Twisted 𓍼 [complete]

Twenty-Two: Play it What?

"PLAY IT WHAT?"
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aka: forward. Or when Taylor and Cali go from threatening to conspiring.

Cali started her morning with cutting the sleeves off her and Conrad's T-shirts, her focus halfway there as she tried to perfect the process. The other half of her attention belonged to the very awkward conversation Steven and Taylor were having.

With each snip of the scissors, she could only hope that her improvisational technique would produce a result that was at least presentable. She worked with a sense of concentration, or at least she did.

Back to Steven and Taylor, they must not have seen her sitting in the kitchen at first because their series of awkward exchanges and stares only increased once she accidentally laughed, getting caught off guard by Taylor's words.

And once Steven left to grab Shayla, Cali couldn't help but force her opinion in only one word, "yikes." Calista didn't think anything could be more awkward.

Taylors attention fell on Cali, then to the scissors in her hands, falling silent.

"Is that still a thing?" Calista asked absentmindedly as she moved to the next shirt.

Taylors silence gave her the cue to go on.

"Your feelings for Steven? Is that still a thing?" Cali waved the scissors in the air. She didn't care if she was being loud. She didn't care if anyone heard her really.

Taylor rushed to her, motioning to keep it down, "stop Cali."

"Stop what?" She feigned innocence, smiling at Belly's best friend for a beat until glancing back down at the shirt she was working on.

Taylor tensed, suddenly having nothing to say. She slowly made her way to the side of the kitchen Cali was at, taking a deep breath. "Listen I feel like shit for what Belly and I kept from you and—"

"—yeah you should." Calista interrupted standing up. If she were to be honest, she didn't feel like actually talking to Taylor. But when Cali went to grab the shirt scraps, Taylor stopped her.

"I'm sorry Cali." Taylor met her eyes, "we both really are, Just tell— just tell me what I can do."

Cali feigned confusion, "do to what?" She was done hearing bland apologies, either Taylor said the full thing or she wouldn't talk to her at all.

Taylor was starting to grow frustrated. "What I can do to make it up to you. "

Cali bit her lip, looking back down at the scraps Taylor let go. Taylor was giving her an out to leave, but Calista stayed.

"We miss you, it just feels off to us without you." Taylor  continued.

And in that moment, Calista realized that she missed being friends with her both of them too. It took time to fully calm down and realize it, but Cali really forgave Taylor long ago.

As they both stood in the kitchen, Calista accepted that it wasn't worth her time to use her energy to care anymore. She still wouldn't forget what they did, but who was she to constantly put herself through anger for things that  she could control how she thought about.

"Yeah same."

———

Right, left, right to left. The direction both Cali, Conrad, and everyone else who was viewing's heads were going as the ball traveled over the net. Calista dragged him to the front of the crowd to scout their competition for the next match.

Taylor, who arrived that morning, and Belly, were playing against a team of two older guys that wore named team Chips and Guac. It was a fun game to watch she had to admit. The orange team was way better than she thought they would be, making her sit up once one of them jumped for the first time.

"My arm is getting tired," Conrad complained as he clutched the handheld fan, bringing it up and down to keep Cali cool. "I need to conserve my energy."

Calista claimed that he owed her since she spent her morning cutting the sleeves off their tournament shirts. They did end up wearing baby blue by the way.

"You're right," Cali took the fan from him, but when he thought she was going to fan him back, like she said she would, Calista just put it away.

Conrad tried to grab the fan out of her bag when she went to zip it up, "you said you were going to fan me back!"

"Conserving my energy," Cali teased, not even turning to him as she watched Taylor dive for the ball. Something must've happened on the way down because half of Team Belly didn't get back up, instead Taylor clutched her ankle in pain making Cali stand up.

She considered walking over, but Jere beat her to it. Words were exchanged and all of a sudden Taylor was taking off her shirt and giving it to Jeremiah.

The whole exchange made Calista raise a brow as she looked at Conrad. But he just shot her a confused expression back, making her laugh at how obvious he could be.

"I'm about to get something to drink, you want anything?" Cali asked the boy as he watched Jeremiah and Belly get ready for the next point.

"I'm good."

"No more water?" Cali teased, causing Conrad to push her away as she walked. "Just asking," she chuckled knowing she was going to get him water anyway.

As she got in like at the covered concession stand, someone unexpectedly tapped her shoulder. Cali quickly wondered if it was Conrad, but who it really was surprised her.

"Hey California, I wasn't expecting to see you here," he laughed. But she didn't. She watched his face drop slightly at her seriousness, but he quickly regained his past demeanor, motioning to what she was wearing, "Well good luck."

"Oh, I'm not playing, I'm just wearing the shirt," She replied, digging in her pocket for cash as the line got shorter.

He looked at her clothes once again, raising his brows, "Oh, I just assumed—" he stopped for a second reading her expression, "you're joking now aren't you."

Cali smiled, turning to ask for two waters while handing the woman a couple dollars.

"You know..." he started up again behind her, "If I was playing you'd have competition to worry about."

With two waters in hand, Calista turned around to give her very honest opinion on his statement, but something caught her attention behind him.

Reed stood in front of her while his cousin was busy handing Conrad a drink and even making it a point to touch his hair. "Nice seeing you, but excuse me." She looked at him one more time before leaving.

"Cali wait!" He called out as she walked away, but his call didn't stop her.

———

anyways hi. Two updates in a week?! whaaatt.
hopefully someone got the water joke too.

-any predictions? questions? etc..? comment your opinions i love to hear them !!