no light, no light

“I don’t think some of this stuff is fair,” Callum said somewhat absentmindedly as he looked out at the groups of people. Some showing off their tie-dye shirts and others going on about how they were going to crush everyone else at some of the events. There were plenty of skilled people around ready, willing, and able to participate in the events but there was sure to be a few surprises along the way. “Construction workers are much more skilled than quite a few people, so you automatically have an advantage. At least on most of the physical stuff. They might as well give you the trophies already,” he huffed a laugh. “Or is it medals? Maybe a mug that says: Worlds Best Relay Racer.”

There weren’t many things that Callum had been looking forward to this weekend. He wasn’t looking forward to competing against his coven and other species, not because he didn’t want to be around them but because he knew he’d end up getting way too competitive which would undoubtedly lead to one of many heated arguments with someone. The one thing he’d been looking forward to though was the supply of drinks that would constantly be available, one of which he was trying to enjoy as he lingered on the outer perimeter of the nights bonfire. “Pink tie-dye would’ve looked much better on me than this purple one,” he said with feigned jealousy. “I’ll trade you.”

“Eventful,” Matthias confirmed, gaze coming to rest pointedly on the now empty glass. His fingers rested lightly against the glass of his own drink, tapping rhythmically as he considered the question. “It has been an eventful few evenings at the office,” he mused. An understatement. “Replacing employees is never an easy feat.” 

Callum remembered the last time he had made small talk with someone at a bar and it hadn’t gone well. He couldn’t think of what had been said, but the exchange had been enough for him to have to duck out of the way from a knife being thrown in his direction. “Replacing isn’t that difficult in my opinion. It’s letting go of whoever is being replaced. Sometimes these things are for the best though if the replacement was warranted.”

It was almost funny, in some sad sort of way, how well she still knew every inch of Callum’s frame. Between hours spent in bed and out in the world Juliet had come to memorize as much about him as was inhumanly possible: where he had scars, where his calluses sat on his hands, the quirky shapes of his ears, the way his brow furrowed. It was like muscle memory, something the mermaid had been unable to unlearn. Only time would allow this peculiar talent to fade away like someone who gave up on boxing losing the finesse of their right hook. Of course, the world had been hardening him even further since the last time the journalist had taken a mental snapshot of her ex, but much still remained the same. At the sound of his voice, Juliet snapped out of her walk down memory lane. Her face reddened slightly as she realized she may have been unintentionally staring. “Yep. I woke up with a craving that would not be satisfied by anything else.” The mermaid sighed. “Hopefully they don’t run out before I get to order.” Pondering his semi rhetorical questions for a moment, the blonde endeavored to answer. “Only a minute or two. Sorry I almost closed the door on you by the way. The one negative about this place is that its getting way too popular.”

Callum remembered how often the mermaid and himself had found themselves at this very bakery in pursuit of pastries. If had become one of those routines Callum always looked forward to because even when they were surrounded by other people, they somehow managed to make each other feel like there was no one else around. At least that was the way Callum felt once upon a time. If he could turn back time, chances were pretty high that he’d do it but given the end of the relationship that seemed inevitable he wasn’t sure it would be worth it. Callum knew the answer to how worth it turning back time would be, but he refused to allow his mind to go back there. “I don’t think they’ll run out, I think they know those donuts sell pretty well. Well enough to keep them coming out of the ovens,” he nodded reassuringly. “Actually, I’m not sure if they even make donuts in ovens,” Callum added absentmindedly. “I tried making them for you once, but I never told you because I couldn’t figure out how to get the glaze on them right.” The words slipped out without proper time to even analyze them. Taking in a deep breath, he refused to look at her once again. “It um... It wasn’t pretty.”

☾—

“I have to admit it’s felt like more than a few days since you’ve been gone too. Sometimes I don’t know how I would do this job without you.” She admitted. Everyone had been so needy and demanding with Callum being gone, she was practically swimming in work. At his offer for drinks Logan had to admit she was shocked, but a smile appeared across her face. “Yeah I would love to. Not like I’m going back to bed any time soon either anyways since I’m up.” She’d probably spend most of the night up working or popping into dreams if she didn’t go to meet him. “Yeah text me the info I’m grabbing my jacket and putting on my shoes.” With that she clicked the end of the call button and got up from the chair. Not bothering to do her hair or change her clothes for that matter, she pulled on her tennis shoes and grabbed the leather jacket that she had hanging up on the hook before grabbing her wallet and keys to head out. Pulling up the location on her phone, she clicked it before starting the navigation so she could walk there. 

