What's Left of Us (The Us Series Book 1)

by Michele Tucker

  He nodded, “I will for you.”

  I stood up and called Parker back to tell him that he's coming with us.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Calla

  THE WEEK went by in a blur, with work and finals taking place, I barely had time to see Beck.

  All of our professors had agreed to give us our assignments early, not wanting to wait we’d been working on completing them before the trip.

  Parker, for some reason, was really excited about the trip. He'd called me several times this week, telling me his plans, when he'll be here, when the flights are, I'm surprised he hadn't called and told me what color shirts he was packing.

  I still hadn't told him about our engagement. I wanted to tell him in person. I thought it would be better if I did it without Beck here. So when he called the next time, I told him to meet me at my dorm.

  Liza decided to go to Zombie’s to give me some time. We said our goodbye’s and I promised that I’d let her take me bridal gown shopping when I got back.

  Parker texted me to let me know he was downstairs. I jumped up and opened my door just as he was getting off of the elevator.

  “You look beautiful Calla, it’s good to see you this happy again,” Parker told me as he gave me a hug.

  He offered me his arm, and I looped mine in with his.

  “Thanks, you’re looking pretty dashing yourself,” I replied as we walked into the room.

  When we got to my room, he went and sat down at my desk. I walked over and sat on my bed, I couldn’t hold my excitement back any longer.

  “So, I have some news…” I waited for him to look at me. When he did I held my hand up left hand to show him the diamond ring sitting on it. “Beck asked me to marry him.”

  He sat there staring at my hand for a few seconds, then wrapped his arms around my shoulders and gave me a big hug. “I’m so happy for you,” he told me as he let go of me. “I always knew you’d marry that guy, even when we were dating.” He admitted.

  “You did?”

  “Yeah I did. Everyone knew it,” he replied.

  I didn’t even realize that I liked Beck that way until after Parker and I broke up. So I was a little shocked that he'd said that.

  “Don’t look so shocked,” he laughed.

  “I’m not shocked,” I said trying to play it off. Parker always got a kick out of being able to read me so well.

  “Yes you are. Your eyebrows are drawn together, and your mouth is open a little. Like you want to say something but just can’t figure out what,” he replied with that cocky smile he’d perfected.

  I sighed and rolled my eyes at him. “Fine. Yes I am. I just don’t know how it was obvious to everyone except for me.”

  “How do I explain this? You would like relax when he was around, and when he wasn’t you were looking for him,” he finished.

  “I had no idea I was doing that,” I told him. He sat down next to me, and put his arm around me.

  “I knew you didn’t. I was never mad about it,” he admitted.

  I instantly relaxed when I heard that he had always been okay with my feelings for him.

  “Well, I guess this leaves only one thing…” I started to ask batting my eyelashes at him for added effect, “Will you be my Maid of Honor?”

  He started to laugh hard; obviously, he thought I was joking. He looked over to me, the smile dropping instantly off his face.

  “Wait— You’re not joking?”

  I shook my head no, and stared at him while I waited for an answer.

  “But I’m a guy,” he stated.

  “I realize that, but you’re also my best friend, and the only person I would want up there with me,” I answered back.

  “Well geesh, how can I say no to that? Fine, yes Calla I’ll be your Maid of Honor, but please no coral dresses, it totally clashes with my skin type.”

  I jumped up and gave him the biggest hug, “Thank you so much Parker, it wouldn’t be the same without you up there. It’ll be fitting; since Beck’s best man is Ellison.”

  “This is going to be one crazy wedding,” he joked.

  He helped me take my suitcase and carry-on bag to his jeep, and we headed out to pick up Beck.

  When Beck came out he gave me a big kiss and hug, and then shook Parker’s hand. They stood there for a moment shaking hands, almost like there was a silent agreement that passed between them.

  The fact that he realized how important Parker was to me, made me love him even more.

