Into the Darkness

“I totally know what you mean,” Adriana responded with a grin on her face.

I stopped the car in front of Charlotte’s house. It was torture not being able to kiss her goodbye or even talk to her in the car. She said goodbye to Adriana and Elijah before turning to face me.

“Thanks for the ride, Alex,” she said with a slight smirk on her face.

“Anytime,” I responded, grinning.

I knew I couldn’t hide the smile on my face. Elijah turned to look at me with an odd expression. His eyebrow was raised and he was rubbing the stubble on his chin.

“You had fun last night, Alex?” he asked curiously.

“Yeah, you could say that. Nice to get out for a change,” I replied attempting to deflect any further questions as his stare began to bug me.

“Sometimes you need change. It puts things in perspective,” he mumbled.

Once I was home I sat there in the driveway staring at the house for a good ten minutes. Would I feel different when I walked through those doors? Would she sense that I had spent the night making sweet love to my girl? I turned the knob, my heart beating erratically. It was now or never. Scared that the regret would wash over me, I walked in and almost immediately

it felt wrong. It didn’t feel like home anymore. Home was where the heart was and that was with my beautiful, sweet Charlotte Mason.

Chapter 25

Charlie

Today was officially known as birthday hangover day. I had been sitting on my couch for the last three hours watching a show about embarrassing bodies. I wasn’t really watching; it was more of a living coma but every so often something awfully horrendous would come on the screen and I would be glued to it. I stared at my cell screen a million times, the same old texts would come through from Eric, Bull’s and Adriana but it wasn’t what or who I was waiting for.

I texted him, thanking him for bringing me home in my intoxicated state. There was a strange feeling I couldn’t quite put my finger on, the fact that he was here, in my home. Of course I didn’t recall anything. The last thing I remembered was getting up on stage and singing Pink. To say I was overwhelmed by last night’s events would be an understatement. Not only was the whole party a surprise, I had to deal with both Julian and Lex there, fucking Lex in the restroom, arguing with Lex in the restroom, dealing with a pissed Julian who just got up and left, then the emotions of the gift that Lex gave me which was still sitting on my chest. My life was in shambles and part of me now wondered if I’d pushed him away, opening up like that but he begged me to talk and I couldn’t, not yet.

My cell beeped and I ran for the couch where it sat.

Rocky is dragging me to the Yankees game tonight. Since your so called ‘friend’ organized this, you better be at my place at six on the dot.

I wasn’t going to leave Bull’s in the lurch plus I really wanted to spend some time with Will since I missed his game this morning. I promised him on Tuesday I would pick him up from school and go to the game arcade. I knew I had a quiet day at work so I was able to leave early.

Six o’clock on the dot I was knocking on the door dressed in my jeans, hoody and converse. I was taken aback when Will answered the door and hugged me tight. He never stopped talking, a mile a minute. All I heard were the words Yankees, shark project and rocky road ice cream. I have no idea how all three of those were linked but I had a whole night to figure it out.

“Great, Charlie is here. Come on woman, let’s go.” Rocky shoved us out the door impatiently as Bull’s rolled her eyes.

I was starting to get nervous because I had this unwelcoming feeling I had said or done something wrong last night. As I saw the black limo pulled up beside the curb I couldn’t help but feel even worse. Rocky jumped in the limo first, much to Bull’s disapproval—so much for ladies first—followed by an overly exited Will, then Bull’s and lastly me. As soon as I met his eyes there was something different: he smiled at me, a warm smile. I stopped worrying just a smidge. I sat beside him because I didn’t want him thinking I was angry or anything.

“Hi,” he murmured beside me.

“Hi yourself.” I smiled.

“Hey, aren’t you the guy we ran into at the park? Charlie’s friend?” Will asked.

“Yes you’re right. Nice to see you again. Excited about the game, buddy?” Lex grinned.

“I am!” Rocky chuckled.

We all laughed. I swear Will was more mature than his dad most times. We talked baseball all the way there, and I’m sure Lex was surprised by my comments.

“Since when did you take an interest to sports? You hated all that…” he asked curiously.

“Since I was forced to attend every game in college thanks to Miss Stalker over here.”

“There is nothing hotter than watching your man play sports,” Bull’s quipped.

“Mom, what does that mean?” Will asked.