The Almost Infinity

Chapter 3

"Woah, Charlie, what happened to you?!" My mom said as I rushed into the kitchen where she was sitting with a huge smile on my face. "I met a boy," I blushed and sat down at the kitchen table. My moms eyes got wide and she started laughing. "What?" The smile disappeared from my lips and I looked down at my nails. "No sweetie I'm not laughing at you. It's just I haven't seen you so flustered over a boy in my life!" She took my hand and continued, "I promise you Charlie I was not making fun of you. What's this boys name?" My mom smiled. "It begins with a J. Jason?" "No, it definitely wasn't Jason- uhm...JUSTIN!" I shouted making my mom jump a little. "I want to know everything you know about him. His height, where you met him, where he's from, eye color, hair color, skin tone, EVERYTHING!!" She clasped her hands together and leered. "Okay, well he's like 6'4" and he has dark brown hair and aqua eyes. He looks like he's tan from being outside a lot, and I met him at the boating dock. I didn't really talk to him about where he came from because he had to go, but I'm meeting him there tomorrow," I shrugged. Picking up her coffee cup and taking a sip she observed me. "So he's single?" "Like I said, I didn't get to ask him too much."

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After the long speech with my mom I decided to go shower since I hadn't earlier. "Charls hey do you wanna go out tonight? I don't feel like cooking?" I stepped out of the shower and grabbed my towel. Wrapping it around me, I opened the door to my mom. "Yeah, just let me get ready," I replied. Closing my bedroom door, I put on a floral thong and high waisted multi-colored shorts. Finding a strapless nude bra I slipped on a teal tank over it. Looking in the mirror I saw how long my dark beach wavy hair had gotten. It stopped right before my butt. I didn't like the way my hair looked so I threw it into a big bun and put on my teal toms. "Are you ready yet Charlie?!" My mom yelled down the hall. I walked out and met her in the living room. My mom was wearing a pair of jean shorts, a coral v-neck, and black flip flops. Locking the door we left. My mom and I lived in a small part of The Outer Banks, called Duck. We lived on this street, well it's actually a trail, called Chicahauk. Our home was simple. A two story white house with a porch that wrapped around the whole outside. There was 4 bedrooms, so my mom and I each had enough room. When my parents had gotten married they didn't want anything huge and right on the beach, so when they found our house they fell in love. It was near the beach, but not smack on it and it was in a nice community. "Charlie!" "Wh-what?" I stuttered snapping back. "Get in the car! Stop pissing around, I'm hungry." In response to my moms complaint, I opened the door of our Honda Civic and got in. "Where do you want to eat?" My mom questioned combing her fingers through her hair in personal thought. I shrugged back. "Are you in the mood for pizza? Sea Food? What are you hungry for?" She paused in thought and scrunched her nose (something I picked up from her and did quite often when I contemplated things too). "Pizza, I'm feeling something greasy and fattening" she chuckled.

My mom and I were always close. We were all each other had since I was 3 months old. Moms parents lived in Albany, New York and came down a whopping 2 times a year. Meanwhile, my fathers parents didn't like my mother even when my dad and her were together. So, they had no problem when my father cheated and walked out. They send me a "merry Christmas and happy New Year card" and very rarely do I get a Birthday card.

"So Charls are you excited for your senior year? You know we've got to start searching for colleges," my mom said. Unamused, I changed the subject. "So I think Kat is coming over tonight," "Charlie Marie Richards, do not change the subject. This is serious, you need to go to college and get your head on tight. Don't repeat my mistakes, I've already lived them once" mom spat at me. I looked out the window and calmly replied "look, Im sorry okay, but I'd like to cross that bridge once I'm almost there. Maybe another time."

At the Pizza Hut, we ordered our meals and I checked my phone for any messages. None. "Hi Ms. Richards, hey Charlie," I looked up to find West Sanders face with a friendly grin. I hadn't seen him in a year, because he graduated the summer before we broke up. "Oh my god, West! Hi sweetie, how are you?!" My mom jumped up and hugged him. I was so shocked. He looked the same. He had the same short black hair with piercing brown eyes. He was 6'1" and had a big nose. "H-hey West," I shuddered looking up. He began telling us about how he now lives in Florida with his grandparents and how FSU was making such a difference for him. He came up here this summer to get away from college and visit his parents. I felt so much guilt for not apologizing to him earlier. He sat down beside my mom and asked "How have you been Charlie? I haven't talked to you in over a year," the guilt hit me there and I choked up. "I've been okay, how about you? I know it's been a while and I just wanted to tell you how horrible I feel now for what I did to you."