now or never - charlie gillespie

chapter ten

Two messages? He sent me two messages? I ignored two of Charlie Gillespies messages?

Here I was thinking I was completely irrelevant to him, while he was thinking I was ignoring him. How could I have missed this?

"He texted me," I said staring at the notification, not wanting to open the chat.

"Wait so you're telling me that you've been moping around for the past week about him not calling, when in reality, you've been the one ignoring him?" Ava asked and I nodded. "How are we friends?" she said throwing her hands up in the air.

"Well?" Sawyer asked, sitting up on her knees, excited she was finally in the middle of the 'action' for once. "What did he send you?"

I slowly pressed my finger down on the chat, opening it. At the very top there was a picture and a text underneath it.

It was a picture of Owen and Jeremy at the airport hugging.

Tears started to form in my eyes. Great. I've blown it now. How could I have been so dumb?

I quickly showed Ava and Sawyer. Ava just shook her head, disappointed.

"What do I do? Should I apologize? Should I send a picture back? Should I just ignore? No. I can't do that thats to-" I rambled on, pacing back in forth in front of the TV. Ava and Sawyer just watched as I walked back and forth, munching on some popcorn.

I felt like the rudest and the dumbest girl on the planet right now. But they were didn't sound mad did they?

I picked up my phone and saved his number. I couldn't even believe there would be a contact saved in my phone as "Charlie Gillespie". For once, the voice inside my head was on my side as she screamed her lungs out for me.

"What are you doing?" Sawyer asked.

"I'm gonna call him," I said.

"WHAT?" They both said together. I nodded my head, not wanting anything to get in my way. If I started listening to someone I'd chicken out.

"Quick Sawyer, get your phone out and see if they're still live. That way we can catch his reaction on camera," Ava said. Sawyer lunged for her phone her hands shaking. My friends were adorable. They were also extremely nosy, but I couldn't blame them. This town was extremely boring.

Once I heard Charlies voice in the room, I knew they were still doing the live. I walked around the coffee table and sat in the middle of the couch so I could see him. I took a deep breath in before closing my eyes and pressing down on his number.

"Oh man. Sorry guys I'm getting a call," I heard him say. I opened one eye at a time, peaking at the phone but the screen was black.

"Wait. What happened?" Sawyer asked running from the kitchen. She was grabbing us some waters. She shoved the bottle in my face but I just swatted it away. My stomach was in knots.

"Hey Owen," I heard him yell. "Can I use your phone real quick to call someone?"

"Yeah sure," I heard another voice say. "Wait is that-"

"Yeah, yeah quick, take over," Charlie said and the black screen suddenly disappeared as Owens face appeared and then my phone stopped ringing.

I could see Charlie in the background using his phone. Was he trying to call me back?

Sure enough my phone started ringing. It was a weird number. I quickly answered.

"Hello?" I said into the phone quietly, afraid of my own voice for some reason.

"BAKER!" I heard him yell over phone. A second later we heard it through Sawyers phone coming from the live. Owen was grinning. I looked behind him and Charlie was walking around the room smiling. It put a smile on my face. Was this really happening. "So you finally decided to stop ignoring me eh?"

I couldn't help but laugh. "I wasn't ignoring you. I just saw your messages," I tried to explain.

"Excuses, excuses," he said, teasing me. This was so weird. Talking to him on the phone, but watching his reaction through another. My nerves could not handle this.

"I swear. I thought you were the one who blew me off." I said teasing back.

"Aw c'mon Lake, you know I'd never do that," he said bringing his hand to his heart. "Guys. We have an update on the girl from Hawaii. She finally answered us back," He said punching his hand in the air like he'd just won something.

I couldn't help but laugh. "You're such a goofball," I said.

"Wait are you watching the live right now?" He asked moving in closer to the camera and making a silly face.

"Yes I am," I said getting nervous.

"Everyone say Hi to her, she's watching us on the live right now," Owen said.

I watched as Charlie walked off, leaving Jeremy and Owen to talk.

"What have you been up to?" He asked me. I couldn't see him clearly, but I could see that he was sitting behind the boys on the couch.

"Whats happening?" Ava asked trying the press her ears to the phone to hear something.

"Who was that?" he asked.

"Oh that was my friend, Ava." I said glaring at her, getting up from in-between Sawyer and Ava, embarrassed.

"Oh I remember her. Lovely girl, not at all terrifying," he said sarcastically into the phone.

"Yeah, that's Ava. She'll grow on you, don't worry." I said to him biting one of my nails. I really couldn't believe I was having a real conversation on the phone with Charlie.

"Man, it's been like one week and I'm already missing Hawaii," he said hesitating. "Among other things."

"Maybe you should come back then," I said hopeful.

"Maybe you should come visit us," he countered. The voice inside my head was chuckling. Yeah right, like your dad would ever let you do that.

"I wish I could," I said honestly.

"Yeah, me too." He sounded sad. After a couple seconds of silence he changed the subject. "Guess what happened to me today? I got my car towed. Stupid parking laws.." He said laughing at himself.

We stayed on the phone for the rest of the night. Usually, Ava would drive me home but I decided I would walk, giving myself more time to talk to Charlie.

"I've got to go, I'll talk to you later alright?" I said as I approached my house. I did not want my parents asking any questions if I walked into the house with a boy on the phone.

"Are you trying to get rid of me, Baker?" He said sounding hurt. But then he laughed. "Nah, I'm just teasing. You're off the hook. Just try not to ghost me for another week this time, alright?"

I promised him I wouldn't. When I got home I changed and got ready for bed. I had work early. For the first time in a week I felt like myself again. I was actually motivated to get up early and go to work. It all felt very strange to me, but as much as Charlie made me nervous, he also made me feel way better.

Right as I rested my head on my pillow I felt my phone vibrate. I grabbed my phone to check if it was Ava making sure I got back home safe. It was Charlie. I made a mental note to send her a text and tell her I was alright before clicking on his chat.

It was a video of him and the boys watching the movie I spent an entire hour talking about. "Not a bad recommendation, Baker. We're proud," his text read.

I smiled to myself, holding the phone to my chest feeling incredibly happy right now. I typed a quick reply before closing my phone and forcing myself to sleep.

My mind couldn't stop racing. In just two short weeks, how had Charlie Gillespie managed to be a part of my life? I couldn't wrap my head around it.

I went to sleep dreaming of a different life. A life where we both lived in the same place. A life where I didn't have to hide him from my parents. I went to sleep dreaming of the next time I'd be able to see him.

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I literally can't believe this book already hit 1k reads. Thank you guys so much!! I hope you're enjoying it so far!!