CHAPTER 2
THE BLACKTHORNES

　
Saturday　
February 11, 2023　
11:30 PM　
　

　　CALLIE GOMEZ HADN'T planned on catching up on lost time with old friends. It wasn't exactly on her agenda when she decided to return to her hometown. She really only planned on arranging her father's funeral, selling the Mines, and going home. But then she ran into Mia Gajos and everything changed.

　　She expected a different outcome the moment she walked into the diner. She thought seeing all her old friends again would be like a knife to the heart. But she enjoyed it more than she thought when Mia surprised her by calling Aubrey Everdeen to join them for dinner. Spending time with two of her childhood best friends together made Callie feel like she was fifteen. And it felt really fucking good to feel that way again.

　　The three of them spent so much time down at The Lunch Box that Callie never wanted to leave. She was sick to her stomach from all the milkshakes and greasy french fries, but she would rather combust from a full stomach and puke all over poor Ernie McEntyre's floor than go back to her lonely motel and start thinking about how much she missed her parents and wished they were here with her.

　　Ernie came to their booth around eleven and told them he was closing up shop and it broke their hearts. The friends didn't want to leave, but they knew poor Ernie needed his sleep, so they packed up the scrapbooks of the good ole days that Mia had brought along, paid for their food (Mia and Aubrey refused to let Callie pay for her half) and stood in a group hug for what seemed like ages in the parking lot before parting ways, planning to see each other again for lunch tomorrow.

　　On the trip back to her motel, Mia and Callie laughed and cried as they belted out the words to whatever song came on over the radio. By the time they pulled into the motel, it was well after eleven o'clock in the evening. The lights were still on and the only person outside was a woman in skimpy clothes, smoking a cigarette as she leaned up against her rusted car.

　　Mia pulled into the lot and sighed as she turned to face her friend. "Well, I guess this is goodbye. For now, at least."

　　"For now," Callie agreed. "I'll see you guys for lunch tomorrow. Promise."

　　"You better keep that promise, or I'll come back to your motel and kick your ass, before you dragging you to lunch myself," Mia smirked.

　　Callie rolled her eyes and chuckled. "Yeah, yeah." She leaned over the console and wrapped Mia in a quick hug before stepping out of the car. "See you tomorrow, Mia. Drive safely."

　　"I always drive safely."

　　Callie scoffed. "Mia, you had more tickets than anyone at our school. It's a wonder you even still have a license."

　　Mia pursed her lips. "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm an excellent driver. The best of all time. You must be thinking of a different Mia."

　　"Mm-hmm," Callie hummed as she tried her best not to laugh. "Must be."

　　The Gajos girl puckered her lips and blew her friend a kiss as she put her car in drive. "Sweet dreams, Gomez!"

　　Callie shook her head and laughed to herself as she watched her friend peel out of the lot and down the road.

　　When she couldn't see Mia's car anymore, Callie turned around and headed toward her motel room, fishing the room key out of her purse and unlocking the door. She kicked off her shoes and tossed her purse onto the bed before approaching the bathroom to take a shower.

　　Callie pulled back the curtain and found two small bottles, one filled with shampoo and the other with conditioner, along with an unopened bar of soap. But she didn't see any towels. She searched under the sink and in the closet but still couldn't find any. With a sigh, she headed out the door and began walking down the sidewalk barefoot, hoping the staff was still awake and could supply her with some bathroom towels.

　　She pulled open the door and approached the front desk, where she rang the bell sitting on the counter. "Hello? Anywhere back there?"

　　A woman in a red and pink blouse decorated with hearts that were most likely for the holiday walked out of the back room, her salt and pepper hair pulled from her face and secured in a clip. She wore purple-framed glasses and sandals on her feet. Her name tag read Shelley, and it was then Callie realized who this woman was.

　　"Mrs. Pelletier?"

　　Shelley Pelletier flashed her a smile. "My goodness. It's been a long time since I've seen your face around these parts, Calliope" Then she frowned, dark eyes growing sad. "I was so sorry to hear about your father. He was a fine man."

　　"Yes, he was," Callie agreed. "So how is Joel?"

　　Joel Pelletier had befriended them in high school, and it was then Mia had started referring to themselves as The Marauders. He was a good friend to them, always there when the girls needed muscle or someone that was as weird as them to hang out with. Most days Joel would rather hang out with them than the friends he made on the Beacon Hills lacrosse team. He even dated Mia for a while until the two of them decided they were better off as friends. But Callie hadn't heard from Joel since graduation. She always assumed his emails stopped because Joel was too busy with school.

　　"Joel is good," Shelley replied with a smile. "He's around here somewhere. After school, he came back home to help me open up this place."

