You belong to me

Chapter 13 - Parker

"You can buy clothes there, Charles," I sigh towards a very agitated Charlotte who is hidden behind a mountain of her clothes. We decided to leave Cornwall on the 26th so we are closer to Heathrow airport for our flight to New York tomorrow morning. It's weird being back in Charlotte's childhood home, pretty much nothing has changed since I was last here. Her house always feels so warm and cozy, nothing like my apartment in New York which is what they would class as modern and follows the similar shades of grey throughout the place, with not much character in the place. "Parker, I can't go, I have nothing fancy to wear," Charlotte finally snaps. She thinks because she's coming to New York that she needs to be fancy, I don't really get that it's just me. "I told you, we will go shopping tomorrow, you're going to be jet lagged anyways...it'll kill some time," I reassure her, cradling her in my arms.

"Parker," I hear Charlotte call, I know I have to get up but I'm just really not good at this whole morning thing. "You have ten minutes to get up and go in the shower, we are leaving soon," I can hear the stress in Charlotte's voice, I always forget she can never be late to anything. Once I've finally struggled out of bed and into the shower and thrown on black skinny ripped jeans, a black hoody and my cap I'm ready to leave the house, completely unplanned Charlotte is wearing the same outfit, "Snap," I smirk at her. On the way to the airport I feel like I should give Charlotte some prep. She thought a few girls in the shop were a lot of people, just wait until she's in the airport surrounded by lots of different types of people who all want to have a photo of me, or to talk to me. She seems to understand what I tell her but I can see the fear in her eyes, "Just  keep a hold of my hand if it gets wild okay, no one knows we're flying today," I give her a smile, trying to reassure her as best as I possibly can. We get out of the Uber and head towards check in, so far so good, the caps seem to be doing the trick as we get to the counter completely unnoticed. "Parker Kingston," the woman checks my passport and looks up at me with her eyebrow raised. "My daughter loves you," she smiles. "Thank you," I smile back. "And who do we have here, Charlotte Gray?" she looks up at Charlotte and nods her head and begins to print off our boarding passes. Thank God, I don't have to wait in the normal check in line, it is massive, likewise with security. Since I'm a frequent flyer I get to take the short queues, and sometimes all I have to do is flash a smile and once I'm recognized I'm ushered to the front of said queue.

Charlotte has been very quiet, it's almost alarming how quiet she is being. I know she's not scared of flying, we've been on many family holidays in the past to parts of Europe, and I know it's not the long haul flight that's scaring her because her dad's family live in Jamaica. She's sat in the little pod in the business class part of the plane and I can see how overwhelmed she looks sitting in this part, she doesn't quite know how to act. The stewardess comes through with a hot towel and I use it on my face but I see Charlotte out the corner of my eye not having a clue what to do with the thing. The whole flight, I can't help but watch Charlotte, she watches a couple of movies, sleeps a bit and then watches another movie before we land. "This may get wild now, but remember just hold my hand," I once again reassure Charlotte, who still doesn't talk, she just nods to her head and looks at me with her big brown eyes. I was right, as soon as we got our bags and into the streets of New York we were swamped by paparazzi, they often wait outside of the airport because they know they are guaranteed to catch someone famous. "Parker, how was London," "Parker, is this your girlfriend," "Charlotte, how long have you been together," is shouted towards us and the bright lights are blinding, I grip Charlotte's hand tighter and pull her behind me until we're in the safety of the blacked out car. "Fuck me, they're wild today," I say letting out a big sigh. "That was scary," Charlotte says with a slight laugh.

Charlotte's never been to New York before, she doesn't move her eyes from looking out the window, staring at all the big skyscrapers, and the flashing lights. I would do anything to see New York for the first time again just like how Charlotte is now. We pull up at my apartment complex and I can see how tired Charlotte looks, "Don't worry there's an elevator," I laugh, "It's a lift Parker, don't start with all that American terminology now," she quickly corrects me but with a smile. "Parker," the security guard shouts at me, raising his hat off to give me a bow. "You alright Henry," I shout back, giving him a nod back. "Parker, this is massive," Charlotte says, looking up at the large glass chandelier dangling from the ceiling of the lobby. "Wait until you see Parker's apartment ma'am," Henry laughs. I guess I hadn't quite told Charlotte where I live or what to expect really, she probably thought I still live with my mum and dad but I haven't in about a year. I made enough money from acting and modelling to secure my own place. "You live in the penthouse?" Charlotte scoffs, "Of course you fucking do," she mumbles under her breathe but I heard her. "Yup. I'm the king of the castle," I jokingly comment, but Charlotte doesn't find that so funny but the look at her face. I guess she was used to the old Parker that lived round the corner in a similar terrace house to her, not this Parker who lives in a penthouse in New York city.