His phone went off eventually and he cursed. "It's always yours." I joked.
Charlie rolled off me and picked it up, reading the caller ID. "Your brothers are so damn clingy." He grumbled before pressing the answer button.
I rolled the opposite way to get up but he grabbed my hand before I did and tugged me close. I laughed at him because in my mind I was thinking, so are you. But I said nothing and welcomed the way he embraced me.
"What." He growled into the phone, making me believe he was angry, but the way he pulled me to his chest changed that.
"Where are you?" I heard Austin calmly ask, and he made it clear how they were used to Charlie's tone.
"Home." He answered bluntly.
"I thought you were coming back to meet us."
"Yeah, yeah, I'm on my way." He sighed out, hanging up without a goodbye and facing me right away. "I feel like I shouldn't leave you." He said plainly.
I shook my head. "I'll be fine." I told him passively.
"I'm tired of hearing you say that." He grumbled.
I looked at him funny as if to ask what he was talking about and he wound his arms around my waist. "You know it's okay to not be fine every once-in-awhile."
"You know it's also okay to smile every once-in-a-while."
He stared me in the eyes and it seemed something overcame him, and a smile spread across his lips and reached his eyes. I felt so lucky in that moment to witness it, and to be the cause of something so perfect.
"I've been pretty happy lately." He admitted to me.
"That's good."
"I guess it's because of you." He said with such casualty I almost dismissed his comment. When his words ran through my head I looked at him in shock and he smiled again. "You're cute." He chuckled.
I just wanted to kiss him senseless in that moment because I had never heard such words from a man like him. Neither do I know a man like him, other than him of course. I felt the heat from his stare and it made my cheeks go pink. He had told me that I made him happy, what was I supposed to do now?
I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him hard, taking him to surprise and I rolled over onto him. He regained himself and kissed me back, sitting up and sitting me on his lap. I wrapped my legs around him tightly and felt him matching my roughness.
Soon he was sliding his hands up my shirt and I took that as premission to practically rip his off. He tossed his shirt to the side and went down my neck, he pushed forward and ended up hovering over me once again. His hands lingered at the hem of my shirt and suddenly he looked me in the eyes. There was so much aggression and lust in them I let out an uncontrolled shiver.
I put my hands over his and helped him slip it off. The two of us were shirtless at the time and he froze to look me over hungrily. In an instant we began grabbing at eachother and our kisses got hotter every second. So hot I was sure we were about to have sex, but while my hands were at the button of his pants and his at my bra, the sound of my front door slamming alarmed the both of us.
We froze and looked at eachother with heavy breathing. "Diana?" Connor's voice shouted from the bottom of the stairs and Charlie clenched the bedsheets beneath me.
"What is he doing here?" He asked in confusion. "Does he have a key?"
"No, some idiot must've left the door unlocked, again." I said in a shushed and irritated tone, sitting up and him rolling off as we heard as Connor's steps got closer to my room.
I slipped my shirt back on and told Charlie to go in the closet. He looked at me blandly, but obeyed and within five seconds Connor was barging into my room loudly.
"Do you not knock?" I asked.
He froze looking at me. "Oh- uh, sorry I didn't think you were here."
I narrowed my eyes at him. "Well I do live here. What did you come for?"
"Well you, of course. But I assumed you were somewhere else when I came in and you didn't answer to my call."
I'm not a dog.
"Why'd you come?" I asked again, casually as he layed back on my bed as if he owned the place.
"To see if you were okay, and then when I thought you weren't here I was just gonna take your condoms."
"You're a sex addict, you know that right?"
He ignored me and sat up. "Are you alright, Diana? You're getting so thin, it's freaking me out. You never eat anymore and you're never getting enough sleep."
I smiled kindly at him, touched by his pure concern. "You're a good friend for caring about me, but I've told you a thousand times, I'm fine."
He rolled his eyes and stood up, heading to my underwear drawer. "No." I told him and his face fell.
"Why not?"
"Because I said so?"
"Oh fuck that, it's not like you ever use them."
"You need therapy."
"Can I at least have some kind of excuse to raid your panty drawer?" I only gave him a dry look. "I won't tell anyone if we hook up." He teased.
"Get out." I laughed, pushing him out of my room and watched as he walked down the stairs, shouting dirty things at me.
"And as much as I hate to admit it, I know you like it rough."
I stood there in shock, looking at him in confusion. "What?"
"Andy sure does tell Toby a lot." Was the last thing Connor said before he left my house.
After I watched him drive off from my window, I turned and saw Charlie standing outside of my closet, leaning against the door with crossed arms and a serious expression across his handsome face.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" I asked him.
He strode toward me and forced me to back up against the wall while being trapped by his arms. "Why do you allow him to talk to you like that?" He said in concern.