　　"It's an amazing motel," Callie commented. "I read only good reviews about it online."

　　"Thank you," Shelley replied. "Now what can I help you with, honey?"

　　"Oh, right," Callie said as she remembered what she came to the front desk for. "I was about to grab a shower but I'm afraid there're no towels in my room."

　　Shelley shook her head. "Now I told that boy to make sure he restocked all the rooms today. Must've been too busy playing with that damned camera of his. Not to worry, I'll get you some towels."

　　Callie chuckled. "Thanks Mrs. Pelletier."

　　"Ms. Pelletier," she corrected, while heading toward the stockroom down the hall. "I got rid of that lying, cheating, bastard of a husband a long time ago."

　　Callie's eyebrows shot up in surprise, having not heard about the infidelity or divorce from any of Mia's e-mails. "Good for you."

　　Shelley emerged from the stockroom with a few bathroom towels and returned to the front desk. "There you go, honey. Don't be afraid to holler if you need anything else. Joel works the night shift so there is always someone here in case our occupants need anything."

　　"Great. Thank you," Callie replied. She grabbed the bathroom towels and waved goodbye to Ms. Pelletier before heading back toward her room.

　　On her way back to her room, Callie spotted none other than Joel Pelletier himself. He was climbing a ladder in the parking lot near the sign of the motel with his video camera balanced on his shoulder. He appeared to be capturing footage of the motel, most likely for their business website or maybe even his portfolio. She waved in his direction, and when Joel spotted her through the camera, he dropped it from his shoulder and waved back, a big grin on his face.

　　Callie approached him as Joel began climbing down the ladder to greet her. "You still carry that thing around whenever you go, don't you?"

　　Joel lowered the camera from his shoulder and placed it in the grass at their feet. "Always," he replied, his grin unwavering.

　　She shook her head with a laugh. "Figures. I swear you would rather tape the games than play them. Coach Finstock was always on your ass whenever you brought it."

　　"Never could help it," Joel replied with an innocent smile. "I just love to capture the world, you know? I'm saving up so I can do some traveling in Europe. Maybe some parts of Australia, too."

　　"That's wonderful, Joel," Callie smiled. She knew the boy had always been so passionate about photography. His dream was to travel the world, build up his portfolio with the finest photographs, and then settle down with a good job.

　　"Thanks," he replied. "So what do you do now? Wait, let me guess — miner?"

　　Callie rolled her eyes at his joke. "No, I didn't join the family business."

　　"No kidding?"

　　"One hundred percent serious."

　　"That's not too surprising, though, if I'm being honest."

　　She raised a brow. "Really? That's the first time I've ever heard that. I mean, people are always quick to assume that I'm a miner because of the generations of my family working at the mines. But that's isn't something that I wanted for myself. I didn't just want to be known as just another Gomez Miner. I wanted to make something of myself."

　　Joel smiled. "I know. You were always an independent person with your own dreams. We were just fifteen, but I knew you would stray from the family path and pave your own road someday."

　　Callie couldn't help but smile at his words.

　　"So, what do you do now?" he asked, repeating the question from before.

　　"I'm a homicide detective in Los Angeles."

　　"No fucking way."

　　"Way," she laughed.

　　"That's awesome! No, seriously," Joel said when she began to laugh at his reaction. "Like, you're an actual homicide detective and solve crimes and shit like that? Gun, badge, the whole nine yards?"

　　"The whole nine yards," she confirmed, opening her jacket to reveal her badge.

　　Joel bent down to get a closer look at the badge, eyes shimmering in awe. He'd never seen a detective badge before except on television. "This is so cool. How many criminals have you taken down?"

　　"I've kinda lost count of how many cases I've worked on by now," Callie replied. "But I'd ballpark the number around eighty."

　　He whistled, impressed. "Nice."

　　"Thank you," Callie replied, pocketing her badge. She adjusted the bathroom towels in her arms and glanced around at the motel. "This place is nice, by the way. The cleanest motel I've ever seen."

　　"Well, you know my mom. She likes things down a certain way and takes great pride in cleaning."

　　"That I do," Callie nodded. "She freaked when Mia spilled some nail polish on the rug one time."

　　Joel chuckled at the memory. He can remember that day like it happened yesterday. His mom had come down to the basement where they were all hanging out and her face turned red the moment she saw Mia trying to clean up the magenta nail polish she had spilled on the beige-coloured rug. His mom had scolded the girl, advising her to be more careful. And then the moment his mom disappeared upstairs, they could hear freak out, having not wanted to lose her cool in front of a bunch of kids. Mia felt so guilty that she did her best to clean the rug. But in the end, his mom brought out her expensive cleaners and got the stain out within minutes. To this day, he still doesn't know what is in the homemade cleaners his mom uses.

