[table][row][cell][/cell][cell][center] [url=https://fontmeme.com/signature-fonts/][img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/260328/254e777b.png[/img][/url] [img]https://i.pinimg.com/originals/75/e0/54/75e05407491df099742511ea1546e919.gif[/img] [/center][/cell][/row][/table][center][right][color=gray][sub][color=A6FCFA][b]Location[/b][/color] [color=white]—[/color] [i]Her home -> Leaned up on the sidewalk right outside Huskers Bar [color=red]TW: Brief mentions of physical abuse and shit parents.[/color][/i][/sub][/color] [/right][/center][center][color=#A6FCFA]▅[/color][color=#A4FAF8]▅[/color][color=#A3F8F6]▅[/color][color=#A2F7F5]▅[/color][color=#A1F5F3]▅[/color][color=#A0F4F2]▅[/color][color=#9FF2F0]▅[/color][color=#9EF1EF]▅[/color][color=#9DEFED]▅[/color][color=#9CEEEC]▅[/color][color=#9BECEA]▅[/color][color=#9AEAE9]▅[/color][color=#99E9E7]▅[/color][color=#98E7E6]▅[/color][color=#97E6E4]▅[/color][color=#96E4E3]▅[/color][color=#95E3E1]▅[/color][color=#94E1DF]▅[/color][color=#93E0DE]▅[/color][color=#92DEDC]▅[/color][color=#91DDDB]▅[/color][color=#90DBD9]▅[/color][color=#8FD9D8]▅[/color][color=#8ED8D6]▅[/color][color=#8DD6D5]▅[/color][color=#8CD5D3]▅[/color][color=#8BD3D2]▅[/color][color=#8AD2D0]▅[/color][color=#89D0CF]▅[/color][color=#88CFCD]▅[/color][color=#87CDCC]▅[/color][color=#86CCCA]▅[/color][color=#85CAC9]▅[/color][color=#84C8C7]▅[/color][color=#83C7C5]▅[/color][color=#82C5C4]▅[/color][color=#81C4C2]▅[/color][color=#80C2C1]▅[/color][color=#7FC1BF]▅[/color][color=#7EBFBE]▅[/color][color=#7DBEBC]▅[/color][color=#7CBCBB]▅[/color][color=#7BBBB9]▅[/color][color=#7AB9B8]▅[/color][color=#79B7B6]▅[/color][color=#78B6B5]▅[/color][color=#77B4B3]▅[/color][color=#76B3B2]▅[/color][color=#75B1B0]▅[/color][color=#74B0AE]▅[/color][color=#73AEAD]▅[/color][color=#72ADAB]▅[/color][color=#71ABAA]▅[/color][color=#70AAA8]▅[/color][color=#6FA8A7]▅[/color][color=#6EA6A5]▅[/color][color=#6DA5A4]▅[/color][color=#6CA3A2]▅[/color][color=#6BA2A1]▅[/color][color=#6AA09F]▅[/color][color=#699F9E]▅[/color][color=#689D9C]▅[/color][color=#679C9B]▅[/color] [/center][indent][indent] [color=lightgray] After Rowan had left heading towards Huskers, Callie found herself alone in the silence of their home. She savored the last few hints of her blunt before leaning up and peeling her damp back from the couch to put it out in the ashtray. Unsure if she was stuck there by the heat itself or just the weight of her own thoughts, Callie found herself temporarily stuck to the couch cushion. Usually she would turn on some random music through YouTube on the TV or focus on the hum of the refrigerator. Without power there was nothing to distract her from her mind, much less her imagination. Watching as the smoke dissipated and danced through the sunrays pouring in from the window, Callie couldn’t help but wonder what her life would have been like if she had never asked Rowan to move in. It wasn’t a negative thought. She loved having her brother around and wouldn’t change that fact for the whole world and/or Mars. Without him here, the house would have been dreadfully quiet. Callie would have no reason to stock the fridge any further than beer. Her clothes would be strown about from one end of the house to the other, instead of across her bedroom. No. Rowan was a positive influence on Callie, and she would damn near argue that he was a bigger influence on her than she was him. It was one of those passing, fleeing thoughts. One with no validity or real purpose. Just a what if like the rest of the ones she had since returning to pines. [color=A6FCFA][i]What if my father hadn’t been an abusive, low-down, piece of abusive dog shit?[/i][/color] She wondered. [color=A6FCFA][i]What if my mother hadn’t been a raging bitch that saw her [b]only[/b] daughter as her greatest competition and constant reminder of her fleeting youth? What if I had taken a little more after Aunt Ettie and gone to school for cosmetology? I bet I’d be a lot happier listening to the old women gossip while reading their magazines and sitting in the dryer chair…[/i][/color] It was thoughts like these and a thousand more that occupied her mind as she gathered her things and began her own walk over to Huskers. With no cloud coverage to protect her from the sun, Callie was left with little choice other than to pull her hair back into a messy, poofy, somewhat untamable bun. She stopped for a brief moment right outside of her fence gate to put in her earbuds and hit shuffle on her Spotify playlist. Lighting a cigarette as Nick Gilder’s [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6s2zm_crkVc][i]Hot Child In The City[/i][/url] began to play, Callie found herself having another one of her [i]’what if?’