𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 | 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐨𝐧

𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚏𝚒𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚎𝚗

I could feel the disappointment in everything Charlie did for the rest of the time we hung out. I guess he wanted to open me up—to understand what was going on in my mind. I was too prideful, maybe? I didn't think pride was the word for how I felt. Maybe he was right. Maybe I was afraid.

"Neil's gonna be in the play." Charlie finally spoke, breaking the awkward silence between us. I looked over to him. He was smiling like some sort of idiot. "I'm going to go for sure. Maybe we can meet up there? It's safer for you."

"Yeah." I nodded, thinking to Neil for a moment. I didn't know him too well, but when he read poetry, he left me feeling mesmerized. He would be a fantastic actor.

Charlie broke the silence again for the second time. "He's my best friend." He paused when I looked at him again. "His parents suck, y/n. They don't support him at all."

My heart fell a bit, knowing what that was like. It sounded like Neil's were on an extreme level, though. "Damn." I didn't know what to say. I was never good at these kinds of things.

"Damn." Charlie nodded. "Poor kid, huh?"

"Yeah." Was this another way Charlie was trying to open me up? Well, it wasn't working. "But it's cool he's in the play." I finally spoke, smiling to Charlie.

"Mhmm." Now it was his turn to say the absolute bare minimum. It was annoying, and I knew he was doing it to be petty.

"I've got to go home." I lied, standing up from the hallway. "I'll see you later, Charlie." I said and started to walk away.

Charlie then got up, racing over to walk next to me. Confusion was written all over his face. "What are you doing?"

"Bye Charlie." I said again, looking him in the eye. "I have to go."

"No, you dont." He smirked. It wasn't going to work on me this time.

"Yes, I do." I replied, still watching him.

"No." He leaned in a bit closer to me. "You don't." For a moment, I thought he was going to kiss me. That was such a stupid thought because he quickly leaned back out. He knew he got to me with that because he began laughing under his breath.

I didn't know how to respond, so instead, I kept watching him. He kept watching me, too. I wondered if I were to kiss him, what would happen? Was I ready for that? Was he? Did he even like me? Would I ruin our friendship?

"Are you two having a staring contest or something?" Carla knocked us out of our tranced state. I stepped away from Charlie, my face on fire. She began to laugh. "Shit! Were we interrupting something?" Potts began laughing a bit, too. I knew he was gonna make fun of Charlie for that when they got back to Welton.

Charlie glanced to me and then to Carla. "Just a staring contest." Charlie spoke confidently, not letting any of this bother him. Sometimes, he seemed so untouchable. "Looks like I won." I hated that arrogant smirk. But also, it was kinda... no! What was I thinking.

"Yeah, a staring contest. Right." Carla nodded, staring holes into me. "Well, we're gonna go get milkshakes. You kids wanna come?"

"I would, but Y/n said she had to go..." Charlie was trying to catch me in a lie. It was a bit infuriating. "I really thought she understood Carpe diem."

"Wait, but you told me you were free today. Your dad is working later." Carla wasn't catching on, and I let out a sigh.

"Let's go." I responded, letting Charlie have his little win. We all walked out into the parking lot in search of Carla's car.

Charlie walked next to me, leaning close to whisper. "Told you so, doll. Told you so." I stomped on his foot, not enough to hurt him but enough to tease him. "Owww, that hurt." He whined.

"Grow up, Dalton." I laughed and sat in the backseat of Carla's car with Charlie. His hand brushed mine, as it always seemed to do. I wasn't sure if it was intentional or not. He always acted like it didn't just happen.

We got to the diner, and Pitts was the first to get out, running around the car to open the door for Carla. However, by the time she got there, she had already opened her door. Even so, Pitts held out his hand to help her out. Then, he opened my door for me.

"Thank you, Pittsie." I smiled, and he nodded bashfully at me. He was getting better at this whole romance thing. Charlie was waiting at the door now for us since we were complimenting Pitts.

Eventually, we sat down, ordered, and waited for our milkshakes. "A midsummer dream?" I asked, and Charlie looked over, a bit lost. "The play? The one Neil's in?"

"Oh oh oh!" Charlie finally understood what I was referring to. "Yeah, he plays the lead. Puck." He smiled, and I could tell he was very proud of his best friend. "It's called a midsummer night's dream, by the way." He was too cocky now.

I ignored his little correction because I was far more focused on something else. "He plays the lead? Wow!" Charlie's face lit up even more when I said that.

"I know!" Charlie replied. Pitts looked over to see us, nodding in appreciation of their friend.  Charlie continued. "So you're gonna watch it with me, right?"

"We'll see." I knew for sure I was going to that play, I just wanted to keep Charlie on his toes.

Charlie looked triumphant. "Alright, it's settled then." I glanced to him, confused what he meant. I couldn't ask, though, because that's exactly when we got our milkshakes. "Oo, let me try some of yours." Charlie moved his straw into my shake and started to drink some.

"Eww, get your filthy straw out of my ice cream!" I joked, hitting him on the shoulder. He took another sip, winking at me.

"Just checking to see if it was poisoned." He took his straw out, putting it back into his own shake. "All good. Safe to drink." I rolled my eyes and took a sip of my own shake.