Look out for the <>!

I sat on a kitchen bar stool and looked at the time for the fifth time in two minutes. Callum said he would be here soon but waiting was setting me on edge for reasons I didn't understand. I looked at my reflection that my phone gave and noticed my slightly frizzy hair from skating the past two hours looked wild and unkept. I smoothed it over with my hands and smiled, convinced that I looked good enough for just a review since this wasn't a date. But then why did I feel so nervous?

I heard a knock on the door and almost instantly I was at the door, opening it to see Callum on the other side.

With a backpack in his hands, he smiled at me as he leaned into the door frame like there was nowhere else he belonged. I thought I was confident and collected, but every time I was around him, I felt like melting. "Hi," he said simply.

"Hey. You're early," I said, as I found my words falling out of my mouth like golf balls.

He shrugged with a small chuckle, finding humor in how flustered I was. I wondered if he like to fluster all of the people around him, but as I thought about it, I couldn't remember him hanging out with people at school. I had nothing to go off of except my own interactions with him, which was more interaction than I have seen him have with anyone else.

"I don't like making anyone of importance wait," he said casually as he ran his hands through his longish brown hair and pushed it back into place. For being November in a suburb of raining cold Portland, he made his black leather motor jacket look warm and cozy.

I smiled as I felt my cheeks grow slightly warm. "You think I'm important?" I quickly regretted asking that question, as it made me feel desperate.

He nodded. "Of course, I interviewed you. Thus, you're important. I don't interview just anybody now do I?" he said and walked into the house without being formally invited in. He looked around the foyer, sizing it up, judging the paneled white walls and hung paints. "Your place is nice."

"Thanks," I said, not sure what else to say to that. "Well, want to go over that article?"

He nodded as he took off his shoes and coat slowly, as if he had all the time in the world, which made me wonder how much time he booked for this. I thought it would be a quick visit; he seemed busy after all, but it looked like he wanted to stay longer and honestly, I wanted him to as well. "Where can I put these?" he asked, holding his coat and shoes in hand.

I took his coat off his hands and put it in the small coat closet by the door. "You can stick your shoes by the door," I said as I pointed to all the other shoes in the corner.

He nodded and dropped his designer Gucci boots by the door without care.

I frowned slightly at the casualness towards his belongings. If I had any pair of shoes that cost $700 I would take better care of them. Wait, actually, I did, they were my skates, but I wasn't tossing them around willy-nilly on purpose.

His boots showed extra wear and tear, more than my skates did, and that was saying a lot. There were scuffs on them, with mud smeared on the bottom and sides. It looked like he hiked in them before he came here. But who would hike in shoes like those?

"We can look it over in the family room," I said to him as I led him to our vaulted ceiling family room with floor to ceiling windows. I took a seat in my normal spot on the white suede couch and he sat down next to me as if that was where he belonged all this time.

In one fluid motion, he pulled out his laptop from his backpack and put it on his lap. "I really enjoyed writing about you. For a second, it was like I had a passion for interviewing again."

I smiled at his honesty. I surrounded myself with skaters, don't get me wrong, they were all good people, but they were all fake. I was used to this, but being with him, it was like a breath of fresh air. He seemed so genuine when he spoke, something I hadn't seen outside of my family in a long time. "Thank you. I'm sure you will find that passion again. It's just hidden for a moment."

"Do you speak from experience?" he asked as he opened the article.

I nodded since I had plenty of experience on this topic. "Skating and I have a bit of a love-hate relationship. I think that's normal for anything you love. Sometimes, it just works."

"What gets you out of that funk?" he asked as he leaned closer to me, as if wanting to find out all of my deep secrets with his dark green eyes swimming with curiosity.

I swallowed, suddenly speechless. Being in a private room, I realized he was more intense than I originally thought. He was as old as Jaimie and Paulo, but his eyes said that he had seen so much more and it was slightly intimidating.

I shrugged and fought the blush that wanted to come to my cheeks. He smiled at me, once again, his genuine honesty returned to his smooth self, it was too smooth, making me realize even more that he was hiding something or everything. I wanted to ask but refused that urge since we barely knew each other. "I learn something new, master a new element. These things help me rediscover my love for skating."

"So I just need to master a new element?" he smirked, teasing me with his eyes.

