Callie and AJ finally kissed, but the price of their relationship might be too high.
After everything Callie has been through — running away, breaking parole, landing herself at Girls United and fighting to stay with the Fosters — she found herself right back at the beginning again as her birthday party ended. Anyone with eyes could see Callie and AJ were bound to hook up eventually, but I had hoped Callie would wait until AJ was out of the house.
At the end of an emotionally taxing, but ultimately rewarding party, Callie let her guard down and reciprocated AJ’s kiss. Just like her doomed relationship with Brandon, Callie’s dalliance with AJ is only going to thwart her attempt to have a stable life. AJ, cool as he is, is not worth losing everything over.
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Callie will always have a reckless side. That happy girl Jude remembers has lost too much and given away too much of herself to ever fully come back. There is a restlessness in Callie that rebels against calm, and when that part of her meets with the part that wants to take care of everyone, bad things happen. AJ has been Callie’s pet project from the beginning. He’s a good kid, and he can certainly benefit from Mike’s influence. Where Callie is concerned, he’s trouble, though.
AJ cost Callie her job, and now that he is her foster brother, their kiss could jeopardize her adoption. I don’t think AJ would ever intentionally hurt Callie. She is the first person in a long time who saw AJ as someone worth fighting for. They make for a charming pair, but the last thing Callie needs is another relationship with a foster brother.
Romantic relationships are tricky for Callie. She either gives too much of herself, like she did with Brandon, or she can’t give enough, as Wyatt so hurtfully pointed out. There’s no happy medium where romance and Callie are concerned, and AJ just happens to be a kid with a complicated family and a penchant for running.
I love how much Callie cares about others. Her desire to take risks on people that others would pass over is one of her most admirable qualities. It’s time for Callie to take care of Callie, though. She has a home and so many people who love her. Her family is ever expanding to include Jude, the Fosters, Girls United and, of course, the Quinns. Callie has more to lose now than she ever has before. She is so close to having everything. She can graduate, she can go to college — she can be whatever she wants to be.
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No boy is worth everything, not even a sweet kid like AJ. The hard truth is AJ has to save himself. He has an opportunity to do exactly what Callie did, to become part of a loving family that will ensure he has the best future possible. Mike has stepped up in a big way to be the kind of parent AJ needs and deserves. If AJ chooses to turn his back on Mike and the Fosters, then I don’t want to see Callie dragged down with him, not after she’s fought so hard to get to where she is today.
Star-crossed loves are compelling. There is nothing quite like the lure of the forbidden love, especially when you are a teenager, but Callie knows there are more precious things in her life than romance. There are Jude and Sophia, Mariana and Brandon, her moms and Robert, and all of the people who showed up to wish her a happy birthday. She is loved beyond measure. That will never change, but if she gets in too deep with AJ and he decides to make a bad choice, then she could fall right along with him. Even a fighter like Callie couldn’t come back from a loss so enormous.
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Here’s hoping this young love story doesn’t lead Callie or AJ too far away from the lives they are meant to have. A stolen kiss is not worth losing everything over. Callie can still be the happy girl she was when she was little, but she has to choose herself to make it happen.
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