffed. "So, you're lesbian now?" His intense stare landed at an unfazed Alex.

"Now. Now." Alex shook her head, feigning disappointment. "That's not how rich kids act. Otherwise, they'll ruin their daddy's last name and be grounded. You wouldn't want to upset your parents now, would you?" She mocked as she stitched her brows together and pouted.

"You will pay for this!" He pointed at Callie and then Alex with his index finger. "You both will!"

Alex was worried about what the infuriated ape could do to Callie. On impulse, she swung an arm behind her, drawing her near. But to her surprise, Callie spoke.

"Not before we charge you for the glass you just broke. It's the rules.” Callie shrugged her slender shoulders, looking indifferent despite the adrenaline gushing through her veins. She knew it was yet another hollow promise, threat, for the matter. "I don’t owe you anything and the second you pay for the damages, you may leave from my life and never return.”

"Good girl." Alex whispered fondly, pulling her close and planting a soft kiss on her temple. "I'm proud of you."

Colin was left stunned in his infuriated rage. Soon after, he felt strong hands firmly placed on his shoulders, escorting him out of the bar.

The girls watched two big guys drag Callie's ex-boyfriend farther. The adrenaline that once filled the younger girl's bloodstream seemed to have been replaced by inhibitions. She was back to being her reserved, cautious and uncomfortable self around Alex.

She wriggled herself out of her grasp and went to the back to retrieve a broom, trying to recall everything that had happened. Somehow she was thankful that he came because it had brought something good. He had brought light to a future that seemed to be shadowy between her and her stubborn roommate. And Callie unconsciously smiled at the thought of the future even as her hands continued to shake and her blood continued to rush in her ears.

Alex just felt optimistic. She wanted to leave everything at that. She wanted to just remember caring for Callie and staying by her side through the storm that had passed.

She had picked up the bigger shards of glasses and looked up to find her manager beaming at her, holding up his thumb in approval. He winked and then walked his way back to his office, leaving Alex shaking her head, smiling to herself.

Mason was a good friend and a good boss. Sometimes, he was horrible at the latter.

Callie came back with the broom and a dustpan. They cleaned up together and went back to work in comfortable silence, and talked when their job required them to. No one was deliberately being rude, no one was mocking the other.

The crowd was slowly dwindling as the dark night stepped aside to give way to the darker mornings until it was closing time.

"Are you okay?" Alex finally asked as she and Callie were covering various containers up with plastic wrap. The former did the wrapping while the latter marked them with appropriate labels and dates. "What did he do to you?"

Her breath hitched as she just realized her question. She shook her head quickly, dismissing the last question as she found it too personal. "Never mind. Don't answer that."

Callie huffed, reluctant to share her past. "I am." She lied and thought of something to prevent the older girl from asking anymore questions. She thought she found the solution as she sneered, "Why start caring now, Rivera?"

Despite the unwelcoming answer, Alex was still keeping her promise to herself; to show Callie who she really is. She chose honesty and let go of the thin layer of clingy plastic to face her roommate.

"I always have, Cal." She looked at her with sincerity in her eyes. Her raspy voice was deeper and even more inviting than Callie ever recalled. "Always."

Callie didn't realize she was smiling now. She was deeply touched by her words and the emotions they evoked. Alex immediately mirrored the gesture as she put her finger beneath the younger girl's chin and lifted it slightly, gently to silently ask Callie to look at her.

"Now, how about you tell your girlfriend what happened?" She grinned. The prospect of being Callie's was too enticing for her. “At least the stuff you’re comfortable to share.”

Her biggest reward came when Callie chuckled and she knew it was because of her. Her heart fluttered in her chest.

"As you can see, he is older than me. He's actually twelve years older." She looked down, afraid to see Alex's reaction. "We met through common friends and we started dating when I was twenty one. He wanted to get married and asked me on my twenty third birthday, at a party he threw. Like I said, I said no in front of a lot of people. It's not my fault he proposed in public."

She was genuinely surprised to see Alex's soft features. The usually enraged brunette looked so gentle and understanding, Callie could not help but realize that her feelings for her roommate had gotten stronger.

"I said no not because I was young or because of our age gap. I said no because I just felt like we weren't each other's missing puzzle piece. We were just so conflicting in so many ways, we fought so much. He absolutely abhorred music and would mock me for it saying I'm wasting my time." She shrugged. Her thoughtful look soon turned into a frown as she remembered the harder details of the story. "He didn't take it well. Instead of just talking to me, he went around my friends and family telling them I had just been using him for his money which isn't true. I would have never accepted any sort of support from him. I worked for everything that I have.

"My mom and stepdad actually like him." She continued with a deep sigh. "They said if I married him, I wouldn't have to work my way through college or just not work a day of my life anymore. I understand them though, I mean, I'd want for them to live in luxury, too. But my heart's just not with him."

She took a deep breath, debating on speaking about the rest of her issues with Colin but decided against it. She didn’t want Alex to look at her with pity. For some reason, Alex engaging her in word war made her feel capable of standing up for herself.

Alex, too, felt the pain Callie had felt right in that moment. She was seeing a different version of Callie, a different side of her that she has never witnessed. She could not help but empathize with her knowing her struggles. More importantly, she could not stop her fall, only praying that her roommate would catch her.

"Where is your heart then?" She asked out of curiosity, asking the Callie for her passion or anything related to it. She assumed she would say music or helping other people.

However, the answer she received was for another version of the question.

"In the palm of my hands." Callie simply retorted. "I'm the only owner for now."

And in that moment, Callie made Alex realize she could fall for her.

Alex smiled at her because there was nothing she could say to that. She was just stunned.

"Let's go home."

They hurriedly completed their after service duties and retrieved their things from the bathroom-locker. It was almost four in the morning and both girls walked quietly under the dark skies. The numerous lampposts illuminated the streets in conical shapes while distant yet few honking noises from afar filled their ears.

The chilly autumn breeze grazed their coated skins comfortably as the familiar scent of the damp air relaxed them.

Alex hated errands but she hated the emptiness that had permanently resided in her heart. That night, Alex decided to go beyond anything she had ever done in any other relationship she ever had. She decided she wanted to do something special for Callie and something she wouldn't have been caught dead doing. She decided she would cook her breakfast every single morning from that day forward. Cooking was an errand to her but she loved it more than the cold vacancy she felt. And those two times she cooked for Callie made her feel happy.

After all, she cared about her.

So Alex cooked for Callie and they ate together.