Rescued

Chapter 7: Hall Pass

*** Harley's POV ***

"You're never going to guess who I crossed paths with." I told Uncle Doug as I was gathering Rays from his house.

"Alicia Silverstone." Doug blurted out.

I guffawed. My uncle was a quirky guy that always ensured a good belly laugh or two while visiting. "What?"

"I was trying to think of someone famous who does animal rights stuff. Ooo, Kevin Bacon!" He guessed again.

"No. She's not famous." I clarified although she had starred in my dreams, often when I would come to visit Doug before moving here for school and eventually work.

Charlotte Grayson. Wow.

"Are you going to tell me who?" Doug asked impatiently.

"Charlotte." I said simply.

Uncle Doug's brow furrowed as he tried to process who I was taking about. Then realization hit him. "The girl with the dog! Your first crush!"

I winced. I was pretty close with Uncle Doug growing up. My parents weren't the best role models and my stays with Uncle Doug became longer and longer over the summer when he became aware of just what my parents got up to. He came to my games, taught me how to drive, and pushed me to attend college. I owed Uncle Doug a lot.

But the one place where Uncle Doug didn't give the best advice was on the girl front. Single himself, I was convinced for the longest time that he was celibate for religious reasons, but apparently that wasn't a thing for pastors in his religion. Then I thought maybe he was gay and kept it quiet because of his religion, but nope that wasn't it either. He described it once as just lacking that physical desire for anyone. He said he tried to date when he was younger but when it would get physical he would end it, unable to will himself into it. He was happy and plenty social, just not interested or well-versed in relationship stuff.

"Yeah. Well she's not a girl anymore, let me start with that." I muttered, pulling out a beer from his fridge and pacing without opening it.

"Did she remember you?" Doug reached out and opened my beer with an opener on his keys.

"Yeah she did, and we had this crazy connection. But we kept getting interrupted. Madison was up my ass all weekend." I complained.

"She was probably just worried that you'd forget about that birthday soiree she organized for herself. You know 26 is a momentous year." Doug remarked sarcastically. He had dropped something off at the office once and found Madison offering herself up on my desk. He wasn't her biggest fan before that, but when she greeted him by calling him Uncle D, she really dropped a few notches.

My mouth went dry and suddenly I wanted to down that beer very quickly followed by several more. I groaned. "Oh no. That was this weekend?"

"Tonight. Looks like I'll be drinking that." Doug snatched the beer from my hands and took a swig. "You didn't remember, did you?"

I shook my head, dropping it back and running my hands over my face. I was wishing so hard that I had agreed to go to dinner with Charlotte and her friends but she seemed really startled by that possibility and I didn't want to push my luck. "I didn't."