The Moment She Knew (6 page)

She waited a moment,
their conversation had been on her mind all day and he was right. “I know. You’re right. I guess I can see why you didn’t say anything right away. And I shouldn’t have talked about you in that way, it’s just I really worked hard and it took me so long to get where I am. I just feel like something’s should be earned. I always bust my ass and people get shit handed to them. I never can catch a break but I don’t want to give off the ‘poor me’ persona.” She had some zest in her tone. She went and sat down on her couch, clutching a pillow to her body. He was right about how she judged him but he still could have gotten his point across without being condescending.

“
That was wrong of me. I was rude and being an asshole. I completely admit it. You are right to your opinion but just because I didn’t go to school, doesn’t mean I didn’t earn what I have. I gave up and went through more than most people know.” She was interested to know what exactly since the internet gave no information up. “That’s a story for another time,” he continued, “I just wanted to say that I was sorry for how I spoke to you. I was rude and shouldn’t have thrown your struggle in your face. I was annoyed with Ryan and with how other things were going in other areas of life. I knew I had to tell you who I was. I wasn’t lying to you, I was holding off. I enjoy talking to you and I wanted to keep our friendship going.” He took the seat on the couch next to her.

Callie
always owned up to her mistakes. She barely knew him and acted on a judgment. She was never one to do that. She nodded and offered her apologies. “And you are fully aware you were being a pompous asshole?”

“Yes, I am fully aware I was.”
Connor slightly smiled.

“Ok. And you want to be friends?” Callie asked.

“Yes.” Connor replied.

“Ok, because the next time you think you can talk to me like that, I will coldcock you right in the throat. As your friend, I’m giving you fair warning.”
Connor looked at her and started to laugh. “I’m being serious.” Callie was smiling, trying her best not to bust out laughing at how silly her comment sounded. “I know you are. And if I ever talk to you like that again, I fully expect you to because I will deserve it.” Connor was laughing, but deep down knew Callie would deliver on her warning.

“Ok now that that is put aside. I wanted to ask you if you were busy this weekend. I wanted to explore more of New Haven. Find essential
places: gas stations, grocery stores, that kind of thing. Ryan says you happen to be a born and raised New Haven girl and I should ask you.” She figured this was Ryan trying to get them to play nice. She was going to take the bait. She loved New Haven; the city had so much to offer and couldn’t wait to show it off. “Of course, just let me know when you’re free.”

He turned,
walking towards the door. “Ok. Thanks. Oh and don’t tell anyone I apologized because it’s not really my thing,” he walked out her door and stopped. He turned to face her, she thought he was going to say something but he turned and walked across the hall.

Chapter 9

Summer was officially in swing. Classes had begun and life wasn’t too bad. Callie hadn’t seen much of Ryan; he was teaching a bunch of classes this summer and had other engagements with the school when he wasn’t teaching. Connor on the other hand was always around. They spoke throughout the day, and went either for walks down the beach at night or went for a drive up the coastline. Callie showed Connor what New Haven had to offer. He compared it to New York City, with similarities in shopping and food.

They spent time talking. She talked about her love for Justin Timberlake, fairytales, super heroes and the ninja turtles. She loved to read and found out that
Connor liked to read when he could fit it in. He mentioned there were a few bookstores in the city that were renowned places to visit. Callie had a list of things she one day wanted and on the top was a library in her house.

They talked about
Callie’s family and how they were crazy but each person was special in their own way. She talked about her first job at a coffee house and her academic journey. Connor didn’t offer up much information about himself but if she asked a question, he answered it. She told him about her favorite website called Buzzfeed and how she took all of their quizzes. She had based some of her life decisions on her results from the quizzes. Connor laughed until she showed him some tattoos she had gotten based her outcomes to a quiz or an article she had read.

“Wait so
how many tattoos do you have?” He asked curiously because he hadn’t noticed any.

“Well let’s see. I have 3 dots on
my wrist, it’s a reading thing,” she moved her bracelets aside to show him.

“
I have paw prints on my rib cage, kind of under my boob, an arrow on the side of my foot, a small bird under my collar bone, an anchor on my pelvis, a feather behind my ear and the roman numerals for thirteen on the back of my neck. I also want to get the infinity symbol, I just want to get it for a reason that is worth eternity.” She finished as she pointed to each spot on her body that held a tattoo.

“I didn’t pin you for a tattooed person, but do I get
to see, oh I don’t know the anchor or maybe the paw prints?” He asked with a wink.

“I told you it was all the quizzes,” she said with laugh
ter. She convinced him to take a couple quizzes in exchange she would show him her ‘hidden’ tattoos. She read the question and choices, he gave her an answer. She didn’t know if he realized it, but every time he gave an answer, he revealed a little piece of himself.

Callie
got a deeper look into what Connor did back in New York City. He, along with his team, designed, created and installed software and hardware for companies. He talked about customize databases or at least that’s what she think he said. The software was security type of software so not only did the company’s information need to be protected but their consumer’s information needed protection as well. He talked about other projects he had going on as well, something government related. He talked about work a lot, like he didn’t do much of anything else.

So far on the personal side, she was aware that he was adopted, as were his two sisters, Devin and Quinn and his older brother Parker. Devin and
Connor were the Masone age, 27 years old and they were the closet out of the siblings. Connor was a “fucking pain in the ass” teenager but out grew it and developed a liking in technology. He was quite smart and one thing lead to another and Sterling Technologies was born. His mother was a nurse but now taught nursing at Yale. His father was a man of the law and now taught Law at Yale.

