Nothing In This World (BWWM) ✅

Chapter Ten

Free from her mother's orders, Charlene snuck outside while Janis bathed and Sarah went off with her mom to her friends house. She shook all the jitters out of her body and slowly opened the door to the shed. There stood the back of Lance as he looked over a shelf littered with old car parts. Charlene took in his broad shoulders and slim waist. She couldn't help but smile.

"Whatcha doin'?" She said quickly causing him to drop whatever was in his hands out of fear. "Did I scare you?" She giggled.

"Is that your question?" He gasped while holding his chest. "My heart almost blew. I thought you were someone else." Charlene laughed while closing the door behind her. "How long do I have with you?"

She gave him a shrug while stepping past him to sit on a wooden box. Lance leaned against the wooden wall right across from her and gave her a stare that would make anyone explode. "Janis is bathing so maybe... half an hour. Maybe more. We can use this time to talk about what you think you're doing."

He brushed his dark hair out of his face along with massaging the side of his head. "Oh God. I think you and I both know what I'm doing." Charlene rolled her eyes at his response. "Everything about you is so calm in this overbearing world. You can't tell me that you don't think so."

"You think I'm calm?" He nodded. "Well, when you come from nothing, there's not much you can hope for or complain about."

He moved away from the wall to the side of the box she was sitting on. "So you're telling me you never wanted anything more than what you have?"

"Of course I do. Everyone wants more. I just know I'll never have that." Lance took a seat right next to her and sighed. "What?"

"Why do you think so low of who you can become?" She looked down at her skin and she knew there was no way she could explain to him and he would understand. "I know it's dangerous for you but there are many blacks in the city who are doing better than this. You can have a life out there."

Charlene jumped to her feet in a protest. "Who wants to be so close to the city? All those people and businesses going on." She crossed her arms over her body and hugged herself. "It's quiet out here. No one to tell you anything and less problems. It's safe for people like me."

Lance jumped to his feet too. "You and your mama have no one to protect you. Wait until old Rodger comes cruising down in his pick up truck. We all heard about what he did to that little black boy ten miles down. People like him is everywhere out here."

"And people like him is two feet away and your next door neighbor in the city. Crime is rare when you have so much land. It's everyday when they can reach out and grab your hand." She did just that. Stretched her arm out and wrapped her hand around his stiff wrist. "I ain't never pictured my life out there and I never will."

He looked like he gave up. Charlene wasn't a stubborn person but she also wasn't one to give up what choices she does have. "Janis doesn't know it but I'm leaving the moment I can. I'm doing what's expected of me but what about what I want?"

"You don't like the farm very much?" The look on his face gave her all the answers she needed. "I hated my house too when I was little. There was always something to do. When my brother couldn't do the work then it was up to me. All my friends had a million siblings who did outside things for them. I went from cleaning dishes to working the land. I just know you're tired."

"Janis doesn't know hard work. Her father makes good money in the city."

Charlene didn't want to say anything bad about Janis. She didn't dislike her like Lance did. She also didn't know why Lance cringed whenever he spoke of Janis. She's a sweet girl despite her spoiled nature. "Stop doing what people expect of you. Tell Janis how it's going to be with you and if it doesn't work then..."

"I think you're missing the meaning, Charlene. I don't want to be with Janis. I haven't said very much good about her now have I? I just don't know who else to tell. My mother likes her too and I already smiled in her parents face. I feel so stuck."

Charlene nodded slowly as she tried to understand his issue. "If you're looking for a family and happiness then Janis is the one. She's very understanding and she's used to giving up to make others happy. I was her best friend and she put me in the back of her sisters wedding to make everyone else comfortable."

"That's not okay, Charlene."

"Never said it was. Just saying you won't have to put up much of a fight tying to get her to go to the city with you. She really likes you." Charlene fixed her dress as she prepared to leave the shed.

"How did this go from me telling you I like you to you telling me I shouldn't." He quickly stepped in front of her before she could get out the door good. "Did you trick me into believing of me and you? Is that why you hinted for me to come here? Is that why you gave me those beautiful eyes and alluring smile?"

Charlene rolled her eyes as she tried one more time to get by but Lance just wouldn't let her. "I don't know what you're talking about. I came in here to talk and rid you of whatever you're thinking about me."

"Did you really think it would work?" He used his back to push the shed door open. He let her walk out first then closed the door behind them. "Because it didn't."

Charlene frowned as she turned around to see him jogging across the field off into the trees his truck was hidden behind. She took this small moment to think about her actions and ask herself if she was giving him strong signals about her attraction to him.

She knew she didn't mean to but she couldn't control what her body did when her emotions ran wild. She did find something appealing about Lance but she knew it could never happen. The laws were against her. Janis would be too. Even her family. She'd just have to miss Lance and if he liked her the way he said he does, then he'd have to miss her too.