Project GoldCrest ✓

Chapter 24

Charlotte

Waking up from a peaceful, normal, sleep the following morning was amazing. I grabbed my phone from the nightstand to check the time, and was surprised to find that it was 08:13am. This was my normal time, usually. So what happened yesterday was almost like an anomaly.

Upon opening my phone, I thought about my mother's call yesterday. She'd called around half past eight in the evening. She sounded weird, but mainly fine. She just wanted to know how we were.

We told her that we were fine and getting along. This made her tone lighten up a little bit. I asked about the conference and dad. She kept quiet for a while, before hurriedly saying all was well. I could hear Dad in the background saying something. Come to think of it, it was weird. The background was filled with noises of dad telling mom to drop the call. He sounded... I don't know. I couldn't place my finger on it. But it was incredibly weird.

Then she dropped the call like my dad asked after saying goodnight to us. We went to bed after that. I had a little insomnia at first, but here I am waking up at my usual time.

Taking my time, I opened my window and caught sight of Mickey's house. I saw his mom's black SUV pulling into the driveway. I watched her take her leather purse and walk slowly inside the house. She took out her own keys and got in. Her actions seemed weird. Almost as if she was avoiding interaction. Her glancing around every few moments only proved my point.

That's when I wondered where she was.

I quickly moved away from the window once I realized that I was standing there for a long time. I went into bathroom to initiate my daily rituals. After, I got dressed in a white crop top and a denim overall dress. I let my straight dark brown hair fall over my shoulders.

Once I was finished, I lay on my bed with my feet in the air. I called Alec as I'd forgotten to yesterday.

"Hey," I greeted. "How was your morning?"

"Hey Charlotte. Good, good. I'm assuming you remembered me?" He jokingly said.

I smiled, and then remembered that he couldn't see me. "I forgot, I'm sorry."

"I can forgive you, if you tell me how it went."

I explained to him that I'd decided to give Cole another chance. And that he was coming back to school this week. And that I had mixed feelings about that.

"Wow," was all he said.

"Don't just say wow. Say something," I urged.

"I'm just surprised about that last part. But I'm happy you're giving yourselves a chance. Maybe I'll see you smiling because of something you had a hand in. Not just because of me." I could imagine his kind smile.

"Yeah. Although, I am waiting to be introduced to mystery girl."

"All in due time, Charlie. Alright, I should head to breakfast now."

I chuckled. "Same."

"Alright, have a good morning."

"You too." I hung up. I went downstairs to make breakfast myself, but was surprised to find a plate of eggs and toast on the island counter.