I explained to Mrs. Quinn about my mom, and she understood why I had to leave. I gave Henry’s mom a call, and she instantly agreed to pick me up.
Helena Morris was my second mom, and I loved that, because Helena Morris was one of the best mothers out there. She was fun, yet strict. Funny, yet serious. She wasn’t as young as my mother – who gave birth to me when she was only twenty – but she had the spirit of a teenager. I could talk to her like I would take to Henry, and she would understand me. She respects me like I’m an adult, and she treats me like one, too.
She had the same traits as her son. Same jolly rancher blue eyes, mousy brown hair, and a pale face with a sharp nose. You could easily tell she was German; both because of her appearance and her cultural ways.
“Callie, how are you?” She hugs me instantly. Helena Morris was a huge hugger.
“Okay, I just needed some time to breathe” I sigh, as she nods, understanding what I’m saying.
“Okay, well, Victoria and Lisa are home, what would you like for lunch?” She asks while driving.
“Oh, whatever is easier for you, I don’t want to cause any trouble” I shake my head.
“Oh don’t worry Callie, you’re part of the family!” Helena nudges me, still grinning.
The Morris family was wealthier than mine, yet, they weren’t extremely rich either. They lived in a modern Victorian house, with a grand front door. I always loved Henry’s house, way more than I liked mine. But they needed the space; Henry has two sisters, and I’m an only child.
I took my shoes off to not track dirt into the house, and inhaled a fresh scent of Yankee lavender and rose candle.
“Make yourself at home.”
“FINALLY,” A despaired cry came from the living room. “Honestly, I don’t think I’ll ever become a mother. Babies are such a handful.”
“Victoria Morris, this is not how we greet guests” Mrs. Morris grunted as her daughter blushed. She smirked, and put her arm around me.
“But mom, Callie is not even a guest, she’s already,” Victoria waved her wrist as if she was sniffing the air. “Part of the family.”
“Hi Tori” I scoff. “Nice save.”
She winks at me, and Mrs. Morris emits a despaired sighed. “Just tell me where my baby is, Tori.”
“Living room” She pointed, as Mrs. Morris waltzed over, and Tori laughed. “So, how are you?”
“Okay, I just needed some time to get out of there” I shake my head.
“I know, I’ve been in High School, being homeschooled has been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.”
“AND ONE OF THE WORST OF MINE!” Mrs. Morris yelled from the living room. Tori and I laughed.
Tori is 23 years old, and still living with her parents. Instead of going to college, like everyone else does, she is getting her degree online. She made a deal with her parents that she will be out by next year, when she finally done with pre-med school. Then, she will serve her four years of actual medical school living by herself. Tori really wants to become a doctor, it’s been her dream since she was little.
Tori is like the big sister I never had. She is the reason I met Henry. When Tori was thirteen, she was best friends with my cousin Samantha, and one day, while we were still in first grade, Henry sat next to me in snack time.
“My sister and your cousin are best friends” He spoke. I nodded, to shy to respond. He then proceeded, “do you want to be best friends like them?”
At that age, I didn’t have many friends, probably because of my shyness. And for the first time, someone asked me to be there their friend. I was never that excited before.
While Helena cooked lunch, Tori and I played with Lisa; their one year old baby sister. The thing with Lisa is that she wasn’t technically their sister, but one of Helena’s close friends died during child birth, and her husband has left her when he found out she was pregnant. They took her in as if she was their own daughter, and they just refer to her as a member of the family.
“Callie!” Lisa waddled and hugged my legs. “Come play!”
“Okay” She holds my hand and pulls me to the center of the living room, where her toys were spread out.
When it was lunch, Henry called to check up on me. I told him everything was well, and that I didn’t have any panic attacks again.
“So since Callie is over, I’ll order Chinese take out since it’s your favorite, sounds okay?” Helena asks, picking up the house phone and dialing a number. Tori’s eyes light up.
“Callie, can you be here every day? Actually, just move in.”
I laugh. “If we have Chinese every day, sure, I’ll move in.”
The two of them laugh, even Lisa giggles. Henry’s parents were health freaks; which means the three of her children ate only greens an things that were good for their body. Henry often came over just to steal my food, since I had more candy bars and sweets than he had.
_________________________
Helena drops me off at work, and Henry meets me there. What shocked me is that Olivia came with him as well.
“You feeling better?” He asks me, leaning against the counter raising his eyebrows.
