AU: Irresistible [Calliope]

[Valerie Danner]

It happened about two weeks ago. Valerie wasn't sure exactly when she started having these...urges towards her partner but the most important thing was that she was feeling them.

They were a team act at the House, courtesy of Madame, who put them together for some reason or another. They worked well together and Valerie trusted Callie just as much as the blonde did the brunette, which showed in their act. How graceful they moved with each other and how they complemented each other's steps.

Two weeks ago, Madame decided to give them a particularly sensual act, one that both had seemed to be fine with at first. They started their rehearsals as they usually did; teasing each other, roughhousing a little bit, but once they got down to business, Valerie would touch Callie a certain way and the blonde would react. It was the same with her too. She was suddenly very sensitive to every breath and every touch that after every rehearsal, she went back to Noah with fire burning in her stomach.

Two days ago, Valerie made the mistake of pushing one move too far and with the tension that had built between them, Valerie kissed Callie. Amidst the rehearsal, with her one hand hooked under the blonde's thigh while the other was sliding up her side, brushing dangerously close against the blonde's chest, Valerie just couldn't help herself.

The blonde was pushed against the wall and the rest of the night went by in a blur. Luckily nobody was around that night as they had asked permission from Madame to have the place to themselves for the night.

Thoughts of Noah stopped her short of taking off Callie's clothes right then and there and she went home feeling guilty as all hell. But late that night, after she and Noah slept together, she kept thinking about Callie.

Which made coming into work tonight all the more awkward. She had wanted to ignore Callie but the moment she stepped in, she saw the blonde's back and the feelings she had from that night rushed through her like a freight train.

[Calliope Gallo]

Make no mistake, Callie absolutely adored Lucah. The brighter side of his personality that he showed only to her was something that made her cherish him. This was... She didn't even know.

The thought was harrowing as soon as she realised she had rehearsals again that night. Callie was never good at figuring out things like this. Maybe she was supposed to pretend like nothing happened. It was all a mistake, or something. Surely she was supposed to act like a professional... Or something. Right? At any rate, it wasn't like she could cancel. So she went. And for some reason, she was the earlier of the two. At first Calliope thought that would make things easier. But she missed being teased and chastised for running five minutes late.

Who ever thought she'd miss that, of all things?

Callie made small talk with other dancers while they were packing up. She fiddled with the lines of her UVM hoodie - the one she first 'borrowed' from Lucah when they got together. Given how tall he was, it made the thing hang lower than it should but it was still comfortable.

Once she heard the door open, Callie mentally counted to three before she actually turned around to see who it was. She couldn't help the way her gaze melted back into something significantly more genuine when she saw who it was. But she tried to blink it back, even as her heart-beat betrayed her attempt at a calm demeanour.

When Valerie looked at her, Callie raised her hand to offer a small wave in tandem with an inward smile. Testing the waters, so to speak.

[Valerie Danner]

The small wave from Callie made Valerie smile but she reigned it in slightly and held a hand up in response before rummaging through her backpack for her music player.

"I figured we should rehearse our own routines today." She stated, not daring to look at the blonde.

Finding the blasted music player, she stuck the earbuds in and slipped the device in her pocket, unzipping her hoodie and throwing it on to the floor. She started with her stretching, missing how good it usually felt when she stretched with Callie.

[Calliope Gallo]

The blonde was visibly taken back with the response given. She wasn't sure why. She also wasn't sure what she expected. Professionalism. Right? Or something. She looked away pretty quickly when she was more or less off her partner's radar. She pulled at the zipper on her hoodie, begrudgingly struggling with the way it always got stuck in the same place. It was just what she didn't need; frustration.

When Valerie spoke, Callie finally glanced back at her again. But she wasn't being looked at. Statement or not, she was practically being ignored. "If that's what you want." She replied, breathing a sigh and looking away again. But after a short while she realised that her statement didn't really add up.

