Meet again
Callie watched Mariana walk back into their bedroom. She just laid in her bed wrapped in a quilt trying to forget the day before. School was canceled again, Lena told them that it was probably gonna be for the rest of the week but none of the kids were aloud to tell. Coarse Mariana did though.
"Oh, you are up." Mariana said as she saw Callie's open eyes.
Callie just continued to lay there.
"Hey, have you seen Brandon?" Mariana asked.
"Does it look like I've been up yet?" Callie replied sarcastically then remembered what Brandon said about 'moving out'.
"Why do you say that?" Callie asked as she pulled back the blankets and sat up in her bed.
Mariana fell down in hers. "He's not here, I asked mama but she said he just needs some time alone, like what the hell does that mean?"
"Yeah." Callie replied hardly even paying any attention to her. Instead she was getting up from her bed and walking out the room.
She walked into the hallway gently scratching at her messy bed hair.
She pushed open Brandon's door as if it was hers and walked inside.
There was a nicely made bed, nicely made room really.
She walked over to his wardrobe and pulled the doors open already knowing what she would see. Emptiness.
There were a few shirts left in their, a few that looked like they could even fit Jude.
She breathed out heavily then shut the doors and turned around.
She leaned back against the doors and just stared into the emptiness of his room.
It hadn't taking long for everyone to realise Brandon 'had left'. Everyone thought he was at his dad's, but after Stef called Mike and they realised he wasn't there then they began to get worried.
Callie had to tell them that he moved in with Courtney. No one knew where she lived and to everyone's surprise they weren't looking for him.
No one asked any more questions about their relationship. It was wasn't even spoken about. The family had gone dark and it seemed fine. Maybe it was the beginning.
It had only been a few days and Brandon being gone was almost normal.
Callie would always walk past his room and glare in hoping she would see him. He would never be there but she continued to do so. Never entering his room until one day.
She walked past his room then glared in the same as she always did.
Except this time she stopped and leaned against the frame of his door.
She looked at his bed, then to his desk where his piano laid flat. She still frowned at the fact that he didn't take it with him.
Her eyes passed from his piano to the picture in the frame behind it.
She walked over to the desk slowly then sat down on the chair at his piano still staring at the picture.
It was the picture she took of him and the cast of the Romeo and Juliet Musical.
She examined it and something didn't seem right about it.
It was crooked and she could see a little of the wooden back in the corner. She knew this because she was their when it was fitted into the frame. She got the photo printed and told them it was for a birthday and they insisted that they would frame it for her for free. She couldn't refuse and offer like that.
She thought maybe he took the photo out of the frame, maybe he put it in another frame, it was a plain wooden frame, maybe he reframed it.
She grabbed the photo frame and turned it over to the back.
She pulled back the metal flaps then pulled off the back.
She froze when you saw something at the back of the photo.
It was a little piece of paper, folded in half about the size of a match box.
She placed the back of the photo frame down on his piano then pulled out the little piece of paper.
She unfolded it and read the messy, blank ink writing.
She breathed in slowly then swallowed down the mass building up in her throat.
Callie folded the note back into placed then shoved it into the pocket of her jeans and adjusted the photo until it was straight.
She placed the back on then put the photo back down on his desk quickly.
She got up from the chair and spun around then stood up and walked quickly to the door.
She just exited his doorframe when she stopped then turned and looked at his piano. She sighed then bit on the inside of her lip.
Callie knocked on the wooden door nervously. She looked around trying to see through the windows but the glass was blurred.
Suddenly the door swung open.
Brandon's eyes widened as he saw her standing there.
He looked like he hadn't slept at all. His hair was messy and he had light stubble. It made him look a whole lot older.
"Hey." He said softly like he was glad to see her.
"Hey." She replied back in the same expression.
They hadn't seen each other for at least three days but it felt much longer.
"I got your note." She added with a small smile.
Brandon looked away and smirked like he was impressed that she found it at all. Trust Callie to find a hidden note because of a crooked photograph.
"I got you something" she said then lifted his piano up with her knee until it was safe in her hands.
He hadn't even noticed she had it.
"My keyboard?"
"I thought you might be missing it." She smiled gently then handed it to him.
He grabbed it from her with a thankful grin and held it like a skateboard under his arm.
"Do you wanna come in?" He asked.
Callie frowned. "No, it's ok I-"
"Oh, don't worry Courtney's at work."
Callie nodded. "Yeah."
Brandon stepped to the side and let her walk in closing the door behind them.