“Yeah” I whisper, nodding. Olivia didn’t ask. She knew better. “So what can I get you guys?”
They order two lemonades, and spread out their books to start studying and doing their homework. My shift went quick, since it was a Thursday afternoon, and it was mostly quiet except for the loud laughter coming from Olivia and Henry’s table.
Then, the person I least expected to see, came in through the door. Claire Reese strutted in – as if she owned the place – holding some sort of designer purse and wearing a resting biotch facial expression. She didn’t give me a second look.
“Liv, what are you doing here? We were going shopping?” She asked Olivia.
“Right, sorry, I forgot” Olivia stood up.
“Why are you hanging out with Henry Morris?” She whispered, loudly enough for me to hear (though I was standing behind the counter, many feet away from her).
“I don’t know, Henry Morris seems like a cool guy” Henry shrugged. I snort, Claire turning to me.
“Whats so funny?” She grins so falsely at me, as I shrug.
“Nothing” I whistle.
“Liv, you coming?” Claire rolled her eyes and turned to Olivia, flipping her sleek black hair and ignoring me.
“Can we go another day? I’m in the middle of homework with Henry” She points back at the table.
Claire looks aghast. “You’d rather do homework with Henry Morris than go shopping with me?”
“Again, Henry Morris isn’t a bad guy” Henry scoffs.
“Wow Hen, you’re so cool” I tell him sarcastically. He turns to me, grinning.
“I know right? I’m funny too” He pointed at me. Claire rolled her eyes.
“Whatever, I’m sure Veronica wants to, and if you’re so attached to your new friends here, why don’t you just hang out with them instead of your best friend?” Claire narrows her eyes.
“Claire, it’s just that we’re in the middle of something, I would love to go shopping later” Olivia smiles.
“Oh no, it’s fine, really, have fun with your new friends” She scoffed at our sight, and turned to the door, clacking her high heels.
When the door closed, I emitted an exaggerated and exasperated groan.
“She seems nice” Henry smiled.
“It’s just… She likes things her way,” Olivia smiled, making me roll my eyes and make a fart sound with my mouth. “She isn’t that bad, really.”
“I’m sure we have different definitions of bad” I use air quotes in the word bad, leaning forwards to Olivia, before going inside the kitchen to get the nachos they ordered.
By the time I got back, the two of them were standing by the diner’s jukebox. The owner of Caffetto wanted it to have a vey 50s vibe to it, with the pink and mint green booths, a jukebox, and the waiter’s and waitresses’s uniform (a high ponytail with a bow, red lipstick, and one of those poodle skirts). I loved the jukebox, it was my favorite part of the diner.
“What song?” I head Henry whispering to her. She strokes her chin, pretending to think about it, before choosing the song Mr. Blue Sky by Electric Light Orchestra. Olivia grinned and started squealing.
“I love this song” She blurted, and starting to skip along to the beat. The strum of the guitar and beat of the drums suddenly got my foot tapping along. By this time, Olivia already grabbed Henry’s hands and started forcing him to dance. He reluctantly started dancing with her, while she guided him.
My foot began tapping more perpetually, and my head jolted to the four strums of the guitar. I glanced up at the two dorks dancing together in the middle of the restaurant, Olivia singing along to the words and Henry laughing along. He got more into it, now he was foolishly dancing with her. The few people that sat around in the restaurant watched, delighted at the two careless teenagers making a fool of themselves.
I was mouthing the words by this p pint, murmuring them under my breath while I wiped the counter with a wet mop. I didn’t mind Henry and Olivia dancing without hesitation or embarrassment in front of there restaurant, laughing like two naive teenagers in love, without a single care in the world but each other.
Without me noticing, Olivia grabbed my hand from around the counter and dragged me out, Henry laughing. “Olivia, no.”
“Olivia, yes” She mocked me, holding my hands and twirling me. I laughed as Henry put the machine louder.
“Mr. Blue Sky, please tell us why, you’ve had to hide away for so long,” Olivia and I sing, loud now, so the whole restaurant could hear us.
“So long!” Henry screeches with a high pitched voice. We laugh, and continue to sing.
The three of us fell into a pit of laughter as the song ended. So much, my stomach hurt. My shoulders were bouncing, and I was leaning back, holding my stomach in chuckles.
“Thank you, thank you.” Henry bowed. “I’ll be here all night folks.”