“So both of your parents are professors are Yale?
” She asked as they walked along their usual path near the beach.

“Yes. They like it.
Ryan was talking to them about the business department at the college. He said he needed adjuncts and I promised my mother I would take the summer and lecture here. She gave me a look and well, I always will feel in her debt so I obliged. I needed some time away anyway. I can get too wrapped up in my work and it’s not healthy as Amelia puts it.” He sometimes called his mother Amelia.

“Do you like teaching?
” She asked while wrapping her sweater around her more tightly. The breeze was picking up. It was a bit chilly for a walk tonight.

“It’s different than I’m used to and I have such a reliable staff that I can work remotely so I like it
because
it’s different but I’m not sure it’s for me. I just hope the students are getting something out of it,” he sounded concerned.

“I’m sure they are. Business is one of our most popular departments. That department has the highest number of student enrollments.
You also seem to know about technology and how to run a thriving business so I’m sure your lectures are informative.” Connor noticed she was hugging her body to keep warm.

“I thought about offering an internship at my company to some students.
It would look great on a resume,” he took off his jacket and put it around her.

“I think that would be awesome of you. They can definitely benefit from that. It’s just how
would they travel to the city for this? Most of the students get grants and aid because they don’t make enough money to pay for college.”

She was going to figure out how to implement his internship program out. It would be an amazing opportunity for some of the students. She liked how he didn’t just lecture but wanted to make sure the students were benefiting from it. Too many adjuncts walked in and just spit words at students, not caring what they absorbed. S
he also liked how he often walked with his hands in his pockets. She wondered if it was an insecure thing. She tended to pull her sleeves over her hands when she was feeling insecure but couldn’t imagine how this man could be insecure about anything.

“I haven’t figured out that part yet
,” he replied.

Sitting on their usual rocks,
Callie noticed he barely touched his cup of wine. She had already had a couple glasses. She started yawning when Connor looked at his watch in his pocket and then the one on his wrist. She had a better view of the watch in his pocket; it had a round silver face and a brown leather strap. The watch looked quite plain. “Really?” He asked. It wasn’t too late but with all that had been going on lately, she was busy and this led her to be tired and tired lead to silly. She started to laugh.

“What are you laughing at?” he asked, amused.

“I don’t know,” she said as she continued to laugh.

“
Don’t tell me you’re drunk. Wait are you a spill it all when you’re drunk because if so I have a few questions,” he said with an eyebrow raised.

“No I’m not drunk
, just tired. If you have questions you can ask. I’m an honest person so I’ll tell you what’s up,” she said as she neared the end of her second red solo cup of wine.

“Really, so I can just ask you any questions?”
He asked as he looked down at his untouched cup.

“Of course
, but this works both ways,” she said, hoping to learn more about him.

H
e quickly asked, “Do you like Ryan?” Then he waited impatiently for her response.

“Of course I like him. We have become good friends
,” she said then filled her cup a little more.

“
No, let me try it this way. Do you have feelings for him? Have you slept with him?” He leaned in closer and she swallowed her wine a bit harder than before. Most topics didn’t bother her but him asking her about who she had and hadn’t slept with made her blush. A lot of things he did made her blush. Over the past month what started out as a little crush on Connor turned into more. She was starting to really like Connor. She wasn’t going to tell him, but she was going to have to do something to stop it.

“No I don’t like him in that way and no I haven’t slept with him. Why
exactly do you want to know?” She asked with a head tilt.

“I was just curious. We have spent pretty much the month together and you told me a lot about your life but nothing about dating or ex-boyfriends has come up. I
didn’t see how you could be with anyone since we spend so much time together,” he said now looking at his pants as he rubbed his hands along the top of them.

“I don’t date. I went on a few dates but I hate dating. It’s boring and awkward. I don’t have any ex-boyfriends, so there is nothing to talk about.” He stopped rubbing his legs and looked at her
.

“You never had a boyfriend?”
He sounded shocked. Callie knew this was coming up and she was going to have to explain herself. How do you explain to someone that you are just meant to be alone? No one has worked out and you just can’t imagine your life with anyone? Just when she was getting ready to he added, “I can’t blame you to be honest. I’ve never really had a girlfriend.” Although she wanted to ask why, she thought it was a good time to change the subject. “I noticed you didn’t touch your wine,” she gestured to his cup sitting on the ground by his foot.

“I have a beer or glass of wine every now and then when I’m out. But I don’t drink like used too. I don’t want to repeat the past
.” She stared at him as he picked up and played with his cup. They were silent for a moment.

“Listen I don’t want to go into too much detail but I was pissed.
For a while. I tried to replace my anger with pleasure. So I indulged in anything that allowed me pleasure: drinking, fighting and sex. I wasn’t big on drugs. I tried a few but they weren’t for me,” he cleared his throat.

“So
you fought in like a cage or was it just picking fights at bars?” All she had going through her mind was a shirtless Connor fighting in a cage.

“A few times I
fought in a cage. When my mother found out, she was disappointed and I felt like shit, so I stopped,” Connor looked upset.

“How did she find out?”
Callie asked is a hushed voice, like it was a secret.

“One of my opponents
ended up in her hospital.” Connor hadn’t spoken much about his personal life and she was beginning to understand why. He wanted to keep the past in the past but she wanted to know more.

“So you drank a lot and fought a lot, but don’t do that anymore so that’s a plus
,” she gave a thumbs up.
Who the fuck gives a thumbs up
she thought.