Daughter of the Devil - r. peters // 2

𝟺. 𝚗𝚎𝚠 𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍

Callie sits on the roof, swinging her legs over the edge of the concrete building, again watching the streets below, the wind rushing through her ears.

Caleb wasn't feeling well for some reason. Said that she had the day off. No performances. Little weird, but she wasn't complaining about it. Especially since he'd been locked in his office the whole day.

Whatever. Gave her a little bit of freedom. She could stay on the roof all day without Caleb berating her.

She sighs softly, looking out, seeing a little boy being chased around by another girl, an older women following behind them, smiling and shaking her head. She glances back at the Orpheum sign, looking back at the bold letters.

𝗝𝗨𝗟𝗜𝗘 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗧𝗢𝗠𝗦 - 𝗦𝗢𝗟𝗗 𝗢𝗨𝗧

𝗔𝗨𝗚𝗨𝗦𝗧 𝟴, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟬

She frowned, thinking of the boys. She missed them. They were fun. She liked hanging out with them when she could-

Her thoughts are cut off by another poof, indicating someone else was on the roof with her, and she tenses slightly.

"Shit, sorry... Didn't think anyone was up here."

She didn't recognize the voice. It was a weird accent... She hadn't heard it before. She glanced behind her, looking for the owner of the voice.

It was a man, maybe in his mid twenties, and... Well, Callie couldn't deny he was attractive. Hell, way more than attractive, he was hot. Dark hair, dark eyes, leather jacket, the slightest bit of eyeliner... Not her type, but she could still acknowledge that he was good-looking...

The man winces sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. "I can leave, it's okay-"

She narrows her eyes. "I've seen you before."

The man snaps her eyes up to her. And she has seen him before, only brief glances, but... It was different now. Her eyes trail down a bit, her eyes locking onto his wrist, and that's where she's seen him before. He wasn't wearing this, obviously, she's only seen him in a familiar pink suit, carrying the centerpieces off of the tables and different platters.

"You work here?" Callie mumbles, hating the way she casually says 'work' as if it wasn't a literal prison.

He doesn't seem to like it either, and sighs. "Yeah, unfortunately." He looks back up at her, pointing a finger. "You're... Calypso, right?"

She braces herself for the wince that usually comes with that name, but, surprisingly, nothing. It didn't sound disgusting coming out of his mouth. Maybe the accent covered it or something. "Yeah... Unfortunately." Callie forces a small smile, motioning beside her. "You can sit down if you want."

The man gives a small half smile, before walking over, his boots clicking slightly against the concrete, and he groans as he sits on the edge beside her, giving her at least two feet of space, which she appreciated. "Thanks." He says softly, before holding a hand out to her. "I'm Charlie. Charlie Jameson."

She takes his hand in her free one, shaking it. "Callie Corbin. You... Probably hear a bunch of different names for me, though..." She shrugs. "I'm a little... Popular."

"I know." He nods, lifting a shoulder in a shrug, letting go of her hand, leaning both of his hands back against the concrete, resting his weight on them as he lets his legs dangle. "You're one of the dancers. A favorite, from what I've seen."

She sighs. "Not by my choosing." She mutters. "It's mostly Caleb's doing. I'm not... That good at dancing, it's just-"

"Yeah, I know how it works. Been up there a few times myself." He says with a shake of his head.

She remembered vaguely seeing him dancing, twirling both men and women alike- "Oh, you're one of the ones that goes on the floor... I remember now."

He sighs, chuckling bitterly. "Yep. That's me." He shakes his head. "Can't say that's my favorite part, but eh, what can you do."

She nods, pulling her knees up to her chest, resting her chin on them. "I understand that."

He hums, not looking at her, swinging his feet lightly. "How old are you, Calypso? Or- were you, I guess would be the better question."

She hums as well. "17. Died in 1920."

"19- shit, you're kinda old, aren't you?"

She can't keep the laugh from coming out, the accent making the question even funnier for some reason. "Yeah, I am." Callie looks at him. "What about you? How... When..."

"1947. Got into some bad things." Charlie shrugs. "I was 26."

She nods. "Yeah, I had an... Accident, of sorts." She shrugs. "Don't really like talking about it."

"Understandable." He mutters. "I mean, it's your death. Can't imagine it's fun, eh?"

She sighs, smiling a bit. "Yeah... I mean, I wasn't really living up to much in the 1900's, though. Was a cheerleader. And an... Assistant, I guess I could call it."

An assistant for a certain magician.

Charlie looks at her, before looking back out. "I never did much in school. Wasn't the smartest... Did a lot of bad things. Barely graduated. Then continued to fuck up my life from there." He scoffs. "Not very interesting, I know."

"Life's not that interesting. It's fine." Callie shrugs, glancing back at the big sign lit up across the street.

Charlie follows her gaze, humming at the sign. "Julie and the Phantoms, huh?" He glances over at her, then back at the crowd below, pulling one knee up to his chest, letting the other one dangle. "You like 'em?"

Callie scoffs softly, shrugging. "You could say that."

"That sounds like an interesting story."

She glances over at him, but he's not looking at her, but she looks back at the ground below her. "Not really a story. Went to a bit of one of their shows once."

And kind of saved them from the magician that owns the hotel and now Caleb hates her and hurts her all the time, but, hey, what else is new?

She clears her throat, shaking her head. "They're good, though. They can play."

"You goin'?"

"Huh?" She looks over at the man, who's finally looking at her in the eye.

He shrugs. "You going to the show? It's tonight."

She quickly shakes her head. "Nah, I... Didn't pay for a ticket."

"No one said anything about tickets." He says, raising one of his eyebrows, a small smile gracing his face. "C'mon, you're a ghost. You can go wherever you want."

She takes a breath, huffing out a soft laugh. "Just because I could, doesn't always mean I should."

Plus the guys won't be happy to see she was there.

He smiles a bit wider. "What, you've never broken in anywhere while you were a ghost?"

She hesitates, which makes him chuckle softly. "Exactly. 'S no different." He says. "Just gotta poof in there. No one's gonna see you."

Except for the ghost band.

"Maybe." Callie hums, looking back out, noticing the sky darkening a bit. "I should probably go back inside. Caleb'll be waiting for me."

Charlie scoffs. "Doubt that. He was still in his office when I came up here. Had to check."

Callie sighs. "I'll think about it. But... I probably should be going inside. My friend is probably waiting for me."

"Oh, of course." He nods, as she stands, but he doesn't move. "It was nice seeing you in person, Calypso."

She smiled at him. "Nice to meet you too."

And with that, she poofed off of the roof.