𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 | 𝐣. 𝐡𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐞𝐬

𝟑𝟐 | 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞

The next morning everyone is finishing breakfast and heading out onto the lake. Last night Jack and I spent about two hours sitting outside in a peaceful silence. Before we both headed to our rooms last night, he asked me to meet him in his room to talk today. I'm honestly ready to lay everything out there and figure out what's next for us. 

"Char, you ready to go?" Emilie is picking up a bottle of sunscreen, and putting it in the bag she's taking onto the boat." 

"Yeah, but I'm meeting Jack in his room to talk. We'll probably meet you guys out there after." Nodding her head, we both head out of our room Emilie going left towards the stairs while I go right. The door to Jack's room is slightly ajar and rather than walk in, I decide to knock. "Come in." His slightly muffled voice comes through the crack of the door inviting me in.

"Oh hey, Lottie. You can sit here." I take a quick look at his room. He has a few medals and trophies lining his window and his room is pretty clean for someone who's been home for about a month. When I'm done looking around I take a seat at the end of his bed joining him.

"I feel like I haven't asked you since you got here, but how are you?" He looks over at me, searching in my eyes for a truthful answer. "I'm doing considerably better than I was the last time we saw each other. How about you?" He slightly smiles, happy to know I'm doing better, but there's a sense of sadness. 

"Umm I'm doing good too, but I uh really missed you. I haven't been able to stop thinking about everything." I feel a slight frown forming. "I've been wanting to talk to you for a while, but I also wanted to respect your space." I give him a quick thank you for giving me time to think about everything and collect my thoughts. 

"What happened that night was completely disrespectful to you and our relationship. Sober or not, I should've shot down that fan and I shouldn't have let her lead me away from the guys and the crowd." His hand finds its way on top of my own on my lap. "You didn't deserve that. I promise that the moment she led me away I thought of you and got away from her and went back to the guys." I take a moment for my mind to register everything he's saying.

"Jack that hurt me and it hurt to find out the way I did. Imagine waking up and seeing pictures of your boyfriend kissing another girl and a picture of him being led away by that same girl. I had no idea what to think could've happened after she led you away." His eyes move away from me, shooting straight down to his lap, ashamed. 

"I trusted you with my whole heart and that completely crushed it. I want to move on from this, but I'm scared that it might happen again and it'll be even worse." I look into his eyes, showing him my worry and fear. "I know Lottie and I will do anything to gain your trust back no matter how long it takes. What happened is something I'll always regret and I'll never stop beating myself up over it." His hands come up to my face, cupping my cheeks.

"You mean the absolute world to me Charlotte Mitchell. I want to make things right and I want to move on from this too." Tears brim my eyes as Jack's tears do too in his own eyes. "I love you." He whispers when his forehead now meets my own. 

"I love you too" We both smile, both content with the outcome of our talk. Our lips meet and a sense of bliss and peace that's been missing for a while has found its way back to me. 

"You ready to head out there?" He gets up, holding his hand out towards me. I smile from ear to ear placing my hand in his own, getting up. Our fingers interlace, Jack bringing our hands up to his lip kissing mine. "Let's go." Walking out of his room, I feel grateful for Ellen even insisting and convincing me to come to Michigan.

Oh Mama Hughes you're quite the cupid. 

~

melissa speaks

Hey everybody here's another update! We've finally gotten over the bump in the road and we can all thank Ellen for convincing Charlotte to come to Michigan in the first place. As always, thank you so much for reading and I apologize for another short chapter. We're reaching the end very soon!