Promises (Jack Gilinsky)

Chapter 70

Charlotte's POV:

(Three weeks later)

I wake to the sound of whispers around me. The first thing I feel is confusion, but within seconds, my vision adjusts to show nine very excited boys standing around me. I sit up quickly, trying not to get freaked out by friends' presence in my room.

"What are you guys doing?" I ask.

"We're waiting for you to get ready so we can leave," Nash says way too nonchalantly.

"What do you mean?" I ask, the confusion obvious in my voice. "I thought we weren't leaving until noon."

"Yeah, it's 11:30," Aaron says, pointing to the clock next to my bed.

Once I hear this I automatically face palm.

"I forgot to set my alarm," I mumble.

"Well duh," Hayes snickers.

Yesterday was the last day of school, and to celebrate, we all decided to go to Nash and Hayes' beach house in North Carolina. It took a lot of convincing with our parents, and getting permission from the Griers to let us use the house was a challenge, but it worked out in the end.

I had planned on packing this morning since I've been so busy and it was so last minute, and now I only have a half an hour to do so.

I quickly stand up and walk over to my closet and grab a suitcase. After throwing it on my bed, I quickly grab shirts and make a partial attempt at folding before putting them in.

I look up to see the guys all just staring at me. "Whatcha doing?" I ask, not really sure why they're still in here. They all just shrug, so I turn back to my closet. "Wait," I say, facing them again. "Where are Jack and Mahogany?"

"Oh, they're downstairs trying to pack all of our stuff into the cars. We decided to only take three cars," Sammy explains.

"Shouldn't you guys be helping?"

"Nah, I think we're having more fun staring at you," Johnson says as he plops down on my bed.

As of now, it's been about a month since Jack's accident. Despite some still bruised ribs and some scars, he has made an almost complete recovery. He didn't come back to school until this week, and he had quite a bit of work to turn in. But, everything is almost normal again, and that's all that matters.

Twenty minutes later, my suitcase is full, so I roll it down the stairs with the boys trailing behind. When I get downstairs, Jack is sitting in front of the television eating cereal, and Mahogany is in the chair next to him on her phone.

I can't help but laugh at Jack with the milk dribbling down his chin. He smiles when he sees me and continues eating.

"Jack, would you be a dear and take this out to the car while I go get dressed?" I ask him in the sweetest voice possible while motioning to the suitcase.

He looks up with a mouth full of cereal. "But I'm eating," he says.

"Ok, well I'm gonna get dressed anyway, so it would be nice if one of you would put this in the car," I tell them as I turn to go up the steps. But I know that the suitcase will still be sitting there when I get back downstairs.

When I get to my room, I quickly throw on a pair of leggings and a plain grey shirt. I've already brushed my teeth and hair, so I just go back downstairs with a pair of flip flops in my hand.

When I get back to the living room, everyone has made themselves at home.

"Okay, are we going or not?" I ask.

At this, they all stand and follow as I make my way to the door. The cars have been packed and we're all ready to go, so we figure out who's going with who and get in.

In my car, it's Jack, Johnson, Sammy and myself. After arguing with Jack for a good five minutes, I finally convince him to let me drive.

We waste no time after that and get going as soon as possible. It's close to a twenty hour drive from Omaha to the beach in North Carolina, so we're stopping at a hotel for the night. But even with that, I want to cover as much distance as possible today.

None of us in the car say much for the first ten minutes, so I finally break the silence.

"So, what exactly happened last night?" I ask the guys. The majority of what happened is a blur to me. All I know is that after school ended yesterday, Mahogany and I went shopping for a few hours before we met up with the rest of the guys and hung out. Sometime last night, we went to a party at our friend Nate's house. I had never even talked to Nate until a few weeks ago, but he's been friends with the guys for a while.

"Oh," Jack starts with a small chuckle. "A lot happened."

"Like what?"

"Well firs of all," Johnson begins. "You got a bit too tipsy."

"What are you talking about?" I argue. "I had like half a drink. That's it."

I can pretty much remember taking a couple of sips of something that Mahogany had given me, but I couldn't stand the feel of it, so I had to put it down.

"Well, apparently that was enough to set you off," Jack says. "After that, you were the life of the party."

"Yeah, and I'm pretty sure we slipped something in your soda after that," Johnson adds

I decide to let the conversation go at that. I'm not really in the mood to argue over what did or didn't happen last night, especially since I have a pounding headache. I'm just lucky that I don't have some horrible hangover. I've never been one to drink at parties, and I don't plan on getting hungover any time soon. I know that the guys drink a bit when we're at a party or something, but not too much.

The first few hours of the ride go by pretty quick, and soon enough, we're stopping at Taco Bell for lunch.

After we order, we pull the tables together and sit down.

"So what do we have planned for the trip Miss Williamson?" Cam asks in a formal tone.

"Dude, I don't know," I say. "I didn't really have much time to plan anything. I was just gonna wing it."

"Well that's new," Shawn chimes in. "You actually aren't freaking out about keeping a schedule."

"Oh, just wait. I'll be stressed by Monday morning."

"Actually, f you don't mind," Jack says. "I have an idea."

"What kind of idea?" I cautiously ask, scared to find out.

"Well since we're going to be out east, I was thinking we could go to Baltimore. You know, to see your old friends."

"Are you serious?" I ask, not sure how to react. Jack just shrugs.

"Why not?"

"I mean, you know that I didn't have many close friends there. and I didn't get to spend much time with them before the move, so it might be a little weird."

"Yeah, but you've been talking to them a lot lately. Don't you think they'd like to see you?"

"I guess so," I mumble, starting to understand. I know I make my life in Baltimore seem miserable, but I do miss it. I miss all of my old friends who I did actually care about, and there are so many old memories there that I can't just leave behind.

"Then it's official," Johnson says. "We're going to Baltimore."