“Charlotte Maria Campbell, tell me what is wrong this instant or I will give you thousands of paper cuts and pour vinegar and salt into them all.” threatened Kadyn Keaggy as she sat down next to me on my unmade bed. I lifted my head from my knees, where it had been resting up until a few moments ago, and cringed.
“Kay…” I said, trailing off and letting a single tear escape the corner of my eye. Her face softened, and she wrapped me in a bone-crushing hug.
“Oh, Charlie. It’s over. He’s gone. You don’t have to worry about it anymore. You know me and Ian will always be here for you.” I nodded, my tears staining her light grey tank top almost black.
“It’s just… sometimes, when I’m alone, I keep thinking I hear his voice, telling me he’s sorry he hit me, sorry he hurt me, that he’ll never do it again, and then having it happen again the next night, exactly the way it had last night, and the night before…” I hiccupped, my body shaking with silent sobs. “And Mom, trying to get in the middle, to help me, and then it happened to her too…” Kadyn pushed my shoulders gently away and touched my nose at the slight crook, where it had hit the wall all those years ago.
“Charlie, I can’t say I know what you’re going through. The thing I can do is repeat what I’ve told you many times. I will always be here, and so will Ian, he loves you like a sister, you know that.” I nodded, attempting to compose myself behind the wall I had become so adept at putting up whenever my emotions spiraled out of control. Kadyn hugged me once more before standing up and exiting the room, shutting the door softly behind her.
“Ohhh CHARLIE!” came the singsong voice of whom I knew immediately to Kadyn’s older brother, Ian. I rolled over to glance at the clock on my nightstand, which read 2 p.m. I rolled to the opposite side, my skinny frame getting tangled in the dark green sheets of my bed as I attempted to sit up. I glared at him with a fake look of dislike in my aquamarine eyes.
“What?” I asked, my naturally quiet and raspy voice coming out even quieter and raspier because of the hour. He grinned at me, his smile so carefree it made me envious; envious that I couldn’t be that way, so carefree and happy. It wasn’t for lack of trying, though.
“Kay and I made you chocolate chip pancakes, with extra whipped cream.” I sat up a further and looked at him expectantly. “Are you going to give them to me?” “Ah ah ah. It’s not that easy. You have to get off of your skinny little butt and come down to the kitchen if you want them.” I groaned. My hunger, which was battling with my urge to sleep in, won, and I pointed out the door. “I’ll be there when I make myself presentable.” He was about to argue that I should just come down, when I cut him off by saying “Also known as let-Charlie-put-on-her-pants-unless-you have-the-urge-to-see-her-in-her-underwear.” He hightailed it out of my room at that, slamming the door behind him. I laughed lightly, crawling out of bed and stretching out the crick in my left shoulder, the one that had been there since- no. I didn’t want to think about that right now. I pulled on a pair of baggy sweatpants and a plain grey t-shirt, quickly gathering my long, knotted brown hair into a high ponytail as I made my way down the stairs.
“Hey Kay.” I called into the living room, knowing she would be in there playing some variation of a Mario game. “Morning Charlie!” she called back. I grinned when I heard her curse, and knew she must have just lost. I walked into the kitchen and frowned. There was a box of pancake mix and a can of whipped cream sitting on the counter next to the stove.
“I’m going to murder him.” I promised myself as I set to work making the pancakes.
“CHARLIE!” I heard four voices shriek, and before I could look up I was engulfed in a bear hug. “Can’t… Breathe…” I choked out, and the people let go immediately.
“Hey.” I chuckled, and gave each of the guys a hug individually, going down the line: Nash, Jamie, and last but not least, Ryan.
“It’s been so long!” Nash said, and jumped onto the counter.
“I just saw you… what, two days ago?” I couldn’t help but smile when I was around them, their excitement was just infectious.
“But we missed our band mom.” pouted Ryan. I shook my head. “What would you people do without me…” I turned back to making pancakes and heard Ian laugh from the door. “They would probably die.” “I wouldn’t doubt it.” I was Hot Chelle Rae’s unofficial “band mom” as they called me, and I loved them all like brothers. I wasn’t really sure how exactly I had assumed this position, but I’m pretty sure all of their families were quite glad I had.
“So what brings you over here at this time?” I asked, keeping my back turned and putting the pancakes onto a plate.
“We have a preposition for you and Kadyn.” I turned around slowly, looking suspicious. “Kadyn!” I called. “THE GUYS ARE SCARING ME!” Jamie laughed and swung his arm around my shoulders. “Come on, Charles. It’s not that bad.” I gave him “the Look,” and he laughed again.
“Guys, stop scaring away your mom. We all know you guys would die without her.” Kadyn came marching into the kitchen, shooing Jamie away and taking his place.
“So, back to the preposition… We,” Ryan gestured to the rest of the band, “have made a unanimous decision that we want you guys to come on the Beautiful Freaks tour with us.” Kadyn and I looked at each other and grinned.
“On one condition.” Kadyn said. “We get top bunks.” The guys groaned and each one nodded slowly. “Then we would be honored.” Nash gave the girliest squeal I had ever heard and hugged us. “So, when do we leave?” I asked. Ryan looked at us guiltily and gulped. “Umm, tomorrow.” Kadyn and I looked at each other and started yelling and running up the stairs.
“I HATE YOU ALL!” Kadyn screamed down the stairs as we went into our separate rooms.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A.N: Hola people! So this is the first chapter of my Hot Chelle Rae fic, cause I feel like there aren't enough of them :) So Charlie has long, wavy brown hair and green blue eyes, and I quite thin because of eating disorders (which she's getting over). I'm in the process of finding a picture atm, so yeah. Hope you liked it!
