Chapter 34
1874words
Every time I go to grab an ornament from the couch she hold it above her head which causes me to groan.
She's 5'7" while I'm 5'3".
She laughs as I reach up to get it but barely reach it since I'm not tall enough.
I obliviously press my body against hers and stand on my tip toes as I wrap one arm around her neck for stabilization and reach the other up towards hers that has the ornament captured.
"Charlotte," I sat in an annoyed tone before I tilt my head down to look at her only to have my breath get caught in my throat
Our noses brush together as her bright green eyes slowly dilate and gaze into my hazel ones.
I feel her heartbeat start to accelerate as my hold around her neck tightens.
Great, nice to know I'm not the only one.
My lower belly starts to tingle as the rest of my body vibrates with an unknown high.
Her arm wraps itself tightly around my waist which causes me to gasp as I somehow get pressed tighter against her.
I close my eyes as she starts to slowly lean in.
Is she going to kiss me?
Omg. Omg. Omg.
She's going to kiss me!
Our lips lightly rub against each other which causes my cheeks to blush as my body feels tingly.
As soon as she's about to press her lips to mine we're interrupted by my mother's voice coming down the hall.
"I finally found the star" my mother yells with excitement which causes Charlotte and I to jump away from each other as she enters the living room with a wide smile
I look at her hand and notice that there's a shiny gold star tree topper in her hand.
She looks at the both of us in confusion as she approaches me with caution.
"Sweetie, are you okay? You're more flushed than normal" my mom says as she places her cold hands on my cheeks which makes me flinch away from the sudden chill
"I, um" I stutter out as I look behind me at Charlotte only to notice that she's looking down at the carpet with a blush on her face
She's blushing?!
She never blushes!
"I'm going to go start baking the cookies" I say as I turn to face my mom before walking out of the living room and towards the kitchen
Oh god.
Oh god.
Oh god.
I can't believe that I almost kissed my best friend.
My best freaking friend!
Of all people I almost kissed the one person that I've known for four years.
Oh my god.
I hope this doesn't change anything.
Wait a second...
What if my mom didn't walk in?
Would I have really kiss my best friend?
What am I saying?!
Of course I wouldn't have.
I'm straight.
Right?!
Where the hell am I?
I look around only to notice that I'm ducked behind a dumpster in an alley way.
What am I doing here?
I cautiously peek around the dumpster and gape at what I see.
Charlotte is dressed in all black while shooting a gun at multiple gunned men.
What the hell?
I see a buff man, in all black, sneaking up behind her with his gun pointed at her head.
Shit.
"Charlotte, behind you" I shout as I stand up from my crouched position and run towards her
She turns towards me and looks at me with wide eyes as she lowers her gun.
"Aspen, What the fuck are you doing here?" She scolds me but before she could say anything else the sound of a gun being shot echoed throughout the alleyway
It happen too fast.
Charlotte dropped to the ground as she let go of her gun and tightly held her shoulder.
I quickly ran to her before dropping beside her and helping her to apply pressure onto her wound.
"Oh my gosh" I whisper horrified as she groans in discomfort and looks at me
"I told you not to follow me" She says in an emotionless voice
Really?!
She just got shot but she's continuing to be a bitch.
"Yeah, like I would listen to you when you're acting sketchy" I say with a sarcastic tone as I roll my eyes
"Well, Well, Well" I hear someone ask from behind us which causes Charlotte's eyes to widen as she becomes tense
"Looks like the both of you are still inseparable," I hear which causes me to make a confused face
"Too bad you'll be dead soon" the voice says
I barely get to turn around before I'm hit in the head by something cold and hard.
I quickly jolt awake covered in sweat as I pant for air. I kick my blanket off of me as I continue to stare up at my ceiling.
It was just a bad dream.
Charlotte is not dangerous nor is she involved with anything dangerous.
But why did that dream feel so real?!
I look at my clock and see that it's four in the morning. I look at the other side of my bed only to notice that it's empty.
Where's Charlotte?!
I quickly jump out of bed and throw on a flannel before running out of my room.
The hallway was empty.