　　"I still don't know what is in her cleaners," Joel replied. "She refuses to tell anyone. Claims it's some special ingredient."

　　"Oh, it's magic," Callie said without hesitation. "Has to be. That's the only explanation."

　　Joel laughed. "Magic would explain a lot. I mean, you should see the stains that stuff can get out. She could murder someone and not even Detective Gomez could find a trace of blood."

　　"Murder?" Callie scoffed. "Your mother could never. That woman might have a short temper with cleaning and organizing things, but she is a Saint otherwise."

　　"That's true." Joel moved to grab his camera from the grass. "Hey, so do you want to grab a beer and catch up? I've got some in the office."

　　"A beer sounds great," Callie replied. "Let me just go put these towels in my room."

　　"Sounds good," Joel nodded.

　　Callie turned and made her way back toward her room. She set the bathroom towels on the bed and slipped on her shoes before locking up and stuffing the room key in her pocket. She bumped into Joel just as he was leaving the office. He didn't have his video camera anymore and now carried a small cooler full of beer, and two lawn chairs were hooked under his arm.

　　"Right this way, m'lady," Joel said as he began walking down the sidewalk.

　　She followed him to the back of the building, where they climbed a ladder up the roof and set up the lawn chairs. They plopped down and opened up a beer, gazing up at the stars above their heads.

　　"This is amazing."

　　"I like to come up here a lot. Eases my mind, you know? Plus, it's a great view of the town. When the sun is just right," Joel explained with his hands up as though he was holding his camera, "you can get the perfect photo."

　　Callie smiled. She always loved it when Joel talked about photography. It was incredibly calming, even when he got all excited and used fancy words that she could never understand. "Maybe you can show me sometime? I'd love to see everything you've captured for your portfolio before I go."

　　"Of course!"

　　"Great," Callie replied, turning to face him. "Now, I've got to know, why a motel? I never thought your mother the type."

　　Joel sighed and took a sip of beer before licking his lips to explain. "Things got rough when my parents went through with their divorce. Mom was having trouble with money, so she opened our home up to the people. Made it a bed-and-breakfast. When I came back from school a few years ago, things were booming. She enjoyed it, catering to people, running a business. We got to talking and suddenly we were visiting with realtors and opening up this place. Two years later and we're one of the best motels in the entire state."

　　Callie's brows shot up. "That's impressive."

　　He shrugged. "Yeah, I guess." Then he turned to face her, a smile on his face. "This is nice, you know. Talking to you again. We should do this some more. When do you leave?"

　　Callie took a sip of her beer before responding. "The funeral home is preparing him for the wake tomorrow and then cremation will be the following day. Then I sign the papers for the Mines in three days, which is when I hope to get back home."

　　Joel frowned. "Only three days?"

　　"I know." She looked away and peeled at the label on her bottle. "But I need to get back home. I got work and pets waiting for me. Don't worry, though, I won't leave without saying goodbye to my Marauders."

　　"You better not. Mia might kill you."

　　"Understatement of the century."

　　"Yeah, you're right," Joel grinned. "She would definitely kill you."

　　They burst into fits of laughter, and not before long, Callie let out a sigh and told him that she needed to get some sleep. They cleaned up the roof, tossing the empty beer bottles into the recycle bin before parting ways with a hug. Callie even made sure that Joel would be joining her, Mia and Aubrey for lunch tomorrow, which the camera-happy boy refused to miss.

　　Returning to her room, Callie locked the door and kicked off her shoes. She shed her clothing one layer at a time before grabbing the towels from the bed and heading into the bathroom. She turned the knobs on the shower, adjusting it to the correct temperature, and stepped under the water.

　　When Callie finished getting a shower, she turned the knobs and pulled back the curtain, reaching for a towel resting on the hook. She dried off her face before bending over and wrapping her hair up. Then she reached for the other towel and began patting her body dry.

　　Now dry, she stepped out of the tub with the towel secured around her body and left the bathroom. Callie opened up her suitcase and fished out a pair of sweatpants, an old t-shirt, and a fresh pair of socks and underwear. And as she was getting dressed, she noticed something strange going on outside. Bright lights were flashing against her closed blinds.

　　Throwing the towels onto the floor and pulling the t-shirt over her head, she approached the window with furrowed eyebrows so she could see what was going on. Callie peeked through the blinds and her eyes widened when she saw several police cars parked in the lot, their sirens off but their lights flickering bright.

　　What the fuck?

a/n: duh duh duh!! okay so you finally got to meet the pelletier's and the first murder has happened so do you know what that means? things are about to get very chaotic AND stiles will finally make his first appearance in the next chapter!!