It's Just a Camping Trip (Discontinued)

Chapter 9

She was really pretty. And all I could think about was Aaron's middle school dance as I looked at her.

"What are you doing here?" Aaron asked her with a smile on his face. I had never seen him smile like that.

"My new coworker Delia, I told you about her right?" Aaron nodded. "Ok yeah, well she transferred to this school in march so she still doesn't know too many people so she asked me to come with her to this thing," she explained. "But I had no idea you'd be here!" she said as she messed up his hair.

He lightly smacked her hand away and she giggled. "Yeah, well Charlie really wanted to go, so I-"

She held up a hand. "Charlie? You mean Charlie as in Charlotte?" Aaron nodded. "The Charlie? Where is she?"

The way she said that, I couldn't tell if 'the Charlie' was a bad thing or a good thing. And that kind of made me nervous.

Aaron turned towards me. "This is Charlie," he said as he gestured to me.

Her eyes widened as she looked over at me. 

I offered her a tight smile and an awkward wave. 

"Oh," Grace said as she stepped towards me. "Well, hi. I'm Grace," she said as she stuck out her hand.

I hesitantly took it. "Charlotte."

"You're very pretty," she commented before turning back to Aaron. "You never told me how pretty she was, Aaron."

"Um, thank you?" it sounded like a question and I fidgeted under her stare. 

"Hmm," she said as she looked at me again. 

What was 'hmm' supposed to mean?!

Aaron scratched his head awkwardly before bending over to pick up the guitar case. "Well, I'm going to go put this back, before I forget," Aaron told us before walking off.

I was mentally screaming at him to come back.

"So," Grace said, snapping my attention back to her. "How's the camping trip going?"

I shuffled my feet. "Fine."

She studied me. I had no idea what she was thinking, and for some reason it was killing me very slowly.

"So," I said this time. "How do you know Aaron?" I asked, playing dumb.

She smiled, as if she knew something I didn't. 

"He's my best friend. Has been since the 6th grade," she said as she shoved her hands into her pockets. "Gotta love him."

Another tight smile.

"That's nice."

"So are you two friends or what?" she asked me now.

"Well-"

"Hey," Aaron said as he walked back up to us. "What are you guys talking about?"

"I was telling Charlie here all of your dirty little secrets," she with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

He rolled his eyes but I saw a look of worry flash over his face.

Grace must have seen it too because she laughed and punched him in the shoulder. "I'm just kidding, you dip wad," she said before turning back to me. "Do you mind if I borrow him for a sec?"

I shrugged. "Do whatever you want."

I paused at how bitchy I sounded. "I mean sure," I corrected myself. I felt my cheeks heat up.