Chapter Twenty
“Do you fancy watching a video or something Calli” Dave asked as they sat in his lounge that evening.
“I don't mind.” she glanced at her watch “although I should really go soon.”
“No I've missed you being away, stop longer. Please..” he looked at her giving her what he hoped was his saddest look.
“Ok” she smiled “How can I resist when you look at me like that?”
“Great I thought we could watch Cloverfield I've had the DVD for months but still haven't gotten round to watching it.”
“Oh Dave it's brilliant I saw it at the cinema twice.”
“Twice?”
“Yeah the sound on the film is fantastic, although really-really loud.” she looked across at the entertainment centre “Make sure you switch the cinema speakers on though it'll sound so much better through them..”
“Ok “ he threw the DVD over to her “You put it on and I'll go and find us some popcorn and stuff to nibble on whilst we watch it.”
“That is absolutely disgusting Callan Victoria Matthews “ Dave grinned as he watched her eating a square of chocolate and a pretzel together.
“Mmm no it's not it's lovely” she muttered with her mouth full “You should try it.”
“Erm no thanks I'll stick to just keeping the chocolate on it's own.”
"It's not too scary for you is it?" Callan laughed as Dave suddenly jumped.
"No, I see what you mean about needing to have the speakers on though, it's really loud isn't it?
"Yeah I love it" she grinned picking up another pretzel and square of chocolate and putting them in her mouth.
"That is so gross Calli" Dave chuckled "I bet you are one of those weirdos who like marmite aren't you."
"Oh god I love the stuff. I used to love it whenever we went to visit Anna's parents as they lived near the factory at Burton so you could smell it, I think my Gran put about five jars of it in my suitcase before I left."
Dave shook his head "Yeah you're definitely weird."
Callan laughed and stuck her tongue out at him before pulling her legs up onto the sofa and resting her head on one of the cushions.
"Feeling tired honey?"
"A little I'm still on British time" she stifled a yawn, " I'll go after the film’s finished."
"Ok but we can always finish watching it tomorrow if you want to go now."
"No there’s only about another half hour or so I think I can hold out until then."
"If you're sure."
"Yes" she stifled another yawn and turned back to the screen.
Dave glanced over at her a few minutes later and smiled when he saw that she'd fallen asleep. Pulling one of the throws from the back of the sofa he gently tucked it around her before settling down himself to watch the end of the film his fingers stroking her back gently as he stared at the screen.
He woke up with a start a couple of hours later to find himself lying on the sofa with his head now resting on Callan's hip and his arm draped across her stomach. Enjoying the feel of being so close to her he lay for a couple of minutes just watching her sleeping and listening to the sound of her breathing softly.
Gently he stroked her arm for a few moments before softly shaking her awake.
"Callan, Calli wake up."
"Mmmm" she muttered sleepily opening her eyes and shifting her position slightly before drifting back off to sleep.
"Calli come on sleepyhead, time to wake up."
"Mmm what?" she opened her eyes and looked up to see Dave smiling at her “What?? where??" she began slighty confused. "Did I doze off?"
"Yeah for a couple of hours or so, why don't you stop over Cal?"
"No it's okay" she sat up and stretched "I'll get off."
"No sweetheart it's late, stay over."
"Well I suppose I could if that's okay." massaging her neck as she sat she yawned “What time is it?"
"A little after ten."
"I'd better ring Nathe and tell him I'll be home tomorrow."
"Ok I'll go down to the car and get your stuff in a few minutes."
“Is it alright if I grab a shower?"
"Of course, you'll have to use mine though the main ones not working at the moment and I've still not gotten round to sorting the guest room yet.”
"OK" she picked up her phone from the side table and hit speed dial as Dave disappeared into the kitchen carrying the empty dishes and glasses.
"Everything alright?" he asked as she wandered into join him a couple of minutes later.
"Yeah Nathan says Hi by the way, here let me" she moved to stand beside him as he started running hot water into the sink pushing her sleeves up as she did so.
"What did you do to your wrist?" he asked noticing the light bandage.
"What, oh this you mean? It's nothing I burnt it a couple of days ago, I've just covered it cause it keeps catching on my clothes so it's not healing properly."
"Let me see"
"It's nothing"
"Show me” he took her arm and gently undid the pin holding the bandage in place "Ouch that looks nasty, did you get it looked at?"
"No it's just a burn it looks worse than it really is.”
“Mm okay” Dave frowned “If it's not any better in a day or two, I'm taking you to see my Doctor, ok?”
“Ok but it'll be fine, it's okay you can leave it” she murmured as he went to re-bandage it “I leave the bandage off of a night.”
“Ok but I'm keeping an eye on it.” he lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it, “There that'll make it better.”