  I slid into the backseat of the Jeep, and for the first time since Beck announced that we were headed to Minnesota, my nerves kicked in. This would be the first time for me to fly. Beck sensing my nerves glanced back, and gave my knee a little squeeze of reassurance.

  “Is this a big plane we’ll be on or a little two-seater one?” I asked. I doubted the answer would make me feel any better.

  “It’s a decent size plane,” Parker answered. I then glanced over to Beck with a worried look.

  “It’ll be fine, Cal. I’ll be sitting with you, nothing is going to happen,” Beck told me trying to calm my worry.

  “But, what if…” I started but Parker stopped me.

  “Nothing is going to happen, Calla. Millions of people fly every day; we have nothing to worry about.

  He pulled off the highway and started driving down a back road towards the airport. Parker had the top off of the Jeep and as we were driving, I kept my eyes on the sky. The closer we got to the airport the more planes I saw flying; it just seemed so unnatural for those big pieces of metal to be up in the air like that.

  When we pulled into the airport parking lot, I was a little disappointed that we didn’t hit traffic along the way. I would've welcomed a few more minutes in the Jeep; my nerves had officially gone haywire.

  Beck grabbed our suitcases from the back, and handed me my carry-on bag.

  “Geesh, Cal, what do you have in this?” He asked me before releasing it.

  The weight momentarily made me a little off balanced, but I was able to straighten out before either guy noticed.

  “I read that you’re supposed to pack some things that you need in case you’re luggage gets lost. I have some shampoo and stuff like that, an extra pair of clothes, and a book,” I answered him.

  We trekked over to the ticket counter, and I noticed there are a lot of kids waiting in line with their parents. The line took us about twenty minutes to get through, and we got checked in and received our tickets for the flight.

  The security gate wasn’t much better, even though I would've loved nothing more than to sit down and rest a little, I was thankful that they seemed to be thorough in the checking of bags and stuff.

  As we got closer I noticed a lady with two kids, they were probably around two and maybe five. The lady looked frazzled, and like any moment she was going to lose it. Parker noticed her too, because when it was her turn to go through the check, he offered to help her load her things on the conveyor belt, and then untied the little boys shoes for the mom, he set them up in the little bucket thing, and then grabbed his stuff out of his pockets, and removed his own shoes.

  Beck grabbed my carry-on bag, and lifted it up on the belt for me. I knew that we’d be required to remove our shoes so I wore my grey slip on flats; they were simple to remove and put back on. I was however regretting my decision not to wear socks. The floor felt cold and sticky against my bare feet and I knew that I was going to have to wash them once we passed a restroom.

  Beck went through the metal detector first with no problems. I stepped through and the thing lit up like a Christmas tree, along with a high pitch alarm.

  “Step over this way ma’am,” the security guard asked me.

  I walked over to the side, and they swiped their wand thing around me to see what had set off the detector. When the got to my waist the wand sounded, and I realized it was my belt. The guard asked me to remove my belt, and head through the detector again.

  I did as he asked and walked through again, thi
s time no lights or alarms sounded.

  As I was getting my shoes back on, another guard came up to me with my carry-on.

  “Ma’am is this your bag?” She asked me.

  “Yes,” I responded a little confused.

  “Step this way please,” She instructed me. She walked over to a table, and set my bag on top of it.

  Beck, who had been sitting off to the side on a bench laughing with Parker at my expense, came over and asked if everything was okay.

  “I don’t know yet,” I answered him as we walked over to the table.

  “You have liquids in here that are over the allowed size on flights ma’am. I’m going to need you to dispose of them,” she informed me. She started pulling out my shampoo, conditioner, hairspray, and toothpaste, and then pointed to the garbage can that was next to the table.

  I reluctantly picked up the “dangerous” items and threw them in the trash can. Then walked back to the table, and she had my makeup bag out.

  “I’m going to also need you to dispose of the dangerous possible weapons that are being stored in your cosmetic bag,” she said while looking down in the bag.

