Cheshire Girl

Ch. 11

Charlie lived only two streets over from the library, and not too far from my own house.  She went on and on about Mom's books, unable to narrow it down to three favorites.

                "You know she just rewrote Twilight five different times, right?"

                Charlie blanched.  "I'm going to pretend you never said that.  There's my house, at the end."  It—like every other structure in Cheshire—looked like it'd been in existence for decades.  It had that old, nostalgic and all-American feel with a bit of a farmhouse twist.  There were so many wind chimes dangling from the front porch, adding color to the wet-tree-bark tone of the house.  It had a small circle of oak trees around it, and with the humidity, they seemed to drip and lean over the house like a shield.

                I noticed her knee bounced a lot.  "What, are you nervous?"

                "Is it gonna be weird when I say I don't invite people over to my house?  My little brother's more socialized than I am.  It's because he's ten.  No one cares about what you do or who you are when you're ten."  She sighed, growing serious.  "It sucks living here sometimes.  I don't know how to fit in where I can still be myself, you know?"

                I parked in front of her house and turned the car off.  "Well, you can either do everything you can to fit in, or decide not to care."

                She looked concerned about how impressed she was.  "Did you think of that just now?"

                "It's from Emma Stone."

                "Who's that?"

                "Ah," I said, nodding.  "You missed out on a few things after you left the world and moved here.  I'll catch you up to speed.  So… are we going in?"

                "I guess," she said, stepping out.  "Just so you know, my parents aren't here.  They went out for the day, so it's just me, my brother, and my grandma.  She likes it when you call her Celia.  And you don't have to pay much attention to Ian.  He's—"

                "Charlie—stop and breathe for second, okay?  I think I can handle meeting one half of your family."

                She laughed as we got out of the car.  "Sorry.  I'm really not socialized."  I followed her up the steps.  "Again, I've never brought anyone to my house before.  Ian has, but he prefers leaving."  Charlie unlocked the door and walked in, yelling, "I'm home, and I brought someone!"  She turned back to me.  "Celia insists that we let her know who's in the house.  She says it gives her time to get a read on them."

                I nodded, smiling at the quirkiness.  A quick glance of the room and I was already aware of my surroundings.  It's difficult to catalog everything in the room, so I'll just say there was a little bit of everything.  The furniture didn't match, but in a good way, like everything in the living room spoke about the family.

                In the far corner was an old car collection, so I assumed that was Dad's or Brother's hobby and interest.  There were pictures of flowers everywhere, and a few fake garlands around the windows and doors.  Having noticed the garden outside in front of the porch, Mom was the green thumb.   The wind chimes had looked old, and there were a few antique baubles in the bookshelf and on the mantel of the fireplace, so I assumed those were Grandma's.  Nothing of Charlie, but I was assuming she was going to show me her room.