I looked back at him in wonder. The window behind me had the sun barely revealing the warmth in his heated brown eyes and I was reminded of how similar he looked to when he was in his classroom. Only, he didn't have a shirt on, and we weren't in his classroom.
"He was only joking."
"But he was doing it in such a serious way." He argued.
I looked at him blandly. "Charlie, it's just Connor."
"And what about his little comment? What are you gonna say about that, 'It's just Andy.'?"
I blushed, realizing what he was referring to and his hands touched my face tenderly. "The way you kissed me earlier, I think I almost believe him." He mumbled close to me.
My face grew darker in red and his phone let out another ring. "That's probably one of the guys." I sighed out.
"Are you trying to get rid of me?" He joked.
I smiled up at him. "Yes." And he turned to get his phone. I grabbed his hand and tugged him before he did and he directed his attention on me immediately. "Try to answer the phone and not sound like a grump." I teased him and he grinned at me, making me fall back against the wall in a daze. He kissed me sweetly before walking to the other side of the bed and answering the phone.
"Hello?" He answered, staring at me with that same smile.
But it wasn't Austin. Or Bailey. Or Chris, or Tyler, or James. It was his mother and his expression darkened at her voice.
"You sound happy," Was the first thing I heard her say. My heart dropped the same time his smile did and I watched him turn the other way and speak uncomfortably.
"What do you want?"
"How are things?"
"Answer me." He demanded, and there was silence at the other end for a second.
As much as I wanted to listen to him speak with his mother, I knew I had to give him privacy. "I'll leave you alone." I whispered to him while walked out the door.
I walked down the stairs and looked around, happily noting that my brothers didn't leave a mess. I also locked the door before I forgot and searched the pantry out of boredom. Was it smart to leave him in my room alone? On the phone with his mother?
A feeling in me said I should have stayed because I knew he would be a jerk to the poor woman, and I could've at least tried to contain some of his attitude, but it was too late.
I was deep in thought and barely noticed when he came down the stairs. I turned and saw him and took note of how angry he looked, and how he put his shirt back on. I didn't want to say anything because he looked pissed. If I asked him if he was okay, it'd be stupid, because he wasn't okay.
"Damn, you put your shirt back on." I tried to joke and he sat on a barstool and tried to smile at me, but his eyes didn't look the slightest happy.
"Watch your mouth." He told me calmly.
I walked over to him and wanted to hug him. I wanted him to stop being upset and I wanted to know why he was in the first place, but he needed space, and I saw that. "The guys have been waiting for a while." I told him.
His eyes bored into mine, but soon he hopped off the stool and allowed me to walk him to the front door. "I'll see you later." He promised, already making his way to his car.
"Have a good night." I told him and shut the door once he was in his car.
I felt useless and lonely then. Not even a hug. But it was because I wanted to touch him, and I wanted him around me and to open up to me. It wouldn't ever happen, and I acknowledged that. It was enough to hear him say that I made him happy.
Like the timing was perfect, my phone buzzed. Andy said he wanted to come by.
...
He was coming over as a friend. I kept reminding myself of that. He was a friend and nothing more.
But what did that make Charlie? My friend? My teacher? My tutor? My... boyfriend?
I scoffed to myself.
No, absolutely not.
When I really thought about it, he was nothing more but my teacher and my brothers' friend. He was my attractive and mysterious aquaintance.
The knock at the door woke me from those thoughts and a sudden adrenaline rushed through me. It was the rush of the fact that Andy was soon in my house, and anyone could come in, like one of the guys, or even Charlie. I erased that thought and answered the door anyway.
"Hey." I greeted him as he stepped in, wrapping an arm around me in a side hug.
"It's nice in here." He admired. I did my best to ignore the itching in my gut that retorted, yes well I guess lonely is the new 'nice.'
"Thank you." I said and he pulled back, looking me in the eyes.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a palm-sized box decorated with daisies. I stared at his familiar secretive smile and I returned it by habit.
He motioned it forward, telling me to open it. The thoughts in my mind swam constantly under a bright moon. What was it? What could it be? What did I want it to be? It was like my lead arms were moving in slow motion as I reached for the box with quiet caution. I almost got to the box when he pulled back and locked his eyes with mine.
"Kiss me." He said, and without hesitation I obeyed. The magnetic pull between the two of us showing once again and he wrapped his arms around me. In an instant everything was forgotten and he kissed me like it was the first time ever. Like strangers who knew everything about eachother, and I forgot about my friends, I forgot about my brothers, about my father, and about Charlie.
He pulled back and opened the mouth of the box that faced me, revealing a delicate-looking necklace. A tiny silver chain that linked all the way down to the heart shaped pendant.
"I know cliché isn't your thing, but I wanted to give you something nice. You don't even have to wear it, I just wanted you to have something from me."
