Charming

by Susie Kaye Lopez

  “There is no way that you look 21 but hey, I’m driving, so go for it!”

  To my surprise the I.D. didn’t even raise an eyebrow and we talked and stuffed ourselves with nachos and guacamole. Two peacharitas for Rylee and a steady parade of diet sodas with lime for me, we topped off the meal by sharing a deep fried ice cream and I felt completely content to be reunited with my best friend instead of staring at her face on a computer screen while being miles apart.

  During the ride back to campus Rylee told me all about her conversation with the hot guy on the plane. His name was Blake and he was in Law School. She said he asked her to go out with him tomorrow night, but she had told him she was spending every moment with me. She did tell him however, about her transferring here in the spring and they had exchanged numbers.

  “Rylee, I have a surprise. We are going to a party Saturday night.”

  “What? You hate parties Sophie!”

  “Yeah, but you love them and a really nice guy in my psych class named Colin invited me and told me to bring you too. He has these amazing tattoos of Beatles songs, wait until you see them. There will be lots of guys for you to meet there I’m sure.”

  “Guys for me to meet, what about you?” she asked innocently, and then realized her mistake quickly.”Oops! Sorry Sophie, sorry bro, this is going to take some getting used to.”

  Laughing, I agreed. “It has definitely taken some getting used to. It’s overwhelming to think about, but he is worth all the weirdness.”

  “Whoa, you really love him, don’t you?” I felt her study my profile trying to wrap her head around it.

  “Rylee, I love you for being so understanding and believing what you can’t see just because I tell you it’s true.”

  “Sophie, you are the sanest person I know. If you say that it’s happening then I know that it is.”

  “Thank you, Rylee. I’m sure Charming would say thank you too.”

  We were both silent for awhile as we arrived on campus and pulled into a parking space. Rylee grabbed her bag and asked as we walked through the parking lot. “Sophie, ask my brother if I had a boyfriend in our past life ,would you?” I smiled and nodded and then began pointing out the sights as we headed to my dorm. Getting off the elevator I saw Tiffany and Danica coming down the hall towards us. Introducing them to Rylee, I was secretly happy they had such good timing. It made me look like I had friends here, when really they were the only ones I had gotten to know on my entire floor.

  Unlocking my door, I pushed it open and welcomed her to my room.

  “This is so tiny! I thought my room was small,” she exclaimed, throwing her bag down on the floor.

  “Yep, but it’s a single, remember? The other rooms are larger, but they all come with a roommate. I’ll take this.”

  “Well, we won’t be in here much and who needs a big room anyway? No roommate makes it totally worth the smaller size. But wait, Sophie, will you be my roommate if I get in next semester?”

  “Of course!” I laughed and just like we had done on hundreds of sleepovers since we were four, we put on our pajamas and talked until we fell asleep.

  ~

  I was sitting on a blanket in the grass under a huge oak tree admiring the magnificent beauty of the enormous white columned mansion that was Charming’s home. The sun was warm and the shade overhead was welcome as I lay back and stared at the white puffy clouds unlike any I had seen in the clear, California sky. I felt happy and relaxed when I was suddenly pounced upon by a wiggly puppy, all paws and tongue. Sitting up and laughing at the adorable spotted beagle, I saw Charming holding it’s littermate in his arms.

  “Hi. Where did you find these guys?” I asked, petting my new friend, amazed that he wasn’t frightened and growling at me. Plopping down beside me he kissed my lips briefly and grinned.

  “The hunting dogs have litters often and you love to go play with the puppies. Your mom hates it when you sneak them into the house. She is used to it though. You have been doing it since you were six.”

  “Well, they are precious. I never get to go near dogs anymore, thanks to you.” I said, with a smile.

  “I know and I am so sorry about that.” I looked at him and saw he was serious.

  “Really, Charming? It is not your fault!”

  “I know, I just know how much you loved dogs and it has been so strange seeing them afraid of you…of us.”

  The puppies began to play with one another and we watched them role around, their funny little barks making us laugh.

