Charlie

She's taking my offer up!

I can't believe that she's actually going to take me up on my offer. I would have thought for sure after the last time I was there that she would have decided to never even look at me again, let alone take me up on the offer.

"That's great!" I exclaim. I move the ball from in front of me and hold it on the side of my body using my arm.

"Yeah." She nods. "I thought I would seek you out now and um, tell you that. So, now that I have... I'm going to go."

I laugh. She's adorable when she's nervous.

My eyes widen. Shit. What?

I nod aggressively. "Yeah. Um, I'll see you later then."

She nods. "Yeah. See you."

"See you in math." Naomi says, a smirk on her face.

"See you in math." I tilt my head, confused by the smirk and the tone in her voice.

They turn around and make their way out of the gym. Naomi laughs and Olivia's face turns red.

I take a few deep breaths to steady myself before I turn back around and focus on my shots.

Now that Olivia is wanting my help I have to first figure out how to start. I have those sheets and quizzes from dad, so that's probably the best place to start. Will Olivia be okay with me coming to the bakery after school? I hope so. It might be the only place where we can meet up and know we'll be there since we don't have each other's numbers. That's probably a good idea too. To exchange numbers.

A flutter goes through my stomach.

I try to shake it off. What is with me?

"Charlie! Pass here!"

I turn around and find Jake. I roll my eyes. Biggest douchebag ever. But I pass him the ball, which he then shots into the hop.

"What's up?" I ask.

"Just saw you talking with Olivia."

Oh. That's what this is.

"She was just asking for my help with something," I tell him.

He raises a blond eyebrow. "Help from you?"

I nod. Jeez. He's so full of himself he can't believe that others can genuinely help other people.

He snorts. "What could she possibly get from you?"

I roll my eyes. "Lay off, Jake."

He shakes his head. "Whatever." Then he jogs back over to his side of the court and joins his douchebag friends.

After that, I've lost my desire to practice and leave the gym.

***

I leave the school with the biggest grin on my face.

I can't help it. After a crappy last week with... everything, this week is finally going to be my good one.

I make my way down to the bakery where, in theory, Olivia should be. When I get there there's only about three people in line. The guy is back and helping them. I join the line and glance toward the employee door every few seconds.

"It's you again," the guy says when I get to the front of the line.

I nod. "I'm back."

"What fudge will it be for you today?"

"Surprise me." I glance towards the door.

His gaze follows mine. "She's not in today."

My eyes snap back to him. "She's not?" Why didn't she tell me that?

He shakes his head. "She's got today off, so I'm here till close."

"Oh."

"Do you still want the fudge?"

I nod as my words leave me.

What am I supposed to do now? I know I can come back tomorrow, but when she told me she wanted my help I thought we'd get started today and we'd be able to get somewhere and get started on looking sooner rather than later.

The guy hands me the fudge after I've paid for it. "When is she working next?"

"I'm not supposed to tell you but," he looks around as if anyone here will catch him telling me. Tomorrow."

I nod. "Thank you."

"Welcome, have a good rest of your day." He waves.

"You too," I mumble.

I make my way out of the store and into the bright sunlight.

What am I supposed to do now? If she isn't here, where else could she be? Nowhere that I would know, that's for sure. And even if I had any idea where she is and I just showed up there I would look even more like a stalker.

If I knew someone who had her number I would ask them, But I don't. I'm not the popular kid who knows everyone, or even someone who's connected enough to barely know people.

I sigh.

Maybe my best bet is to just go home and forget about this whole thing. If she had wanted to meet today she would have told me. Or have taken my phone number. I basically just got rejected all over again for a completely different reason. But somehow it stings more.

"Charlie."

I spin around at the sound of the familiar voice that brings back memories. Not good ones either.

"Eva." My eyes widen. Not just because I'm running into her outside of school, but because she's talking to me.

Her lip ring catches a glare from the sun. She pushes her blonde hair over her shoulder. "Hi."

"Hi."

"How are you doing?"

I cross my arms. "Does it matter to you?"

She smirks. "Don't act so tough. I know you aren't."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, I know you're still hurt over my rejection."

What did I ever see in this girl? "I'm not."

She raises an eyebrow. "Really? So, you've moved on?"

I nod. "Yep."

"Hm." She looks at the bakery behind us. "Oh." She smirks. "I see now."

I look behind me and only see the bakery and the few people inside of it. "What do you see?" I ask.

Her gaze flicks back to me. The smirk she wears somehow grows bigger. "Oh. Well I guess if you don't even know then I must be wrong."

"What?"

She laughs. "It's clear that if you're just on the rebound. I feel bad for the poor girl who's next. She can't compare to me."

I blink. Then blink again. "Are you on something?" Or did she hit her head?

She shakes her head. "Nope."

"Then what the fuck are you going on about?"

She sighs. "Boys just don't get it. Do they?"

I look around to see if she's talking to someone other than me. She must be since I don't get what she's going on about, but there's no one else around "Get what?"

She takes a step closer. And another, and another, until she's almost touching my nose with her own. "That girls don't want to be the rebound. Especially after me."

I bark a laugh out. "Get lost Eva. You're seeing something that isn't there."

She steps back. The smug smile still on her face. "Sure. If you say so. I'll see you around, lover boy."

She trails her finger along my chin before walking away from me. I watch her walk away. God. What did I see in her? And why does she think that I'm on the rebound? Just because she rejected me?

But if that's the cause, then who does she think I'm into?