Royal Dilemma

Chapter Sixteen

(Charli's Point of View)

I send CJ home with the remainder of the raspberry pie and instructions not to eat it all in one sitting. I know he won't listen but I felt like I had to say it anyway. Unbeknownst to him, I had hidden another pie behind some leftovers in my fridge. When Piper comes over Sunday afternoon to do homework I cut us both a slice and we sit down on the couch to eat it.

"God I love your pie," Piper moans. "I would die for this pie."

"Easy there," I tell her, smiling.

"How did lover boy like it?" She licks her lips to get the filling off of them but there's a stubborn remainder in the corner of her mouth.

"He loved it."

I point to the corner of my own mouth and Piper gets the hint and wipes her face with a napkin.

"When do I get to meet him?"

I hesitate. I still haven't told Piper about all of CJ's odd rules. She didn't think anything was out of the ordinary when I told her CJ and I only see each other on Saturday. It's my day off after all.

"I don't know if you can..."

Piper looks hurt which quickly morphs into confusion. "Why not?"

"He has all these... rules."

"Rules?"

"Yeah, I don't know. Something's fishy but I don't want to ask."

"What kind of rules?" She sets her empty plate down on the coffee table and gives her mouth one final wipe with the napkin.

"He said we can only hang out on Saturday nights... And he said I can text him but to never call him. He always has an alarm set to leave at a certain time." I shrug. "There's some other weird stuff too."

Concern washes over Piper's face. "What kind of stuff?"

"He talks about his family a lot but he's never once said one of their names... I don't even know his twin's name and I see him at the bar sometimes." I run my hand through my hair. "That's another thing. We always have to meet at the bar even if we're coming back to my place right after."

"That's really odd," Piper agrees. "You need to find out what is up with this boy."

"I don't know..."

"It's the elephant in the room," she points out. "You need to address it."

"I'm not sure I even want to know..." I admit. I shake my head. "That sounds so stupid. Forget I said that." I let out a gush of air. "I feel like whatever secret he's keeping is bad and I'm really happy right now. He makes me really happy."

"Charli, honey... You need to talk to him about this." Piper puts a hand on my knee. "If it's something terrible it's best to find out now, before things can go further."

I nod my agreement slowly. "I want to trust him so badly but I know I shouldn't." I tuck a lock of my hair behind my ear. "I think I trust him anyway. How stupid is that?"

"It's not stupid to have faith in people," Piper says softly. "If he's hiding something bad, he's the stupid one. Not you."

I sigh and reach for my textbook. "I don't know about you but I'm ready to do some calculus."

Piper groans. "Time for me to learn about mergers and acquisitions."

I hold my fist to my palm in a mock-karate pose and bow to her. "May luck be with you."