ALEC’S P.O.V.
It was like a complete and utter ‘Titanic’ moment: Nervous as ever, Charlotte descended down the stairs with Amy by her side, but I just couldn’t take my eyes off of her, even if I wanted to as I waited at the foot of the steps for her, a coy smile on my face. She looked absolutely grand, and right then and there, I knew that I felt different around Charlotte. At first, I just thought it was mild attraction, considering Charlotte was absolutely beautiful, but now as I watched her openly blushing as she took my hand, I knew it was something much different than just attraction.
And that scared the hell out of me.
The last time I had feelings for someone, different feelings than everybody else, she ended up breaking my heart without any explanation. I just couldn’t get involved like that yet. As girly as it sounded, I was still too fragile from the last heartbreak.
“Wow, Charlotte…” I breathed. “Y-You look great.” I expressed, watching as she blushed harder, ducking her head.
“Thanks.” She said cheekily. “You don’t look so bad yourself.” And with that, she took a look around at all the people, clad in suits and exquisite dresses, around, either dancing, chattering, or mooching. Chuckling, I pulled her closer by the hand that was still in mines, until we were flush against each other.
“Let’s dance.” I suggested, and instead of arguing with the cliché “Uh, I don’t dance”, she just shrugged, a small smile on her face.
“What, did you expect me to say no?” She laughed when she saw my surprised face as I took her to an empty area, where we assigned the position, my hand on her hip and my other in her hand, her free hand resting on my shoulder.
“Yeah, honestly, but I should’ve realized a long time ago that you’re not like most girls.” I breathed, noticing that she was taller in her heels, so now I didn’t have to look down at her. She blushed, dropping her gaze with a small smile.
“How cliché’ of you to say.” She presumed, looking at me through her eyelashes.
“This whole damn night is cliché’.” I admitted, to which she laughed at, cocking her head back and laughing loudly, making me have a huge goofy smile on my face. “Cliché’s our thing.”
“Well, it would be even more cliché’ if you brought Victoria instead.” She said shyly when she finished laughing, now avoiding my gaze, focusing on my breast pocket, where a matching red handkerchief rested, courtesy of Amy. A pang of hurt hit me at the mention of Victoria, considering I still wasn’t actually over her.
“What do you mean?” I questioned with a hoarse voice, my smile dropping.
“Well I was just saying.” She shrugged. “I mean, first love and all that. Well, first everything I should say.” If I wasn’t already going crazy, I would’ve thought that I detected bitterness and/or jealousy in her voice, but since Victoria’s name made me lightheaded, like it always did, I shook it off.
“Oh.” I breathed, my jaw clenching.
“Yeah.” She said as we swayed back and forth to the classic music. “Uh, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that-“
“No, don’t be. You’re allowed to say whatever is on your mind.” I assured, trying to catch her gaze, but she was determined to avoid mine.
“Yeah, but that was just…Out of line.” She said with a sigh.
“Let’s just forget it, what do you say? I want this night to be happy-“
“Alec!” My father’s voice cut me off, and I turned to see his welcoming smile as he gazed at Charlotte. “And who is this beauty?”
“Uh, Dad, this is Charlotte, my…Date, Date-I-I mean, Charlotte, this is my father, Josh.” I said, placing my hand on the small of Charlotte’s back and my other in the pocket of my dress pants.
“Well it is certainly nice to meet you, Date.” Dad teased, playfully nudging me as I awkwardly chuckled.
“It’s nice to meet you too, sir.” Charlotte politely said.
“Wow, this is a surprise. I heard Victoria was in town, permanently. I would’ve thought you would’ve brought her.” My parents had always adored Victoria and everything she did, and they never said it, but I knew they blamed me for Victoria’s leaving, however I would possibly do that.
“Dad.” I warned. “Victoria and I aren’t together anymore” I declared, making Charlotte’s head snap up in surprise.
“Y-You guys aren’t?” She demanded, surprise filled in her words, making my eyebrows furrow.
“No, why are you surprised?”
“Well because Amy said you guys technically never broke up when she left.” She shrugged.
“Charlie, she was gone for 2 years, of course we’re not just going to jump in right where we left off the minute she decides to return.” I laughed. At that comment, Charlotte turned red, as if embarrassed for actually thinking Victoria and I were going to continue dating. I mean, yeah, it wasn’t exactly communicated between Victoria and I, but if it wasn’t obvious for Charlotte, it damn sure wasn’t obvious for Victoria, making me decide I would talk to Victoria tomorrow.
