by Kira Blakely
“Ms. Charlie?” Sarah’s voice dragged me out of my reverie and I smiled at her. “It’s time. The car is waiting.”
I nodded and finished putting the necklace on, placing the locket at the center of my chest, right where my heart was.
Once again, my dad and his family went ahead of me, only this time, Dad promised that he’d meet me there. Parker would also be waiting for me.
I wondered if Sean would be there, and I bit the inside of my lip to quell my excitement. We’d been talking more and more since that day, but whenever I asked him about the party, he’d clam up and talk about something else. I wish he’d tell me if he was coming or not.
My heart started beating fast just from thinking about him. I doubted it would stop being this way for a long while. My longtime crush on Sean West had evolved into something more, that much I was certain. And I made a promise to myself that if I saw him at the party, I was finally going to tell him how I felt about him.
Do I have a seventy-five percent chance? Absolutely. I have a seventy-five percent chance of getting rejected. But love was when you were willing to accept that you might get hurt in the process, right? So, I would take this as only the beginning of my pain and misery.
Oh, God. It sounded so bad when I put it that way.
What I did know was that I wanted Sean to know how I feel. I’d deal with whatever came from his reaction later. At least for now, I was comforted by the thought that if my heart did get broken, I had someone to fall back on and cry to, and that was my father.
***
Sean
I was nervous. I think I’d done something terribly wrong, but it was too late to take it back now.
When I drove out of Charlie’s place that night, I passed by her sister, Ariana, who was out walking with her friends. She saw me get out, and then the day after that, I received a call I didn’t expect to get.
My cellphone rang for the third time and I swore out loud, removing my hand from my pants. I took my phone out of my stand and answered, not bothering to check who it was.
“What?” I yelled.
“My goodness. Is that how football players say ‘hello’?” a feminine voice asked from the other end of the line.
My bravado disappeared and was replaced with confusion as I had no clue who the hell this chick was.
“Who is this?” I asked, feeling a little apprehensive about the call now. I hoped this wasn’t one of those women I slept with and wanted to trap me into marrying them or some shit like that. I’ve got my lawyer on speed dial for such cases, and I really don’t like pulling the paternity test card on these women.
“This is Ariana Jameson. I’m sure you’ve heard of me,” she said confidently, and my eyebrows shot way up from the high level of confidence this girl had. She could probably give me a run for my money.
Deciding to mess with her a little, I feigned ignorance. “Ariana? I know the singer, but a Jameson? Hmm… doesn’t ring a bell.”
“Well, I suppose that’s understandable, since I doubt you engage yourself in more sophisticated interests,” she responded, and I shook my head. This girl was way in over her head, and I really had no clue what Evan saw in her.
“Now that you’ve gotten around to insulting me, is there any point in this phone call? Or can I hang up now?” I asked.
“I’d like to make a proposition to you,” she said, and I tensed up, wondering where she was going with this. “My father has mentioned that he has asked Charlotte’s friend to be her escort, and I would like to ask you to come as mine.”
“Excuse me? And why would I do that?” I asked.
“To make her jealous, of course. Don’t you think this is the perfect opportunity to know how she really feels for you?”
I shook my head as I recalled how I stupidly agreed to Ariana’s master plan to get Charlie to notice me by making her jealous. I thought it was a brilliant idea. But then, after thinking it over some more, I realized that there were a lot more cons to this than it was worth. First was that Charlie might not become jealous of us at all, and then my heart would be crushed. Second was that I felt like I’d broken the golden rule for bros, and Evan was going to kick my ass once he found out that I went with Ariana even when he’d called dibs on her.
Ugh… I was pathetic.
I’d picked her up from their house earlier, and a part of me was glad that I didn’t see Charlie there. I wouldn’t have known what to do if she had caught me picking her sister up, so we left as soon as Ariana came down.
When we arrived at the party, her parents came to greet us, and they told me that Charlie was still on her way, so I immediately left Ariana’s side to look for some food. I didn’t want to be with her any longer than I had to.
Half an hour later, the floor was filled with people dancing and having fun. I left our table and walked toward the exit to get some fresh air when I heard the emcee’s voice through the speakers.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we will now be introducing you to the reason we are all gathered here today. Someone very dear to our hosts was once lost. But now, she has finally emerged and accepted her place in the family. Let us all welcome the newest addition to the Jameson clan, Ms. Charlotte Harris-Jameson!” The emcee raised her hand toward the stairs, and my heart thudded loudly in my chest as I slowly turned around and looked up.
She was so beautiful.
She smiled nervously as she came down the stairs, her hands holding her skirt up so it didn’t cause her to trip. Her eyes were bright, and her cheeks were flushed. Then she turned those green eyes of hers in my direction and smiled at me.
My heart stopped. I slowly raised my hand toward her as she got closer and closer, my ears ringing with every beat of my heart. She extended her hand, I reached for her…
…and someone else’s hand wrapped around her fingers.
I turned my head and watched as Parker pulled Charlie close, leaving me hanging. The spotlight shined on them, effectively leaving me and my heart in the shadows.