"Or learn something new," I said, not able to hold back the small smile that came to my face. Callum Weeks was like fire, and I couldn't help but stop playing with it.

"It doesn't have to be about me, right?" he asked, looking straight into my eyes.

He was flirting with me, and I didn't want him to stop. I had two guys fighting for my attention and, as selfish as it was; I wanted to eat it all up. "I think you can decide that on your own."

He nodded as he leaned closer to me as mischief played in his eyes. I felt my heart race, knowing he wanted to kiss me, and I wanted to kiss him back. "So I learned what a loop jump was today." He said, changing the topic, and just like that, the flirty personality vanished.

In China, there is a traditional dance in which the performer dances around the stage all while changing masks. The goal is not to let the audience know they are changing masks. It leaves the audience to wonder as the dancer's face change like magic in front of them. Callum was a dancer. His personalities and faces changed instantly and without warning, like magic.

I chuckled at him. "You can just call it a loop. Were you watching skating videos then?" I asked, actually surprised that he studied the topic. I had been skating for years and to this day my dad still had no idea what the difference between an axel and a flip was.

His honestly made it appear as if he really wanted to understand the sport. It made me think that he actually wanted to know me, not just about skating, but everything about my mind and a part of me was scared what he would do with that information.

He scratched the back of his neck as he looked at his computer. "Actually, I was watching your skating videos. Your mom posts them all to YouTube," he admitted, suddenly looking uncomfortable.

I frowned. I knew posting those would bite me in the butt. Every skating performance from when I was five was on the internet for the world to see. If someone wanted to poke fun at me, they could watch them.

"You make skating look so natural, like you were born for it. I never knew someone could be so perfect for a sport," he said then shook his head and for a second, he looked vulnerable. "As for me, I'm terrified of the ice. Anything to do with it. It's my deepest fear. But you make it look so easy, as if you're flying."

I chuckled lightly, finding humor in his statement. "Isn't your dad the one that owns the outdoor ice rink at the ski resort on the edge of town?"

Callum nodded with a frown. "Yeah. I know, ironic." He regretted telling me this information to begin with. He looked at his computer again, breaking our moment and once again, his walls were up and that vulnerable person I saw a second ago was gone.

I looked at his dark green eyes, feeling sorry I teased him. I wasn't used to people being so vulnerable around me. Skaters surely weren't about to share their fears since that could be used against them. "I would love to listen to why it's your fear, if you would like to share," I stated.

He frowned, looking uncomfortable, as if he already said too much to me.

Breaking us from our moment was Paulo, who walked into the room loudly. "Callum, hey, man. How are you?" Paulo asked as he tossed a foam football in the air and caught it. Through his bruised face, he looked at me with disapproval, as if this was the worse thing I could have done, hanging out with him. I knew what he was thinking 'one interview was enough, but now this was just stupid'. For some reason, he hated the idea of us together even if it was just for this article.

"Hey Paulo. That game, wow, beyond words, but I'm sorry about your nose." Callum said, turning his attention to Paulo.

Paulo shrugged rather stiffly. "It'll grow back straight."

Callum nodded. "I wouldn't mind writing an article about you for the paper, too. After all, you're the star senior."

"I'm pretty busy, not sure if I can pencil it in," Paulo yawned. The distaste for Callum was as apparent as a skunk in the room.

Callum frowned as an awkward silence that filled the air.

I shot Paulo a look; he was ruining this moment and I wanted Paulo to dissolve into the carpet. "Didn't mom want you to do the laundry or something?" I asked, pulling at straws to make him leave.

He frowned at me, although he didn't move.

I looked into his dark brown eyes and begged him to leave in silence. I didn't ask him to do many things, but I meant this. I wanted him gone.

Paulo finally looked away from me towards the laundry room. I won. "I have to do some chores so I'll talk to you two later," he said then walked off.

I turned to Callum, eager to move on from this moment. "Let's see that article then."

Callum smiled slightly as he pulled it up, completely brushing off the moment with Paulo. He handed the laptop to me and I read over the words he wrote about me. My eyes stopped over two paragraphs in the article. They stood out to me like butterflies coming out of the summer tall grass, so much so that I had to reread them.