After about a twenty minute walk to the location he had sent her Logan opened the door to the bar, walked over towards where Callum was sitting. Sliding onto a bar stool next to him and she gave him a smile before reaching over and taking his drink from him. “What are you drinking?” She asked curiously, but didn’t bother waiting for him to answer before putting the glass to her lips and taking a drink from it. Putting the glass down in front of her and she looked over at him before giving him a cheeky grin. “It’s nice seeing your face again. If I had to go another week without you I might have quit.” Giving a soft laugh at her words, she’d been ready to quit so many times this week alone. “So you just going to sit there all night or you going to buy me a drink and tell me why you really brought me here this late?”

“I’m sure you don’t mean that, or you’re just saying it so you’ve got less to deal with,” he chuckled. “I’ll send you the info and see you soon” Without giving the conversation another moment he ended the call after she’d confirmed she was up for going out. Since he started on his way back, there were a lot of things he was doing without giving them a second thought, and it was something he was hoping to do a lot more often. Given the lack of contact he’d had with others over the past week, he was well overdue for some human interaction even though that was something he tried to avoid overall most of the time. Over the past year since the death of his parents Callum had allowed himself to be more closed off than ever but he was well aware that his life wouldn’t get much better if he continued on that path. 

It wasn’t long that he was waiting for Logan to arrive when he noticed her walk through the door. At first he wasn’t sure it was her since there were a million blondes in New York, but he was sure it was her once he realized just how many people had turned to look at her as she made her way to him at the bar. “Johnnie Walker Whiskey Sour,” he told her after a moment of watching her take a drink from the glass. “Glad to know you’re glad I’m back so your work load lightens up,” he huffed a laugh with a shake of his head. “It’s good to see you too.” He disregarded her question for a moment focusing on the drink in front of him. Reaching into his pocked he pulled out a small fragment of a sharp silver plated arrow, “Fun story, someone thought it would be appropriate to shoot this in my direction. Just grazed the top of my left shoulder. I was near a campsite and a game hunter just shot blindly into the dark thinking I was a bear.” Placing the arrow back in his pocket he smiled as if what he just told her wasn’t a big deal, “I just wanted to see if you’d be up for some drinks. You can catch me up on everything I’ve missed but keep the bland details out.”

~

Vada laughed and looked down at Remi, “sounds like you two would get a long great then. Nothing gets in the way of her and something sweet. Except for maybe me on occasion.” Remi’s brows raised and she smiled, “Banilla.. always.” Vada chuckled and pointed to her cone that was now in Remi’s hand, the kid never missing a beat between words and licks off the cone. “Chocolate for me, but clearly she doesn’t mind either of them.”

“That’s good on your part but I’m sure she doesn’t think so,” Callum smiled at the little one again, laughing as she mentioned the flavor she prefers. “I’m sure she’d be find with just about any flavor if you gave her the green light at any given moment.” Callum wouldn’t dare stand between a child and sweets, which often from his experiences meant they’d give him a very sad look or kick him in the shin. “She’s an ice cream connoisseur, you could let her take this straight to the bank making an entire career out of it. I mean, if it were an option for me I’d do it in a second.” 

+

“Ha, ha, funny,” she playfully rolled her eyes, unable to resist laughing. “I can relax just as good as everyone else,” that in fact was a lie, even when she tries to stop and take a moment, something always comes up and pulls her attention away. “Alright, we both know that’s a lie, but I’m trying,” the Mermaid didn’t know who she was trying to convince more, herself or Callum. “Teach me your ways oh great relaxed one,” she added in jest. Ultimately her mind returned to Callum and Waverly’s situation. The amount of times she wished that the Love Spell power could work on Mermaids, were far too numerous to mention. Imani wouldn’t hesitate to take a peek at their auras, and give them a nudge towards each other; if it were in the cards for them of course. However, all she could do was be there for both sides as they navigated through their breakup. “I knew it,” sometimes she doubted herself a lot. “It’s perfect! I definitely want it,” she couldn’t wait to carry it to its new home. Callum really did make a good pick based on her description of the kind of pieces she’s intrigued in collecting. “I knew there was a reason I kept you around,” she teased with nothing but mischief in her gaze. “I still don’t know how you manage to be surrounded by all this beauty and not want to take everything home with you.”  Imani would not make a very good Art Dealer, her clients may never see the pieces they requested if she falls in love with it. “I guess you at least get to come to work and see it all daily,” she added, having thought about it while she admired several other pieces that were in view. “Not to be nosy, but if you weren’t an Art Dealer what career do you think you would have gone into instead?”

“Even when I’ve seen you on a day off you’re still busy,” he laughed. “And trust me I’m not the best person to come up with things to relax because I’m kind of the same but lately I’ve just been blowing off a few things here and there,” he confessed, shrugging. He knew that there were some things that would have consequences if he kept blowing them off but he knew he’d fry his own brain if he didn’t take the time to at least sleep. “Not everything has to get done ASAP, some things can just be done at a later time. And while you wait for that later time to come you can do something as simple as go out for a few drinks with some friends which is something that I’ve been doing here and there.” He wasn’t exactly telling her the truth with the last bit of information. He had been going out for drinks, but most of the time it was on his own, an occurrence he was hoping wouldn’t become a bad habit. “Ah, I manage by being content with you and others walking out with pieces you love,” Callum smiled. He considered her question for a moment, drawing a breath in before finally speaking. “I would’ve wanted to teach, in Spain. It was one of my favorite places to visit with my parents when I was young and I always admired seeing the both of them pass their knowledge onto others. I considered asking for an extended leave from the coven a few times, but I never found the right opportunity. Now here I am, among the art. What about you?” 