“Well it was nice meeting you, Charlotte.” My Dad sighed with a frown, disappointed Victoria and I were no longer dating. “Alec, if you happen to see Victoria around, tell her I say hi, and she’s welcome here any time.” And with that, he left, leaving me there fuming and Charlotte awkwardly moving around.
“Do you think we can sneak some alcohol from the bar?” Charlotte finally broke the silence, and I grinned with a nod, making her laugh, and we scurried away.840Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeOCojQT8s0
*
“I just…I hate him with all my heart, that John bastard. God, I hate him more than I hate Brandon. Wait, no, I think I hate Brandon more. Yeah, definitely more.” Charlotte slurred with a deep frown. Charlotte and I were sitting on my gazebo in my backyard, and she had taken her heels off, and we were sitting on the wooden chairs, staring at the moonlight.
“Charlotte, who’s Brandon?” I asked cautiously, wondering if she was drunk enough to tell me. With a snort, she flipped her hair that she had released from its captivating bun, and I had watched as it effortlessly tumbled down on her shoulders.
“Oh, nobody, just the boy who ruined my life.” She spat, glaring into the distance, towards where our personal lake lay.
“How did he ruin your life?” I questioned, my eyebrows furrowed as I sat across from her, admiring her face in the moonlight. It was such a turn on when she was angry...
“He-“She quickly stopped herself, meeting my gaze with a trembling lip before she clamped it in between her teeth, taking a deep sigh. I watched as tears welled in her eyes, but she didn’t let any fall. After excessive blinking, the tears went away, and she sighed again, running a hand through her hair.
“Do you want to go for a swim?” I offered, realizing ‘Brandon’ was obviously a touchy subject, and it was obvious he affected her live greatly, making me instantly hate him.
“B-But it’s-“
“Nighttime, yeah, I know.” I laughed, standing up and grabbing her hand before she could turn down the offer.
“But we’re both drunk…” She garbled as we fell through the light woods that separated my backyard, and our lake.
“Correction, you’re drunk; I’m tipsy.” I smirked, and with that, I led her to the lake.840Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoY10mub7Ll
*840Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Z99aMjirS
“Just jump! The water’s fine, I promise.” I laughed, hiding my crossed fingers behind me under the water as I watched a shivering Charlotte standing there in her black undergarments, too scared to jump.
“There’s sharks in there.” She whispered, as if the sharks would suddenly hear her and yank her in the water. Laughing, I ran a hand through my wet hair, trying to coax her into crawling in the water. I was secretly glad that the water was freezing cold, because Charlotte standing there in nothing but her underwear was affecting me greatly, causing me great uncomfortableness.
“I swear, we don’t have sharks in our lake, Charlie.” I said, glancing at my folded suit and tie that was resting by a tree, before turning back to see Charlotte was creeping closer to the edge, making me slowly crawl predatorily to where she was standing.
“But I’m like...Naked.” She gestured down to her body that I could stare at all day if the chance came up, before looking back at me. To be honest, I loved Charlotte’s body-Her figure, her figure. Her chest was big, her stomach was small, her butt was more than decent, and she had slender legs. I was glad she wasn’t like a stick, like Destiny, or Victoria. She actually had a bit of meat, which I loved.
“I am too.” I said, remembering I was only in my boxer briefs, laughing at the fact that neither of us were actually naked.
Unfortunately.
Haha, wait, what?
“B-But-“ Before she could even finish, I had my hand wrapped around her ankle, successfully pulling her into my arms before I dunked us both, eliciting a scream from her until we were under water.
“H-H-H-H-H-H-Holy shit, this is cold.” She insisted, trying to hoist herself on my shoulders as an attempt to crawl out of the water, but I had my arms around her waist, enjoying the skin contact. Finally, she got used to the temperature and sighed, wrapping her arms around my neck.
“Alec.” She whispered, and I watched the water droplets trickle down her face. “I-I can’t.” Her voice cracked, making me squeeze her tighter.
“You can’t?” I was hoping the effects of the alcohol we snuck weren’t wearing off, because this was a crucial time, and I don’t know what I would do if she was suddenly sober again. “You can’t what?”
“I can’t fall for you.” She groaned, shutting her eyes closed. “I can’t fall for you, because…I don’t want to get hurt again.”
“Seems like that makes two of us.” I sighed. “But it’s inevitable.”
“Unfortunately.” She laughed, resting her head on my bare chest. “God, why do you have to be so…Lovable? Like a flippin’ unicorn. Damn you.”
“I-I’m sorry?” I chortled, drawing patterns into her sides.
“I want to kiss you.” Charlotte groaned. “But we can’t.”
“Unfortunately.” I mocked with a sad chuckle.