"Y'know, if that's what you want, I can just lea-" Calliope stopped when she turned around and saw that she had music in her ears. The jarring contrast turned her stomach a little. She ripped the zipper down on the hoodie, finally getting it unstuck and shrugging it off her shoulders before tossing it aside down to the ground. She pressed her hand to her left shoulder, rolling it in its place and walking to the other side of the room as she resided to the fact that she was going to be alone.

At least from this distance, she was sure she couldn't get caught staring at her. It went from having a sense of subtlety to being a lot more obvious the longer she was on her own. Stretching for someone with powers like hers only lasted a few minutes, but she had never admitted that because she liked the way it helped them bond.

Maybe bond was now the wrong word.

So after a minute or so, she stood back against the wall and just watched. It was hard not to. She was breathtakingly graceful, even at something like this.

[Valerie Danner]

Valerie utilised the rehearsal room as much as possible, allowing Callie enough room to move as well. She tried hard not to glance over at the mirror, afraid she would see Callie looking at her as she looked at the blonde.

In the middle of her stretching, she tried to do splits on her own, something she usually did without much difficulty when Callie helped push her legs back. Without the blonde, she could feel her legs tense up and within seconds, she started to cramp up.

"Ow...Callie...Callie could you help me please?" She winced at the pain on the back of her thigh and calf.

So much for ignoring her.

[Calliope Gallo]

Callie tilted her head upwards slightly, her eyes flickering a little wider when she realised what her usual partner was doing. She furrowed her eyebrows, feeling a little unnecessary all those times she had helped her perform such a thing. That was, until she was called out for. She shot off the wall, breaking through the distance between them as quickly as possible when she realised what was going on.

Calliope moved behind her, hooking her arms underneath her partner's and lifting her up with as much force as she could muster. There were probably ways to help that didn't involve so much contact, but it was the best and quickest way Callie could think of. And usually it wouldn't even be a problem.

"What'd you do..." She said softly, the corner of her mouth twitching into a frown. She felt herself lingering longer than she should have, and once she realised Callie dropped her arms and took a step back. "Are you okay? Is it muscular? Do you need me to massage your-" She stopped herself suddenly, "Ice. Do you need ice?"

[Valerie Danner]

Biting her lower lip as she was lifted, Valerie tried hard not to cry out in pain as she was moved and then helped down. "I...just, could you just bend my knee up?" She squeaked, gripping the closest thing she could find; which just so happened to be Callie's hand.

"I don't need ice. Just...help me bend my knee please." She pleaded softly, squeezing Callie's hand sporadically.

This was embarrassing. First she ignored the blonde, now she's begging her for help. It was a wonder that Callie even considered helping.

She was always a sweet person...

[Calliope Gallo]

Concern flooded Calliope's blue eyes when Valerie continually pleaded for help. Callie squeezed her hand back once, but shook her head slowly. "I need both hands back, okay?" She said quietly, lifting the sporadically squeezing hand of the other girl to her mouth and pressing her lips to the back of it before freeing her fingers. Interested or not, Callie always had been an overly affectionate person. It took getting used to.

She placed a hand against her thigh, and the other on her calf. Despite her gentle demeanour so far, she was quick to comply and bend her knee up. The longer she would have taken with it would have meant a lot more pain. She watched Valerie's face as she did so, gauging her reaction from the sudden movement. "How's it feel?"

[Valerie Danner]

She squeezed her eyes shut when Callie kissed her hand. A little part of her melted into it but the pain overruled every other emotion she had.

As soon as the blonde touched her leg, a shiver ran up her leg and body and neck and a squeak came out once Callie moved it up.

Valerie scrambled to get up, hopping on one leg, pushing her whole weight down against her leg to get rid of the cramp. "Shit." She let out a frustrated growl before rubbing the back of her thigh and looking up at Callie with a sheepish grin.

"Thanks." She said softly. "Shouldn't have done that without you."

[Calliope Gallo]

"No, you shouldn't have." Callie agreed quickly, pulling herself up again and running her hand through her hair as she watched on. Her teeth sunk into her bottom lip and she glanced away at that, blinking a few times to centre herself again. This was ridiculous. This whole thing was ridiculous and stupid. What was she even doing, biting her lip and forcing her mouth shut?

