Olivia Beckhams

Charlie left me far more confused than satisfied. I went in there hoping I could give him and get some closure but all he did was confuse me and make me want to be with him again. When I got home, I had about a million texts and calls from Thomas. Even though he wasn't there, when Charlie collapsed, the news spread like a wildfire. Within the hour everybody in the school and pretty much the whole town knew. I hate this for Charlie because I know how much he hates people knowing about his diabetes. Thomas was furious that I helped him, but what was I supposed to do? Just let him die? No way was I gonna stand there and let them let him die because they didn't even know that he had diabetes. That's ridiculous. So when I get home at almost midnight after hanging out with Makenna and Rachel, I can't stop the nervous energy that thrums around in my body. Which ultimately leads to my decision to knock on his front door right now. It's 9:30 in the morning and after a night full of pacing and writing pros and cons lists, I've driven myself to delusion. Because this is an utterly delusional idea. There is no good reason as to why I'm trying to get back together with Charlie. Thomas has been texting and calling me all night but I've ignored him. I don't owe him anything right now anyways. I'll talk to him after I talk to Charlie. I raise my hand to knock but I don't even touch the door when it's already swinging open. Mr. Williams stops in his tracks from rushing out the door.

"Whoa, hey there Olivia. What's up?" he asks mid door closing.

"I need to talk to Charlie, is he home?"

He pauses and looks at me with an inquisitive look. "Have you talked to your parents?"

"Yeah last night. Why" I ask confused now.

He takes a deep breath before looking at me and saying carefully, "Charlie's in the hospital. He crashed again when he got home last night and he was too low for us to do anything. We had to call an ambulance."

"W-What. No I didn't know that! Can I go see him? Please?" I say, practically ready to beg.

"Yea, you can see him, but he hasn't woken up from last night so there's not much action."

"Ok that's fine. I just need to see him. Even if he's unconscious. I just want to see him." I tell him almost desperately

"I'm going there now, do you want to come with me?"

"Can I? Please?"

He gives me a smile and says, "Of course. I wouldn't have asked if I didn't want you to come."

"Give me 2 seconds to tell my parents then I'll be right there." I tell him already sprinting away.

After yelling into my house and my parents are notified, I go back outside to see Mr. Williams sitting in his truck waiting. When I walk into his peripheral, he looks up and smiles at me gesturing for me to get in the truck. I climb in and he pulls out of the driveway and starts heading towards the hospital which is thankfully only 5 to ten minutes away from our houses. We keep up the small talk until we get to the check-in counter where I get a visitor's pass. Charlie's mom comes out as we're about to go in and she drags her husband away with her but not before telling me I could go in.

"He just woke up, love so he's still groggy." she says sweetly

I give her a small smile before saying thanks and taking a breath before walking in.

When I open the door, I'm greeted with the smell of disinfectant and sweetness. My eyes automatically seek out the bed where I see a broken looking Charlie. His eyes are closed and he's laying on his belly with an air pod in his ear. One of his hands has an IV and the other one is tucked under his head. I walk a little bit closer to his bed and move the hair away from his eyes before sitting down on the chair next to his bed. He stirs a little bit before opening his eyes and looking at me.

"What happened Charlie? Why are your levels dropping a ton all the sudden all the time? What is going on?"

He groans before mumbling, "It's too early for all these questions. Give me a second little hedgehog"

I breathe a sigh of relief at hearing him speak, even if he doesn't answer any of my questions.

"What happened?" I try again "You were fine when you left the school yesterday"

"Adrenaline high" he mumbles before delicately rolling over onto his back. "It was adrenaline high. When I got to my mom's car I almost literally died. I blacked out before I got in the car and my parents couldn't wake me up. They had to carry me the rest of the way to the car then they drove straight to the hospital and I've been here since. I'm pretty sure my parents are pissed at me but I haven't been awake enough for them to yell at me." he says with a half hearted chuckle

"You're crazy. Absolutely crazy." I say shaking my head in disbelief "How do you even get to this point"

"Because I've been worried."

"About what?" I ask confused

"You. You drive me crazy with worry, don't you know?"