[/i] thoughts. There was a time when Callie and Stella giggled and daydreamed together in the back of math class. In her own opinion, Stella had always been more confident and self-assured than herself. At the very least, she knew what she wanted - and what she wanted was for her and Callie to attend the same college and share the same apartment in New York city all while getting the same shitty part time job that they both equally hated. Honestly it sounded like a dream, sometimes even now. Callie wondered what would have happened in those hypothetical New York years. Maybe she would have gotten to live out a Hallmark romance fantasy and found her dream man in the big city. Perhaps a scout from a talent agency would have thought she was model material. Or [i]’what if?’[/i] she had lived out her wildest Carrie Bradshaw dreams, never came back home, and became a famous writer for the New Yorker? Hell, who knew? Newspapers weren’t even a thing anymore. Now a few doors down from Huskers, Callie stomped her cigarette out on the sidewalk. Pulling her cellphone from her bag now, the young woman was more thankful than ever to see the few faithful bars of cell service at the top of the screen. She scrolled through her contacts briefly before finding the one she needed and hitting the dial, almost spooked at how fast a voice responded from the other line. “Heeeyyyyy sugar,” the voice answered with too much enthusiasm and the same disgusting, overdone ‘swagger’ Callie knew too well. [color=A6FCFA]“Jonesy….”[/color] she responded, trying to come up with the same amount of her own false enthusiasm. Cringing at the sound of her own voice, she waited for a split second before Jonesy asked the usual question. “So, you callin’ for another favor, or are you callin’ for another [i]favor?[/i]” he asked. Callie could hear the smirk in his voice, damn near picture the look on his face. It made her want to gag. They had hooked up [i]once[/i] right after senior year and he hadn’t let it go since. Honestly, it was one of Callie’s biggest regrets, but she didn’t have the heart to bruise his over inflated ego like that. [color=A6FCFA]”Just a regular favor,”[/color] she explained. She could hear him sigh on the other line, causing her to have to force down a laugh. [color=A6FCFA]”Could you let me know if there’s an ETA on the power comin’ back ‘round here?”[/color] Sure to turn on the charm, Callie was careful at walking the line the got her what she wanted, but also made it abundantly clear that nothing would happen between the two of them. There was a moment of near silence between them. She listened faintly to him clicking away on a key-board, staring down at one of the many plants growing through the cracks in the sidewalk. A brief thought crossed her mind - something about how the plant was a metaphor for the resilience of Pines Holler as a whole. Then the agitating, grating sound of Jonesy’s voice popped back on the line. “No updates yet, Ms. Callie.” [color=A6FCFA]”You’re shittin’ me–”[/color] “Well, no. But I could do a lot of other things t—” [color=A6FCFA]”Yeah, yeah”[/color] the young woman scoffed, hitting the hang-up button with enough force to make her wish that flip-phones were in style. If Jonesy couldn’t find an ETA for the power to be re-established, that meant Pines was going to be dark for at least another 48 hours. What it was about this place that made people just out-right forget about it, Callie could never understand. She had tried her hardest to forget Pines Holler. Even went to therapy for it. How it came so naturally to others both frustrated and puzzled her. Lighting another cigarette, Callie finished her walk down to Huskers and tried to muster the courage to walk inside. She knew she’d have to deliver the news to Husker himself sooner or later - but for now, she would choose the heat of the sun over the heat of a hundred disappointed stares. [/color][/indent][/indent][center][/center] [right][sub][color=A6FCFA][b]Interacting With[/b][/color][color=white] — [/color][color=lightgray]N/A[/color] [b][color=A6FCFA]Mentions[/color][/b][color=white] —[/color][color=lightgray]Rowan[/color] [@Apoalo], ][color=lightgray]Stella]/color] [@Altered Tundra][/color][/sub][/right]