"Ellis da Souza is more confident than most girls and though that may appear cocky and arrogant to many, she has skills that few have. As I watched her skate one rainy Saturday afternoon, she made me feel things I hadn't in a long time. She showed me the magic of hard work."

"A girl standing only 5.3 in height and not weighing no more than 120 pounds never seemed so powerful and strong as when she stepped on the ice. Most people never feel like that in a lifetime."

His words were blunt and honest. Though the article did not paint me as a savior, that was important because no one was perfect. I knew for sure that I had my flaws and in a matter of six paragraphs; I felt like he really got me, more so than most people.

I read the article again, then handed the laptop back to him. I looked at the wall in silence as I played the words in my mind again. "This article seems like the raw me. In a few hundred words, you strip me down and wrote what you saw. It's raw, rough, and beautiful. It's a gorgeous article."

Callum put the laptop back into his backpack. "I didn't rip into you too much, right?" he asked with concern as if it really worried him.

I shook my head with a smirk. Hardly, I had faced worst stories in my life. "Nobody's a saint."

Callum smiled lightly at me, liking my response. "Few people like the articles I write."

"Because they don't want to see their true self."

He chuckled. "I guess so," he sighed as he looked at the time on his phone. He had to leave but he didn't move. "As much as I enjoy staying here, I have to get home. I'll see you around," he said as he got up from the couch.

<>

"I'll see you off," I said as I stood up, losing my balance for a quick second, only to fall back onto the couch.

Callum looked at me with concern as I got off the couch again. "Maybe you've been working too much." He said to me as he grabbed my arm to help steady my shaky self.

I wanted to laugh it off, but the words of Doctor Rodgers still floated around in my mind like clouds. "Must be," I said to him as Paulo walked back into the room, checking on us.

Paulo cleared his throat rather loudly as to make his presence known, which made me shoot another look his way. Hell, why couldn't he just leave us alone?

"It was nice seeing you, Paulo," Callum said as he dropped his hand from my arm as if nothing happened.

"See you around."

I followed Callum to the door and got his coat for him. He slipped on his shoes then opened the door. "The more I thought about it, the more I decided I would like to publish this article for this coming weekender."

"That's when I'll be gone for sectionals. I think that's appropriate."

He nodded, although I think he already knew about sectionals. "Great. See you later."

"See you," I said as I waved him off and from the window, I watched him walk to his car.

Paulo walked up, standing right beside me as together we watched his headlights leave our driveway. He sighed as he turned to me once the lights were gone. The look of disappointment was etched on his face. "Ellis, what did I tell you. Stay away from Callum Weeks."

I put my hands on my hips as I looked at Paulo. I would not date Callum, I was dating Garret, but I found it irritating that Paulo was suddenly bossing me around. Since when did he care who I hung out with. "Or what? What are you going to do, Paulo?"

He frowned. "I'm warning you, Callum's bad news."

I guess that was pun intended. Paulo had such a strong opinion of Callum but there had to be more to the story than I knew. "Why do you not like him, hu? You have never cared about who I hung with until now, why?" I asked him, raising my voice.

He shrunk slightly at the force of my voice, not expected me to get so worked up. But how did he not expect me to when he had never told me what to do before? "El, I'm just watching out for you."

I shook my head at him. "Please don't. I don't need your protection. I haven't had it for years so I don't need it now."

At this moment, I didn't care about working to get close to him again, I just wanted him to back off. With a sigh, I went up the stairs, ready to call it a night and be away from him.

"Callum destroyed the reputation of this girl from another school. He used the newspaper to rip into her. He pushed her to suicide. So I don't say this lightly but, he's a bully and a monster," Paulo said finally as I was halfway up the stairs.

I sighed and turned to face him. That was what I wanted. Now I understood where he was coming from. "Do you know that as a fact?"

Paulo nodded. "I knew her. I was in love with her. I went to her funereal," he said as his eyes got watery.

I never knew about this. I never knew Paulo actually loved a girl, I thought he just liked them to have fun. This statement confirmed we were more separated than we thought. I hardly knew anything about the person I called a brother. "Sorry for snapping at you."

He nodded in silence as he tried to regain himself, but the image of him getting slightly emotional was already burning into my mind.

"Callum was only writing about my skating. Nothing more," I said firmly, convincing myself of the same statement. "No need to worry about it."