  “Didn’t you read what’s allowed on flights, Cal?” Beck asked me.

  I gave him a “don’t mess with me” look, and started looking in the bag to see what dangerous possible weapons I had.

  I held up a pair of nail scissors to the agent and she nodded her head indicating that it was okay to have. Then my hand reached for my razor and she shook her head. I threw it in the trash next to me. I was still rifling through to check for any other items, when Parker came up to us.

  “We gotta get going, our boarding time is in about fifteen minutes,” he tells us.

  I looked at the guard, “were there any other items in there?” I asked her. I was praying hard that there wasn’t.

  “No ma’am, you’re free to go on to your departure gate.”

  I relaxed a little more, relieved that we could finally leave.

  Beck helped me gather the stuff back up and we stuffed it in the bag. He grabbed my hand as he led me to our gate. When we finally got there, we chose a few seats next to the window, and dropped our bags there.

  “I’m going to run to that gift shop next to our gate, do you guys want anything?” I asked them.

  “Yeah, a Mountain Dew,” Parker answered.

  “Water,” Beck replied.

  I grabbed my purse and ran over to the shop, after picking out a few magazines and the guys’ drinks. I paid for the items and walked back towards our seats. Beck and Parker looked like they were having a serious discussion, and one they didn’t want me in on. As soon as they saw me walking up, they shifted a little in their seat and started talking about sports.

  Deciding to let it go, and not ask what they were talking about, I handed them each their drinks, just as our seats were being called for boarding.

  “I don’t think I want to go anymore,” I admitted to Beck. He grabbed my hand and gave it a little tug as he pulled me over towards the ticket lady.

  “You’ll be fine, I won’t let go of your hand the whole time,” he promised.

  The plane ride was okay, there was a little bit of turbulence, as we got closer to Minnesota, but nothing too bad.

  After we got off the plane, and got our luggage, which thankfully wasn’t lost. We made our way to the loading and unloading area for passengers.

  We set our bags down and I sat down on top of Beck’s suitcase waiting for his aunt or uncle to get here.

  We waited for about five minutes, when Beck dropped my hand and ran over to an older guy. He gave him a huge man-hug. I stood up and started to pick up my bag and purse when Beck and the guy walked over to me. As they got closer, I recognized him from his picture that Beck showed me.

  “Ben, this is Calla… Calla this is Pastor Ben,” Beck introduced us.

  “It’s nice to meet you Pastor Ben,” I said as I reached my hand out.

  He ignored my hand, and walked over and gave me a side hug, “it’s Ben, you don’t have to worry about the Pastor stuff.” He told me as he released me, “It’s so good to finally meet you, I’ve been praying for you.”

  “Thanks Ben,” I replied giving him a smile.

  Beck put his arm around my shoulder and then introduced Parker and Ben.

  We loaded into his silver SUV. Beck sat in the front seat so he could talk to Ben.

  As we drove, I took in the city that was home to Beck for that year. It was dark out, but the streets were all clear, and lit up. Around each lamppost were big red hearts, celebrating Valentine’s Day which was coming in a few days.

  “You look happy,” Parker said from the seat next to mine.

  “I am happy, for the first time in a long time, it feels like everything is going to be okay,” I told him.

  He grabbed my left hand, and started inspecting my ring.

  “He knows you so well, I would've gone with something bigger, but I can tell from the way your eyes light up when you look at it, you wouldn’t have wanted it,” Parker told me.

  I didn’t say anything, the truth was that I’d love any ring, big or small if it came from Beck.

  Beck and Ben were talking in the front quietly, a lot had happened since the last time they saw each other, and I knew that Beck would want to fill him in.

  Ben turned onto a nice residential street. On each side, there were huge, leafy trees.

  After a few minutes, he pulled into the driveway of a two-story house. The house was beautiful, grey with white trim, and a yellow front door. There was a big willow tree in the front yard, with a little rope swing hanging from one of the branches.

