#calliopejane

Your friends don’t do that to you. You don’t have many, but you’re grateful that someone would spare some of their time for you. Not only that, but they’re some of the most beautiful people you’ve met. They’re all friendly and funny and they see beauty in everything.

They’re good for you. Dirk encourages you to draw and occasionally draws things just for you. Jake will always watch movies with you and together you fangirl about them for hours. Roxy helps you with your science homework and asks for advice on her fan fiction.

You think you always liked Jane the most though. She taught you how to bake and watched some of your favorite shows for you. Together you solved whodunit mysteries and played pranks on your brother and her dad. And most importantly, she knows how much you hate loneliness. It seems that she goes out of her way to make sure you have to spend as little time alone or with Caliborn as possible. You’d feel like you were imposing on her if she wasn’t so insistent on having you at her house when you don’t have other plans. You couldn’t be more grateful for her.

As you turn into the driveway to her home, you can’t help the bounce in your step, despite the fact that you’ve just walked a mile and a half in the heat with a backpack full of clothes. When you ring the bell, Jane answers almost immediately, as if she was waiting for you.

She greets you with a kiss on the cheek, as usual. It makes you blush, as usual. (You’re still not quite used to the whole relationship thing, though maybe you should be by now.) You follow her into the living room and try to hide a grin.

Time passes quickly, as it tends to do when you’re with Jane. Even when you’re not doing anything but watching TV, talking about things you’re reminded of and making fun of the advertisements. Soon it’s time for dinner and together you cook a meal for two. It’s sunset before you know it.

You decide to make cookies together for dessert. It turns into her baking and you watching in fascination, just trying not to get in the way and ruin it. Jane is one of those bakers that have all of their recipes memorized and don’t need to measure a single thing. It doesn’t surprise you, but it always amazes you. You wish you could be that good at something.

While the cookies are in the oven, you decide to go ahead and take a shower. It’s early, but this way you won’t go to bed with wet hair. But you always end up spending a little more time on showers than you usually would at Jane’s. The showerhead in her bathroom is adjustable, so the water isn’t quite as harsh when it hits your skin. You end up using her vanilla body wash and her coconut shampoo of two different brands. You take the time to sniff each one before using them, and you smile when you realize how familiar they are.

You shiver when you finally step out of the water, and you rush to dry your skin and get dressed. You do your best to towel your hair dry as well before you make your way back to the living room. Jane has already changed into her pajamas (because she prefers to shower in the mornings) and gathered a bunch of pillows and blankets and started watching TV again. You must have spent a long time in the shower, because a bowl of popcorn and a plate of cookies are set on top of the coffee table.

She smiles when she sees you. You smile too. “So it’s a movie night, then?” you ask. You don’t bother sitting down in case you just have to get up again to pick.

“Unless you want to do something else, that sounds good.” Jane gets up anyway, and you pick out several movies together for a marathon: Legally Blonde, The Rise of the Guardians, and The Breakfast Club. They’re all pretty happy movies, you think. You haven’t actually seen the second one, and the last time you tried to watch the third you fell asleep because it was four in the morning. You’re determined to stay awake through all of them this time though.

After pushing the coffee table right up to the couch so that the food is within reach, you spend entirely too much time trying to adjust so you’re both comfortable before the movie starts. You try resting your head on her shoulder, but either your legs end up at an awkward angle or it’s hard to see the screen. She tries pulling you onto her lap, but that’s uncomfortable for both of you. Eventually you end up spooning on the couch. There’s barely enough room, but that’s just an excuse for Jane to pull you closer.

As the movie starts, you don’t miss her sniffing at your hair. You start to wonder if you should say something about that. She moves her head and sniffs at your shoulder too. She moves her arm as well, trying to pretend she’s pulling you closer instead of trying to smell you.

Her lack of subtlety makes you want to laugh. You succeed in not making any noise, but she still feels you shaking. “Shut up,” she says, though you know she doesn’t mean it. “You smell different tonight.”

“Yeah, I forgot to bring my own shampoo and soap this time. I hope that’s alright.” You decide not to mention that you didn’t bring it on purpose; you specifically wanted to smell like Jane.

“It’s fine, just different.” She stops smelling you, but doesn’t move her head. You wonder if she can even see the movie like that. “I kind of miss the citrus though. Not that this isn’t nice.”

You grin and you start to hide your face; you’re sure you must be blushing. She pays just as much attention to the smell of your shampoo that you do to hers. She must notice the tip of your ear going red too, because she kisses it. “You’re such a sweetie, you know that?”

Your voice is muffled by the cushion that you’re hiding your face in. “No, you’re a sweetie!”

“Shush,” she says before she kisses you on the cheek again.

“But you are,” you argue. Jane starts shushing again, but you continue over her. “You’re the one who keeps having me over, so! That makes you the sweet one!”

She’s making noises of denial almost before you finish your sentence. “I’m always inviting you over, silly. It’s really very selfish of me. I just love your company too much.”

“How is that selfish? You’re saving me from a life of loneliness.” You’re completely serious, but you keep the joking tone.

You don’t think you’re really fooling Jane though, because she gets a little more serious too. “Callie, I love being with you. I’m always thinking of how I can’t wait until the next time I see you, you little cutie.”

Just when you thought the color was leaving your face, you start to blush again. You don’t have a proper response to that. She sounds sincere, but “Really?” is all you can think of to say.

“Really.” She kisses you once more. You wonder why she’s kissing you so much, not that you’re complaining. “I love the time we spend together. Not that I don’t care if you’re lonely or not, but I always want to be with you. That’s a little bit selfish, I think.”

Jane Crocker, selfish? Definitely not. “No, I always want to spend time with you too. So that would make me selfish too.”