I run downstairs and peek into the kitchen only to be met with darkness. I look in the living room and see the wonderful Christmas tree but no Charlotte.
I open the back door and let out a breath of relief when I see her laying in the grass while staring up at the stars.
I close the door behind me before I walk down the deck steps and out into the grass.
I quietly sit beside her as I notice the beer bottle in her hand.
Why is she out here?!
"The stars are pretty at this time of night" she states as if she heard my internal question
"How long have you been out here?" I ask her as I look up at the stars
"Since two in the morning" she states like it's nothing
Why has she been out here for two hours?
"Charlotte you're barely covered out here" I say as I look down at her choice of clothing
She has on a grey t-shirt with a pair of black leggings.
She laughs as she slowly eyes my body with dark green eyes.
I'm wearing a thin white spaghetti strap, which my nipples are poking through, and a pair of black shorts that stop below my butt.
She bites her lip as she eyes my chest before she turns away and takes a long sip of her drink.
Did she just-?
No, obviously not.
Gosh, now I'm imagining things.
"Says the one wearing little to no clothes" she says with a small laugh which causes me to hit her shoulder as I roll my eyes
I wrap my flannel tighter around me as she sits up and wraps her arms around me. I lean into her which causes my body to be immediately covered in warmth.
"You know what would be really nice right now?" I ask her
"Mr. Carello's cheese pizza?" She questions which causes me to laugh lightly as I look up at her
"How'd you know?" I ask which causes her to look down at me with a smile
"Just a lucky guess" she says with a shrug before she stands up and holds out her hand for me to grab
"Where are we going?" I ask in confusion as I grab her hand and pull myself up
"Do you trust me?" She asks with a serious look which causes me to stare at her with an incredulous expression
"Of course I do" I say which causes her to smile as she releases a breath of relief
Did she think I was going to say no?
Does she think that I don't trust her?
She laces our fingers together before she leads us back into the house.
As we walk through the door I'm hit with heat which causes me to sigh in content since I was freezing out there.
Maybe I should've put on more clothes.
She leads me towards the dining room. When we enter the dining room my breath gets caught in my throat as I look around.
The glass table that sat in the middle is gone and has been replaced with a bunch of blankets and pillows. There's a pizza box with Mr. Carello's logo on it, a box of cookies, and two bottles of sprite. There's a projection of the movie "How the grinch stole Christmas" on the wall.
My favorite food and my favorite movie.
"Oh my god, you didn't" I ask in shock as I carefully step into the room and examine it from roof to floor
"I did" she says which causes me to turn around only to see her watching me with a smile on her face
"You didn't have to do this" I say as I watch her slowly walk to me before she wraps her arms around me for a hug which I immediately return
"I wanted to do this. Plus, I won't see you tomorrow so I want to make the most of the couple of hours that we have" she says with a sad tone which causes me to pout as I pull away and look up at her
"You said you weren't leaving until after school" I say as she frowns and looks away from me
"Change of plans. They need me to be there around twelve" she says which causes me to completely pull away from her
What did she just say?!
"They? Twelve? Elaborate please" I say as I cross my arms since I'm still freezing
"I can't tell you" she says which causes me to reach up and rub my temples
If she tells me that phrase one more time, I might lose it.
"Okay" I say with an emotionless tone as I go to sit down underneath the blanket
"Okay?" She asks in confusion which causes me to roll my eyes as I respond
"Okay" In confirmation
She looks at me with a cautious look as I calmly slide under the blanket and lay on my back.
"Are you going to stand there or join me?" I ask her with a raised eyebrow which causes her to still look at me cautiously as she sits down beside me
"Are you sure you're okay with this?" She asks as she sees me opening the box of pizza
"If I wasn't okay with it then I wouldn't be sitting right here with you" I say before I take a bite of the, still warm, cheese pizza
"Aspen, If I could cancel I-" she starts to say before I cut her off by placing my hand over her mouth
"I'm fine, really" I say with a small smile so that she'll stop worrying
She nods as I move my hand away from her mouth. I breathe out a breath of relief before I grab the remote and start the movie.