  A woman came running out of the front door and down the steps towards us before we were even able to get out of the car. She ran straight for Beck, and pulled him into a big hug.

  Beck lifted her off the ground a little, and had a big smile on his face. “Aunt Karen, I’d like you to meet Calla… my fiancé,” he said. She looked shocked for a second, Beck wanted to tell her in person about our engagement and by the look on her face, I was wondering if he made the right decision.

  I stood there awkwardly for a few seconds, before ever really looking at her. I didn’t know what she knew, what Beck had told her while living here, and what he’d told her since.

  She walked over to me, and grabbed me into one of the biggest hugs I think I’d ever received.

  “It is so nice to meet you finally,” she told me as she released me and then looked at Parker. “And who is this handsome fellow?” She asked while Parker chuckled.

  “Parker Campbell, ma’am. Thanks for letting me invite myself over,” he joked with her as he shook her hand.

  “Oh please, we have more rooms here then we know what to do with, you’re more than welcome to come any time,” she answered him. “Who’s hungry, I’ve got a lot of food prepared, hope you all are hungry.” She started walking up the steps back into the house.

  We grabbed our bags and made our way into the house, leaving them all in the foyer.

  “Kitchen’s this way,” Beck tells us as he leads us down a long hallway. As we were walking I noticed that there were a lot of family pictures, old ones, and some fairly recent ones. Beck’s in a lot of them, and I noticed Ellison and her little brother Nick were in several also.

  There was one with Ellison and Nick, with a young couple, they’re sitting in front of a tent, on a log and the smiles on their faces show how happy they are. I stood there for a minute, studying the photo of them. She lost both parents at the same time, and then became responsible for her little brother.

  “That was taken a week before they died,” I heard Ellison say as she walked up next to me.

  “I couldn’t imagine, losing Ash was hard enough, but your parents. I don’t know how I’d survive,” I told her honestly.

  “There were days that I didn’t know what I would do. I was just a child myself… only out of high school a few months when they died. Suddenly I was responsible for anothe
r human. I had a mortgage that was now up to me to pay, and bills to tend to. The two things that always brought me peace about them dying was, one the fact that they died together. I was thankful that I didn’t have to see one of them trying to live without the other, and two that they were Christians… knowing that one day I’d see them again and be with them again,” she was lost in thought for a moment. “I’m sorry for the things that I said last time I saw you, I just don’t want to see Beck hurt again. He’s family, and I just want what’s best for him.”

  “I understand, and I’m glad he has you to look out for him. But I’m not going to hurt him, he’s stuck with me from now on,” I told her.

  “Good,” she said smiling at me and putting her arm around me. She led me into the kitchen where Beck was sitting next to a boy. I recognized him instantly from the picture I was just staring at. But even if I hadn’t just seen that picture, it would be obvious who he was. He had the same dark hair as his sister, and the same deep blue eyes.

  I watched Beck as he talked with Nick, he had a huge smile on his face, and listened closely to whatever he was being told.

  Wanting to give Beck some time with Nick, I went and grabbed a plate of food and sat next to Parker at the counter.

  From the corner of my eye, I noticed him studying Ellison. She was talking with Beck’s aunt, and oblivious to Parker’s attention. I glanced back over to Parker, and he had this look on his face that he gets when he’s deep in thought.

  “Penny for your thoughts?” I asked him and nudged his shoulder a little.

  “Oh, just thinking that these are the best chicken wings I have ever had in my life,” he said forcing his eyes to look at Karen now.

  “Uh-huh, whatever,” I said quietly so that only heard me. He wasn’t fooling me, I knew what was going on in his head.

  He turned his head towards me, and gave me a small smile.

  After visiting a little while longer and meeting Beck’s Uncle Steve and his cousin Caralyne, Karen showed us our rooms.

  My room was down the hall from Beck and Parker’s and right across from his aunt and uncles. I laughed a little at their over protectiveness but deep down it made me happy that they were taking things so seriously.