“Idiot” she giggled shooing him away “Go on let me get these things washed for you.”
“Calli, I'm just going to nip down to the car and get your case, ok?” he called through to the kitchen a few minutes later.
“Okay Dave.” she smiled coming into the lounge “Is it okay if I jump in the shower now?”
“Yes it's fine I've taken what I need from my room now so it's all yours, I'll leave your case on my bed ok, just come through and say goodnight before you turn in. What's wrong sweetheart?” he asked noticing the confusion on her face.
“Where am I sleeping then?”
“In my room and I'll take the sofa why?”
“No David, I can't turn you out of your bed, I'll take the sofa you sleep in your room.”
“Callan you're having my room no arguments, I'll be fine on the couch, it's really comfy as you've discovered for yourself” he grinned.
“It doesn't seem right though, you sleeping out here.”
“Calli” Dave chuckled “I've spent plenty of nights on this thing another one won't kill me, now go get your shower.”
“If you're sure” she came over and hugged him.
“Absolutely now go get ready for bed, is there anything you need?”
“Erm I need to borrow something to sleep in, I've not got anything with me.”
“Okay I'll sort you a shirt or something.” he leant forward and kissed her on the forehead “Now scoot.”
Dave placed Callan's case at the side of the bed then walked over to his wardrobe to find something for her to wear, pulling a grey vest from a hanger on one of the rails, he closed the door before pulling open a drawer and hunting through until he found some grey silk boxers. Turning to lay them out for her he couldn't help laughing as he looked down at his bed. Picking up the note on the cover he shook his head and chuckled to himself
If you're worried about me trying to rip your clothes off in the night it's okay I've built a wall down the middle to keep me out. You can't sleep on the sofa and seeing as this bed is so huge I'm sure we can share it without even coming within 2 feet of the other, so no arguments and go and bring your stuff back through ok.
Callan stood under the shower in Dave's bathroom, softly singing to herself as the hot water cascaded down over her body, realising her shampoo was still in her case she reached over to the shelf on the side and helped herself to Dave’s. Closing her eyes as she massaged the shampoo into her hair she let her mind drift as the lather flowed down over her breasts and body. Shaking her head and coming back to reality she shampooed her hair for the second time and rinsed the lather away. Turning the water off she opened the door of the shower, stepped out and wrapped her body and hair in a couple of the huge white towels stacked neatly on one of the shelves.
Opening the door of the bathroom a fraction she checked that the room was empty and shot across the room grabbing the clothes that Dave had left for her and dashed back to the bathroom. Drying herself off she pulled the vest top over her head and slipped into the boxers. Unwrapping the towel from round her head she shook out her curls and squeezed out as much excess water as she could, before placing both towels into the hamper in the corner. Hearing Dave moving around outside in the bedroom, she stood for a couple of minutes taking in the surroundings of the bathroom, cool marble tiled walls and floor throughout predominantly black with a few dark grey to break up the colour. The huge shower she'd just gotten out of and would probably have filled her bathroom at the apartment, an enormous bath in the far corner. She stood in front of the marble counter top and looked at herself in the huge mirror over the basins that were set into the surface and ran her fingers through her hair trying to break up the mass of curls as best as she could.
“Callan are you ok in there?” came Dave's voice at the door.
“Yeah I'm fine I'm just coming out now.” carefully she opened the door to find Dave sitting cross legged on the bed clad in shorts and long sleeved shirt, grinning at her.”
“Are those okay?” he asked nodding towards the clothes she was wearing.
“Yeah they're a little on the big side” She lifted the top and pulled at the waistband of the boxers to show him, “But I don't think I'm going to be exposing everything to you so don't worry.”
“I like the note” he winked “And what you did to the bed.”
“Well you can't sleep out there and this bed is so enormous I think we can safely both sleep here, don't you?”
“I think so. Do you want a hand with that?” he asked as she lifted her case onto the bed dialed in the combination and unzipped the lid.
“No I can manage, I just need to find my conditioner and my tooth.....Oh...” she stopped as she lifted her toiletry bag from the case and found a package wrapped in red tissue and ribbon, warily she looked at Dave, “This isn't something to do with you is it?”
“How can it be, you've just unlocked your case.”
“Mmm” she frowned slightly picking it up and looking at the tag, “Oh it's from Jus. She must have snuck it in there this morning.”
“Aren't you going to open it then?”
Callan pulled at the bow and carefully unwrapped the tissue, a small card sat atop some folded red material. Pulling it from the envelope she began to read it aloud to Dave, “Just a little something for when you come to your senses and start...” she stopped and looked at Dave and blushed.
“What is it. What did she say?”
Silently she handed the card to Dave who scanned it, burst out laughing and continued reading aloud “and start fucking that gorgeous Dave of yours.”
