Chapter 10: Charlotte: Total One-Eighty

Monday had come much too quickly. I had spent all weekend ignoring Zac’s calls, hiding in my room when he showed up at the house, and trying to forget my slip in judgment on Friday night. I had come home sobbing needing my mom. She was there, she wrapped me in her arms, she didn’t ask what happened, she didn’t gloat, all she did was hold me in her lap like she did when I was a kid and let me cry it out. Mina had wanted to go over there and beat him senseless, but Aunt Tilly forbade it. The three of them took care of me. Mina did my hair while my mom painted my nails, Aunt Tilly made cupcakes. We sat on the couch, the three of us girls, watching sappy romances. No one made me talk about what had happened with Zac. They just let me pretend nothing had happened. I knew I would have to acknowledge it sometime, but for now all I wanted to do was ignore it.

            My mom had offered to call me in sick today if I needed more time. I had declined knowing I had to face Zac at some point. We pulled up outside of the school, minutes before the bell would ring in effort to avoid him as much as possible. To my despair, there sat Zac on the front step waiting for me. Mina hopped out of the back seat before I could stop her. I heard her yelling at Zac to leave me alone, that he had caused enough trouble. Zac raised his hands like he was surrendering and backed into the building. He threw me one last pleating glance as the door closed. I grabbed my bag and rushed to hug Mina.

            “If he bothers you today, just text me, I’ll pull some strings,” Mina winked at me and climbed back in the car next to my mom. I sighed as I approached the building. Today was going to be a long day.

            It was fifth period before Zac finally caught up with me. “Charlotte! Lottie! Please,” he called after me as I raced to the gym locker room. He grabbed my hand before I slipped inside the girl’s locker room. “Please,” he spun me to look into my eyes. They were filled with sorrow and guilt. Part of me wanted to feel sorry for him and hear him out. The other part wanted to hit him and scream. I waited patiently to see what side would win. “Lottie, I’m so sorry, I didn’t, I mean you didn’t tell me to stop so I thought… I mean with the way you were dressed and how you kissed back, I know you wanted to. You shouldn’t have left like that,” he looked at me sheepishly and shrugged. As if this was my fault! The rage bubbled up inside me.

            “I said no,” I hissed at him “Was that not enough for you to stop? Let go of me.” He held my wrist tighter.

            “Charlotte, be reasonable,” he patronized me. I tried to yank and twist away but my efforts was futile, he was stronger than I was. “Let’s go talk,” he said dragging me away from the locker room and towards the back staircase.

            “I do believe the lady asked to be let go of,” a deep voice said. I felt hands wrap around my waist and gently pull me from Zac’s grasp. He stepped in front of me.

            “Stay out of this Lucas,” Zac growled, “Lottie and I were just talking. Isn’t that right Lottie?” Zac took a step towards me. I backed up away from both boys.

            “Doesn’t look like it to me Campbell,” Lucas stepped farther in front of me, blocking Zac’s advance. “Looks to me like she wants nothing to do with you. But that’s just me. Charlotte, do you want to go with Zac or would you like to go to gym?”

            “Gym,” I put on a confidant face when in reality I was terrified. Terrified of this side of Zac I’d never seen, and terrified of Lucas.

            “Lottie, don’t let him fool you, he’s not a knight in shining armor. You and I will talk later. And YOU,” he said towards Lucas, “You lay a single finger on any of those beautiful curls, I swear to all things holly you will regret the day you were born.” Zac turned on his heels and sped off in the opposite direction. I let out a breath I didn’t know I had been holding on. I turned and walked towards the gym. Shaking from that encounter.

            “Charlotte?” Lucas asked as I walked away from him. I turned to look at him, I owed it to him for saving me. “Are you okay? You kind of look like you’re going to pass out,” Lucas looked at me cautiously. Now that he mentioned it, I was very light headed. My knees trembled a little and I swayed. Lucas ran over and caught my elbow holding me up. I collapsed into his arms. I couldn’t hold myself up anymore as sobs racked through my body. Lucas supported me as I cried. How dare Zac accuse me of leading him on then not putting out? This wasn’t my fault. I said no. Mrs. Carter, my gym teacher, came out into the hallway.

            “Meres! What are you doing?” she yelled down the hallway.

            “Mrs. Carter, Charlotte just had another fainting spell, I’m going to take her to the nurse,” Lucas spoke for me.

            “Forget it, Blanes, just take her home. The last thing the nurse wants to deal with is EMTs I’ll fill out the paperwork,” Mrs. Carter waved us off and returned to the gym. I looked up at Lucas.

            “You want to go home?” Lucas asked me smiling slightly. I nodded wordless.

            Lucas slung me onto his back and walked out towards his car. I snuggled my head in between his shoulder and neck. His smell was soothing, woodsy but still sweet, combined with the slow even thump of his heart, I was mesmerized. We came to a beat up Toyota, with a sign on the top for Lunar Palace Chinese delivery. He gently set me down on the passenger side and let me get in.

            I stared out the window in a trance like state as Lucas took me home. I was still baffled by Zac’s personality one-eighty. “Charlotte,” Lucas said quietly drawing me out of my trance. “I’m really sorry about how I’ve acted towards you.” I looked over at him, I wasn’t sure what exactly I should say to that. Other than the first two days of school, Lucas has essentially ignored me and kept his distance from me.

