Montana Mansion

Don't Say Her Name

Willa's POV:

The group laughed at Charlene's cliche quote of Frozen, but I didn't. I saw the anguish in her eyes. The heartbreak. The tear that slipped down her left cheek as she flung her head back. She jumped, landing with a beautiful flourish. I tried, apparently successfully, to hide my grimace from Philby when he skated over. Well, not skated, exactly. It was more like he was on a slip-n-slide.

"Need some help?" I asked, smiling.

"No, I enjoy looking like a fool, thank you," he snapped playfully.

"Bite my head off, why don't you?"

"How are you so good at this?" he asked, his arms out on each side for balance. I took him by the elbows to steady him.

"This is her favorite thing to do. Four weeks. Every summer. 6 AM to 9 PM. We skate."

"Why don't you just say no?" Philby smiled, humor lacing his tone.

A vision of Charlene at her father's deathbed as he told her his last wish flicked through my mind. I fought back the tears that pricked my eyes when I remembered how she clutched me, telling me what he had said. I had known from that moment on that I would give her whatever she asked for. Ever.

I shrugged and laughed it off. "Too good of a friend, I guess."

"You are too good to her, Willa. She doesn't deserve you."

Fury burned inside my core. "You're right. She deserves so much more." I skated away from him, but turned around three strides in. "For the record, I hope you fall on your face, Philby."

Charlene skated over to me, concern knotting her brow. "What's wrong, Wills?"

"Oh, um," I searched my mind, trying to come up with an excuse. "He said the Lord of the Rings was better than Harry Potter!"

Charlene gaped. "To you? Was he asking for a fight?"

I made a silly face and rested my hand on my hip. "Well, I don't know, but he got one."

Charlene laughed and I relaxed, smiling. "That's my girl."

"Go skate!" I shook my finger at her playfully. "You've got a competition coming up."

Charlene rolled her eyes. "Yes, mother."

CRASH!

I whipped my head to the right to see Maybeck sliding across the ice.

"Dang that hurt," he muttered. Only he didn't say 'dang'.

"Language!" Charlene chided as the rest of us howled with laughter.

"So you can't skate?" Amanda taunted as she gracefully lapped him. 

"Of course I can skate. There was a bump in the ice."

"Mhm." Amanda nodded, sarcasm dripping from her words. "Want help up?"

Maybeck glared at her outstretched hand and scrambled up himself. "Nope. I got this."

"Yeah right," Charlene laughed, looking over at me. We watched Amanda and Maybeck skate together, arm in arm as Amanda held him up. Finn scowled at them, but Charlene didn't seem to notice. She beamed and skated over to him. 

"Oh, no," I whispered under my breath. I followed her, trying to catch up. 

"Want to skate with me?" I heard her ask hopefully.

"Ah, no thanks, Charlie." Finn used her nickname in an attempt to soften the blow. Charlene didn't look happy, but she wasn't devastated yet, so I sat back and watched the scene unfold. Until he kept talking, that is. "I'm just waiting for Amanda."

Hurt took over Charlene's features, the corners of her eyes drooped. "Oh, ok, well, see you." Charlene smiled fakely before skating back over to me.

"I thought he was flirting with me earlier," she whispered to me.

I tucked my arm around her waist. "I know, sweetie. It's alright. You can do better."

"I think I'm going to head back to my room, ok?" she replied softly. "There's a microwave pizza in the fridge if you guys want something."

"Okay, honey." I pursed my lips, boiling with anger at Finn for his last sentence. "Sleep tight, ok? Come get me if you need anything."

Charlene nodded, but it was clear her mind was elsewhere. Probably with her father, from the devastated look in her eyes.

"It's be okay," I tried to comfort her. "Do you want me to come with you?"

"No. I want you to have a good time. I'm alright." Charlene made a brave attempt to smile at me before skating gracefully out of the rink. I watched as she jammed her guards onto her skates before she left the arena entirely.

Closing my eyes, I expelled a breath of hot air before I skated over to Finn.

"Hey, Willa," he grinned.

"How could you be so cruel?" I whispered hotly, making sure no one else could hear me.

"What?"

"To Charlene. Refusing her is fine. But leave Amanda out of it. She's hurting enough already."

"What do you mean?"

I shook my head. "Nevermind. But never mention Amanda when you are talking to Char. Ever again."

Finn raised his hands so that his palms faced out toward me. "I won't. I swear."

I smiled gratefully. "Thanks. Now I'm going to head up and check on her, k?"

"She's hurting that bad? Because of me?"

"Don't get a big head," I scolded. "She's got a lot of stuff on her plate right now."

"Hey," Finn smiled wryly. "I've got an idea."

"What?"

"Let's play Truth or Dare tonight. It's still her favorite, right?"

"Finn, we haven't played that since we were 13."

"Who cares? Maybe it will make her feel better."

I leaned over and hugged him tightly. "Thanks, Finn. I'll go up and tell her."

"Meet you in the family room in an hour?"

"Perfect."