Familiar Strangers - Charlie Gillespie

Chapter Four ~ As long as you're mine

I brushed off the pink in my cheeks, and continued on. We got outside of the hotel, and hopped into Charlie's car, as he was the one driving us around Los Angeles. Like a little personal chauffer. But less fancy. Since me and my friends are basically children in a couple of adults bodies, we were all sprinting towards the car to see who will get the front seat. My god, it's like some kind of game show, like I can imagine an announcer and audience shouting, "Who will get the front seat!!!!!!"

"SHOTGUN!!!!!" I yelled. I was at the back of everyone, so I knew that calling shotgun always comes in handy when you're slow.

"GOD DAMMIT!!!" Everett screamed as Daisy frowned in defeat. I stuck my tongue out at them and opened the door to the front.

I looked over at Charlie, who was fiddling with his keys. I still couldn't believe this was real. Just mere weeks ago I was watching him- no, scratch that, staring at him through a tv screen, and now I'm in his car, watching him messing with his keys, and about to go out in Los Angeles with him and my two best friends. An absolute dream.

He looked up at me and smiled because my cheeks started to heat up at a glimpse of those now sparkling blue eyes. "So, Iris... I've heard both Daisy and Everett call you things like Rain, Rainy, Rainbow, and my personal favorite, Rainybow." he said, smirking at Daisy, who was now squirming in embarrassment. "What's the deal with that?"

"Well, Charles-" I began to reply.

"Charlie. Or, if you prefer Char/Char Char, I'm also cool with that."

"Charzan the Maple Man"

"Charlie"

"Ugh. Fine, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."

"Try Char."

"Okay, Char Char Binks..." by this time, Daisy and Everett were having immense trouble trying to hold back their laughter. Daisy was practically snorting. I giggled a slight bit at her loud snorts. She was so adorable when she did that.

"Just Charlie. Charlie." he said sternly, crossing his arms, although I could tell it was difficult to hold a straight face with the two hyenas rolling around in the back.

"Fine. Charlie. The deal with my nickname is my name, right? My name is Iris, which is the name of the Greek goddess of rainbows. Ever since I found that out about my name, I've been telling people because I think it's cool. The giggle twins back here started teasing me by calling me different renditions of the word, rainbow, and it slowly caught on as a nickname. Ya satisfied?"

"Like Angelica Schuyler, babe." he replied.

"Oh contrare, my friend. If I remember correctly, Angelica Schuyler will never be satisfied, as stated first by Mr. Alexander Hamilton."

"You are very right, Rains, then I meant that in a sarcastic way. Even if I didn't mean it like that to begin with" he says, acting a bit nervous. What was the deal with that? On the other hand, I did like the way he used my nickname. It's fun and most certainly adorable. He stared at me for a bit and finally said, "Your name and nickname are very beautiful, Iris." Well I'm sorry I just had a heart attack, did he really just compliment me? Charlie. Charlie Gillespie. The Charles Gillespie. Like Charles Jeffrey Gillespie? Charzan the Maple Man himself?

We drove a little bit more and I connected my aux cord. I hit shuffle play on my playlist and that's when the party started. I'd like to think I have a pretty solid playlist as we listened to One Direction, The Smiths, No Doubt, and a ton of Musical Theatre. Me and Charlie belted Mean Girls while Everett and Daisy watched in pure horror. Actually, now that I look at it, we jammed out to every song that came on. From Clearance Clearwater Revival to The Prom, we both knew every song in the book! We were both laughing and singing, and then Wicked.