Him and I {Chuck Clayton}

Chapter 4

We leave my apartment and we head outside towards his car. I was shocked when I saw a Audi A6  that was the perfect color of luck as that just happens to be my favorite card but one I won't be getting once I have the money. Chuck runs and opens the passenger door for me and he gives me a kiss on cheek.

"What was that for?" I ask ignoring the jitters in my chest and stomach.
"You look beautiful today. I couldn't resist myself," Chuck smirks as he closed my car door and walks over to the driver's side.

We leave and head down the road listening to music on his phone. Nirvana's "Drain You" comes on and I can't help but hum to Kurt Cobain.
"Oh shit, you're a Nirvana fan?" Chuck looks shocked.
"Dude I was born in 1990. I live, breathe and shit that era." I joke and start singing along.

ONE BABY TO ANOTHER SAID I'M LUCKY TO MET YOU... I DONT CARE WHAT YOU THINKIN ABOUT UNLESS IT IS ABOUT ME... IT IS NOW MY DUTY TO COMPLETELY DRAIN YOU...

Chuck joins in with me and we sing the song at the top of our lungs until it finishes. The songs after then switches to rap, r&b, pop, whatever comes on in the shuffle in his phone. I look over at Chuck who's focused on the road and I notice that underneath his chiseled jaw on his neck is a bruise. My mind starts to calculate and I realize it's a fucking hickey on his neck.

"So who's the lucky girl?" I ask putting on my neck referencing the hickey.
"Oh it's nobody," Chuck replies nonchalantly.
"Oh well that nobody left you a nasty bruise," I giggle expecting a smile from him.

He didn't return my smile and just stayed silent, brooding, looking at the road. My mood instantly buzzes down and for several minutes it was an awkward silence and I fiddled with my thumbs.

"Hey, listen I'm sorry. I was trying to let someone go last night and it got out of hand," Chuck explains to me.
"I see," I observe staring at his neck.
"No really Serena—-"
"Honestly its all good," I assure him. "We are not exclusive so you can do what you want."
"Okay. We're here," Chuck announces.

We pull up to Pop's, my job and I have to admit, I'm confused.

"What are we doing here?" I inquire getting out the car.
"Lunch. Why did you wanna go somewhere else?"
"No we are cool here," I reply walking to the door.

I see Sasha in the front looking at me and soon as I walk in I see the biggest grin on her face.

"Uh uh shut up," I warn her with a slight smile on my face.
"What happened to 'Sasha I got shit to do' and blah blah?" Sasha smirks at me and hands me a tray.
"Fuck you," I laugh and see Chuck beside me.
"Sasha this is Chuck, Chuck Sasha," I introduce the two and I place my order of a burger and fries.

I reach out to pay and Chuck beats me to it and hands her his black card instead. Sasha raises his eyebrows looking at the card and I go sit down at a booth and wait for Chuck to finish his order. I pull out my phone and see that I have 2 missed calls from my mom.

"So tell me about yourself" Chuck asks me sitting down.
"There's not really much to say," I shrug.
"Okay so where are you from?" Chuck asks me.
"I'm from Phoenix."
"Oh yeah? I've been there before. It's so hot out there." Chuck exclaims.
"I heard that but I really wouldn't know. I was adopted when I was one and my parents brought me to Riverdale and I had been living there ever since." I respond hoping he would drop the topic.
"Adopted huh? That's interesting. Do you know anything about your birth parents?"
"No," I respond back. "My birth mom was on drugs and my bio dad wasn't ready to be my father so I was dropped off at a fire station. At least that's what I've been told anyway."
"Fuck, that's tough. I'm sorry you had to go through that." Chuck grabs my hand.
"It's all good. I gained two people who treated me like their own and I'm really blessed."

Sasha walks over with our food and I mouth thank you to her as I wanted the conversation to stop about my bio parents. I hate them and nothing will change that.  I begin to dig into my food and Chuck watches in amazement.

"What?" I ask grabbing a napkin.
"I love a girl who can eat," Chuck says looking at me intensely.
"I see, look at your neck," I joke back and throw a fry at him.

His jaw tenses up but he gives me a smile and then take the fry I threw at him and dips it into his strawberry milkshake. He then takes the fry and puts it in my mouth and he has a look of amazement.

"You perv," I banter rolling my eyes.
"You have no idea," Chuck says slowly.

I roll my eyes and head to the bathroom to wash my hands. I took a long look in the mirror and take a deep breath. It's okay to enjoy yourself today. You work hard and you deserve it but starting tomorrow, it's crunch time.

I take another deep breath to brush off my nerves and step out of the bathroom. Chuck is still at the booth on the phone with a irritated look on his face. He sees me and abruptly gets off the phone.

"Everything alright?" I ask grabbing my purse.
"Yeah, let's go. I wanna show you something," Chuck says though his tone tells me something is bothering him.

I wave goodbye to Sasha and we get in the car. Aside from the music in the car it was totally silent between me and him. If this is how it's going to be every 30 minutes then I'll have to pass.

"What's on your mind?" Chuck asks me breaking me away from my thoughts.
"Nothing, I'm good. Just enjoying the music," I say looking down at my fingers.
"Are you sure? You looked puzzled."
"No I'm okay, seriously. I'm curious as to where you are taking me though," I answer hoping to steer the conversation into another direction.
"You'll see." Chuck's sexy grin came back.

As we make small talk I notice that we are going further away from downtown Riverdale. We pull up to a a large raven colored house that looks to be in the middle of the the woods. There's a lake with clear blue water on the left side of the house and on the opposite side of the house there's a perfectly manicured garden filled with all kinds of flowers and what looks to be a lemon tree.

"Do you live here?" I ask amazed at the view.
"No but this is my family's home," Chuck explains.  "My dad coaches for Riverdale high and he got a nice bonus from the mayor for some business deal with the sports dept. So he used the money to buy a house. I come here to work on my art since it's by the lake and the woods. It's refreshing."
"I don't blame you," I say still in shock,

Before I realize it the car is no longer in motion and Chuck is out the car walking to my door to let me out. He takes my hand and leads me to the lake and we just stand there reflecting the beauty of what we are seeing. I can see fishes of all variety and color swimming along with stream and the lake is surround by big beautiful green trees with some having pine cones in then. I look at Chuck and he already staring at me. He leans in and gives me a kiss and I return the kiss back. His lips are soft and they taste like the strawberry milkshake he had earlier. I rest my arms on top of his shoulders and keep taking in every kiss that hers giving me.

After what seems like forever but not enough time he breaks our kisses and gives me a small kiss on my forehead.
"Thank you for showing me this," I barely whisper still trying to catch my breath.
"Oh this wasn't it. It's beautiful though. This scenery. It takes my breath away every time," Chuck reminisces.
"Come," he grabs my hand and leads me towards the house. "This is what I wanted to show you."