Big Fat Liar 2 (Big Fat Liar #2) (5 page)

Callie chuckled. "Yeah."

Ten minutes later, they arrived in front of C & A's Deli in downtown Seattle. Callie stepped out the car and closed it behind her, staring up at the red sign above the subway shop. "What does the C and A stand for?"

"Christopher and Abel," Chris told her as he walked around the car. "Pops named it after my brother and I."

"That's so sweet," Callie smiled. The deli looked nice and cozy tucked between two grocery stores.

"Come on," Chris bumped his arm against hers. "Let's go in and I'll introduce you."

Callie nodded and followed him. The bells hanging above the doors jingled as they entered the building. Callie inhaled the scent of subway sandwiches with a smile. The shop was partially full with customers and Callie spotted a man and woman standing behind the counter.

"Chris!" The woman with dark blonde hair up in a bun smiled brightly. Callie guessed her to be Chris and Abel's mother. She was a beautiful woman in her late forties, hardly showing any sign of aging. She wore the stores red and black uniform, red shirt and black pants along with a white apron. She even sported a black hat that had C & A in gold letters at the front.

She looks like Abel,
Callie thought, watching the older woman walk around the counter to hug her youngest son. Both Abel and his mother were beautiful in a classic sense.

"Son." The older man standing behind the counter strongly resembled Chris.
So this is what Chris will look like when he's older
, Callie though, admiring Mr. Walker. He was a very handsome man with sandy blonde hair that had hints of grey in it. He had the same devilish smile that Chris had. Like his wife, he too was wearing the shops uniform and hat.

"Hey, Pops," Chris nodded to his father. "How's business going?"

"It's going," Bradley Walker winked. "What brings you here?"

"I wanted to show my friend your deli." Chris nodded to Callie. "Cal, this is my beautiful mother, Eliza Walker and her old fart of a husband, Bradley Walker."

"Oh you!" Mrs. Walker batted a hand on Chris's arm but she had a smile on her face. " Chris, stop messing with your father."

Chuckling, Chris wrapped an arm around his mother's waist and planted a kiss on her cheek. "Mom, Pops, I'd like you to meet Cal Picket. He lives right next door to me in my apartment."

"So you're Cal." Mrs. Walker beamed at Callie. "Abel's told us so much about you."

The smile on Callie's lips froze. "A-Abel?" Great, what had Abel told his parents about her?

"Abel beat me to it, huh?" Chris scowled. "What did he say?"

"Oh nothing," Mrs. Walker waved a graceful hand, reminding Callie of Abel. "He just told us that you have a new friend and you're helping him lose weight."

"Yup." Callie nodded. "That's me."

"Eat some of my subs," Mr. Walker grinned at her, "and it'll help you lose weight fast."

"Stop advertising, Dad," Chris mocked, "we're here to eat anyway."

"Good!" Mrs. Walker stepped back from Chris and hugged Callie. "It's nice to meet you, dear."

"Um. Thanks." Callie hugged the older woman back, looking unsure. Eliza Walker smelled like roses. And she also smelled like a mother. When was the last time her own mother hugged her? Callie couldn't even remember.

"What would you like?" Mr. Walker asked her. "We have all kinds to choose from. Pick any and it's on the house."

"Thanks, Pops." Chris walked up to the counter and studied the slices of meat from behind the plastic window. "Cal, come here, buddy, and order yours."

Callie walked around Mrs. Walker and took her place beside Chris. "Hmm." She peered through the plastic window. "Um...how about a Salami sandwich?"

"Great." Mr. Walker opened the bread pantry. "What type of bread do you want?"

"White please."

"You should get wheat," Chris told her. "Less calories."

Callie glared at him. "I hate wheat bread, you know that."

Chris scowled at her. "There's nothing wrong with wheat bread."

"It tastes funny."

"That's cause you're not used to eating it."

"Hey!" Callie poked a finger at his arm. "I thought this was my celebration? Which means I get to pick what I want to eat. So I'm picking white bread."

"Fine," Chris surrendered. "But don't get used to this."

Callie stuck her tongue out at him and he chuckled. Smiling, Callie turned her attention back to Mr. Walker and froze when both Walkers were staring at them from the other side. Mr. Walker had a puzzled look on his face and Mrs. Walker was smiling at her as if she was in on some secret.

Blushing, Callie quickly looked back down at the salami. "Um. Salami with white bread, please."

They spent over an hour at the deli. Callie laughed at the stories Mrs. Walker told her about Chris and Abel's childhood. Chris looked tortured but he didn't ask his mother to leave. Callie could see right through him. He adored his mother and Callie was starting to adore her too. Mrs. Walker was like Abel. Funny, witty and outrageous. By the time Chris said that they should go, Callie was a bit reluctant to depart.

