Guarded Heart (The GH Series)

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Three months later

Skype call between Callie, Sarah and Fiona.

"Hey Fi!" I watched as Fiona grinned from ear to ear.

"Hi Callie, you are looking well."

"As are you. What's been happening?" I can't believe I'm talking to Fiona after all this time. I've been working on my recovery and being back at work has helped me massively.

"Nothing much. Although Ashley has been fantastic helping me out with my social anxiety issues."

Sarah nudged me over a bit so she can steal the limelight to talk to Fiona. "How far have you come then Fiona?"

"I've done fairly well so far. I have even booked tickets to go and see the Backstreet Boys at the hydro." The twinkle in her eye made me smile. It was good to see Fiona happy.

"Wow. That is a bold move Fiona. That is a lot of people to be around." I hope she realises that there will be thousands of other people there and I gave Sarah a squeeze on her thigh and she knew what I was thinking.

"I am sure I will be okay though. Ashley is going to come with me."

That made me smile. "Aye, she is a good sort, isn't she?"

"That she is. Are you two still getting on? She still keeps her cards close to her chest. I've tried to get her to talk, but no avail."

I'm not surprised at that statement at all. I know that she is waiting to help others, but sometimes, Ashley forgets to help herself. "We are getting on great. We have upgraded to video calling now."

Fiona laughed. "Getting down with the times there Callie." Fiona's head turned. We heard the knock on her door. "Hang on you two."

Fiona put her laptop down and we could see her go out of the screen. However, we could hear who she was talking to.

"Hey Ash...oh wow. You look terrible. Come in, please?"

We watched but Fiona spun the laptop away so I couldn't see the state Ashley was in. "I'm sorry to interrupt you."

Sarah and I started to mock fight and she quickly hit the mute button. "Do you realise that Fiona has spun the laptop around so you can't get upset about the state Ash is in? Here is your chance to listen in and say absolutely fuck all. Do you hear me?"

"Did you know about this?"

"No. But it might be an opportunity to find out what has been going on since you left." I nodded and concentrated on the conversation that Fiona and Ashley were having.

"We know awkward silences are not a strong point of mine, so are you going to spill about what's going on?" We could hear the concern in Fiona's voice.

"I am. I think I have bottled this up for too long."

"So...?"

We hear Ashley let out a loud sigh and clear her throat. "I'm going to take you back to when I noticed Callie for the first time..."

"Okay, I'm listening."

We were listening but upon hearing my name being mentioned I sat up a little straighter.

"I had been at Darcey's for a few hours and I had seen girls come and go, desperate to get Callie's attention. She just wasn't interested, and she continued to chat to Darcey from time to time whilst nursing her drink.

Then Callie looked my way, right through me in fact, but her eyes drew me in. I found myself being drawn in more every time she glanced over, but my friend Jaz, wanted to leave, so we ended up going."

So, after that, anytime we went to Darcey's, I was always looking to see if Callie was there."

I smiled to myself and Sarah playfully nudged me. Ashley is definitely offloading.

"What I am not getting is, if you like Callie, how was she an experiment?" Ouch. Fiona, straight to the point.

"I had been given this incredibly hard paper to write and...well let's just say, Callie had a bit of a reputations and Jaz happened to point that out to me.

Initially I started to write about how a player could make a person feel wanted one minute and discarded the next. Jaz kept pushing me to write the paper."

I looked at Sarah. I was starting to feel red inside. "I bloody knew snotrag would be behind something like this." Sarah nudged me as Ashley started talking again.

"Instead of admitting that I had my eye on Callie prior to my first drunken encounter, I let Jaz believe what she wanted to believe."

I heard Fiona tut. "By doing that, it effectively bit you on the ass."

"It did. I said to Jaz that there was more that reputation to a person, that they would have many layers..."

Sarah and I looked at each other and nodded in agreement.

"But we had this amazing chemistry Callie and I... The more we played cat and mouse games with each other, I wanted to know the real Callie, not the one people perceived her to be.

The flirting, the getting to know each other, the intimacy, for me it was everything I wanted and needed, plus more."

"How come it all unravelled?"

"With me not being honest and Jaz." Ashley sounded devastated. It was one of those vulnerable moments where you want to scoop your favourite person in your arms and hug them.

"Now what? If you and Callie are getting on better these days?"

"I know we are. I still love her Fiona. Anytime she appears on my screen, my heart melts. I know she wanted to build on our friendship and trust me first, which I respect, but I just really miss her.

I miss the woman I fell in love with. I miss giving her that tight squeeze of reassurance, her smile, hell even her antics. I just miss her."

I choked back my tears and Sarah smiled at me.

"That is so sweet Ashley." I could tell Fiona was moved.

"Sorry for offloading on you. It's just that I have no one but you and Callie that I truly talk to these days. Anyway, I'm going to scoot off now, I've got the gym to get to."

"Ashley, we help each other, and you know where I am if you need me."

I'm assuming they were saying goodbye at the door. Knowing Ashley, she's probably hugging Fiona and holding back her tears.

Sarah and I were talking about what went down and suddenly the laptop screen moved and Fiona was back in the shot.

"That was...intense. She was so down. But her eyes lit up every time she mentioned your name Callie." I spoke to Fiona. "What I can't hear you?"

I laughed. "Sorry, the microphone was on mute. That was intense, I agree. Funny thing is that is what I though went down. But I still don't know if she submitted the paper on me."

Sarah was sitting in shock next to me. "I'm sure we will find out soon enough, she is clearly struggling."

I then broke out into a massive grin.

"That is a bit of a sadistic grin you have their Callie." Fiona was staring at me in bewilderment.

"What!? Oh no. I've just have had the most amazing idea that is all."