Charlie Williams

"We just stopped by Olivia's house to say goodbye so we thought we would say goodbye to you too." Kimberly says.

My blood runs cold. "What." I say, so calm it even scares me. "What do you mean you stopped by Olivia's house?" I scream for my dad before running out of the house and straight next door. He can take care of them. I know I can leave if he's there, but right now, I need to get to Olivia. I pound on her door until Leo opens the door.

"I need to see Olivia. Also hi." I say while running into their house. Not caring enough about pleasantries right now. I run into Olivia's room to see her wiping tears off her face. Just as I thought. I knew she was lying when I asked her if they were bothering her. I go straight to her not caring that she thinks we're broken up. Because we aren't. She may think that but we aren't breaking up. Ever. She's sitting on her bed looking the most broken I've ever seen her. Tears streaming down her blotchy cheeks when her leg is in a cast and her shoulder is wrapped up. It breaks my heart so much I want to cry. I rush over to her and get up in her space and surprisingly she doesn't protest. I pull her into my arms as best I can without hurting her and hold onto her. I relish the feel of my arms around her for a few moments before pulling back and saying,

"What did they say to you." It wasn't a question. I needed to know so I could beat them up accordingly.

"N-nothing"

"That's crap. Tell me the truth."

"It doesn't matter. You're not my boyfriend anyways so I don't have to tell you anything."

"No. You don't get to use that. I didn't give you permission to break up with me. Breaking up is a mutual decision and one that WE didn't make. You did. And what gives you the power to break us up when I don't want to?" I speak heatedly.

"Do you want what's best for me?" she asks in a deathly still tone.

"Of course I do. You know that."

"Well the best thing you can do for me is to break up with me. Nobody deserves the hurricane type of mess I bring in. I'm doing you a favor Charlie. Why can't you take it gracefully?" Olivia says.

"Because Ol. What about me? What about what I want? You're breaking my heart by doing this. This isn't what's best for me. This is what you want to be the best because things are starting to get serious and scary and you don't know how to handle that. If you want what's best for me then you wouldn't let me go. You wouldn't say you're not enough for me. You would believe you're everything to me. Because you are. I love you. And I know you want to ignore it, and it's fine if you don't feel it back, but I am telling you now that I'm never going to stop being with you. And if that means that I'm going to be annoying you till you're on your deathbed, then so be it. I'm not leaving you alone. Even if you've married someone else. Even when you have their babies. I'm never going to stop annoying you and I'm never going to stop being by you. I'm not a stalker, but I'll become one for you if I have to."

She stares at me hard before saying, "Then I guess I don't want what's best for you."

"Stop. we're not doing this again. I'm not going to have you tell me you're done with this relationship again. This time, I'm not waiting for you to say anything. I'll talk to you later." I say with a disbelieving scoff and walk out of her room.

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One week later

I walk out of the principal's office with a content grin on my face. I just fixed one of my girls' biggest problems. Now I just need to put it into action. I've gotten permission from the principal to stick paper into every single male locker. The purpose of this is so that my Ollie girl, when she comes back tomorrow, won't get trampled by all the large men in the hallways. I've printed out a piece of paper with her picture and the details of what the men in the school are supposed to do. Basically saying, they have to part and let her through, and they have to help her. And If they don't, they get a suspension courtesy of the principal. I go and put the papers into the lockers with the help of Jordan, Noah, Elijah, Aaron, and Levi. We head to lunch afterwards and sit down at our table and start chatting. Lunch is only five minutes through when this brunette girl with short bob style hair comes and sits down where Ols usually sits. All conversation stops as we all stare at the foreign piece of human that has decided to grace us with her presence. It's Jordan who finally speaks up, "Umm not to be rude, but who are you and why are you at our table?"

She gives a smile that has me cringing because it looked like it hurt to smile as huge as she did. "I'm Jessica Sanchez, and I thought this guy right here might like some company." she says pointing at me like I'm a dog.

I give her a look that some would consider very rude, before saying, "Yeah, this guy? He's off the markets."

She gives me a hungry smile before saying, "That's fine, I like men who are hard to lock down."

"I'm not your toy. You don't 'lock me down'. I'm not looking for anyone but my girlfriend to bring me some company. So kindly, get out of my face." I say shoving back my chair and walking out of the cafeteria. I go outside and sit on the grass, my back against a tree. A few minutes later I feel somebody come and sit next to me. I turn to look at them, surprised to find Aaron sitting next to me.

"Hey." I say

"Hey, Whatcha doin out here?" he asks

"Trying to figure out what I did wrong when Ollie left me." I answer him

"I don't think you did anything wrong dude."

"Well if she wanted to leave me so badly, I obviously did something wrong."

"Seeing as she left when she was most vulnerable, I'd say she was a little insecure and didn't want you to see her when she was a mess." he says

"How do you know that?" I ask, my curiosity peaked.

