Change | E.D

Two

Charlotte

"Hey Annie." I greet as I walk into the warm and comfortable atmosphere of the local book store/coffee shop. The Corner Coffee Shop cafe & bookstore has always been my favorite place in the world, back when I didn't work here and even now that I do. It's a place where you can get a coffee, then sit down and read a book. My kind my of place.

I was in ninth grade when I got hired.
That same day Ethan threw a surprise birthday party for me at his house. But it's not really time to think about him.

I watch Annie wave to me as she hunches over a cardboard box that is filled with new deliveries in the back of the store.
Since not one customer is in the store, which is pretty usual for this place, she calls out to me. "Come help me!"

I give her a smile and hurry over to help her. Annie is so down-to-earth and so fiercely loyal, two things that I admire so much in people. She's practically my best friend. 

Thirty minutes later, I'm sitting with my back propped against one of the chairs, reading yet another back book cover about a girl falling in love with her best friend and the two of them living happily ever after. I make a face at the book, wondering why on earth people believe that best friends can always fall in love, and then shove it onto the shelf in its rightful place.  

I'm so sick of people thinking that best friends are automatically soul mates. They're not. I learned that in the hardest way possible.  

"Don't hurt the book." Annie says dryly from behind me, making me jump in my spot.

I hadn't even heard her sneak up on me. "God, Annie! I had no idea you were right there."

She laughs, "Obviously. But why are you so angry at that book? What'd it do to you?"

The irritation from reading about ten book covers with the same plot line finally making its way from my brain to my mouth, I start to rant. "It's the same story over and over again and it's not even a good one! Like come on, seriously, not all best friends fall in love. Some best friends can take that as their main weapon and then stab them in the back with it! Friendships like that, friendships that consume your whole life, are doomed for failure and..."  

With a calming hand on my shoulder, Annie says in a calming tone, "I know that Ethan hurt you, Char, but you've got to forgive and forget. This hate that you have for him, for the whole situation, is seriously unhealthy."  

"I know," I say in a meek voice, bowing my head a little bit and looking at the floor that I'm sitting on.

I think back to all of the hours of sleep I've missed thinking about him, wondering what on earth that I did that was so wrong that he'd just ditch me like that. I wondered if he ever loved me as much, as a friend, as I had loved him. I know that this whole Lucas thing is unhealthy, I get it, but my stupid heart just can't stop thinking about him. He had completely crushed me. I can't really get over that so quickly.  

But it has been two years...  

She leans her head against mine, She asks me, "Have you ever thought about talking to him, asking him why he just..."  

I immediately pull my head away from hers and start shaking it furiously. "I can't talk to him. He asked me how I was doing today and I almost lost it." 

She raises an eyebrow at me, "He asked you how you were?"  

I nod, "Mr. Holland, the man that is seriously the bane of my existence, kicked me out of class for sleeping and apparently I'm such a bad student that I needed someone to escort me to the office. That someone, of course, had to be the golden boy, Ethan Dolan."