32. CHARLOTTE
32
I walk into Julie’s yard, finding her on the screen porch while sipping a sweet tea and reading a magazine after she sent me a text telling me to get the fuck out of the house.
Her literal words.
At first, I protested heavily, but when she compared me to a mix of a hermit and a cat lady, I felt obligated to show her I’m not any of those things.
When I look at how I’ve spent the last ten weeks, she’s kinda right, though.
It’s funny how fast the days pass by when you do nothing significant. Other than taking care of my mother, and hanging out with Julie and Jacob, who I now know is indeed the asshole Hunter paints him to be, I’ve been reading the entire summer.
I actually think Mrs. Dennis from the local library is feeling sorry for me, because every time I walk in, she keeps eyeing me with this sympathetic look on her face. I re-read all the classics in the first month of summer, and now I’ve been reading some romance books, trying to fill my days, while other kids are preparing for college.
Me? I’m just out here missing my best friend.
After his first fight, the media exploded around him. Suddenly, everyone wants a piece of him, a few girls literally, if I can believe the tabloids. But with more media attention also comes more obligation, and lately, our daily calls have changed to weekly calls. Now I haven’t spoken to him in ten days.
I’m happy for him, and so fucking proud. But it doesn’t stop my heart from leaking drops of blood every day I wake up and don’t talk to him.
“Hey, girl.” Julie looks up as I walk through the door and take a seat next to her on the wooden armchair, throwing my feet on the table in front of us, mimicking her stance.
“Hey! Sweet tea?” Her flip-flop covered feet fall to the floor, leaning forward to grab the can filled with sweet tea as she pours me a glass, topping it off with a fresh lemon wedge.
“Thanks.” I grab the glass, taking a sip of the cold drink as I close my eyes and lay my head back, looking up at the ceiling.
“What were you doing yesterday?” Here we go. Turning my head toward her, I blink at her in innocence, giving her my sweetest smile. “Dear Lord, Charlie. You really gotta balance it out a bit more. You hardly get off your front porch.”
“I get off my front porch!”
She cocks her head, shooting me a look that tells me I’m full of shit, and I roll my eyes at her. I mean, I still need groceries and all that stuff?
“Only because either your mama has a hospital appointment, or I force you to. It’s not healthy. At least when Hunter was still around, you’d go out and shit.”
Right. “Yeah, well, he isn’t.”
Hearing the disappointment in my voice, she gives me a questioning look, turning her back to the side of the chair so she can face me.
“You haven’t heard from him?”
“We talk.” I shrug, trying to act casual about it, when really, it’s tightening my stomach. “Like once a week. But the conversations keep getting shorter, because he’s always at some party, or training, or that Gina woman needs him for something. ”
“You miss him, don’t you?” I keep my green eyes trained on the ceiling to keep my tears at bay, knowing they are there just waiting to burst out.
“Like crazy,” I confess, pushing out a breath. “It’s weird, because I want him to succeed. I want him to be the best fighter there is, so it’s not like I want him to come back, but he’s slipping away. We spent so much time together last year that I have a hard time filling my days without him. No offense.” I give her a tight smile, and she responds with a big grin.
“None taken. I have no intention of competing with Hunter. I’d pick that fine body over you any time of day,” she jokes. “But yeah, I get you. You’ve been inseparable throughout senior year, and now he’s on the other side of the country, living a different life.”
“Yeah. The more time passes, the less we seem to talk.”
I’m not stupid. I knew our friendship would change the second he got on that plane.
If this whole twist of fate isn’t a sign to tell us that we aren’t anything more than friends, I don’t know what is.
And I just need to accept that, I guess?
But being friends is a lot harder when we’re both on the other side of the country, living completely different lives.
“Why don’t you visit him?”
I snap my head toward Julie. “I don’t know?”
Probably because I’m a scared little girl, not very keen on setting myself up for rejection? I wasn’t the popular girl in high school, barely fitting in, but it wasn’t awful. I was too busy to worry about anything other than schoolwork anyway. But going to LA? It feels like throwing me in the creek before I learned how to swim.
Spending time with Hunter there will be different, and I’m not sure it’s a good difference. He might be my friend, but I’m pretty sure he knows how to swim in the great ocean that’s called California.
What if he doesn’t want to keep me afloat while I’m there?
She rolls her eyes, shaking her head.
“There’s no reason not to? I mean, not anymore. Your mama has been doing pretty good all summer. I’m sure she won’t mind if you go to LA for a couple of days. You still have two weeks before classes start.”
How she’s putting it, it seems like a simple thing to do, and yeah, I’ve thought about it. But I don’t dare to voice it to Hunter, not sure how he’d react.
“Whatever insecure thoughts are running through your mind right now, stop it.” She scowls, and I purse my lips with guilt dripping from my chin. “He’s gonna wanna see you, too. You know this. Just book a ticket, and go see him for the weekend.”
“I don’t know, Julie. What if he doesn’t want me there? What if he’s busy all weekend?”
“Then you spend time with Jason. We sure as fuck know he’s not doing anything other than playing Hunter’s wingman,” she mutters, with a frustrated glint drifting around her brown eyes. “Either way, just go. Before you know it, classes will start, and you’ll have no time to visit anymore.”
I keep staring at her, as I’m letting her words run through my hesitant mind while my heart jumps for joy at the idea.
“Stop thinking about it, Charlie. In fact, we’re putting you on a plane tomorrow.”
She grabs her phone off the table and starts tapping the screen like a madwoman.
“What are you doing? I have to ask Hunter first!”
“No, you don’t. Delta has a flight tomorrow at noon. I say perfect.”
“Julie. ”
“What?” She gives me a daring look, bringing up a finger. “You have two options. Either you let go of him, stop sulking, and start living your life, like he is. Or you find out if the two of you are still the same and go to LA. Your call, Charlie.” She presses her lips together in a thin line, doing her best to keep a straight face, trying to let me decide what I’m going to do. There’s fire in her eyes, challenging me to back out.
If she puts it like that.
“Fine,” I huff. “Book it.”