Aquiver (Sequel)

Embarrassing

Aquiver~14

•Charlotte Carpenter•

The three of us sat at the cafe not too far down the road from my old gym. I grew nervous every moment thinking how I should tell Nash. Just last week I was telling him how excited I was that Hayes was going out big for this upcoming weekend and that this would be my very last high school type of dance.

Nash loves when I talk to him about my excitement for things. He has been like another brother to me and he was really happy to hear that his brother had the honor to take me to Ball, he wanted to go overboard, but before Hayes had told him that he wanted to do everything himself. I was really happy that he wanted to do this on his own and it would have been his idea and own plans.

It only turned out that it never happened and in reality, Hayes didn't think a thought about it the past few months except for the part that he didn't want to go and thought I didn't care. I don't know what Nash would say about this. He can't get mad if I said Hayes and I wanted to break up.

"Everything will be alright," Jacob reassures me and I faintly smile. I already have one of my leo's underneath my clothing. It feels like I need to get the jitters out, but it feels welcoming that I'm wearing one again.

"Speaking of alright," Grayson says with his head looking past mine. "There they are." I turn slightly to first see Cameron coming in. Then Nash is at the door and I see someone else behind him? I looked towards Cam and he mouths an apology to me as I look back. My eyes widen and I bit my lip nervously. Why is he here?

"I'm sorry Char. This is not going as planned," Grayson apologizes to me before the three arrive at the circular table we sat at. Hayes has an uneasy look of where he should sit.

"Sit next to your girlfriend Hayes," Nash smiles. I look towards Hayes to see him slightly and he takes the seat to my right. Cam sits beside him and Nash takes the seat across across from me. I'm guessing Hayes was leaving it all to me to tell everyone. "Hi Char."

"Hey Nash," I say gently. Everyone knows here except for Nash. The waitress comes over to take their orders and she told them she would be back with their drinks in a moment. Nash then looks towards me with a small smile.

"So Hayes here is nervous that you won't like what he had planned for the weekend for you two." Immediately I can feel tension and my breathing feels like it is shallow. I look towards Hayes who has a worry expression in his eyes. I'm the only one who can tell. This is great.

"Ohh..." everyone is watching. This wasn't the kind of attention I wanted. "Umm... I've been meaning to tell you," I say slowly. Better honest than him finding out later? "Hayes and I broke up." I felt Hayes tensing up to my right and Jacob is looking anywhere, but here. I watch Nash for him to process that, but he only breaks into a smile and chuckles playfully.

"Are you two trying to pull a prank? You two love pranking everyone once in awhile." I drop my graze to the table.

"No prank," Hayes answers gently.

"This is a joke."

"It's not a joke Nash." I can now feel the whole happy atmosphere gone.

"When did this happen?" I look up to see a shocking and confused Nash.

"Two days ago," I answer softly. Nash looks towards me.

"I don't understand... what happened? Just last week you were so excited for Ball and you were so happy with Hayes and he planned stuff for the summer." I shrug not wanting to explain this. I close my eyes painfully. "Did you break up with her?" I can hear a hint of blame and suspicious towards Hayes. I open my eyes and everyone else here watches with their eyes averted to the table.

"W-we both decided this," I say telling the lie. Cameron and Jacob looks towards me.

"What happened the last few days for this to happen?"

"We just didn't think it was working out," Hayes says going along with me. He does make eye contact with me. I feel a lump forming in my throat. The way he said it makes me uneasy.

"Are you two... still friends?" Nash asks.

"Yeah... of course," he says quickly and I look down at my lap. He didn't want to be friends. Way to continue with lies.

"I'm sorry, but that is a fucking lie," Grayson says as I continue to look down. "You're really letting Char lie for you? You think I'm going to let you get away with this when she's absolutely hurting?"

"What? Char, you were there when we decided this." I look up at him hurt that he wants me to lie again. My eyes water slightly because this is hurting me a lot actually. I turn to Nash and can tell that he can see right through me. Nash already knows I'd always protect Hayes.

"Hayes is right." I say lightly.

"Charlotte," Jacob says frowning slightly. "You're joking."

"I knew she'd lie for him," Grayson says defeated. I look at my friends who looks annoyed and aggravated that I'd actually lie at this point.

"Why would you lie for him now?" Cam asks unbelieving. I turn to him who looks frustrated. I don't know if I'm on my period or what, but I'm feeling extra emotional.

"I always have," I say lightly. "Since we were four."

"You..." Cameron closes his eyes. "You're only going to hurt yourself more Char."

"Tell me a good reason why I shouldn't go over the extreme on Hayes," Nash says with his arms now folded. No one has touched their food. I look down because it will sound childish and everyone will judge me. "I'll let him off the hook if you tell me a good reason." I don't bother to look at Hayes.

"You don't know Hayes like I do. If anything, he doesn't deserve some idiotic punishment when he wanted to break up."

"Idiotic?" Jacob asks angered from beside me. "You told told me you've been self doubting everything for months and that Hayes makes you feel that way. That's idiotic? You're really going to let him hurt you like that and just get away with it because you're kind hearted towards him?"

"You promised me you wouldn't say that in front of anyone else," I say softly.

"This is aggravating us Char!" Grayson says. "You're too scared to trust your closest friends with anything going on with you. We've tried to be here for you and supportive, but you're really pushing our limits."

"It's hard for me."

"And Jacob here is keeping his mouth more shut than I am because if he really spoke his mind out, he'd hurt your feelings. Char, you're an idiot for all of this." I let the first tear fall. Nash looks at me with sympathy and Cam looks at me in a disappointed way. "Right Jacob?" I look at Jacob beside me and he has a look of guilt.

"I'm sorry Char. Grayson's is right and it's really hard for me." I only nod and ignore the few tears falling now.

"Guys," Nash sighs. "Stop. Forget about it." He looks towards me again. "I'm letting this go... but I'm really disappointed in you Char. I don't think it's really best if I see you right now." I only nod understanding that I've only embarrassed myself.

~

First official track meet of the spring season started today! I did so well even though I couldn't feel my toes most of the time. Even though I could barely type this, I bruised my thumb really bad from pole vaulting . Pole vault and high jump is life (': How was your day?

Thank you to everyone who has entered character(s)  for the Shawn/Draco fanfic! I will start looking and choosing in a few weeks once, I have more free time to plan 💞