It sucks that she wouldn’t remember this beautiful moment tomorrow.840Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVGcnVPL8SU
*840Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW494a8NUDR
I woke up to shuffling on my bed, and then a pressure on top of me, making me groan, opening my eyes to see Charlotte’s ’and on my chest as she tried to scramble from under my arm.
“Charlie, go to bed.” I groaned as I took a glance at my clock to see it was only 10 in the morning.
“Holy shit!” She cried out, and before I knew it, I was tumbling off of the bed and falling on my hardwood floor with a louder groan, rubbing my forehead.
“Jesus, Christ, what the hell, Charlie?!” I cried out as I saw her scramble up, covering her nearly naked body with my blankets.
“Don’t patronize me!” She shouted. “What the hell are we doing in the same bed in just our underwear?” She asked, her gaze dropping down to my boxers before flickering back to my eyes, her eyes wide. Sighing, I ran a hand through my hair, blinking the sleep out of my eyes.
“Oh yeah, you were drunk last night, you wouldn’t remember.” I teased, feigning hurt, and her face turned dark red in embarrassment.
“Fuck, we didn’t do it, did we?!” She literally screeched, and I threw my hands over my ears, wincing.
“No, fuck, Charlie, I was only kidding.” I said. “We were at the lake, after we went swimming, I didn’t want to take you home because I didn’t want you to get in trouble with John, so I just took you to my room.”
“And you couldn’t have taken me to Amy’s instead?”
“Well she wasn’t here at the time, and I wanted her consent-“
“Shit, I feel like I fell on the floor.” She wined due to her headache, making me snort.
“Trust me, I know the feeling.” I said as I crawled to my feet. “I returned the clothes to Amy, and you can borrow some of my clothes since I don’t want to give Amy any wrong ideas.” I explained as I padded to my dresser, where I searched for clothes for her.
“Do you have any Advil?” She questioned, clutching her head, making me chuckle loosely.
“Yeah.” I said, tossing her a plain black shirt and my blue plaid pajama bottoms before slipping on some clothes of my own. “Stay here, I’ll be back.” I said before disappearing into my bathroom, looking in the medicine closet for the familiar bottle of pills, before finally finding them.
“Alright, here you a-Are you sniffing my clothes?” I asked, watching in amusement as she threw my shirt in the opposite direction in surprise, her eyes wide.
“W-What? Of course not!” She argued, her face turning a deep red. “I-I-I just-“
“I don’t want to know.” I laughed, handing her the bottle of pills which she hungrily snatched with less than a ‘thank you’, much to my amusement. “Okay, so my parents are here, so I think it will be relatively easy for us to leave without any problems. What about your dad-“
“John’s not my dad.” She snapped angrily before downing the pills alone, making me blink in surprise. I hate to take pills without a drink.
“Oh…Okay, well uh, you’re going to have to sneak past him-“
“Nah.” She said with a sigh. “He always goes to play Bingo on Sunday.”
“Oh, well that makes everything that much easier.” I said. “Did you want to eat before you leave, or….?”
“No, I’m fin-“She was cut off by the loud rumbling of her stomach, making me snicker and grab her wrist, gently pulling her up.
“No, you’re hungry.” I mocked, pulling her up to her feet. “Get dressed, and then we’ll go downstairs. Don’t worry, Stacy can cook you whatever you want.”
“Stacy…?” She adorably asked as I turned my back so she could get dressed.
“Yeah, Stacy’s our chef.” I said before turning around once she said it was okay. With a nod from her and a gulp from me when I saw her in my clothes, we headed downstairs.
Pulling Charlotte onto the bar stool, I turned to the relatively young chef who was standing there politely with a smile. “Stacy, can you please cook whatever Charlotte wants? I’ll be back.” I said with a smile when Stacy politely nodded, agreeing without hesitation. I then turned, heading to Amy’s room.840Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4niq3FuFcW
*840Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXDw7EPEbYY
“What did you tell Charlotte?” I demanded, barging into her room, knowing Amy woke up at the crack of dawn nearly every day, and like I assumed, she was sitting at her window seat, reading.
“Nothing.” She drawled, marking her page before closing the novel. “Well, that depends on what you’re talking about.”
“What did you tell her about Victoria?” I insisted, watching as she just shrugged, looking out the window.
“Nothing, just that she was your first everything and you might still be in love with her.” She said as if it was nothing. “Which I think is incredibly stupid considering Charlotte is literally the perfect girl for you!”
“It’s not that easy, A.” I sighed, plopping down on her bed.
“Why the hell not?” She snapped, now turning so her back was against the window and her feet were sitting on the carpet.