            “Its fine,” I found myself saying, “I just chalked it up to new kid initiation.” I forced a laugh. In reality I didn’t know what I thought of his behavior, or what I thought happened when I fell down the stairs, or I was even starting to doubt the nonsense Zac had told me. Only crazy people thought they had magical powers. Lucas laughed with me.

            “You got me,” he smiled, “I was seeing how much the new girl could take.” We laughed and chatted the rest of the way home. It was nice. I felt very comfortable around Lucas, protected almost.

            “This is me,” I pointed as Lucas nearly drove past my house. He came to an abrupt stop and pulled into my driveway. Before I could gather my things, Lucas went bounding up to the front door. He rang the doorbell and I watched from the car as Aunt Tilly answered the door. I saw confusion, then concern wash over her face as Lucas pointed to the car. Aunt Tilly slipped on her shoes and came out to the car.

            “Are you okay Charlotte?” she asked as she opened the door and gathered my things. “This nice young man says you had another fainting spell at school.” Lucas scooped me out of the car and carried me towards the door. He carried me all the way inside until Aunt Tilly told him to set me down on the couch. “I’m afraid your mother and Mina are out at the store so you’ll just have to wait until they return,” Aunt Tilly looked a bit fluster, “Young man what did you say your name was?” she tuned towards Lucas.

            “Lucas Blanes ma’am,” Lucas responded.

            “Well thank you Mr. Blanes for safely bring our Charlotte home. Would you care for something to eat or drink,” Aunt Tilly offered him.

            “No thank you ma’am” Lucas said and turned towards the door. “I have to go to work now. Charlotte, please call if you get an appetite later, the chef makes the best pot stickers you’ve ever had, they might make you feel better. I put my number in your phone.” Without another word he left. Leaving Aunt Tilly to fuss over me till my mom got home.

            It took my mother a long time to calm down after she found out a boy brought me home because of a fainting spell. She insisted I stay home from school tomorrow to go to the doctor. Aunt Tilly pulled her aside and they began to whisper quietly, a strange look of calm flashed across her face before her and Mina left to the kitchen. Aunt Tilly sat down next to me and was silent for a while.

            “Why don’t you call Mr. Blanes? I don’t really feel much like cooking tonight,” Aunt Tilly looked over at me. I did as I was told and called Lucas. He promised to be right over as soon as his shift was finished.

            As promised he arrived back at my door at precisely 6:08. I heard the engine to his rattle trap car die off, my stomach began to growl immediately knowing the promise of food was near. He lightly tapped on the door and Aunt Tilly rushed to get it. I heard Lucas’s feet patter down the hall to the living room where he had left me hours ago. He came in with a smile.

            “Prepare for the best pot stickers of your life!” he proclaimed and sat the bag on the coffee table in front of me. He pulled out carton after carton of food. The smell wafted over to me and I couldn’t help but drooling. Mom entered the living room with a stack of plates, she paused for a minute when she caught a glimpse of Lucas. But then continued over to the coffee table without skipping a beat.

            “Here you go Ms. Meres,” Lucas said handing my mom a container, “Pork Lo Mien, I hear it’s your favorite.” A peculiar look crossed my mother’s face as she accepted the carton. After that we ate in near silence, just a bit of small talk between the four of us, Mina was nowhere to be seen. Dinner wrapped up without any more incidents, and my mom and Aunt Tilly excused themselves quietly leaving Lucas and I alone.  

            “So,” Lucas said quietly as he stood awkwardly with his hands in his pockets looking at the ground. I moved my legs and patted the couch next to me. He nervously looked at me before sitting ever so carefully next to me. He didn’t reach out to touch me, he didn’t raise his eyes to meet mine, he barely even breathed as he sat there timidly. I reached out to him, he had made me feel so safe earlier I wanted that same feeling again. As easy as breathing he took me into his arms and brought me to lay on his chest. His heart fluttered as he held me in his arms.

            “Am I… Is this…” he couldn’t make a complete sentence. I sat up and placed a finger on his lips. Shock crossed his face, only to be replaced by a grin. I crawled up till my eyes were even with his. The hazel shone through today as they sparkled with excitement, and something else that I couldn’t put my finger on. I moved closer to him, begging for a kiss. He closed his eyes moving in closer, happy to oblige. Just as our lips were about to touch I felt his phone vibrate in his front right pocket. With a long sigh he pulled away from me and flipped open his phone.

            “Sir,” Lucas answered. He was silent for a few minutes while the person on the other end mumbled. I picked up on three main words, Lucious, Annea, and Angel. Who was this Annea character? Gently Lucas scooted me off his lap and stood. “Yes sir, I will be there right away.” He turned to me. “I’m so sorry Charlotte, but that was my boss, someone didn’t come in and I have to go back to work,” he continued to apologize as I walked him to the door. We stopped just before he opened the door.

            “Lottie,” he said cautiously, “Can I call you that?” I nodded at him. “I had a really good time tonight. Maybe, can we do it again sometime?”

            “Yes,” I told him. He quickly wrapped me in his arms and gave a quick kiss to the top of my head. As silent as the first time he quickly pounced out the door at to his car. I watched him climb into his car, I stood in the doorway grinning like an idiot.