"Don't worry, dear," Eliza Walker hugged Callie one last time as Chris walked over to say goodbye to his father. "We'll meet again."

"It was really nice meeting you, Mrs. Walker." Callie told her honestly. "Chris and Abel are lucky to have a mother like you."

"Aw," Mrs. Walker smiled. "Please, call me Eliza. Mrs.Walker makes me feel so old." They shared a warm laugh. "You take care of my boy now, okay? Sometimes I worry about him."

Callie nodded, feeling odd that Chris's mother would tell her this. "Okay. I'll look out for him."

Mrs. Walker-Eliza, grinned. "I'm sure you will. You know, Abel told me all about you."

Callie nodded again. "I know."

"No, I mean," Eliza leaned forward and whispered in her ear, "I mean ALL about you." Then the older woman giggled. Giggled!

Callie's eyes widened and stared at her. "You...you mean...everything?"

Eliza nodded. "He didn't tell my husband but he told me."

I knew it
, Callie thought. Abel had told his mother ahead of time that Callie was indeed in fact, a woman. No wonder Mrs. Walker had drowned her with attention all this time.

"I think it's so romantic." Mrs. Walker sighed dreamily. "Well, not the lying to my son part but the other part."

"W-what other part?"

"The part that you're so in love with him that you'd do anything to be by his side. Even pretending to be a man." Eliza patted her shoulder sympathetically. "Poor dear. I should bash my son over the head for mistaking you as a man. Why, you look like a girl!"

"It's cause I lost some weight," Callie admitted. "Guess the more weight I lose the more womanly I look."

"And Chris
still
doesn't know?" Eliza shook her head. "Shame on him."

"You won't tell him?"

"No, don't worry, I won't. I promised Abel and I don't break my promises to my sons." Eliza smiled. "And besides, I'm going to enjoy seeing Chris's face when he realizes what a true gem you are. I like you, Cal."

"Callie," Callie corrected her with a blush. "My real name's Callie."

"Callie," Eliza repeated. "Well, I like you Callie. You have a good heart, I can see that. I'm a good judge of character. If I had seen that you were really nothing but a liar and was mean and spiteful then I would have told Chris immediately but I can see that he's in good hands."

Mrs. Walker giggled and winked. "Hey, maybe when you decide to tell him the truth you can convince my son to have babies. I'd love some grandchildren."

Callie was so red by the time Chris came back that he took one look at her and shot his mother a dry look. "Ma, what did you do now?"

"Nothing!" Eliza kissed her son's cheek. "You too have a good time wherever you're going next."

"Uh-huh." Chris eyed his mother suspiciously before lifting both brows at Callie in question. Callie shrugged, pretending to be clueless. "Okay, see ya, Pops!"

Mr. Walker raised his arm to wave at them. "You two come again soon, you hear?"

"Sure will." Callie waved back.

"Shoo, shoo," Mrs. Walker shooed them out the deli. "Bye!"

"That was weird," Chris said, frowning as he unlocked his car.

"Uh huh." Callie replied.
You have no idea
.

Let me set you up on another date," Chris said a two weeks after he first introduced Callie to his parents. He breezed into her apartment without bothering to wait for her to tell him to enter. Callie closed the door and stared at him, not at all surprised at his sudden announcement.

"Like I've told you last week and the week before that...NO."

Chris turned and frowned at her. "Why not?"

Callie sighed. "In case you didn't notice, Chris, me," she pointed to herself, "plus dates," she drew a plus sign in the air, "equals," she drew and equal sign, "disaster." She pretended to choke herself, rolling her eyes back and hanging her tongue on the side of her mouth.

Chris rolled his eyes at her dramatics. "Very funny."

Callie threw up her hands. "I'm serious! No more dates, Chris."

"And why not? Haven't we been working on your insecurity issues as well as your weight these past weeks? Your confidence has grown, I can tell and I think it's time to test it out."

"My confidence has improved," she agreed, "but not my bad luck."

"Cal-"

"Chris," she cut him off, completely exasperated by him. "Why are you so set on fixing me on blind dates? What's all this really about? If you're tired of my company, just tell me and I'll...I'll find something else to do then take up all your time."

He had no idea how much it hurt her to say that. The time she's been spending with him were the best moments in her life. Staying away from him for a day would cost her a lot but if he no longer wished to be around her...

"It's not that," Chris scoffed.

"Then what is it? Why the blind dates?"

"I just want you to have more confidence in yourself."

"Is that all, Chris? Really?" She didn't believe him. For a long time now Chris has been acting strange, as if being around her was starting to bother him. She hadn't said anything about his behavior in fear that she was right but now that it was all out in the open, she might as well find out what was wrong with him.