"Why would you, anyway?" She asked finally, throwing her hands down at her sides. "I mean, really. Why are you being this way?" It was one of the few times Calliope let a negative emotion get the better of her, so she slowly closed her eyes and breathed a heavy sigh. "I didn't mean it like that. I don't know. It's just... I nearly left, y'know. When you were off in your own world. You could have really hurt yourself."

[Valerie Danner]

Valerie continued to rub her thigh, trying to ease the dull throbbing to a complete stop. She was looking down when Callie's question brought her out of her reverie. The question, she noted, held a sadness in it that Valerie could almost feel.

She felt bad for the blonde but she couldn't deal with the fact that she had cheated on her boyfriend of three years because she couldn't help kissing the beautiful blonde in front of her.

"I'm...sorry. I..." Valerie pushed the lock of hair that had fallen into her face and sighed. She closed the distance between them and placed her hand on Callie's shoulder, squeezing it lightly and letting it fall slowly down the blonde's arms, her fingers lightly tickling the underside.

"I didn't mean to...what happened last week. Shouldn't have happened. I thought it was because of us...constantly being in each other's way." She admitted, her hand lingering on Callie's.

[Calliope Gallo]

The apology was something she could accept. Callie preferred not to feel these kind of negative, frustrating feelings. So an apology, no matter how small, managed to help soothe the inner workings of her emotional confusion. She felt a shiver run the length of her spine when a familiar hand found her shoulder. She raised her head at the sensation of fingers trailing down her arm. It was like a daze she couldn't force herself out of.

It was like a shallow hit, to be told what happened shouldn't have happened. Was she supposed to gain perspective from that? It just made things even more confusing. And serious. Callie felt a hand near her own, eager to respond to its proximity yet unsure of how wise that would really be.

"Am I in your way?" Calliope asked, an sharper edge of seriousness finding its way to her tone. She was trying to be delicate, but emotional conflict was clouding her better judgement. "If I am... If you don't want me to be, you should tell me."

[Valerie Danner]

The short distance between them was clouding Valerie's judgment. She was consumed by Callie's scent, driving an urge through her to touch the blonde's hand, pull it around her waist and closing the distance between them if only for a moment.

Callie's question jarred Valerie and she sighed. "I don't know what I want, Calliope." She breathed, looking down to concentrate on Callie's collarbone, thinking it was a safer thing to concentrate on than her face.

"All I know is that...we both have boyfriends we know we adore completely. But it doesn't change the fact that I was the one who pushed you against the wall and you didn't stop me from doing so."

[Calliope Gallo]

Callie raised her head slowly, transforming the motion into a slow nod when she received those words. So she didn't know either. But more to the point, she found it difficult to hear anything past the full length of her name. It irritated her when people used it against her, like when Eric teased her about the Greek authenticity of the name. But the word left her mouth eloquently, passing through those perfectly shaped lips that she was now uncontrollably staring at.

A smile cracked onto her face, but only for a second or so. She made the name sound like something worth being proud of.

The thought of Lucah came flooding back to her as soon as she spoke again. Callie wasn't sure how to take the information given to her, it was as if being handed a lesson she didn't want to learn.

"You wanted to." Callie concluded. "I wanted you to." But she felt as if she were digging herself into a situation where she wasn't wanted, which was what made the whole thing feel completely backwards. Chances weren't things she took often. Not when it came to complexities like these. Calliope reached forward, breaching the almost insurmountable distance between their hands and loosely curling her fingers between Valerie's. "You did stop, though." She realised, "That must mean something, because I didn't even think to."

[Valerie Danner]

The deduction Callie made sounded so simple yet it couldn't have been more complicated. Valerie gave the blonde a weak smile and a shrug just as the other girl clasped through her fingers.

The revelation that Callie wouldn't have stopped if Valerie didn't made the brunette look up in surprise. Her lips fell apart slightly and a soft breath left.

"I love Noah. That was what stopped me, Callie." She responded, even as her fingers found a way to tighten its hold on Callie's. "And I've seen you around Lucah. Don't you think what we did was wrong?"