The Last Wild Flower

012| A rose by a different name

^I love this song. I strongly suggest listening to it during Charlie and Lincoln's scene!

Asher is glaring at me, but Alexa pulls his angry gaze away when she speaks.

"Hello boys," she says perfectly diplomatic, and greeting both with a nod. I stay where I am, which is a several safe feet away from the table.

"Alexandria," Lincoln answers, and I finally will myself to look his way. His eyes are on Alexa, but as soon as I look at him, they return back to me. I don't know what I'd been expecting to find, but he only looks calm. Asher says nothing.

"Your mother has been frantically searching for you, and I promised I'd take you to her if I found you." Alexa is adressing Asher, who slowly stands up and pockets his phone. "Are you okay if I leave you with Lincoln?" She asks me. "I promise it'll only be a minute."

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine." I say cheerily, and even manage a small smile. She nods, and begins to walk in the opposite direction. Asher offers me a final parting glare, before following behind.

And then there were two. Lincoln stands up, and takes a swig from his glass.

"Funny running into you here," I start speaking, as a way to fill the silence. "You never mentioned that you were a member of this club."

"Neither did you," he says with a shrug. "Can I ask what you're doing here?" He carefully places the cup on the table.

So, we come to the only question I don't think I can ever answer. It's not even about the job, to which I'm legally bound to by contract now, but about admitting my failure. Whose fault was it that I've lost my scholarship? I'm the one who screwed up (even if I don't know how), and now I have to fix it. Preferably without anyone ever finding out.

I shrug back.

"So you just happend to end up here, without any particular reason?" He folds his arms, and tilts his head to observe me. The way in which he moves reminds me...

"You never gave me your last name."

"I didn't think it mattered."

So he had withheld that information from me on purpose. I raise my eyebrows at him, expectantly.

"Alderidge." He utters with insignificance, as if he were giving me the answer to a math question.

"I thought you said your father had died." I try to keep the accusatory tone from my voice, but don't succeed much.

"He did."

"Then who is Frederick Alderidge to you?" This is it, the question that I had been turning in my head ever since I spotted him in the bar.

These eyes bear a close resemblance to Alderidge's cool, piercing stones.

His eyes widen a little when I speak the man's name, but he still answers my question. "He's my uncle."

I nod my head several times, like one of those toys that won't stop bobbing their heads once you tap them. We've come full circle then; the charming school boy and the mysterious employer are related.

That's when it occurs to me that Lincoln could have been in on the entire thing. I watch him watch me, and for the first time, feel uncertain about what I believe in.

"Are you going to tell me how you know my uncle?" He's asking, but now he sounds more like himself again.

"He's just a bit famous, I guess." It comes out like a mumble. Of course I feel guilty for lying, but there's a chance this boy is also lying to me.

He sighs, and then takes a step closer to me. "Look, I don't understand why you're here, or how you know people like Alexandria, but I won't press it." He reaches out a hand into the air, and his fingers close around my wrist. "At least, let me take you home. It's getting late, and you're not safe here."

I consider following him, because truthfully, it sounds like a much better deal than being stuck here. But he did keep his idenity a secret from me. I can see Alexa approaching us from the corner of my eye.

Charlie Louis has spent her life prioritizing her future over feelings, and she's not about to make a change now. So I pull my wrist back, gently. For a brief moment, I think I can see a flash of pain pass over his face, but then his expression becomes unreadable-not that I've ever been good at reading faces to begin with.

"I can't go yet, I promised Alexa I'd keep her company."

Lincoln pinches the bridge of his nose, and lets out an exasperated breath. "That's your choice, Charlie." He walks backwards a few steps, gives me one last glance, and then turns in the direction of the exit.

Lincoln Alderidge disappears far too soon.

<><><><><>

The rest of the night passed uneventfully. I never returned to Galvin Fitz's table, and it wasn't just because I'd been uncomfortable, I was also blaming him for what happened with Lincoln. If he hadn't put me in such an awkward position, maybe Lincoln wouldn't have been so, so disappointed in me, and maybe he'd stayed.

Or perhaps, it had all been planned from the beginning. Lincoln could have been the one to run into me at the grocery store, and everything from there could have all lead up to that meeting at the club.

All of this kept playing over in my head so painfully, like the screeching sound of Beck's music, as I arrived in front of the yellow door that represents my home.

The lights were turned down, and I was struck with a strange eerie sensation. Walking across the living room in complete silence-our house is never quiet- made me feel like an intruder. I shuddered at the thought.

I made my way to the kitchen, in search for water. In the hall, I saw that my mother was sitting by the counter, bent over her laptop. She lifted her face at the sound of my footsteps. With the light reflecting off her screen, I could see the red around her eyes. Had she been crying? My heart started to beat faster, if that was still possible after tonight.

"Mom?" I asked. "Are you okay?"

She wiped at her face with the back of her left hand, and then swiftly dropped it to her side. "Charlie, what are you still doing up?" I was beginning to hope I could get away without her knowing I'd been out, but she spotted the borrowed sequin top. "Did you go somewhere?"

I nodded my head slowly, ready to be chastised. I don't think I'd ever been caught coming home at one in the morning. She must have been exhausted though, because she only sighed and closed her laptop. Then she stood up, and wrapped her cardigan tight around her small body. "I'm going to bed, don't stay up too much."

Mom passed me on her way out but stopped short, and reached to touch one of my lids. Glittery powder stuck to her finger. "Since when do you wear makeup?"  I smiled sheepishly, but said nothing.

"Both of my girls are growing up so fast," she mumbled before yawning. I watched her go up the stairs, before heading back into the kitchen.

She had been crying, and something told me it had to do with whatever it is she'd been doing on her computer. I opened the laptop, which was password-locked.

Fortunately for me, I knew mom's password. I typed in her oldest child's birthday, my birthday, and the screen lit up to a white page with a lot of small numbers. I was in a bank's website, and the numbers that I was staring at weren't good.

My parents were more than four-hundred thousand dollars in debt.

****A/N: Hi :) Question. Does Lewis spell better than Louis for Charlie's last name? I'm wondering whether I should change the spelling, just so that it flows better. Also, how was this chapter?

Please let me know, and don't forget to vote if you think I'm doing anything right here!! <3 <3 <3