"Why do you sound like that?" Chris glared at her. "Like you're accusing me of something."

"It's...it's because I'm worried," she whispered. "Lately, you've been...distant."

"No I haven't," he denied automatically. "I've been hanging around you like I've always have, haven't I?"

"Yeah," she nodded, "but...whenever you're around lately, it feels so strained. Is there something on your mind? Something you wanna get off your chest?" She took a step closer to him, concern etched on her face. "Is there something you want to tell me?"

Could it be that Chris knew that she wasn't a guy? That she was really a girl?
No
, Callie thought,
that couldn't be it
. He would have busted her by now so he was probably still clueless but then what was wrong with him? Why was he acting so strangely around her?

"Chris?" she inquired, gazing up at him with imploring eyes, eyes that begged him to tell her what was really on his mind.

Chris swallowed, internally battling with himself. In truth he had no idea what the hell was wrong with him. It was just that every time he was around Cal these days...he'd feel...feel what!? What the hell was wrong with him!?

"Chris?" Callie placed a hand on his arm. "You okay?"

"No," he bit out, "no, I'm not okay." He jerked his arm from under her hand and backed away. "I don't know what okay is anymore."

Callie stared at her hand, still in mid-air where his arm had been. His sudden rejection hurt like hell but she didn't voice that. Instead she lowered her hand to her side and stared up at him. "W-what's wrong?"

She didn't realize it but her husky voice had cracked a bit and Chris heard. Taking a deep breath, he turned his back to her. "Anyway," he said, casually, pretending that nothing odd had just happened between them, "I have this friend I think you would like."

Callie stared at his back, feeling her heart breaking. "Oh?"

"Yeah. I work with him. I think you'd really like him."

Callie blinked. "H-him?"

Chris squared his shoulder and turned around, a fake smile on his lips. "Yeah, Jerry's great. Funny and a real animal lover. He's a nurse at the hospital I work in."

He was setting her up with another man? Not a woman this time? All Callie could do was stare at him, at that phony smile on his handsome face and inside...inside she was curled up in a ball crying.

"You think I'm gay?" She asked, already knowing the answer.

"Well aren't you?" Chris laughed and patted her shoulder. "Look, man, I don't discriminate. I have Abel for a brother remember? Jer's a great guy. You should give him a chance."

"I should?"

"Yup. You should."

Callie mimicked his fake smile. "Okay. If you say so, Chris."

"Okay. Good." He scratched the back of his neck, suddenly looking uneasy again. "Um, so I guess I'll call him and tell him you said yes."

Callie nodded numbly. "Yeah. Yeah...you do that."

"Okay." Chris placed his hands on his hips, awkwardly looking around her apartment. "Huh, you changed the flowery curtains to a blue one. Nice touch."

"Thanks." She had chosen it because it was the color of his eyes. But she couldn't tell him that...not without revealing her feelings.

Chris stared at the silk blue curtains before walking around her without another word. He hesitated by the door and stared at Cal's forlorn back before shaking his head. "See ya, Cal."

Callie didn't turn around. "See ya." But he probably didn't hear her because he was already closing the door behind him. Callie looked back at the closed door, eyes burning with unshed tears.

***

Like she had promised, she went to the date with Jerry the very next day. Alone. Chris hadn't went with her, telling her that it was better that she went alone. Jerry had been a wonderful date, a kind man with curly dark hair and thick glasses. Though she found him amusing, she knew that he was no Chris, though like Chris, he had no idea that she was actually a girl.

He had confessed to her that he had just come out the closet and was new to the whole dating another man thing. Hell, he was new to the whole dating experience all together which explained his obliviousness. Jerry had said the she was cute, really cute. A really cute guy. He didn't mind that she was a bit overweight at all.

A bit was still an understatement. Though she had lost forty pounds all together, she had another sixty or more to go before reaching what her weight should really be. Still, it was nice of Jerry to keep giving her compliments she didn't deserve. Especially when she couldn't even completely enjoy his company since she was thinking about Chris all the damn time.

Throughout their whole date at Olive Garden, while Jerry had sat across from her in his fancy white suit chattering excitedly about something she didn't even remember, the whole time she had been wondering what Chris was doing. Was he with at home? Or with Brenda?

At one point Jerry had been brave enough to jokingly ask if he was boring her...or him, but she had smiled and told him no, she just wasn't feeling well. An hour into their date and Jerry had taken her back home, even walking her up to her door. He had even placed a hesitant kiss on her cheek before cheerfully waving as he walked down the stairs back to his car.

Once inside her apartment Callie had taken off her blue jeans and white dress shirt and blazer and crawled into bed. There, she cried herself to sleep.

