Impulsive

8. Dominik

Dean and I stayed up waiting for the girls to get back. We both waited awhile but dean had an early morning and was tired, so I assured him that I'd wait for the girls and sent him off to bed. It was pretty late by then and Ava's parents already went to sleep. From what I figured out, Ava and Callie do this a lot and their parents don't seem to mind it as long as they come home by a reasonable time. Do they have any clue about what they were doing out there?

When I saw Callie all over that boy, my jaw tightened. This girl was already affecting me, and I had only just met her. However, even though Callie and I met first, I think she's more partial to Dean. I'd like him more too if someone gave me alcohol when I'm becoming an almost alcoholic. I asked him why the hell he did that, but he seemed to have his reasons.

It was about 12 when I heard the front door open. I sat up, put the newspaper down in my lap, and waited for them to enter the living room.

"Dominik," Callie half shouts half whispers, putting her hand over her heart. Just like she did the first night when we met in the kitchen.

"Jesus, Dominik!" Ava explains, putting her hand over her heart as well. "What are you doing up?"

"Just wanted to see if you guys got home safely," I say, dryly. From the looks of it, I'd say they're both high. I stand walking in front of them as they take their coats off and hang them on the coat hanger.

"Well, as you can see, we did," Callie remarks, as she took her scarf off. Ah, that smart mouth.

"Well, I'll leave you to it," I say, tipping my head to them and walking off toward my bedroom. I lay in bed again staring at the ceiling all night. Tossing and turning but barely getting any sleep. My alarm clock rings at 7:30 sharp. I groan, leaning over to turn it off. I hear footsteps walking outside my door, probably the West's getting ready for work and the girls for school. I wait it out for another 30 minutes before it goes silent in the house.

Finally sliding out of bed, I walk the halls and into the kitchen to get some coffee. Hoping there's still some hot coffee left in the pot.

Thankfully there is. After filling the pot with more coffee and water for Dean, I sit down at the table and take out my phone to check up on some emails while I drink my coffee. A little while later, I hear footsteps coming down the hall. Expecting to see Dean walk into the kitchen but to my surprise, Callies comes walking in. Wiping the sleep from her eyes, she doesn't notice me sitting there. I let her go on until she notices me. She grabs her coffee and pours her bowl of cereal before turning around with both items in her hands.

"Good morning," I say as she turns around.

"Oh my god," she says jumping back, spilling her coffee a bit. "Dominik." She says taking a breath after setting her items down on the table. "What are you doing here?" She says after she finally composes herself.

"I could ask you the same thing. Shouldn't you be at school?"

"I didn't go today." She says as she sits at the table across from me.

"Are you not feeling well?"

She looks at me confused. "What?" She asks, shaking her head. "No."

"So why didn't you go then?"

She shrugs as she swirls her spoon around in her cereal. "I just didn't feel like going."

I shake my head; this girl is really trying all my patiences. "That's not a very valid reason to not go," I say, trying to keep a neutral tone of voice.

She shrugs, throwing me a glare. "I think it is."

"How are your grades if your skipping school every time you don't feel like going?"

She shrugs. "I don't know. Fine, I guess."

Suddenly we both turn our heads when we hear footsteps entering the kitchen. Dean. Thank God, I think to myself. I don't know if I could handle her by myself right now. I might do something stupid.

"Callie." He says, stopping in his place. "What are you doing here?" He asks.

"Callie stayed home from school today," I answered for her.

He stops pouring his coffee and turns towards her. "Are you sick?" He asked, with a look of concern written across his face.

She shakes her head, putting a spoon full of cereal in her mouth. "I just didn't feel like going." She shrugs after she swallowed her spoonful.

He scowls and goes back to pouring her coffee. "That's not a very good reason."

"Well, if you guys are just going to sit here and lecture me then I'm going back to Ava's room," she says standing up and walking over to put her dishes in the sink.

The next few hours of the day are spent in the kitchen with Dean and me both working on our laptops. Opening emails and replying to most of them until lunchtime arrives.

Dean clears her throat and set his glasses down on the table. "I think we should invite Callie out to lunch and tell her we're interested in her."

My mouth gapes open and I wasn't able to hide my surprise. "You want to tell her now?"

He nods his head. "Yes. Well, we've been here for more than a week and have already seen how she deals with things. I think we should let her know sooner rather than later."

"I agree but don't you think it's a little too soon?"

"Well let's take her out and just see how things go?"

"Alright, Alright. I'll go up and ask her in a minute." I say before returning to my email to finish it.

She's sitting on the reading seat next to the window with a book in her lap and a cigarette hanging from her lips. I knock on the door frame, startling her.

"Hey."

"Hi." She says not taking her eyes away from the book, but she does take the cigarette from her lips and in between her fingers. Exhaling the smoke out the window.

"What are you doing?"

"Reading." She says holding up the book, stating the obvious.

I walk over to the window, sitting at the end where her feet lay. I lean over, take the cigarette from her lips and ash it in the tray that sits next to her. She doesn't even react, she just stares at me like she doesn't know how to feel about what I just did. "What are you reading?"

She holds up the book to show me the title. It's not one I read before but looks like some kind of romance novel.

"Dean and I wanted to take you out to lunch,"

She immediately looks up from the book, surprised by what I just said. "Why?"

"Because it's lunchtime and you haven't eaten anything except a few bites of cereal." That is very much the truth but not exactly the reason we want to take her out to lunch. "And we want to talk to you about something," I add. We had to tell her sooner or later and with her habits, I don't want to wait any longer. But I would still like to ease her into the idea of it all.

She has a confused look in her eye like she's trying to figure it all out. Her eyes flick in-between mine, almost like she's trying to see if she could trust me. C'mon Callie, you can trust me.

"Okay." She says finally with a nod to her head.

A small smile forms on my lips. "Okay. Get up, get dressed and meet us downstairs when you're ready. Also, brush your teeth." I add I am definitely not a fan of the whole cigarette thing.