Into the Darkness

His name was David. He talked football with Elijah as I sat there quietly watching Charlotte without being too obvious. Moments later we were interrupted by Logan as he walked in and squished himself besides Charlotte.

“Logan, that was my pickle! I was saving that till last!” Charlotte whined.

“Sorry Charlie...you snooze you lose,” he joked, placing the pickle in his mouth.

“You jerk,” she mumbled.

“Thanks Charlie, I love you too,” he said hugging her tight till she caved and smiled. I had to admit I was jealous. Jealous that they were friends, that they could openly joke with each other, hug each other for no reason and most importantly that he was her first.

“Can you guys get a ride home? Jen’s parents had a fight so she wants to stay over my place.”

“Alex can drive us home,” Adriana said but soon realized we would have a sleeping arrangement problem.

“Shit Alex, can you get a room? If not maybe you can crash with Charlie. Or you can stay with Elijah.” Her suggestion was innocent but the thought of ‘crashing’ with Charlotte made me think of only one thing. Was tonight the night it would finally happen?

Adriana and Elijah left the table leaving me alone with Charlotte and David. Fuck this was awkward, for him that is.

“So Charlotte, did you want to go for a walk or something?” he asked, ignoring me sitting right opposite them.

“It’s not that I don’t want to but it’s been a real long day and I—” She looked at me bewildered.

“Sorry buddy, I can’t have her walking around Los Angeles alone with a stranger. Her father would kill me.”

“Yeah, I totally get it. Sorry,” he said.

He grabbed a piece of paper and a pen and jotted down what looked like his phone number, then slid it to her. “Give me a call sometime, we should meet up when you’re free.” He kissed her on the cheek, said goodbye and walked out of the restaurant.

“I assume you will discard that number as soon as we walk outside,” I said annoyed that he gave her his number.

“Excuse me?” she asked.

“What, you actually think you will meet up with him?”

“Screw you, Alex! I’m not the one who said I do!” She stormed out leaving me alone in the booth.

I walked around the hotel for a while trying to figure out what to do. I decided I would go see her and apologize for trying to stake my claim without actually having anything to back it up with when all along she was right.

I held up my hand against the door, but with fear I pulled away. I knew that if I walked through this door right here right now, my life would never be the same. There would be no turning back; I’d be sealing our fate. I bowed my head and placed it against the door and without hesitating any longer I tapped gently. Maybe it was minutes, maybe it was seconds but she finally opened it. I could see the turmoil on her face, the apprehension that lingered. Did she know how much this actually would mean to me…to us? I followed her lead and walked into the dim lit room. It was just after midnight, the moon shone through the sheer drapes and the noise of the outside world slowly faded away. Or maybe that was because the only thing I could hear was her heart beating. She was only inches away from me yet it felt like a mile.

“I’m sorry, Charlotte.”

“Alex, I’m scared,” she whispered.

I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her into me. She smelled heavenly, intoxicating.

“Scared?” I asked. As much as it wasn’t the moment to open up the vault of past sexual escapades, I knew I wasn’t her first.

“I don’t know if I can stop… I mean this… Us. If we take this further where does it go? Where does it end?”

“Just follow this.”

I placed her hand over her heart. I had it in place so she could feel the beating of her heart. She could follow where it led her. Turning around slowly she gazed at me, her eyes pure innocence.

“It leads me straight to you,” she said.

I placed my hands on her face and pulled her in. Her soft pink lips caressed mine, our movements so slow that every kiss awakened a new sensation that had never been felt before. The sound of her soft moans in my mouth aroused me, but I didn’t push. I wanted to savor every moment of this night, every part of her, my Charlotte.

Without breaking away I led her slowly to the bed. I held onto her as I laid her down. Gently I climbed beside her and continued to slowly kiss her lips. Our tongues battled softly, never stopping to catch our breaths. I slowly broke the kiss and moved towards her neck, spreading soft k