Chapter Thirteen
Charlie
If Parker hadn’t reached out and taken my hand, I wouldn’t have woken up from my fantasy and remembered that he was my date, not Sean. I turned my head to smile apologetically at Sean, but his face went taut and shadowy like he was a whole other person.
Parker walked with me to the stage where I gave a simple speech about being grateful to everyone who came, a brief introduction about myself, and finally, that I would be helping my family with the business. My Dad, Wilhelmina, and Ariana came up beside me for some pictures, and then the party resumed as the staff fixed the stage to get ready for the auction.
I saw Parker coming toward me, and I smiled.
“Hey, stranger,” I whispered, and he gave me a crooked smile.
“Hey, yourself,” he replied. He dropped his smile and looked at me with a serious expression. “Charlie, I need to–”
“There you are, Charlie!” I winced at my sister’s voice, turning to face her. My eyes widened in surprise as I saw her wrap her arm around Sean’s. I furrowed my brows at him, but he refused to look at me. Ariana pushed her chest closer to his arm, and I felt a surge of anger and jealousy toward her. “I hope you don’t mind if I steal him away. I mean, after all, you got the quarterback,” she said, sounding way too innocent and suspicious.
Parker took my hand, and I saw Sean’s face darken, looking at our joined hands. I moved to pull my hand away, but Parker wouldn’t let go, and then Sean shocked me by wrapping his arm around Ariana’s shoulders, pulling her closer to him but never taking his eyes from me.
“This party is boring. We’re gonna split,” Sean said.
“Oh, don’t worry. I got that covered,” Ariana replied before pulling out an electronic card from her purse. My heart sank as I realized what that meant.
“Sean, no,” I gasped, and for a moment, his face turned sorrowful before switching back to a dull stare.
He turned around and pulled Ariana alongside him, and I couldn�
��t watch them walk away anymore, so I did the only thing I could think of as the tears fell from my face.
I ran away.
***
Sean
Man, I’m racking up my sins tonight, huh?
The look on Charlie’s face, seeing her completely crushed as she saw that key card…
Even if my objective for agreeing to go with Ariana’s plan was met, and I now know that Charlie cares about me a lot, I don’t think it was worth it anymore. Hell, I never thought it was worth it, but my stupid self didn’t listen.
Ariana tapped the key card on the lock and it opened automatically. She gave me a suggestive smirk before opening the door and walking directly toward the bed. I followed her inside and stopped by the edge of the mattress, her feet grazing my thigh. She bit her lip as she raised her foot higher until it brushed against my crotch.
“Well? Aren’t you going to join me?” she asked, her voice low and sultry as her eyes fluttered.
I lowered my body over hers, keeping my head mere centimeters away from hers, and opened my mouth.
“No.”
The shocked look on her face was priceless. I got back up and hurried out of there, ignoring Ariana as she called me back. She was not the woman I wanted to be with; no other girl would do. And I’d just realized that now.
I was so hung up over this one girl that I never understood what I was really feeling for her. As much as I knew it made me sound like a girl to say it, I’d realized that I was in love with Charlie Jameson. And I needed to tell her before someone else managed to steal her away from me.
I made my way back to the party, running like I’ve never ran before. I asked around whether they’d seen her or not, and someone told me that he saw her running toward the veranda. I thanked him and ran over there, thinking about what I was going to say once I got there, thinking of the best way to tell her that…
…I stopped in my tracks. My heart shattered as I witnessed the scene before me.
I was too late.
***
Charlie
I couldn’t stop swiping at my eyes as the tears continued to fall. I also couldn’t believe that I let myself fall for someone as cruel-hearted as Sean West.
I felt a hand rub my back comfortingly, and I continued to sob, knowing that it was my best friend.
“Charlie…” Parker trailed off, but I could hear his pity in that single word.
“I know,” I said. “You don’t have to say, ‘I told you so.’ I’m the idiot who didn’t take your word for it and ended up falling in love with a guy who’s incapable of the feeling.”
He shook his head lightly. “It’s his loss, Charlie. You shouldn’t cry over him. Guys like him don’t deserve it.” He held me by my shoulders and turned me to face him. “You need a guy who can love you the way you deserve. A guy who listens to you. Charlie, please let me be that guy.”
I looked at him, confused. “I don’t understand.”
“Let me show you then,” he said, before taking me by the chin and giving me a soft kiss.
I could feel his lips were soft and tasted like wine. I could tell his kiss was gentle and innocent. I felt… absolutely nothing.
He probably realized it, too, because he pulled away as soon as the kiss began, and then I heard a twig snapping. I turned toward the sound and saw Sean standing there, looking at us, a shocked look on his face.
“Sean, I–” I tried to call him, but he hung his head down and walked away.
Chapter Fourteen
Sean
I hadn’t spoken to Charlie in a while, but that didn’t stop me from thinking about her when I was awake or dreaming about her once I closed my eyes.