"My older sister did the same thing with her boyfriend, then after she didn't want to get back with him because she knew she shouldn't have broken up with him in the first place. It's a stubborn person thing. They don't want to admit their wrong so they just go along with what they originally said."

"Well, what happened? Did they get back together or did they break up?"

They were broken up for a while but eventually he won her back over. They're actually really good now. I think they're planning on locking it down sometime soon actually." he says, nudging me with his shoulder.

"I'm not worried about after we get back together, I'm worried about how to get back together. That's the stubborn part of her. And even though we live next to each other, we don't see each other very much. Until she comes back to school, it's gonna be hard to talk to her at all." I tell him

"Do you know when she's coming back?"

"I think next week sometime but I'm not sure what day."

"I have an idea. I think I can help you." he says with a mischievous smile before he gets up and walks away towards the cafeteria. This isn't good. If Aarons up to something, it's never anything normal. But honestly, I don't care at this point. I'll do whatever it takes to have my girl back now. The bell rings, signaling that lunch is over so I reluctantly head to math.

When I get back home after school, I'm surprised to see my mom home.

"You're home early. What's up?" I ask her

"I'm just worried about you. You're not yourself and it makes me so sad Char. I miss my boy. I know why you're so down and I wish I could do something to help you." she says sadly

"Yeah. I just miss her, mom. And I don't want our relationship to end. It's not meant to end."

"I know hun, I think she just needs some time to adjust though. She doesn't know how to act or think because everything's changed so fast and not for good."

"So what should I do?"

"You need to give her time. Then after you have given her a week or so, you need to talk to her civilly and not scream and argue with her. If she still doesn't want a relationship with you afterwards then you can't do anything about it."

A groan tears through me at the thought of her never wanting to be with me again "What if I don't want to do that though? She's convinced herself that our relationship is done."

"You can't control what she thinks or does, Charlie. It's up to her if she wants to be in a relationship with you."

"I know. It's hard though because I know that but I also know that she still wants to be with me. But I'm not going to give up on her."

"It'll all work out the way it's supposed to Charlie. Don't pressure her." my mom says as she stands up to go upstairs.

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Two months later

As I walk into the school cafeteria only half listening to what Levi's telling me, I spot Ollie and my heart catches. So the rumors were true. I had heard earlier this morning that she had a new guy. Of course I didn't believe the guys when they had told me, but seeing her now with somebody other than me, made me want to die. She'd had all of her classes changed when she got back from her injuries which was hard for me because now I couldn't even glance at her during class to make sure that she is ok. She must've met him in one of her new classes.

As we got to the table I asked Jordan, "Yo, who's that guy with Olivia." I ask him casually because I don't need any interrogations. Jordan has been here for the longest and knows pretty much everyone in the school so I'm pretty confident he knows who it is.

"That's Bennett Wilson. He transferred here last year from New York. Apparently his parents are like one of the 'world's favorite couples' or whatever. Because they have this, like, great love story."

"What is it?" I ask absentmindedly while I watch them.

"His mom is some great dancer who was on Broadway for a long time. She got super famous because she met her husband during one of the shows when he became her lifter after hers broke his wrist and the rest is history."

Great. I Bet that's how she wants her life to go. Find some beautiful guy to catch her right as she's gonna fall off the stage.

I see him whisper something in her ear before she looks over to me. She hobbles over to her backpack and I turn my attention back to the guys at the table. A second later I feel my phone vibrate.

Olivia: Stop looking at me.

Charlie: Why are you with him?

Olivia: None of your business.

It is my business. She's mine, not anyone else's. Whatever. I turn my attention to the guys, trying to push Ollie out of my mind.

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Today we have a game after school and sadly, my parents can't come and watch. I'm not super excited about it because what am I playing for? I don't think Olivia is going and even if she is, I know she won't acknowledge me. She's still pissed from lunch time. I have about an hour to kill before I have to go to the gym for warmups so I decide to run home to go play with my dog because I miss her. I haven't been able to see her as much because I've been busy lately but she always still comes to my bed to sleep at night.

When I get home, she comes running up to me so I pick her up. We go into the living room where we have a little bucket full of her toys, so I pick some up and start playing with her. By the time it's time for me to go, Bella is not happy with me. She just wants to keep playing but it's time for me to leave so sadly I give her a kiss on the head then I leave her to go back to school.

When I get back to school, all the guys are already in the gym warming up, getting ready for practice before the game. When the coaches walk in they start running us through some drills until people start to arrive and they send us back to the locker rooms to chill until it's time to start our game.