The next morning, Chris knocked on her door and she opened it. He smiled at her, looking heartbreakingly handsome in black jeans and grey shirt that outlined his muscles. "Well?" He grinned at her, "how was your date with Jerry?"

Callie was still in her purple pajamas, now a little loose on her. She stared at Chris, not a trace of a smile on her face. Looking at her solemn expression, Chris immediately knew that something was wrong and that wiped the smile off his face in a matter of seconds.

"What's wrong?" He demanded, letting himself in her apartment. He closed the door behind him and stared at Cal. "Hey, what happened? Did Jerry say something mean to you? I swear to God if he did I'll-"

"You'll what?" Callie asked. "You'll what, Chris?"

Chris clamped his mouth shut, brows furrowing. He opened his mouth to say, "I'll deal with him."

"How very noble of you." Callie turned and walked away from him. She felt too dead inside to even be happy that he was in her apartment. She felt like the lowest human being on earth. For this man, she had lied and lied and lied...and for what? To date other women? Other men? To slowly die inside as she watched another woman claim him?

"Cal," Chris followed her, "what happened? I spoke to Jerry earlier and he said you two had a good time."

"Then why did you come here to ask me how the date went if you already knew?" She asked, walking in the kitchen. She opened the fridge and took out a carton of apple juice.

"Cause I wanted to hear your side of the date," he told her, watching her pour some juice in a purple plastic cup she had taken out a cabinet.

"The date was fine."

"Then why the hell do you look like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like hell."

"Well excuse me." Callie slammed the cup and carton on the counter. "It's still early in the morning and I had just woken up."

"Huh." Chris studied her face, noting the dark circles around her eyes. "You two didn't go out and get hammered last night did you? You look like you're suffering from a hangover."

Callie glared at him. "Chris, did you come here to shoot insults at me?"

He grinned. "No, sorry, my bad."

Any other time she would have melted under that charming grin but not this time. Instead she grabbed the purple cup and drank all the apple juice within it in one go. Chris stared at her, brows shooting up.

"I was thirsty," she explained, tossing the empty cup in the sink.

"Uh huh." Chris crossed his arms and leaned his hip against the counter. "So, how was the date?"

"Fantastic." She walked past him.

"Fantastic?" Chris followed her into the living room. "That's it?"

Callie sat on her couch and flipped on the t.v with the remote. "What else do you want me to say, Chris?"

Chris sat on the arm of her couch and frowned at her. "Jerry said he had fun and would like to take you out again."

"No thanks."

Chris blinked. "What?"

"I said no thanks."

"What do you mean 'no thanks'?"

Callie sighed and looked up at him. "What? Do you need me to Google the definition of 'no thanks' for you?"

"Whoa." Chris raised his palms up. "Look who woke up in the wrong side of the bed this morning."

Callie turned her attention back to the t.v and continued to aimlessly flip through channels. "Cal," she heard Chris say, "what's wrong, buddy? You said you had a fantastic time so why not go on another date with Jerry?"

"Because I don't want to."

"And why not?" He pressed. "I don't get it."

"Because you're a clueless idiot," she muttered under her breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

"I heard what you said. What exactly am I a clueless idiot about?" Chris crossed his arms. "Please, enlighten me."

Callie stood and tossed the remote on the couch. "Nothing, Chris. Nothing. You're wonderful."

"Now you're just being a smartass, Cal. What the hell is up with you?"

"What's up with you!?" She shot back, completely fed up with him.

Chris stood, towering over her. "What the hell does that mean?"

Frustrated, she poked his beefy chest. "I mean what's up with you and bombarding me with blind dates all of a sudden!?"

"I've only set you up with Susan and Jerry!"

"Yeah!" She cried, "that's because I put my foot down and wouldn't say yes when you kept insisting to set me up with your other so called friends."

"What got your boxers up in a twist?" Chris frowned at her. "You're not acting like yourself."

Callie laughed without humor. "Like what, Chris? Like sweet, soft spoken Cal? Well guess what? You've created a monster!" She bumped her shoulders rudely against his as she walked away.

"Don't walk away from me," Chris snapped, his patience growing thin. "Cal!"

"Shut up."

"Cal! Stop walking away from me and explain what the hell is up with you!"

Callie paused in front of her room entrance and swirled around. "You're what's up with me, Chris! I hate you!"

Chris reared back as if Callie had struck him. "W-what?"

Callie glared at him, almost in tears. Her chest felt so suffocated with love for him, suffocated with guilt because of all the lies she had told just to hold on to him and he...he was setting her up with other people! Male and female!

"You heard me!" She screamed at him. "I. Hate. You!" She whirled back around, entered her bedroom and slammed the door close behind her.