  “So, what do you think about Rylee being here?” I asked as a puppy licked my face.

  “I think she is the same old Rylee-slash-Charlotte and it is great to have her here. It is weird that she knows I am here, but I feel bad because I can tell she is having a hard time comprehending the whole thing. Can’t say that I blame her though.”

  “She is trying so hard. Is there any way you can get in to her dreams?” He shook his head and I asked the other question she wanted to know. “Did she have anyone special that she dated?”

  “No. She is really nearly identical to Rylee. Charlotte is just as boy crazy and trust me the boys are just as crazy about her here as they are in your world. Every guy around her ends up falling for her, and that includes one of the stable boys. Our mom almost had a heart attack when she saw Charlotte flirting with him. She spoke to our father about it and the poor guy was gone the next day. Charlotte pouted for a week. She really is just Charlotte like you are just Lily. She is smart and full of life. You know what I mean?”

  “Yeah,” I nodded,” I do. Thank god she is your sister or I might get jealous!”

  Charming laughed and pulled me down on the blanket, making me forget everything but this perfect moment and the two of us. This state lasted a few minutes until I felt a warm, wet tongue in my ear and a tug on my hair. Laughing Charming disengaged the little guy’s paw from my hair while I tried to get the other one to stop worshipping me with his tongue. I started to ask Charming if we could put them back when I felt myself shaken rudely and instantly awake.

  ~

  Opening my eyes, I saw Rylee’s face over mine. “What? What’s wrong?!” I asked disoriented and alarmed.

  “You were laughing and thrashing around. What is going on?”

  “Oh, nothing, Charming just brought puppies and they were licking me and one got his paw caught in my hair.”

  She gave me a confused look and I just laughed. “Never mind, I guess you had to be there.”

  “I wish I could have been! You with a dog, I would love to see that!”

  “I asked Charming about you and he said you and Charlotte are exactly alike. You were really popular with the guys just like you are now and you even got some poor guy fired from his job in the stables because you flirted with him!”

  “No way!” She smiled like I told her something she should be proud of.

  “Yep, way! It reminded me of the time you got that lifeguard in trouble at the beach.”

  “That was not my fault Sophie! He shouldn’t have been talking to me instead of watching the water, besides nobody would have known if that woman had been watching her kid, it would have been her fault if he drowned.”

  “Well he nearly did drown as I recall. Anyway…geez, it’s early!” The clock said 7:30 and we had stayed up until 2:00 talking.

  “Can you go back to sleep?” I asked, hoping she would say yes, but knowing we were both too wide awake.

  “Nope, can you?”

  “I guess not.”

  She stood up stretching. “I’m kind of hungry, how about you?”

  “We could go out for breakfast before we hit the beach.”

  “What are you waiting for, let’s go!” Laughing at my best friend, I hopped out of bed and got ready for our day.

  Chapter 16

  Three hours later I found myself lying on a beach towel, my toes digging in to warm sand. I placed my hand over my stomach to feel what I imagined was the result of my massive French toast breakfast b
ut thankfully it was still flat. Smiling, I lifted my head to watch Rylee walking along the water’s edge. She never had been able to lie still for a long period of time, so she would walk awhile then come back and lay on her towel and then start the whole thing again. The soft breaking of the waves was one of my favorite sounds in the world and laying my head back down I closed my eyes in complete relaxation. Who needed yoga? Nowhere else in the world made me feel as calm or as centered as the ocean. Maybe it was because I had grown up in Santa Monica, mere blocks from the beach. My normally olive skin loved the sun and I used minimal sunscreen despite knowing all the hazards of sunbathing. It was my one vice. I didn’t smoke or drink. Okay, diet soda isn’t healthy either, but if you count that and a year round tan you have pretty much named my bad habits. It could be worse. I hadn’t actually tanned aside from my trip last weekend to Gran and Grandads since arriving at school. I did not count sitting at the park by the ocean sketching because I wasn’t in my bikini then. This was just utter relaxation and I wondered if I fell asleep here could I dream of Charming? If I could nap and be with him I would become a Benadryl junkie and sleep my life away!