⟨  ► ⋟  ♖ ≼ ◄  ⟩

“ I’m a confident person, ” she retorted. “ And there’s no lengths I wouldn’t go to for good food. ” His mentioning injuries at the party left Mirana’s skin crawling, figuratively speaking. Everyone had been healed by the witches, including herself after she’d gotten accidentally stabbed by one of her roommates. It was already a little funny in retrospect, but she wasn’t sure Callum would share her sense of humor. Still, despite losing control and possibly contributing to the hotel fire, no one had been hurt because of her. At least not this time, but the idea of it… She forced a small smirk. “ I’ll offer you one of these spare subs if you talk about anything other than that disaster of a night. ”

☾—

Logan had been half sleep when she heard the phone start to ring, sighing before she put a hand to her face. Rolling over in bed, she grabbed the phone off the night table. Seeing Callum’s name and photo flashing across the screen. Seeing that it was one in the morning meant that this was likely to be important. “Hello?” Clicking the answer button on her phone before putting it to her ear. “It has. Although you said you were going to be out of town for a few days.” She reminded him. She’d got word before he left that he had some business or something to do, she honestly hadn’t paid too much attention. All she knew was she’d be left for the week to handle everything alone. Getting out of bed and walking into the living room, hoping that she wouldn’t wake Jackson, Lily, or Mira up in the process. “I was in bed, but I’m up now.” Informing him as she took a seat on the arm of the chair in the living room. “Is everything okay, Cal?”

Callum hadn’t considered that Logan would actually be in bed. He’d always known her to be a night owl, getting to a good amount of things during late hours of the night. Given that he had left her for a few days to handle everything on her own, he should’ve figured she may have forced herself on a different sleep schedule too. “Few days that honestly felt like it was a lot longer,” he admitted. It wasn’t as if he’d gone on vacation, although he definitely needed one eventually. “Everything’s fine though, I was just getting back into the city and since I figured you’d be up I was going to ask if you wanted to meet up for some drinks?” It was an offer he’d seldom made to her before, if ever, but she had been the first person that came to mind the moment he’d gotten back into the city limits. “There’s a place not too far from my place, I can send you the info if you’re up for it.”

~

Vada nodded, “Yeah, I think we’re fine now.” She smiled at him and picked up Remi balancing her on her hip and raising her brows at her daughter, “see no reason to be embarassed or anything, he gets how important your ice cream is to you. We got a replacement now and it’s okay, right?” She said gently pushing Remi’s hair from her face so it didn’t wind up in her ice cream. “Sorry, we got in your way. I know Scoops has been pretty busy all day. I’m sure we’ll be back.” She said chuckling at Remi and shrugging, “considering how much she’s is enjoying it we will definitely be back.”

Looking at her daughter for a moment, he smiled at there knowing all she wanted was to enjoy some ice cream just as he’d been wanting to do as well. “You’re fine, you don’t have to apologize. If I’m being honest I should’ve been paying more attention to where I was going. Once I decided I had to stop by for some chunky monkey ice cream, it was pretty much over. Nothing else really mattered,” he joked. “What’s the flavor of the day for you two? I might be going on of my comfort zone to try something new today.” 

“Happened already,” Finley admitted to Callum, raising her shoulders. Too many times since becoming alpha had the woman forgotten about herself, stretched herself too thin for the sake of the pack. It was in her nature to make them respect her. They didn’t have to like her. No, the alpha did not need to befriend everyone, but it didn’t hurt to have them like her. And finding the balance in the last year had proven to be a challenge, among other things preventing her from focusing on that small and personal one. “You’re not wrong,” she nodded her with his notable words. “I’m hoping things get better but with rogue chaos running around,” she shook her head, “I fell that my alpha reign will only grow more difficult.”

Callum had always been the type of person to be the hardest on himself, and from the way Finley was talking about her pack’s situation she did too. It had to be difficult to be a leader the way she was, especially if your efforts weren’t being met with the best reception. “Giving up isn’t one of the things you’re exactly known for,” he shrugged, the comment being more of a fact in his opinion. “Things do tend to get more difficult before they can actually start to get better. It’s not exactly what you or anyone would want to hear but once things do start to get better, and I’m sure they will, you’ll be able to look back on everything and feel like you grew from it.” He held up his glass to her, “You wouldn’t be alpha if you weren’t good enough to be one.”