Little miss lucky

Chapter 10

"I actually can't believe I'm about to do this," I sighed. "But I suppose I'm going to have to." Jasmine stopped walking and turned to face me. "Melanie, chill! I know how much you love being organised, so I made out a plan for you." She held out a sheet of paper, covered in multicoloured swirls and smiley faces. "Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you - I got a bit bored while I was doing it so I doodled a little bit," admitted Jasmine. I skimmed through the list.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jasmine's day plan. ###
💚
Get up
Eat breakfast. 😄
💙 head to the beach with Melanie
Invite Charlie to the beach via text
Tell Charlie EVERYTHING!!! 😀

Melanie and Noah forever! 💘

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  "Ok then," I sighed. "I guess we're at stage four, invite Charlie via text. And then tell him." Jasmine nodded.
    When I got down to the beach with Jasmine, I looked down at my clothes. "Oh Jasmine, I shouldn't have worn this dress. What if he gets the wrong idea? What if he thinks I'm flirting with him? And what if Noah shows up?" "Come on, relax!" Jasmine reassured me. "You're talking rubbish now, of course he won't think you're flirting just cause you're wearing a nice dress. Actually though, that dress is nice, can I borrow it sometime?" We both started laughing so we could hardly stop.
  Until suddenly I heard someone calling my name, felt someone throw their arms around me. I turned around to face Charlie.

___________________________

   I didn't even recognise him for a moment. He still had the same blonde hair, if a little bit shorter, and he definitely still had those deep blue eyes. But he was a lot taller. He sounded like a completely different person. His shoulders were broader and he had more freckles than I remembered.
    "Oh  Melanie, it's been so long since I saw you last," he started. "One night we just stopped calling each other, but I never forgot you, so I kept my promise so here I am!" He was babbling on and on, so quickly I could barely make out what he was saying to me.
    I finally replied, "Yeah, it feels like a very long time since I moved." Charlie was staring at me in disbelief. "What happened to your voice?" he asked. Jasmine laughed. "Oh yeah, it's just our accents. So much has changed since we moved here." She nudged me and cleared her throat. "SO, SO much!"
I laughed shakily. Just then I spotted someone running down the beach towards us, surfboard under his arm.       

    Noah ran up and hugged me. "Hey Melanie!" Then he turned to face Charlie. "Hey man, nice to meet you! Care to introduce us, Melanie?" I felt my face blushing red as a beet root. And if I was beet root, Charlie was positively tomato. "Yes Melanie, would you do me the honour of introducing me to your friend?" he half-shouted at me. I stood there awkwardly, fiddling with my hair. "Well, you see," I started. But I never got the chance to finish my sentence. Jasmine sensed how I was feeling so she stepped in. If she hadn't, I would never have got the words out. "Charlie," she breathed. "This is Noah, Melanie's fiancé."

___________________________

There was no going back now. I nodded. "Yes, that's right. Noah is my fiancé. We're getting married." First of all, Charlie looked sad. Then he looked angry. Really angry. "How long has this been going on for?" he roared. I wasn't sure whether to lie or just tell the truth. I told the truth. Stupidly. "Um, about three years?" I replied nervously. Charlie was fuming. "You've been cheating on me for three years?" he shouted. "Have you any idea how awful it's been for me? I was the only boy at prom with no date. The only boy who didn't ever ask out any other girl. Because I was waiting for you, because I wanted to keep our promise. I saved every penny I got for the last four years, just to come here and waste all of it, every last penny, on flights and two weeks accommodation. And you go and tell me you're engaged to someone else?" Noah looked really uncomfortable the whole time Charlie was ranting away. "Listen, mate, I didn't know, honest, I didn't. If I did I would never have asked her out in the first place. I'll pay for any money you spent on this trip." He was trying to be kind and helpful - but it backfired. Charlie's face got redder and redder. He didn't say anything. He just clenched his fist and aimed it right at Noah.