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I had been enjoying my shift quite a lot, to my surprise. I had somehow momentarily convinced myself the whole Charlie fiasco was just water under the bridge. I could finally push away all these confusing feelings and move on with me life. Sadly these thoughts lasted a whopping 2 minutes, then it was back to staring at Charlie's jet black locks from behind the safety of my cash register. I Prayed for him to look back and glance at me, or to signal any sort of recognition that I was even here. I mean, I swear I don't like him... but part of me wanted to explore this newfound excitement. Even if it was all horrifyingly awful. Sort of like a rollercoaster, I guess.

Stop Ace!! Get back on track, Charlie's not important.

-

"Hey Ace! Wait up!", I momentarily looked back in shock to see Charlie running towards me while I walked out the back door at the end of our shift. I picked up my pace and pretended I didn't hear him. Geez the one thing I have wanted to happen all week is finally happening and all of a sudden I want nothing to do with it. Forget about everything I said! I take it all back. Let me state this for the record, though. I swear this will be the final time I say it!

I ACE LOUGHTY, AM NOT GAY FOR CHARLIE SIMMONS OR FOR ANY GUY! NO MATTER HOW WEIRD HE MAKES ME FEEL I KNOW IT'S JUST BECAUSE I'M A LONELY ASSHOLE!

I rolled my eyes at my own thoughts. How could I be this naive? How could I let myself fall into Charlie's trap? He's totally trying to get dirt on me to make my life a living hell. But why? What did I do?

WHY DOES THIS HAVE TO BE SO DAMN CONFUS-

Charlie's hands on my shoulders pulled me from my cloud. He spun me around to look at him. Though I couldn't meet his eyes.

"Listen, okay? Don't talk just listen.", he said.

"No! You don't just kiss me and then ignore me for four days! You don't get to try and make me gay! You're a f*cki-", I was interrupted by Charlie's hand over my mouth. I was getting angry now. The past week has been burning a fire in my soul and it was one I couldn't get rid of that easily.

"Hey hey hey hey! Calm down, it's okay. I get it, I'm confused too but the truth is Ace... I-I... forget it. Do you maybe wanna go chill in the park down the street for a bit? It's cool if you don't, I just thought we could talk since Ive been such a douche"

Why was he being this nice? He shouldn't get to be this nice! Ugh, as much as I wanted to leave his ass right there in the cold moonlit parking lot, a part of me wanted to go to that park and become better friends. Maybe to help him, or maybe so he wouldn't kick my ass. I can't figure out which one is the reason to why I start to follow him.

-

Belleview Park is only a 5 minute walk from the local store. When we get there it's completely empty, not even any stoners sitting around on the benches which is odd for 10pm on a Friday night. Charlie leads us over to the swings and I join him. It's awkward for a few minutes, we're both sort of silent.

"Hey look, a squirrel!", I point my finger over at the little figure scurrying up a tree.

"Aww, poor little guy must be freezing in this weather", Charlie frowned as I laughed at his remark.

"You're joking, right?"

"No, why would I joke about that? It's like, 6 degrees, that's pretty cold for such a small animal."

"Charlie I thought you said you were smart", I start to laugh even harder at his stupidity.

"I am! It's not like I take friggin animal biology or some shit!"

"That's true but I don't think you need to take any courses regarding animals to know that a squirrel is built for the cold. They have their coat and hideouts to keep them warm. I just find it funny how you -the boy who claims to have a 97% overall average- doesn't even know anything about a squirrel."

"Oh well I'm sorry Mr. Wild Animal Expert. Please, enlighten me with your squirrel facts. How did you kind sir, get to know so much about these fascinating little creatures?"

"I'll have you know that I used to be quite the little camper. My mom would always take me and Eleanor on trips to Croakers Meadow, the little campsite north of Usine Street. We'd go for a week and make s'mores and wind up on some hike that I never wanted to do", I don't know why I started telling Charlie this, it was a little too personal. But I couldn't stop, "Eleanor always wanted to do them, though. 'I like seeing the little chipmunks and squirrels, Ace!', that's how she'd force me into them. She had a passion for knowing every fact about every animal, probably would've been a vet if she lived.", I stared down at the ground, my face falling as the everlasting impact of grief hit my chest once again. She's gone. She's gone and there's no bringing her back and it's because of my ignorant ass.

"Listen,", I felt Charlie lay a hand on my shoulder, "just be thankful you have those memories. My family never did anything like that. They were either too busy or wanted me to go and learn some sort of new skill.", he scoffed, his face turning cold.

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to bring up anything upsetting."

"Don't be kid, life's pretty upsetting so there was really no avoiding it when the two of us are here."

"What do you mean 'the two of us'?"

"Well you're a depressed mess who obviously has buried his grief way down into his soul and I'm an even more depressed mess who's parents constantly pressure him to get good grades and not reck his so called perfect life."

I let out a pitiful laugh. "At least you won't fail that biology test on Monday. I'm screwed, I forgot my binder in school. Not like that would help anyways, non of my notes make sense."

"I can help you?", Charlie's face turned towards mine as he innocently cocked an eyebrow. Wow, a non-condescending expression for once. That was new.

"You? Help me? Hah, yea right.", I cant help but laugh at this boy. One minute he's kissing me, the next he's wanting to punch me and now he wants to study with me?

"Well... y-yea, I guess. If it's okay with you."

"I'm not sure about this. You're probably gonna screw me over and give me fake notes or something.", okay maybe that was a bit harsh, but it could very well be true! There's no way I'm trusting this guy for anything that involves school, or my social life for that matter.

"Ace c'mon! I'm not life that!"

I laughed at his reply. Did Charlie really think he could convince me he wasn't? Part of me wants to believe it, maybe it even does. But another part knows I shouldn't. "Haha yea sure. Here, let me give you my number so you can send me pictures of your notes.", I jokingly pulled out my phone and waved it in his face.

"Okay deal."

"What?!" Before I knew it Charlie had grabbed the phone from my hand and was running all around the park with it, trying to get past the password. "Charlie! Stop you're too fast!"

"What about all those hikes, Ace?! Shouldn't you have better cardio!", He teased.

After another minute or two of us battling each other with our insults and running around like maniacs, he finally slowed down and I was able to tackle him to the floor. I may be scrawny but thanks to unloading inventory, I've got pretty decent arm strength.

"Caught ya!", I said. We started laughing until I realized our situation. I was on top of him? Oh my god I was hovered over him. Quickly, I removed myself and scurried back on my hands and knees. "S-sorry!", I stuttered.

"Don't worry about it," Charlie said, standing up to wipe the grass off himself, " and here's the phone. I put my contact in so you'll know Im not a stranger when you get those note pictures." He winked at me as I stood with disbelief.

"H-how did you get in? How did you know my password!", I had to scream as he started jogging back to the street.

"Squirrels!", he replied. That sneaky bastard! "I'm gonna head home. Have a nice night, Ace!", He turned to look at me before continuing his jogging.

Great, it's 11pm on a Friday night and the school dickhead has my phone number and I have to walk home. Alone. Is it bad for me to want Charlie at my side? He'd keep me safe... right?

Authors note: Hey! I'd like to apologize for how shitty this chapter is. If you read my last update you'll know that my hamster recently passed and I haven't been able to write much. I won't lie, this book is sort of beginning to feel like something I need to do and not want to do but I'm still going to continue it. Your guys' support makes me feel really good so thank you! Life's been really hard on me these past few weeks and i'm getting behind in school so my updates are probably gonna be slowing down a lot more and i'm really sorry for it. Again, no time to proof read this once so it'll probably have a lot of mistakes.

Thanks again xoxo

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