In Charlotte's Eyes

ONE: Always a Build-Up, Parker

A month passed. Life returned to normal once again. Parker felt satisfied with his growth. There were times he still thought about Charlotte, but he found himself not dwelling on it nearly as much as he used to. He didn't feel the need to drink the pain away. There would always be a hole to her disappearance; he still didn't have any closure about what happened to her that night. He returned to going to church with Audrey. Instead of drugs, he used spirituality to cope with negative episodes. He also returned to his spelunking adventures! He invited Kylee and Leon, but they both respectfully declined. He didn't hold anything against them for that decision.

He was eating lunch during his thirty minute break. He noticed a text from Aaron sent earlier that day. He was asking Parker if he wanted to hang out tomorrow. Not wanting to pick up his phone and type, he called him. He brought the phone up to his ear, casually eating away, patiently waiting for him to pick up.

It didn't take long for Aaron to return the call. “Yoo, Parker!” He excitedly greeted.

“Sup, Aaron? I saw your text earlier.” He got to the point.

“Oh yeah? So, you gonna show up?”

Amused, he snickered. “Is there some special occasion or something? You're asking me out of the blue.”

“I know you're off tomorrow, and I don't have anything better to do.” His explanation was brief. “Besides, when do I ever ask you with a reason?”

“Hm.” He nodded, looking down at his food. “Is anyone else gonna be there?”

“Nah, Becca’s busy, and Carlos has something else he needs to take care of.”

“Oh yeah?” He raised a brow. “I guess I can go.” He agreed casually. “You taking any art requests?” He smirked lightly.

He laughed. “Hey—for you?—hell yeah.”

He chuckled. “Alright, alright, cool. I gotta go now, though, dude.”

“You're good. Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow.” Parker could hear his smile.

“Same, dude. Bye.”

“See ya!”