“Because,” I dictated. “She has her problems, and I have mine. We both went through some pretty traumatizing stuff and neither of us are ready for a relationship.”
“I’ve never heard you sound so dumb.” Amy scoffed. “First of all, Victoria left. Get over it; you act like you went into a coma and then woke up with amnesia. It’s not that serious! And whatever Charlotte went through, I’m sure she can get over it too, but if she can’t, then it’s up to you to help her get over it, not just sit on the sidelines and let her deal with it alone! You think healthy relationships are built on just love? No, they’re built on problems too, problems are what makes a relationship strong, you idiot. You guys are completely and utterly compatible! Don’t just let the perfect opportunity fly under your nose just because you both have problems.” She said, and I honestly have never seen Amy so determined, yet so angry, making me look down guiltily. Who would’ve known a 14 year old could be so smart, relationship wise?
“You’re right.” I said with a nod.
“Of course I’m right.” She said with a smirk, returning to her former position now that she got her point across. “Now go get your girl.”
“W-What? Now? I can’t do it now.”
“What?! Why?”
“Well because I haven’t figured out all her problems and…Like, stuff like that.” I muttered, rubbing the nape of my neck.
“What, so you’re waiting to see if you still want to be with her after you learn all her problems? What the fuck Alec-“
“No! I mean, I don’t want to jump right into a relationship while she’s still broken and hurt…You know? Not over her problems. I don’t want her to focus on a relationship when she’s still focused on her past.”
“Well that’s considerate, but other boy’s might not be as considerate; you better hurry up and heal her before she’s taken.”
You took the words right out of my mouth, baby sister.840Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8ypOqk9uK5
*
“Might I ask why the sudden offer for ice cream?” Charlotte joked as she sat across from me, stirring her chocolate ice cream around in her small container, peering at Amy, who was sitting beside me, with mint ice cream, both flavors which I hated. “I feel like I’m in the principal’s office, honestly.”
“No reason, I just…Wanted to go get ice cream.” I shrugged, looking down at my rocky road ice cream with a newfound sudden interest. “So, how’s…Life?” I asked, discreetly peering at her wrist, which was decorated with all kinds of charm bracelets, to see if there were any new cuts.
Thankfully, there weren’t.
“Okay, now you’re definitely creeping me out.” She affirmed, making Amy snort in her ice cream.
“I’m going to go get more sprinkles.” Amy slickly said before slipping out of the booth, shooting me a wink over her shoulder. I assumed bringing Amy along to this outing would make it easier, but I was still as nervous as ever, and I was practically 98% sure that she sat on the outside of the booth on purpose, so she could make coincidentally great escapes whenever she pleased.
“I just want to know how life is going.” I shrugged innocently after shooting Amy a glare, for which she just giggled at before heading to the front counter. “You know, we never really catch up.”
“You mean spill our deepest secrets.” She deadpanned with a bored expression. Was I that easy to read?
“Well, no, but it’s been weeks since I saw you on those train tracks, and I still don’t know what caused you to do that.”
“I don’t want to think about it, let alone talk about it; the last time I thought about it, I ended up in the hospital under suicide watch.” I cringed at the memory, glancing out the window to see life was transitioning to its winter period. I could already see the leaves falling off the branches, and the air was getting slightly chillier.
“…So you didn’t try to kill yourself when you cut, that night?” I checked, my eyebrows furrowed as I tried to understand what exactly was going on in her mind that night. Sighing, she dropped her face in her hands, shaking her head.
“No, I didn’t, but the doctors said I was moments away from death. I hated it there; they all treated me like some lunatic, just because they assumed I was suicidal, which technically I was, but that’s beside the point.” I observed how she said she was suicidal, making me grin hugely before correcting myself, knowing it wouldn’t be right to smile while she’s venting.
“I mean, I’m used to those stares at school and like…The grocery store, but at the hospital? It just made me feel worse than I already was, and that’s saying something seeing as I had an IV needle poking in me 24/7.” She expressed.
“Why exactly do you get those stares at school? When they stare at you like you’re crazy?” I urged cautiously, knowing what she was about to say was probably going to be exactly what I was looking for. Looking me in the eye, she chewed on her lip after clenching her jaw, and she sighed, dropping her gaze to the table.
“A lot of reasons, Alec.” She briefly explained, and I couldn’t help but groan at that sucky answer.
“Okay.” I said with a reluctant nod. “I’ll let you tell me when you’re ready.” I stated with a forced smile, knowing she wasn’t going to open up to me my way, so I was going to try her way.
“Thanks.” She said earnestly, smiling gratefully at me right when Amy returned, with no sprinkles might I add.840Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡes9iXv7sY9