  “Are you asleep?” Rylee questioned me in a soft voice, plopping down next to me and reaching for the sunscreen.

  “Nope, just relaxed and lethargic from all that breakfast.”

  “Me too. But now we won’t need lunch so we can lay out longer.”

  “Good point.” I replied, opening my eyes to watch her apply sunscreen. Rylee had a system. She always sunbathed for an hour without protection then lathered on the lotion the rest of the day. She swore her method gave her the perfect color and you couldn’t argue with her results. Some blondes turned pink and stayed pink until they faded back to white. Not Rylee. She had been blessed with just the right amount of melanin. She tanned a perfect golden brown. So did her big brother.

  “What time are we meeting the psychic for dinner?”

  “Ry, she is a psychic, but she is also my friend and her name is Kara, I told you that. We are meeting her at 7:00 at Aladdin, it’s a really good Mediterranean restaurant”.

  “I‘ve never even met a psychic, much less had dinner with one, I can’t wait!”

  “She is really cool, very upbeat and fun. I like her a lot and you will too. I’m sure you will learn a lot about yourself. She is amazing, she really has a gift.”

  “She won’t tell us anything bad will she? I don’t want to know anything but the good stuff.”

  “I’m sure there is nothing bad to tell Rylee. She is not like that gypsy in Italy. She is pretty and normal. No way could you tell there is anything different about her. You’ll see, there is nothing to be nervous about.”

  “If you say so” she replied dismissively. Changing the subject to what she would wear to Colin’s party tomorrow night, I let her chatter wash over me while I closed my eyes and let the sun do it’s magic. Feeling warmth envelope me and the energy of Charming close to my side, it was a perfect moment. A perfect day, and it flew by as we wrapped up our tanning session around three and headed back to campus to shower and change. We were ready in record time so we decided to go early and walk around before dinner.

  When we approached the restaurant I saw Kara waiting inside. “There she is” I told Rylee, and she took in the tall pretty blonde dressed in the best designers from head to toe.

  “Wow she is gorgeous and I have always wanted that Chanel bag. I can’t believe she is a psychic.”

  “Ry,” I nudged her, “Shhh.”

  Kara noticed us and approached, smiling.

  “Hi Sophie!” she hugged me and then turned to Rylee and hugged her too. “Nice to meet you Rylee, I’ve heard a lot about you!”

  “It’s nice to meet you too!” Ry smiled, and I knew this dinner was a good idea.

  Once seated we ordered drinks and an appetizer of hummus and pita bread and Kara waited for the waitress to walk away before she spoke.

  “Charming looks happy tonight” she said, and she said it as casually as if she were commenting on the weather.

  Rylee’s eyes grew big.“You can see him? Right now?”

  “Yep, I can see him as clear as day. I can’t speak with him however. If I could read lips I suppose I could, but unfortunately I can’t do that. I can ask him yes or no questions if you have any.”

  “Ask him if he loves Sophie.”

  “Ry!” I interrupted.

  “Ask him something harder,” Kara said. “We all know the answer to that one. He is nodding and smiling anyway.”

  “Okay, let’s see, did he have fun at the beach with us today?”

  Kara kept her eyes to my left and nodded “yep”.

  “Does he want me to move here and be Sophie’s roommate?”

  “Yes again.” Kara smiled.

  “Rylee, why don’t we just let Kara talk to us” I said, trying to hint that maybe Kara didn’t want to be used as a translator.

  “Why? Ask him if we are annoying him.”

  “He is shaking his head no and smiling at you” Kara continued, obviously not bothered by Rylee.

  “See, Soph! He probably likes being included in the conversation. He must get bored just being stuck to your side all the time.”

  I didn’t know if I should be insulted by that comment when Kara said “nope!”

  “Boring is the last thing I would call this!” I said.

  “Oh! I know!” Riley said, ignoring me completely. “Does he think I look exactly like I did when I was Charlotte?”

  “Yes,” Kara said, nodding.

