| 14 |

❝ You are so beautiful even the rain falls for you. ❞

IT HAD BEEN RAINING the whole day.

It was sixth period, or rather, right after it. The bell had just run, and Charlotte was scurrying along to her next class.

Charlie ducked her head down, clutching her schoolbooks to her chest. One more period and she'd be done for the day.

The bell was nearly about to ring, so she hurried her pace to the History classroom.

It was probably her fault; she wasn't looking where she was going, anyways. But still, that big, beefy guy shouldn't have rammed into her like that. It was easily enough force to almost send her sprawling, her books flying out of her arms as she went down.

Charlie could almost see herself falling in slow motion, and she was faintly humming mmm watcha say in the back of her mind.

This was just like the time when she was knocked over by that jock and Malcolm nearly flattened him.

She was falling, falling, and squeezing her eyes shut, waiting for impact...

And landed into a hard chest.

Someone's arms wrapped around her. There was an uncomfortable, tingling feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"Are you alright?" they asked, their voice deep and husky. Like they just rolled out of bed.

"I'm f-fine," she steadied herself, leaned down to gather her books, and faced him.

Charlotte sucked in a breath.

He was blinking hard, as if trying to commit her image to memory. His hair was ruffled, like he hadn't brushed it. His glasses were slightly crooked on his nose, his freckles prominent on his high cheekbones. His ocean eyes glimmered. "Charlotte..."

Teddy, you're the best friend I have, but right now I'm hella confused and the weird slithering in my stomach when I see you isn't helping.

"Oh, hey Theodore," she cringed at her awkwardness "Thanks for that save."

"My pleasure."

He was so tall and awkward and lanky, she wanted to squeeze his freckle-filled, dimply cheeks.

"I'm..." His voice got real quiet and Charlotte had to move out of the way for people trying to get into the classroom. "I'm sorry about the Dunkin' Donuts, I-"

"No no, it's mostly my fault, don't worry about it."

"Nah, Charlie, it's all on me, and I'm sorry about that."

No! Stop saying that, because it was my fault we kissed! I placed my lips on your cheek! I started it!!!

"Well, Teddy, I have to get to class really q-"

While she was turning towards the door, his soft fingers caught her wrist, causing her to spin around. Her breath hitched. Her skin tingled.

"Charlotte, we need to talk abou-"

Rrrrrrrrring ring!

Thank God for the bell.

"Um, bye Theodore," she yelled over her shoulder as she skirted into the classroom.

Mr. Hollins glanced at her with squinted eyes. "Nice of you to join us."

Oh, for God's sake, she was a second late! And it was all that frustrating boy's fault.

•|•|•

"So yeah, my mom said you can come over whenever."

"Great. I'll see you in, let's say about fifteen minutes."

"Awesome, you remember the address, right?"

"Yup," she could almost see his toothy grin over the phone. "See you, Charlotte."

"'Kay Malcolm," she smiled slightly. "See you then."

She ended the call.

Charlotte didn't particularly want to study, but finals were coming up, and she was pretty screwed.

•|•|•

They studied for about an hour.

She had never studied for math in her life, so this basically sucked.

Charlie closed her six-pound book with a sigh. "I think that's enough tutoring today."

"I think you're right," he agreed.

He was lounging on her desk chair while she was sprawled out on her bed. "How's your play going?"

"It's going," he replied. "It's really fun."

"That's good."

The silence was strained, almost awkward.

How much did Theodore tell his cousin?

Would he ask questions about her fainting?

"I know you and Theodore kissed," he blurted out.

Malcolm's brown eyes were wide and puppy-like, his thick eyebrows knitted together. His focus was on her, staring into her eyes.

She felt queasy. What does he know?

God, this was bad. This was awkward as hell. "W-what did he say about it? Did he... Did he go into detail? Why he did it? If he l-"

"Whoa, whoa," Malcolm said, pulling the chair closer to her. "He didn't say much. He mostly just freaked out on me. He, uhh... Called me at, like, three AM in a panic. He really just said how you guys kissed."

"Oh."

She shouldn't have expected Theodore to spill everything to Malcolm, like how he felt during the kiss. Why he kissed her. She could just talk to him...

But the notes!

She felt kind of disappointed, even though she shouldn't have. She shouldn't have expected Teddy to gossip about it. She hadn't spilt to a soul. Not that she had many people to spill to, but...

"So," Malcolm's voice was quiet and almost nervous. "Are you guys together?"

Charlotte felt all sweaty. Her hands were sticky and she was suddenly all hot on the outside. Her room was spinning. It looked like her poster of Jennifer Lawrence was mocking her.

"No," she whispered. "No, we're not together."

Malcolm had his legs crossed on the chair and looked strange. He was biting hard on his lip and his eyebrows were fiercely squished together. He was leaning forward as if he needed to strain to hear her speak.

"But do you wanna be with him?"

"I can't really respond to that Malcolm, I-"

"He didn't kiss you just to kiss you, Charlotte. He knew what he was doing."

Holy crap what is Malcolm trying to say.

Charlotte gulped. "I'm really confused about some things right now. I'm just not sure if I should really..." She gulped again.

Math was totally forgotten.

"Do you like him?" he whispered. His eyes were so big. So big and wide and her heart was slowly cracking, and she had no idea why. "Do you like him, Charlotte?"

She was picturing him now.

His blue eyes were the exact opposite of icy; they reminded her of rolling waves, or maybe the deepest blue sky, the color that appears just before nighttime. The kind of sky that rolled in just before the jet black of night, the kind of sky that was a comforting, refreshing, the kind of sky that lured you into its beauty.

His hair was messy and thick and you just wanted to run your hands through the black curls. It looked soft and fluffy, like the clouds in the sky. His glasses rested on his nose, light freckles like stars, constellations, Orion, dotting his cheekbones.

He was long and lanky, sort of awkward, but it suited him. His whole appearance, everything from the clothes he wore to the way he spoke to his name - it suited him.

He was the sky, the stars, and the clouds, all rolled into one.

And she liked it. Hell, did she like it.

"Yes," she whispered throatily, surprising herself. "I do."

Charlie raised her chin, more confident now. Her eyes were blazing. All of her feelings were bottled up, her anger and frustration and anxiety and confusion towards him, the kiss, the notes, the drawing, their encounter.

"I like Theodore Orion Higgins."

a/n

god these chapters just get worse and worse. i'd like to say they'll get better, but at this point, idk

yes, that pic is of me and my sUPER AWESOME BLUE HAIR!!1!!!!!11!!1111!11!!!11!! (omfg look at how pale i am)

okay, so please, honestly, just leave a comment of what you think of this book, what you thought of the chapter, what you think of the writing/the characters/etc.

I'm kinda stuck. I feel like it's really slow and nothing's happening and I just jjasghiuqebvqeiru hccerq piusfjvv

I did not win the grad essay. cries. also it's finals week, so i'm kinda frazzled.

dedi goes to @m__powell because they attempted to guess why my fav number is fifty-three and said: "Because it's the number of times I die every time you update because you're too perfect"

actually it's because of the movie Herbie. i was legit obsessed with that movie when i was little, so the number just stuck. i still want a punch buggy as a car, that'd be awesome. but that answer was good too ;)

GOALS:

50k reads in total (???)
160 votes
250 comments

thank you all for reading, siriusly :-)
(aha, username puns)