The tears were coming. Charlie didn’t want them to, but it was inevitable. She clutched a cell phone in her tight grip as her arm trembled with admiration and desperation.
“Please,” she whispered as the first tear escaped her clenched tear ducts and rolled down her round cheek, leaving a watery and broken trail, “Please, just answer.”
But, he didn’t answer. He wouldn’t, he never would. Charlie was desperately in love with Donovan. But he would never see her in that light. The light of a lover. The light of a girl. The light of a fellow member of the human species. So, she just stared at that little cell phone who was blamed for her agony from two ‘o’ clock to four ‘o’ clock. To six ‘o’ clock. To ten ‘o’ clock.
Eight messages. Three calls. Two voicemails. No replies. Charlie felt as if her heart would literally implode under the pressure. She felt stupid for feeling this way about someone she had known for such little time. She felt lost for not knowing how to feel anything else. She felt scared that she would be lost forever. She felt angry that her emotions were so strong. She felt like she could just die.
But, she didn’t die. Life went on and the next day she had to, as well.
She didn’t want to think about him, but she had no other choice. Every minute he was her only option. She couldn’t concentrate on anything else. Eventually, she gave up trying. She knew that Josie knew Donovan well, so she tried asking for advice. Josie told her that she would talk to Donovan and try to clear up what had gone amiss. Charlie counted the seconds until the next day when Josie would relay his message.
“What did he say?” Charlie asked with an eager and pitiful desperation.
Josie looked a little uncomfortable as she opened her mouth. “He... said- he said... that... that he felt that you must have gotten the wrong idea and that he had never hoped for it to turn out that way. He said he just didn’t know you well enough and that he thought that you two were better off parting ways. He... said he didn’t really have an interest in knowing you.”
Charlie closed her eyes to brace for the ceiling to collapse down on her. Along with the rest of her world. How could she have read the signs so wrong? There was no way, this was impossible. It was impossible that she and Josie were talking about the same person. Charlie bit her lip to keep the tears away. When she opened them, there was a thick layer of trembling water threatening to trickle down over her lower lashes.
Josie still looked uncomfortable. Charlie furrowed her brows in confusion, which jilted the tears into motion and two drops rolled down her face, one on each cheek. She ignored them and questioned Josie’s awkward disposition.
“What’s the matter, Josie? Don’t worry, I’m sure I’ll get over him.” Charlie tried an unconvincing grimace of a smile as three more incriminating tears raced for her chin.
A tear also rolled down Josie’s cheek as she blurted, “Donovan wanted me to make sure to tell you that you were shooting way out of your league and that someone with your disadvantages in the weight and looks department should know better than to try and get someone like him! I’m sorry, Charlie! I just had to tell you! He’s an asshole!”
Charlie stood in shock, taken aback. Why would Josie tell her something like that? Why would anyone say anything like that or, in this case, repeat it? Charlie didn’t know what to do and took off for the nearest personal bathroom, so that she could finally let the tears come.
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Dreamy, isn't he?
See that guy over there? That's Donovan. Jerk. (But, he's so cute! XD)
Doesn't he seem familiar?