  “And Sophie looks exactly like Lily?”

  Again Kara nodded with a grin. She certainly was a good sport.

  Finally the waitress returned setting down Kara and Rylee’s iced teas and my diet soda. She returned seconds later with hummus and fresh baked pita bread.

  We took a break from interrogating Charming to enjoy the hummus and decide what we wanted to eat. Only once the waitress had returned and taken our orders of tikka chicken and falafel did we go back to our conversation.

  “Kara, are you getting anything interesting about me with your psychic intuition?” Rylee asked, completely serious and I laughed, I couldn’t help it. Kara gave me a look that seemed to say it was okay, and she spoke.

  “Actually Rylee, I am. I can tell you that you are going to love going to college in San Diego. You will appreciate it even more because you were so unhappy in Arizona, but it doesn’t take a psychic to tell you that. I can also give you some exciting news. You will have someone special waiting here for you. I am not talking about Sophie either.” She smiled and we both took in the shock on Rylee’s face.

  “Really?! You mean the hot guy I met on the plane? Blake? He goes to Law School here.”

  “No,not Blake. You are going to meet him tomorrow actually.”

  Rylee choked on her iced tea. I patted her on the back. “You mean tomorrow I will meet him? I will fall for someone here the way I fall for everyone right? Not like fall in love right?”

  “No, I mean just exactly like love. You will meet the love of your life tomorrow.”

  We looked at Rylee’s face and waited for a response. I don’t think she even blinked. She looked scared and like she was in shock. I grinned at Kara.

  “Wow Kara, I don’t think I have ever seen Rylee speechless in our entire lives.”

  “Well love is a pretty huge deal Sophie, as you know. Maybe I should not have told you Rylee, you would have found out for yourself.”

  “No, no, now I will be able to choose my outfit more carefully. But how will I recognize him? I’m sure I will see a lot of guys tomorrow and there is that party tomorrow night. What if I end up with the wrong one.”

  “You won’t, but I can tell you what he looks like if it makes you feel better.”

  “Oh, my god! Is he cute? What is his name?” She was bouncing in her chair as the waitress delivered our meal.

  “I don’t know what his name is, my gift doesn’t present itself in that way. Names
don’t always come to me, but I can describe him to you. He has a really distinct feature, a few actually, and yes he is really cute.”

  “Okay, well, Sophie what do you think? Should I know ahead of time? Is that cheating?”

  “I say go for it! I would want to know.”

  “Do you think I should Charming?” Rylee asked, looking at Kara for his answer.

  “He’s nodding yes.”

  “Okay then, tell me.” She braced herself, taking a breath and holding it. We both laughed at Rylee’s expression. She looked like she was waiting to get a tetanus shot.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah… tell me,” she finally exhaled and looked at Kara solemnly.

  “You are going to meet your true love at that party tomorrow night and you will recognize him by his tattoos.”

  “Tattoos? But lots of guys have tattoos.”

  “Well, he has one arm sleeve with tattoos that have a theme to them. They are all related to Beatles songs.”

  It was my turn to choke on my drink. “Oh my god!”

  I knew Rylee’s true love. Two pairs of eyes stared at me. Charming would probably make three, but he knew who it was too.

  “Ry, you are going to fall in love with my friend Colin! He is really, really nice and Kara is right, he is really cute too.”

  Kara and I couldn’t help laughing at Rylee’s expression. I thought she might faint, all the color she had gotten today at the beach disappeared.

  “Kara, are you sure about this? How long do you see me with him?”

  “As far forward as I can see, which means I don’t see you breaking up, ever.”

  “Oh, wow” Rylee said, not in a happy way. I think she was in shock. Long relationships obviously frightened her.

  “You are going to be happy about it. Your silly rule about not dating anyone longer than six months will fly out the window. You will see. You are going to be a great couple.”

  “If you say so…” Ry said. I could see her doubting Kara’s psychic ability just a bit and so, of course, could Kara. She waited to make sure Rylee swallowed before she casually gave her more information.