"Um. no I didn't" I said, cheeks flaming

"Well, I've quite literally worried myself sick over you. You and that guy. Ugh. disgusting." he says with a shiver

"So what happens now?" I ask delicately

"Well my levels have to be stable for 24 hours before they can let me leave. As for us, that depends on you. But seeing as you came to see me I'll take that as a good sign."

"I guess you're right. I was up all last night just thinking and reflecting on my life and all the other interactions I've had with guys in general, I guess. And it just made me think of how I was treated. Not that I was treated badly or anything but just not as well as I could have been. I just always thought that I was like an afterthought and that maybe I didn't need boys and I wasn't good enough for them. And before you try to tell me otherwise I know now that it's not true. But these whole recent situations have really made me think and I-" suddenly embarrassed, I look away from him.

"You what" he asks, urging me to finish my sentence

"And I realized that I've never been treated as well as I have with you. Because when I'm with you, I feel safe, secure, and seen. I feel loved and important." I tell him

"Come here. Come sit on the bed with me."

I go to sit next to him on the bed and he pulls me all the way over next to his thigh. He takes my face in his hands and kisses me. Taken by surprise, I freeze for a second before kissing him back. He pulls away and puts his forehead on mine before saying, "You are seen. And you are enough and I do love you and you are important to me. To everyone. You have such a beautiful soul and I consider myself one of the luckiest people that I have the chance to be with you. So I'm not going to just let you slip through my fingers. Call it selfish or whatever but I don't care. I just want to be with you." and without giving me the chance to respond, he kisses me again, harder and more meaningful than the last time and I gladly let him.

He pulls away from me and looks at me for a minute before saying, "Be my girl again?"

"Mmm no."

What. What do you mean no?"

With a big grin on my face, I said "Just kidding! Yea, I guess I'll be yours" I say, pulling him down to kiss me again.

-----------------

Few months later

~~~

Charlie Williams

As I sit impatiently on the hard white chairs waiting for the time when I can go back to my family and friends, and not have to listen to the boring speeches given by my teachers and administration. When they're finally done, they start calling names of the people in our graduating class, starting with A. Because it's going by last name, I have to wait quite a while. So after Olivia gets down from the stage and is back to her seat, I sneak over to her and pull her away from the seats and all the people to the back of the stage.

"Congratulations babe" I say giving her a kiss on the lips before she says,

"Aren't you supposed to be, I don't know, waiting to get your diploma?"

"I was bored. And I have nothing else to do." I answer her simply

"Usually this would be the time you watched all your classmates get their diplomas don't you think hun?"

"Ehh I'm good." I say giving her another kiss.

"What are we going to do after we graduate?"

"I was thinking we could go on a trip." I tell her

"Really? Where should we go?" she asks interest piqued.

"We could go anywhere. Because there's no more school." I tell her.

"Hmmm, we should go to Hawaii. Or we could go to Las Vegas. Or we could go to New York."

"Or we could go to all three." I offer only slightly kidding.

"Who's paying for all this?" she asks inquisitively

"Me and my rich parents. But mostly me."

She looks to the front of the stage, checking which letter they're at, before bringing her attention back to me. "If you're bored, I have something else we can do," she says, raising her eyebrows at me.

"Oh yeah?" I say with my mouth already going for her bright lips.

"Yea" she murmurs back a reply but our lips are already together.

After a hearty make out session, Ollie is quickly shooing me towards the stage because we may or may not have lost track of the time and I'm up in two people. And we can't disappoint the family by not showing up to get my diploma. Especially when Gwen got special permission from her soccer team coaches to come down to see me get it. As I walk up to grab my diploma from the principal, I hear my family cheering for me and I see Ollie girl with the biggest smile on her face and I realize that I did it. I survived moving states and schools when I never thought I would, and I got my girl in the process. Granted I lost her for a little while, but then I got her back so it was all worth it. Walking across this stage has me realizing that I have been able to do so much more than I ever thought. Of course we all still have our struggles and I'm not saying mine are gone, but they're definitely better with my girl by my side. I shake hands with the principal and he hands me my diploma before I walk off the stage and join everyone else sitting who already have their diplomas. Life can't get much better than this, I decide for myself.