Beauty

Chapter 10

  "I'm sorry Mom... I didn't mean to make you worry... It was just really late and I knew you'd be sleeping... What? No, the car is fine..." Michael stiffened as he overheard Callie lying to her mother. "Where am I staying? Uh... it's a little b&b... I'm sure you've never heard of it, it's kind of far out... Yea, it's run by this sweet little old lady..." She glanced over at Michael and winced at her lie. "The number... uh... well it only has one phone line for everyone to share, Mom. Can I just call you back later? I know... I kno... Yea... I know, Mom... Love you too." 

   Callie slammed the phone down on it's hook and let out a long sigh of frustration. She stood and looked at Michael. He hadn't intended to eavesdrop but he had been waiting to take her to her car to collect her things. He now sat, tight lipped, and looking at her waiting for an explanation. She winced again, "Sorry... I didn't think she would react well to hearing I was staying alone with a man." She smiled apologetically as she interlaced her own fingers and twisted, a nervous habit. 

   "Do you always lie to your mother?" He asked coldly. 

   Callie felt heat rush to her face. 'How dare you judge me?' She wanted to scream at him but thought against it. "Only when necessary." She sighed. "I'm not ready to go back to that life, I don't want them to make me."

   "Where did you say you were from... West Virginia?" He started accusingly. "How are they going to make  you come home  when you're on the other side of the country?" 

   "Guilt." She said shortly. "Guilt is a powerful tool." She glared at him for a moment. She then softened her expression before adding, "Just because I don't want my parents' life, doesn't mean I don't love them... I think they know that and they use it to break just a little bit of my resolve everyday." She tried to smile but her lips immediately arranged themselves in the shape of a frown and she looked down at the floor. Michael's expression relaxed a bit as he realized how defeated she had seemed when she said it. 

   "I'm sorry. It's none of my business." He said quickly. He found himself once again frustrated with this woman. He was certain she had just proved herself untrustworthy, but he had already made the offer for her to stay. "Come on." He commanded coldly as he ushered her to the door. He had already resolved to distance himself from her for the remainder of her stay. 

*** 

   They drove in silence down the drive. Michael stopped the SUV so Callie could retrieve the pieces of the flash light she had dropped the night before. When they reached the gate, Michael got out to open it before getting back into the driver's seat and continuing on. Callie sat with her head down in shame, focusing harder on reassembling the flash light than was necessary. The man who had been so sweet this morning at breakfast had disappeared and she was now left with the unfriendly stranger she had met last night. 

   "Here... is this yours?" Michael asked sounding surprised. Callie's head shot up and she spotted her cherry red '87 corsica. 

   "Yep." She answered trying not to sound as crushed as she felt. "That's it." She unhooked her seat belt and opened the door as Michael came to a stop in front of it. She stared at him for a minute before closing the door, half afraid he might leave as soon as she did. She wanted to say something... anything... to him but he looked straight ahead, avoiding her gaze, so she shut the door and walked ahead to her car. In comparison to the massive SUV Michael was driving, her car looked like a child's play thing. 

   Michael got out and walked towards the car. Callie walked to the trunk and opened it, examining the one large suitcase it held. "Is this it?" Michael appeared beside her and grabbed the handle of the suitcase. 

   "I can get it." She protested. 

   "It's okay I've got it." Michael answered without any animation in his voice as he headed for the SUV. Callie shut the trunk and opened the back door, pulled out a back pack filled with books and toiletries and shut the door, locked it, and walked back to the SUV. Michael was waiting at the back passenger side door. He took the bag from Callie and placed it inside before shutting the door and walking back to the other side of the vehicle to get in. 

   "There's a place to turn around about a mile and a half up the road." He explained calmly and she nodded her head before looking back down. She searched for something to say to break the silence. It felt like a pressure building inside of her  and she felt she might explode from it. She searched her soul wondering how much to share with him. She didn't want to weigh him down with her problems but she wanted to make him understand why she had been so desperate to leave and why she now was so desperate to stay gone.

   Her breathing quickened as she grew nervous. Part of her was wanting to say something and another part was holding back. She felt her nerves building up as she prepared to spill it all to him and at the last moment, something reached up and grabbed the words from her tongue and pulled them back down into her stomach making it twist and turn with unease. 

   They had reached the turn around point and were now headed in the opposite direction. They were headed back to Neverland. 'What a magical place.' She thought. 'The perfect place to escape to.' She knew she would have to say something. If they made it back to Neverland before she did, she knew he might disappear and wish to have nothing more to do with her. He was disgusted that she lied, but he didn't know why she had done it. She prepared herself again as they passed her broken down car and she dared anything to stop her this time.

   "They wanted me to get married." She blurted out. 

   "What?" Michael asked. She felt the car slow momentarily as he removed his foot from the gas, startled at the sound of her voice. "They wanted you to get married?" He asked as he resumed his speed.

   "Mmmhhhmmm." She mumbled half in disbelief that she had actually said it.

   "And you didn't want to?" He looked over as he lead her to finish.

   "No. I didn't even really know him. I had seen him at school and in church a few times..." She wandered off.

   "So, like an arranged marriage? Is that a normal practice where you come from?" He asked in shock."Not really an arranged marriage.They were really trying to push us into a relationship expecting it to lead to marriage.But it is kind of expected that girls finish school and then get married and have babies. Your whole life you are coached to look and act a certain way... make a good impression...make everyone like you... I was never really good at it." She explained in disgust. 

   "What about college? A career?" He asked intrigued. 

   "I took a few college courses in high school." She shrugged. "But my parents didn't have the money to pay for me to go. I told them I could get scholarships but I don't think they really wanted me to go. So I stalled for as long as I could... 5 years actually. And when they really started putting pressure on me I left."

   "Just like that?" He looked in disbelief. 

   "Yea. I had saved up every penny I earned from babysitting, tutoring... this and that, and I told them I was leaving." She felt a weight lift as she told Michael her story. Not only was she finally able to talk to someone else about it but unfriendly guarded Michael had left and the man beside her was open and alive. She found that she liked lively Michael very much.

   "They must have been devastated." He said sympathetically.

   "They were." She looked down in shame. "But I needed a way out and I refused to take the path they had given me, so I made my own." She shrugged and gave a small smile before looking forward again. They had just pulled inside the gates of Neverland. Michael got out to close the gate and got back into the car and they drove on again in silence.