I smiled gratefully and kissed his cheek quickly. "Put it on me." I told him, and his eyes twinkled with what looked like accomplishment. He walked around me and I pulled my hair up, feeling the typical moment of his hands swoop around me and lock the necklace together. Just before I let my hair fall, he planted a kiss on the clasp of the necklace and goosebumps appeared on my arms from the contact.
"Thanks, Andy." I said with a smile that seemed larger than before.
"You're welcome, Diana." He said back and his hands squeezed my waist tightly while he kissed me.
Friends, yeah right.
That night he slept over. It wasn't intensional, but we shared the couch and he bought me expensive food and watched movies that we didn't pay attention to. The entire time we kissed, and he asked eventually about my father. I told him not to worry about it.
We fell asleep on the couch, as we often did at his place.
In the morning was when we woke. But we didn't really wake up in the morning, and instead the both of us slept until midday. "That's one Sunday wasted." I yawned when we both woke up around one in he afternoon.
He chuckled. "Thanks."
"I'm kidding." I said when he yanked me up and kissed me longingly. I sighed in it with such contentment and pulled him closer. "Let's just go back to sleep." I joked.
"I wish we could. But I have a meeting at two."
My looked at him in confusion and I pushed him back gently. "You're going to be late." I advised him.
He just gave me a shrug as we headed to my front door. "They can wait for me." He said, pecking my lips before sneaking away from me. "I want to come by again."
"Do it." I smiled at him and watched him climb into his shiny and expensive car, driving away while I had a familiar feeling. It was because just the previous day I was in the same position, watching as Charlie drove off away from me. He wasn't happy, and remembering that brought a feeling of guilt to me.
"Do you like him Diana?"
I did. I did like Andy. But I liked Charlie too. In the end I knew Charlie didn't care too much about me, and surprisingly that was a painful thought to me. I just felt the unfairness of him and I wanted to be a normal boy-crazy teenager with minor broken hearts and young movie dates. I wasn't like that, and it was too late for that anyway.
When the week came by again I called Mrs. Norman, and she told me the news. It was like I lived in a bubble all weekend with two men who made me forget about the outside would. It allowed me to focus on my unfaithfulness(if you could call it that) instead of the real problem.
"They had to give her medication." Her mother seemed to hold everything together over the phone, but her sobbing grew harder.
I didn't know what was coming first, so immediately I started crying too, but silently. "To regulate her body temperature and stuff, yknow?" She sobbed some more. "And... It was the wrong medicine." She sobbed terribly.
I didn't understand. "What?"
"Medicine." Her mom cried, "They drugged her up with a painkiller she's allergic to and her pulse is slowing. They say they don't know how long they can keep her alive."
I feared everything in the world for a second. A world without Erin... I refused to even think about it. At the time I was crying so much I wished I would stop breathing as well, but I knew it wouldn't yet change anything. I refused to lose her. I would not live in a world without my bestfriend.
Monday morning was when I got the call, and of course I forced makeup on myself because being an ugly crier, it would make it obvious that something was wrong.
The same angry question ran through my mind. Who were the motherfuckers who didn't read her goddamn medicine?
School was angry and just bland. I couldn' concentrate on anything but thw possibility of her leaving the world. There had to be some kind of way to save her. To stop the fatal chemical from hitting her and stopping her crazy heart.
"I'm gonna go home." I told Mr. Grant while picking up my things after everyone left.
"Oh, okay." He said understanding, but confusion all the while. He stared at me while I attempted to escape and I took note of his quiet casualty. It seemed his phone call the previous Saturday was still torturing him. "Is everything okay?" He asked.
"Yes." I lied. He didn't need anymore information than I'd give him. If people knew, then it would be true. I couldn't let it truly happen.
"Are you lying?"
"No, see you tomorrow." I told him and slipped out.
I planned on talking to Mrs and Mr Norman, but suddenly the crash of sorrow and helplessness over flowed on me. How did she last feel?
I didn't know. And I didn't want to have to go through a feeling of not having my friend with me. I refused to embrace it.
Tuesday was when I decided to talk to them. Mr. Norman was back in his office, and Mrs. Norman with an unconcious Erin beside her back at the hospital.
I stopped by before school and he denied me. "Someone else but me, Dian."
I didn't bother correcting him, and instead held my furious tongue. I went to school and didn't stay after. Charlie didn't seem to mind. He was busy anyway.
Slowly, that was how the entire week dragged on. Each day suffering the helpless feeling of not being able to do anything for her. That one week dragged my grades down easily. That weekend, Andy took me to see her, also unaware of her current condition. He rented hotel for us that weekend and I watched my friend sleep emotionlessly. The pain in her didn't show, and it made me feel just as bad.
She could hold it together so well for someone who was asleep. Just asleep...
Andy, an angel in disguise, spoiled me rotten and I felt terrible. I didn't want to enjoy my life with her like this. I didn't want to be happy when she couldn't be. I wanted her to be awake, and fine.
But that wishing took more than a few dandilions and eyelashes.