Philautia || Amour Éternel Series BOOK ONE ||

Eighteen - CALLIE

June 2015

The heat from the day still lingered in the ground, rising in waves as the cooler night air drifted in while the sun set out over the ocean. Everything was cast in the warm orange glow of an early summer evening. The dark bar had been temporarily illuminated as the sun peeked between tall buildings and the light came in through the open garage doors at the front of the room. Callie could see the other bar patrons better, even though fluorescent lights swung from the exposed rafters above her head.

She and Aya had arrived early and were seated in a booth at the back of the bar. The bar was a block or two away from their house and it had become a regular stop-off for them. The bartender knew them by name, but he kept their celebrity status quiet. The bar was full of tourists and Santa Monica locals coming in from a day at the beach. Most of them were dressed in some form of beach attire and the alcohol was flowing easily. 

Aya was on his second drink when a tall blonde walked into the bar, drawing the attention of every man in the room. He stood and greeted her with a quick peck on the lips and a hug, guiding her back to their table. 

"Cal, this is Tessa, the girl I was telling you about," he explained, allowing the blonde to sit before he did. "Tess, this is my roommate Callie."

Callie held out her hand. "Nice to meet you," she said with a smile. "You found the place alright?" she asked, leaning forward to be heard over the music. 

Tessa nodded. "Oh, yeah. I actually just Ubered over." She looked around the room. "Aya told me you guys come here a lot?"

Callie shrugged. "Yes and no. Its a cool place to hang out in and get lost in the crowd. Usually, its so busy you can't identify anyone. And when its not busy, they're all too drunk to recognize us anyways." She looked at Aya. "So you guys met when he was doing that photo shoot with you?" 

Tessa smiled and nudged him. "Yes. I was one of the models."

"How long have you been modeling?" Callie asked. The girl didn't look a day over twenty, if that.

"For a few months. I was so shocked when my agency sent me to that shoot," Tessa gushed. "It was the biggest shoot I'd ever done and I had only been working for about a month."

The door to the bar opened and Callie looked up to see Sam and Meredith come inside. She waved them over. 

"I thought Shannon was coming, too?" Meredith asked as she scooted onto the bench, practically sitting on Aya's lap. "He mentioned something about it when I texted him earlier."

Callie shrugged, choosing not to answer the question. Shannon was a bit of a sore subject for her. They hadn't seen each other since the day they got back from their road trip and they had barely spoken to each other, though that was his doing more than hers. She had tried to call him and text him to apologize, but he ignored her for two weeks. When he did get back to her, she knew he was lying about having been out of the country.

Things had been frigid between them since and she wasn't sure how to approach bringing him back into her circle again. If Meredith hadn't asked him to come that night, Callie was pretty certain they never would have interacted with each other again. Her nerves had been on end and she looked up expectantly each time the front door opened and new people poured in. 

"I'm sure he'll be here. He's coming from Laurel Canyon," Aya said. "I told him he could just park at our place so he's probably walking over."

Suddenly the music cranked up and the bar seemed to be full of people. Callie felt like the walls were closing in around her.