“Oh my God she is so embarrassing” Callan whispered.
“Aren't you going to see what she got you then?”
“Knowing her it could be anything.” Quickly she lifted the material from the paper and held up a see through red bra and matching crotchless knicker and skirt combi.”
“I have to say Jus has very good taste.” Dave smirked, taking the bra from her and putting one of his fingers through the split in one of the cups, “That is every dirty mans dream underwear.”
Callan folded it neatly and slipped it back into the tissue, “Well just let me know when you want to borrow it then.”
“Jus sounds fun.”
“She is.”
“How long have you two been friends?”
“Since nursery, one of the boys kept trying to kiss me one day, so Jus came over and kicked out his legs from under him so he'd leave me alone and we've been friends ever since” she grinned.
“Sounds a good start to a friendship.” he chuckled “So you've been friends for a long time then.”
“Yeah practically all our lives, she's the best friend you could ever have.” she hunted through her toiletry bag found her conditioner and began gently rubbing some into her hair “She's always been there whenever I've needed someone,, I really miss her now I'm here we usually see each other every day at home.”
“Maybe she could come over, I'd love to meet her.”
“Maybe on her next break perhaps, you'd love her, the two of you are a lot alike you know.” she finished applying the conditioner and wiped her hands on a tissue before tying her hair back in a low ponytail and grabbing her toothbrush and paste. “I'll just go and clean my teeth and then the bathroom is all yours, okay?”
“It alright I got ready in Jimmy's room,” he glanced at his watch “I'll just go and ring Jack then I'll be through. How's the arm by the way it's not hurting is it? Do you want anything for it?”
“No it's fine.”
“What’s that scar on your back?” Dave asked as she reached down to pick up the tissue she'd and her top rode up.
“That, “ she said lifting the vest and absently running her forefinger over it. “ I was in a car accident when I was 13.”
“Bad one?”
Callan nodded her head, “Yes it was” she whispered softly, “I was in a coma for 3 days, had a lot of internal bleeding which they had trouble stopping, so I was in and out of surgery a few times and the doctors ended up having to remove my left ovary because it was so badly damaged.
“Oh honey that's terrible,” he slid his arm around her. “But you're okay now though aren't you?”
“Pretty much so, I still get problems with my left arm from time to time and I still do get flashbacks about it sometimes, but they're not as often as they used to be, nightmares of course, but even those aren't as frequent as they were as they were.”
“And what about being able to have kids, will you still be able to have them?”
“I'll have to IVF if I do want to conceive, my right ovary one works but, not as it should do, so I'm going to need some help if I decide that I do want children,.” she looked at him and forced a small smile “At least I won't have to worry about getting pregnant accidentally will I?"
"I'm sorry Calli, I didn't realise."
"Don't be, you weren't to know, anyway it's all in the future I'm in no rush to even decide if I want to have children or not yet. What about you would you like more kids?” she asked switching the subject over to him.
“Me? No I've done my bit for the world already, I wouldn't want to go through all those sleepless nights again, I mean don't get me wrong I loved every minute of it when they were younger, but now, no I don't want to go through that stage again, I'm happy with my three, I don't feel the need to be up to my eyes in dirty nappies and puke again. So no that's it for me.”
“I see” suddenly she felt tears at the back of her eyes and blinked quickly.
“Callan it was alright for me to ask you that, wasn't it? I mean about the getting pregnant bit, I didn't upset you did I?” he asked concerned as he saw her face.
“No it's fine.”
“Are you sure? You look upset.”
“No I'm okay.” she picked her toothbrush and toothpaste up from the bed and walked across the room, “You'd better go and ring Jack don't keep him waiting any longer” she smiled from the bathroom door “I'll see you in a minute.”
“Callan” he whispered coming back into his room 20 minutes later “Callan are you still awake?”
Moving quietly across the now dimly lit room he walked over to the side of the bed he usually slept on where she was lying curled up, “Callan.” looking down he was surprised to see she was already asleep so he sat down by her side just watching the way she slept and the soft rise and fall of her chest as she breathed.
Throwing the wall of cushions she'd jokingly made onto the floor he crawled into bed and laid beside her. Enjoying the warmth of another person sharing his bed again he moved another couple of inches nearer to her and lightly placed his hand on her arm and lay still with his eyes closed listening to her steady breathing and inhaling the smell of her, chocolate mixed with the scent of his own shampoo and savouring the feeling of her closeness.
Muttering softly to herself she turned over and Dave opened his eyes to find her now lying facing him her head resting against his chest and her arm thrown around his waist. Gently Dave stroked her hair back from her face, coiling one of her blonde curls around his fingers, rested his chin on her head and just lay still with her until he eventually closed his eyes and he finally drifted off himself.
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