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It's the middle of the first period when I start to feel woozy. I glance up at the clock to see that we only have four minutes left of this quarter. I glance at my coaches but they're looking at the other players right now. I don't want to call out but I also don't want to black out. But I think I can last four minutes, right? I look out in the stands trying to see any familiar faces. Anyone to help me. The coaches don't know anything about my diabetes, only that I have it. My parents aren't here and the only other person I've told is Ollie. But I don't think she's here. And even if she was, I don't know if she'd know what to do or even want to help me. I glance back up at the clock. Three minutes left. I can last three minutes. But all of a sudden I feel weird. I feel light, like a feather. Like I'm floating on a cloud. It's kinda nice. I feel myself falling, but it's almost like I'm not in my body. And all the sudden, I feel the hard ground underneath my side and I'm knocked back into my body. There's a whistle blown and everyone stops playing. I hear my teammates calling my name but I don't have the energy to reply. My eyelids feel heavy but I fight them to stay up. Suddenly everyone's crowding around me and asking me too many questions to comprehend. But then something changes. The crowd parts and she steps in. I immediately fight my eyes more to stay on her but it's getting harder and harder by the second. She calls my name, but again, I don't have the energy to respond to her. But she knows what to do. Somehow? I never taught her what to do. She pulls my monitor hooked onto my pants and looks at it before asking everyone if they have any food or drinks. When they all scatter, she looks into my eyes and tells me to stay with her. But it's getting harder and harder to do. She puts her hand on my cheek and that's the last thing I feel before I give into the darkness.

I groan as I open my eyes, feeling myself on something soft and the air cold. I look next to me to see Olivia and my coaches talking. When they hear me, they all walk over to this bed that I think I'm lying in. Olivia starts to stroke my arm and the coaches start scolding me for not telling them about my diabetes sooner. After a good 20 minute lecture, they inform me that they've called my parents and they're going back to the game but Ollie's gonna stay with me until my parents arrive.

"When was the last time you've eaten?" she asks the second they leave. She's still stroking my arm so I have to try extra hard not to focus on that instead.

"I don't know. I had a bar this morning I think." I tell her, sitting up

"Seriously Charlie? You can't be doing this to yourself! You're gonna end up in the hospital if you keep going on like this." she says as if she doesn't do it all the time.

"When was the last time you ate Ollie? Because last time I checked, you were the one who never ate." I shoot back more than a little frustrated that she is choosing to argue with me about this topic when she's a hypocrite in it.

"We aren't talking about me Charlie. We're talking about you. You blacked out in the middle of the court. And last I checked, I've never blacked out in the middle of a dance because of my lack of food intake." Now we're both angry. I don't know who's angrier at this point but I honestly am just glad that we're talking again.

"How did you know what to do? I've never told you." I decide a subject change will do us some good.

She suddenly turns red and glances away before mumbling, "I researched and may have taken a class. It doesn't matter though."

A smile forms on my lips. "So you don't totally hate me. Nice to know."

"How could I hate you? You're like literally perfect."

"Not without you"

"But then there you go. You're also way too confident and cocky that you're going to get what you want."

"Because I am."

"Example number two."

"I have a lot more examples when it comes to you." I say giving her a smirk

"Ya Know you're lucky I was even there. You probably would've died if I wasn't."

"Why were you there?" I ask inquisitively

"That's not the point. You need to take better care of yourself."

"Why were you there little hedgehog?"

"You need to make sure you're eating three meals a day."

"Missed me that much you needed to come to my game?"

"You need to stop worrying so much about me and focus on yourself."

"Just admit it hun. You still want to be my girlfriend."

"You have to watch your blood sugar because one day I'm not going to be there to save you."

"You would hate to see me call another girl mine. Isn't that right?" I say looking her dead in the eyes

"Stop Charlie! Stop messing with my head!" she says exasperated.

"It would only bother you if I was right." I say with a smile forming on my lips.

"Well you're not. You're the furthest thing from it." she says angrily

"Then why are you so worked up right now? Just listen to me and what I have to say. Please." I all but beg her.

"Fine," she says, crossing her arms on her chest.

"First off, is that guy your boyfriend officially?"

"No. I've only known him for like a week."

"Ok ouch. A week and you're already cuddly with him." I say swinging my legs off the bed

"Next, I need to do a little experiment." I say trying to hide my grin. I stand up off the bed and she eyes me warily before I come and stand right in front of her.

"Close your eyes for me." I demand

"oook" she says closing her eyes.

Without giving her a moment to think, I press my lips to hers in a simple kiss. A test that she immediately passes when she starts kissing me back. And it feels like I'm finally coming back home. After a second, I begrudgingly pull away and she looks up at me, surprised that I stopped.

"When you decide that you want to gain back the common sense that you left in the hospital, let me know. Kay hun?" giving her a quick kiss on the cheek, I walk out of the room. I already know my parents are here because I felt them blowing up my phone the whole time I was in there. I pull my phone out and answer the current call being spammed on my phone.

"Hey mom, I'm coming to the parking lot. I'll be right there." I say before she sighs and gives me an Ok and I end the call.