Wine
Callie sipped at the wine and cringed at its sour, bitter taste. She had only had wine once before in her lifetime. She was about eight she accidentally took a mouthful of her mothers wine mistaking it for grape juice. She spent the next five minutes rinsing her mouth as her mother snickered.
The taste of the wine brought back memories so she took another sip.
"So" Callie began looking at Brandon and Courtney in front of her. "How, how did you guys meet?"
Brandon held the full glass of wine in his hand, Callie could tell he hadn't even tasted it.
"Uh, well I work at the Smoke House and Brandon began working there and yeah."
Callie nodded contently even though inside she kept making jokes to herself about their relationship. None she would ever tell or even try to think of. They just popped into her mind and she would smirk gently.
"Nice." Callie nodded.
Courtney took another sip of her wine, it was more of a mouthful though. Her glass was nearly empty.
"I wasn't to find of him to start off with." She smiled then looked across to Brandon. "But here we are now."
Brandon gave a small forced grin then turned back to his glass, which still sat untouched in his grip.
Courtney turned back to Callie and took another sip at her wine, smaller than before.
"So how did you two..." She tried to think of the right words. "Like meet or whatever?"
Callie placed the wine down on the table and looked over to Brandon quickly. There was no way she was going to explain their relationship. In front of his girlfriend. In their house. No way.
So Brandon started.
"Uh, Callie was placed with us after-"
"After juvie." Callie interrupted with mild satisfaction, she almost felt empowered to say it. She hadn't meant to say it, maybe the wine was getting to her. Hardly likely considering she had like three sips at it. Or just maybe she was giving Courtney a heads up. Good girls don't go to jail, good girls don't go to jail twice in a year.
Courtney shot her head to Callie and she looked almost nervous. "Oh"
Brandon didn't know what to do he just sat there.
Courtney swallowed and raised her eyebrows.
"So um, then what?"
Callie frowned. "What?"
"You know first kiss, love"
In that moment they knew Courtney was drunk. She looked angry and frustrated more now than ever.
Brandon looked to her then to Callie.
"You know I think I'm gonna go." Callie said as she got up from the seat.
"No, please stay." Courtney snarled as she too got up.
Brandon looked at her in confusion and annoyance and in no time he too was standing up.
"Thanks for the dinner."
Callie opened the door then walked out into the cold dusk outside.
She walked out the front and down the road a little to her car. Once she was in she sat in the seat staring out into nothing wondering what the hell just happened.
She shook her head slightly then gripped her steering wheel until her knuckles turned white.
She felt the sudden urge to burst out into tears and yell and scream, she no reason too. She was angry and frustrated at almost everything Brandon had done. She was angry that he moved on so quickly when she still sees him every time she closes her eyes at night. She was angry that he moved out and lived with a women who is blindly ruining him. That he didn't even have a piano there. It was Brandon Foster he use to take his keyboard when he went camping.
She was angry that he had changed.
"What the hell was that?" Brandon asked with fury as soon as Callie left the house.
Courtney stacked the rubbish into re bag and ignored him.
"Court"
She looked over to him and still said nothing.
"Why are you mad? What happened?" He asked without even asking. More of a direct 'get over it' speech.
Courtney placed the bag down on the floor then looked up to him.
"What did Callie do?"
"Why was she even here?" She asked.
"She gave me my keyboard. You know that."
She sighed then pushed past him.
"I'm going to bed."
Brandon watched the door to their bedroom slam shut and he was left in the silence of a house that felt nothing like a home.
He leant down against the bench top and asked himself a million questions.
None of which he liked the answers too.
He walked over to the couch and fell on it sinking deeply into it. He hated that couch.
He was going to have to sleep on it so he would've had to like it.
He later down spreading his figure across the entire thing and closed his eyes.
He had hated how much things changed.