Coffehouse Sweetheart: Merlie Fanfiction

Chapter 11

Until another particular skater came along.

Charlie has had enough of his friends constant conversations of Meryl, girls, Meredith, girls, Meryl, food, and on and on it went. He finally sighed as Derek brought up Meredith again for the 50th time. "Let's go shop around, okay?" He stood up with a loud clatter of his chair and rushed out the door.

The guys up instantly sensed how frustrated he was and just silently followed him. Honestly, they all wished that Meryl could just appear so they could have the funny, joking Charlie back. Without her presence, he was always grumpy and always pining after her, but when questioned, just said they were best friends. But it was obvious that Charlie was head over heels in love.

Charlie strolled down the street, not bothering to wait for his group. She's topped at a little souvenir stand, when a post card attracted his attention.

To Brianna's surprise, she came out to see a guy holding the same postcard that Meredith had bought. She frowned. She thought they only had one copy of the postcard. Meredith probably forgot it, she thought to herself, I should probably take it for when she comes back for it. She quickly approached the man. "Um, him excuse me, but that postcard is already bought. I'm really sorry, sir." Brianna awkwardly smiled at the man and gestured to the card.

"Oh no, it's okay. It's a very beautiful picture, to where is it from?" Spcharlie returned a friendly smile to show that he didn't mind at all.

"It's a small frozen pond a few miles east from here." She started to explain, and then remembered her conversation with Meredith. "And yes, it's still frozen, and yes, you could still skate on it." She finished with a laugh.

Charlie was genuinely surprised that she knew what he was going to say next. "How did you. . .?" He grinned in amazement.

"Oh, well, the last girl to look at this asked the same thing you did, and she's the one that bought the card too." Brianna explained. "It's funny, she seemed so excited when I told her you could still skate on it. A figures later on vacation, if I could remember correctly."

Charlie gaped at her in surprise.

"What was her name?" He tried to ask casually, hiding his expression of shock, if it was who he thought it was.

"Meredith-"

Charlie's breath caught in his throat.

"Her and her friends were here." Brianna turned away from Charlie and went back to organizing a pile of things, realizing that he was not interested in buying anything.

"Um, did she, like, happen to say anything else, or. . ." Charlie again tried not to sound like a stalker.

"Well, her and another brunette were planning to visit the pond on Wednesday, is what I heard." A thought suddenly struck her and she fixed narrowed eyes on him. "Wait, are you like her stalker or something, because-"

"No no, I know her!" He laughed, interrupting her. "Yeah, I do sound like a stalker, huh? Anyways, you said that they were planning to visit on Wednesday?"

Brianna giggled and twisted her hair to the side, just like Meryl, Charlie couldn't help thinking. "Yeah, something like that. And her friend, Kassie, I think they called her, was really skeptical about the people and skates, but then Meredith was like, 'I have my skates in my suitcase!' Or something like that. I was like, whoa, I admire that girl for her dedication." Brianna said, still amazed that someone would bring a skate on vacation.

"Would you be surprised if I told you I brought my skates too?" Charlie chuckled. That was such a Meryl and Charlie thing to do, he thought proudly.

"Yes, I would. How many fricken people bring skates on vacation, oh my god!" She exclaimed.

Charlie laughed. "So you said they were planning to visit this pond on Wednesday? Do you know what time they're going?"

If Brianna thought this was creepy or awkward, she didn't show it. "Yes, that's what they said. And no, I don't know what time." She paused for a moment and then handed the postcard back to Charlie. "And I have a feeling you'll see her there, so if you don't mind could you give this to her?"

Charlie accepted the postcard, tucking it safely into to his pocket. "Sure. Thanks so much!" With one last friendly wave, he strolled away from her stand just as his friends caught up to him. Now that he knew when he might see Meryl again, new as a much happier fellow.

"Hey man." Derek cautiously approached Charlie, expecting him to explode at them.

Charlie beamed at him. "Hey guys!" He said cheerily, a wide grin on his face.

The guys slowed down and exchanged shocked and amused glances at each other. "Dude, that guy is seriously pmsing. I've never seen a man so bipolar." Derek laughed.

"I heard that."

They ignored him. "That's because Meryl is in his life." Josh reasoned.

"I heard that too." Charlie smiled at the truth to his friends words.

"So, what's the plan?" Derek asked, knowing there had to be some reason behind Charlie's change of mood.

"Well, on Wednesday, were going to a frozen pond to meet Meredith." Charlie announced proudly, purposely wording it that way to shock the guys.

They all groaned. "Of course, now it's Meredith this, Meredith that, it's like Meryl doesn't exist anymore." Josh said, exasperated.

Charlie turned on him, thinking, you don't even know half of it. Meredith IS Meryl, are you that blind? "Again, Meryl will always have aspecial place in my heart. All I'm gonna say." He marched off again, strolling down the street.

Meanwhile, Meryl was having a blast shopping around with Brooklyn, Jessica, and Kassandra. Soon they were forced to return to the car by the many bags that hung from their shoulders and hands.

Halfway back to their hotel, Meryl squealed, remembering about the pond. "Oh my god, I can't wait until Wednesday!"