Charlie Ever After

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I woke up well before our alarms even started going off. It was only six and I knew we had another hour or so to sleep, but as soon as my eyes adjusted to the early morning sun streaming in through the curtains, I knew there was no getting back to sleep.

I laid in bed with Charlie wrapped in my arms for a good fifteen minutes before I slowly slipped away and into the bathroom. I took a quick shower and quickly got dressed before quietly sneaking downstairs and into the kitchen. I made both Charlie and I a cup of coffee before returning to my bedroom, crawling back in bed next to her.

I placed a couple soft kisses to her face and with each kiss she stirred a little more. I couldn't help the small laugh that escaped at the little pout that she threw my way before hesitantly opening up an eye to look at me.

She reached for her phone and when she saw the time she shot upright.

"What happened to our alarms?"

"Why didn't you wake me up?"

The questions just kept firing out as I looked at her with an amused grin.

"What?" She questioned after finally noticing my calm demeanor.

"You looked too cute sleeping." I gave her my cheekiest smile before handing over her cup of coffee.

She rolled her eyes at me, taking the cup out of my hand and bringing it to her lips to take a sip.

"Jerk." She teased, sticking her tongue out at me.

That just made me smile bigger.

I loved everything about her personality. Over the months I've noticed her becoming more and more comfortable with me, little quirky traits of her popping up from time to time— like her sticking her tongue out at me like we're in kindergarten. I found myself continuously falling deeper and deeper in love with her.

After a few more minutes in bed together, we got up. We had both packed our bags over a week ago, wanting to make sure that we had everything prepared. We made sure to go to the grocery store, stocking up on snacks and drinks for the long drive.

Charlie checked over our bags for the umpteenth time before huffing out a sigh.

"Okay, I think we have everything."

"We've had everything ready for over a week. Relax, sweetheart." I grinned down at her as I wrapped my arms around her waist, placing a soft kiss to her forehead as she relaxed into me.

"I know, I know." She grumbled. "I'm just excited and a little nervous."

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Why nervous?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. This is just the first time I've really spent an extended period of time with my dad... in well... years." She admitted.

"Plus, you guys are coming. I just want everything to go smoothly."

I knew how she was. I knew she'd worry about this, and I tried to do everything in my power to make this as stress free as possible.

I placed both hands on her cheeks, tracing my thumbs across her cheeks as I looked into her eyes. "You don't have to worry about anything, baby. I've got this, I will make sure everything goes as smoothly as possible."

She looked up at me with a smile and the sparkle was back in her eyes.

"That's my girl." I grinned before placing a soft kiss on her lips, tapping her on the ass.

"Now let's get this show on the road."

——

We got on the road a half an hour behind schedule, but I tried not to stress it. I knew that if I was stressing about something, that Charlie would instantly pick up on it and start to stress too.