Teeth // 5 Seconds of Summer

Micah – one year before

Charlie should be here any second. I'm pulling supplies out of the bag I packed and stressing. I've been thinking about this for years. Ever since Charlie put her head on my shoulder one fourth of July at a fireworks show. I swear it was like being electrocuted. Every part of me was buzzing, a live wire. I wanted to put my arm around her, pull her into me and hold her close. I'd held her before. It wouldn't have been a big deal. But the way I was reacting to her that night made me fucking nervous.

Exactly how I feel right now.

I've got candles and little sparkly stones to spread outside on the deck. Some floating lights to put in the spa. Red flower petals for the bed. Soft music cued up on my playlist. The works. I'm dying to tell her how I feel. That she's everything to me and I want her to be more. That I'm ready to be the man in her life. How beautiful she is to me. Her short blonde hair and heart shaped mouth are perfect. Her green eyes glitter in my mind whenever I close mine. I dream about her more than I can admit.

The thing is, this is not just a physical attraction. I've always said what a knock-out she is. But she's the closest person in my life for a reason. Her adventurous spirit and willingness to be crazy stupid with me is at the top of my list. The way she cares for others, her family and me, is next. She's helpful, a problem-solver and willing to put in blood, sweat and tears to make something simple over-the-top amazing.

She's fucking amazing and I'd be a lucky asshole if she'd be mine.

Now I just have to get the guts to tell her.

I glance at the bottle of vodka I found in my suitcase. The fact it was stuffed in my case has Gio's name written all over it. It's probably an extra bottle he wanted to bring up but didn't have any room in his bag for it so he shoved it in mine. He wasn't able to come at the last second. Something about a family issue he had to take care of and must have forgotten he'd put this bottle in mine.

But now I've got something to take the edge off.

I don't bother going to get a glass, just unscrew the top and take a swig. Burns going down but I shake it off and continue setting things up. Jeff and that chick he met, Alison, are off somewhere doing God knows what. Her crazy friend, Misty, is sitting on the couch watching me go back and forth from my room to the deck but doesn't say a word. I don't trust that girl. She's got clinger vibes written all over her.

When I get back to my room, I decide to take another swig of vodka. The first one barely scratched the surface of my fears. One more won't hurt.

The pattern repeats for another twenty minutes. I take some things to the deck. Misty watches me with a smirk. I down a mouthful of liquid courage, which tastes better each time, until the door swings open and Charlie walks in.

"Heeeey," I say, my voice sounding odd to my own ears. "You made it."

Charlie scowls. "What happened to you?"

"Vibing," Misty answers before I can. "I think the man has a plan."

"Shhhh," I lean toward her and almost fall over. "My business not yours."

"Oh jeez," Charlie groans and covers her face. "Where's your stash?"

"Stash? You wanna party?" I gyrate up to her, getting my dance on in her space. "Party boy is here, baby."

"You're cut off. Water for the rest of the night. Come on." Charlie grabs my hand and drags me to the kitchen. Misty cackles from her throne of lies. "Here." She shoves a water bottle in my face.

"Okay, okay." I drink half the bottle, suddenly parched. "But come here with me to where I have some things for you and me and the night."

"Oh-kay." Charlie scowls as she lets me pull her to the deck. "What the hell?"

It's covered with the little candles that I haven't lit yet and a few birds are pecking at the sparkly rocks I tossed around the edge of the spa.

"Shoo, get away!" I stumble around the deck and try to catch the birds.

"Micah, stop. You're going to fall in the-"

I fall in the spa.

"Shit!" I sputter and spit as I come up for air. "Uh...whoops." I try to climb out, but the dang steps are slippery. "Can you?" I reach a hand up to Charlie. She grabs it and pulls. I'm able to slide out onto the deck on my knees and crawl to the sliding door that leads to the master bedroom, mine. The one I hope to be sharing with Charlie tonight. She already said no even though I begged her to have a sleepover with me again like we did when we were kids. The best fucking times of my life were having sleepovers with her when we'd talk or beat each other's high scores in grand theft auto.

I get to my feet without falling again, barely, and shuffle into the room. Charlie doesn't immediately follow me, so I turn to pull her with me. But she's still standing next to the spa watching me.

"Come on." I wave her over.

"No, Micah. I'll just go in through the kitchen."

"Please?" I'm not ashamed to beg.

"I don't think you need me."

"I need you so bad. Come on, help me out. Plus I want to show you something."

"Micah..." She's getting irritated with me.

"Aw, come on. You're my best friend. Who else can I count on but you." I give her my sad puppy eyes. She rolls hers and walks toward me. "Yay!" I cheer and step into the room as she follows.

"Surprise!" I sweep my arm across the view in front of us but when I look at what I'm showing her, I stop. "Oh, shit."

There's clothes everywhere, a bag of rose petals on the bed and half a bottle of vodka. Who drank the rest? I only had a few...oh.