I’d been working on my attitude a little, not because I thought it would help me with Charlie – I knew it was too late for that – but because she had a point. I was a cocky son of a bitch, and if I was on the receiving end of my own spiels, I’d have socked me in the face, too.
I apologized to all my teammates and told them I was trying to tone my confidence down, and they all looked at me like I was from another planet at first. But gradually they saw that I was serious and accepted me back into the group.
Parker wasn’t at practice the day after the party, but when he came back, I still couldn’t bring myself to talk to him or congratulate him for getting the girl. I said I was trying to become a good person, not a saint.
“Okay, dude. Enough already. When will you get back to normal?” Evan asked. “I mean, don’t get me wrong. The humble Sean is great, too, but you don’t sleep, you barely eat. What the fuck is wrong with you?”
I shrugged. “Nothing.”
“Bullshit,” he said, and I rolled my eyes. “How’s everything with Charlie?” he asked.
I froze at the mention of her name and he smirked, hitting the target.
“Nothing is going on with Charlie,” I said. He looked at me and waited until I finally cracked and sighed. “I saw Parker kiss her at the party. It’s over. He won. He got the girl.”
“See, I don’t believe that. If Parker and Charlie are together, then why does Parker look like shit, the same way you do?” Evan asked, and I looked at him in confusion. “Actually, he looks worse than you. Don’t you think he’d be fucking ecstatic if you were right?”
He had a point there.
“Look, man, you and Charlie probably got off to a rocky start, but she’s brought out the best of you, and now that you’re turning into an even better version of yourself, it is the perfect time to man up and tell her you love her!” he exclaimed.
“I never said I loved her,” I said, and he glared at me.
“Lie to me one more time, and I swear to God, I will clock you,” he said menacingly and I chuckled. “So, what the fuck are you waiting for? Call her!”
***
Charlie
I knocked on my dad’s study, still feeling a little awkward despite our growing closeness with one another. The door opened and although he looked surprised to see me, he waved me in, and I stood in front of his desk.
“What’s the matter, Charlotte?” he asked. I still couldn’t get him to call me ‘Charlie’ no matter how many times I tried.
“I just want to say two things,” I started, and he sat on his chair and waited patiently for me to continue. “I want to stop with the training lessons. Obviously, no matter how hard I try to be different, I’ll always have that ‘peasant’ vibe that Ariana’s always going on about. I can’t change me, and I refuse to try anymore. Ariana can have the title for being little Ms. Perfect. I don’t care. If I’m going to be a part of this family, then I’d like you to accept me for me, one hundred percent.”
“I never wanted you to change, Charlotte,” he said. “I just wanted to give you another kind of skillset so you can know how to deal with people you will commonly be in contact with, living in a world like ours.”
“So, all that training wasn’t to change me, but to upgrade me?” I asked, and he shook his head, chuckling.
“That is exactly the brand of humor and sensibility that I loved about your mother. It really is uncanny how much you two are alike,” he said, and I was surprised because this was the first time he had ever brought her up. “Charlotte, what I want you to understand is that I will never pressure you into doing anything you wouldn’t want to do. I only want to start becoming a father to the daughter who had it long overdue.”
I got teary-eyed from his explanation, so I looked up, trying not to cry.
“What was the other thing you wanted me to know?” he asked.
“Huh? Oh, I just… I just wanted to tell you I love you, that’s all,” I admitted, and my dad smiled.
After talking with my dad, I left his study to look for my next target. Fortunately, I saw her come out of the next room and glare at me before walking away.
“Ariana, wait!” I cried, catching up to her.
“What do you want?” she grumbled.
“I want us to stop competing with each other. I don�
�t even remember how this started, or why it even began, but I want it to be over,” I told her.
“If you didn’t want this to happen, then you shouldn’t have accepted Dad’s offer for you to live here! He already cares about you more than me, why should you get to live in my world, too?!” she cried out, and I blinked.
“He doesn’t. What are you talking about?” I asked.
“I know that Dad loved your mother more than he does mine. I went to his office once, and I found a picture of her on his desk, right next to a picture of me. At first, I was okay with it, because at least I knew my dad loved me as much as her, but when I opened one of his desk drawers and I found not just one, but probably hundreds of pictures of you from different ages inside, I knew that he cared about you more than he does me.”
“That’s not true, Ariana. I’m sure there’s a valid explanation for all of that, but that’s something you have to discuss with Dad, and not take your frustrations out on me. I never did anything wrong to you, and I’m sorry you feel that way. But I am telling you, the only thing I want from this family is to be accepted, and that’s what I’m asking from you now,” I said, my eyes begging for her to understand.
She was quiet for a few moments before she clenched her fists and nodded. “Fine. I’m sorry for how badly I treated you. I should’ve discussed things with you civilly, and made my sentiments known to our father instead of getting mad at you, and I apologize,” she said formally while looking anywhere but at me.
I nodded, smiling a little at how awkward she was.
“And I’m sorry about asking Sean out. He left me before we did anything, so don’t worry about it,” she said, before strutting off toward Dad’s office.