"What is this?" Charlie whispers. "You want me to clean up your mess?"

I turn to her. "No, baby. Of course not. I got distracted but I had a plan. I was going to tell you out there but then I fell, so here we are. But I got distracted before and never finished the room." I walk to the bed and grab the bag of petals, opening it and reaching in for a handful. "See?" I toss the petals across the bed. And on the clothes on the bed that I never put back in my case when I dug out the vodka.

"Oh damn. That wasn't the effect I was going for." I stare at the mess, dejected.

"What was the effect? Frat house disaster?" She glances around the room with her arms crossed.

"Nah, nah. This is romance. You know, seduction."

"What?" Her voice is very quiet. Something about it makes me edgy.

"Yeah, cause once I told you I think you're hot and you still are." I move to get closer to her, putting my hands on her hips but she's still got her arms crossed. "We could be hot together, right?"

She's still scowling. I'm fucking this up.

"No, that's not...I'm confused." I rub my head trying to think hard about what I wanted to tell her. "You're..."

"I'm what?" She sounds pissed.

I close my eyes and try again. "You're up for anything." When I open my eyes to check I sway a little. Closing one eye to center her I see the angry eyebrows. Okay, still mad.

"Up for..."she shakes her head. "What kind of kinks do you think I have?" She steps back from me. "No, don't answer that."

"I can't. Cause I don't know." I waggle my brows at her. "But I'd love to find out."

She punches my shoulder.

"What do you want from me?" I say. This isn't going how I thought it would.

"To be decent. Not this asshole seducer. You just left for football camp a few weeks ago and you're already..." she looks me up and down, "like this."

"I had an epiphany." I need to confess everything to her but my tongue feels heavy.

"Yeah, I can tell. A real religious awakening."

"Right? It's like, what took me so long to see it."

Somehow I don't think that was the right thing to say, not based on the steam coming out of Charlie's nose and ears.

"See.What?"

"The magic between us. Or the magic we could make together."

"Fuck you." She shoves me away from her and onto my bed before spinning around and storming out the sliding door onto the deck.

"Wait!" I manage to get on my feet and follow her, still dripping wet and just realizing I've made a puddle in my room. I start shedding my shirt and shorts to leave outside so I don't ruin the carpet.

Charlie turns around as I drop my shorts, only left in my boxers.

"Oh my god, what the hell are you doing?"

"I'm wet." I point to my clothes. "And I'm messing this up."

"You got that right." She starts walking to the kitchen. I blindly follow, not exactly sure why she's so mad but knowing that every word out of my mouth is making this worse. I should stop before it's too late. Charlie continues stomping through the living room all the way to the stairs and won't say a word. I stop and watch her go.

"What happened?" Jeff asks from the other side of the room by the fireplace. Alison is with him. I wonder if I'm interrupting anything but don't have the energy to care.

"Who knows," I say with a shrug. I plop down on the sofa and lock eyes on the two of them. "So has the camp counselor made his move?" I waggle my eyebrows again, this time at Alison.

"You sound like Gio. Leave us alone."

I doesn't usually give Jeff a hard time but tonight I've been off my game.

"What's up with you?" he asks.

I groan, run my hand through my hair and slouch into the cushions. "I don't know." I throw another glance at the stairway.

Jeff leans closer to me, speaking quietly. "Just tell her."

I shoot a glare his way. "Nothing to tell." I stand up abruptly and stomp into the kitchen. I start opening and closing cabinets, grumbling words to myself about fucking everything up and not understanding women before I give up and walk to the hall.

"Good night." I tell them. I'm so done.

"Good night," they both say.

I'll fix this in the morning.

But the morning comes and Charlie's gone before I wake up. My tongue feels like a hamster died on it and tastes about the same. I have a raging hangover headache and a vague recollection of some of the things I said to her. None of it good.

I send her a text to clear the air.

Me: Hey, I was pretty messed up last night. I'm sorry for whatever I said.

There's no response for about two hours. My blood pressure must be off the charts by the time her answer dings in.

Charlie: not good enough.

Charlie: don't text me

Me: today?

Charlie: anymore

Fuck. I just lost my best friend.

And the girl I'm pretty sure I'm in love with.

And now you know. I don't usually do flash back type chapters or viewpoints in my books. I tend to think that's (I hate to say lazy writing but...). I've read many books that use that device and sometimes its very effective, other times its just not. I hope I hit the right mark with it here. Usually, I'll integrate a flash back into conscious, present thought. I think I do a good job at it, too. However, in this case I felt the full time jump back was best.

Next up will bring Charlie back to the present with the girls upstairs. Some tea will be spilled.

Her love's got teeth. This feels like drunk Micah stressing about his feelings for Charlie. She really doesn't have teeth the way the song describes but the vibe is right.

https://youtu.be/JWeJHN5P-E8

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