Char

"We're going to go see a movie tonight, are you coming?" Jora's hand grabs my elbow, turning me around as I try to put my books in my locker.

"Today?" I ask distractedly.

"Do you have plans?" the redhead scowls at me, trying to detect any lies, as she's been wont to do since I've known her.

I smile at her, carefully pulling her hand away from my elbow, so I can put my notebooks in my locker.

"Dad wants me to help him at home." I say, knowing that the mention of my parents will make her pull away enough not to ask anything else.

Jora nods, annoyed by my constant excuses but not brave enough to insist.

"Enjoy the movie, okay? I hope I can next time." I tell her, closing my locker.

Jora nods as I walk away, listening as the other boys approach her, asking if I have finally agreed to go with them.

I arrive home, standing in front of the door before putting the key in, trying to listen for any noise coming from inside.

I open the door after detecting nothing, walk as quickly as possible to my room, and lock the door, sighing with relief.

I turn on the light, freeing myself from the darkness, and open the curtains, hoping what little daylight can still get in.

I open my computer and turn it on, stepping into the bathroom to take a shower, hoping that when I'm done, the damn thing will be on.

The hot water helps clear my head. I look down at my slender fingers, concentrating on my breathing, hoping any thoughts will disappear.

I change back into my room, and with my toothbrush between my teeth, I see how my computer is already starting to come to life.

I sigh in relief, looking at the clock on my nightstand, counting down the hours until I have to send that paper I've been ignoring all month.

My cell phone rings, and I look at it with my eyes.

I find it still in my purse, right at the bottom.

I'm surprised to see a message from Instagram. It's a restricted message that won't let me view it from the main screen.

I frown, hesitating whether to open it, thinking about the possibilities of it being a spam message, a person wanting to tease me, or just a fake account wanting money.

I sighed after a while, seeing that my computer had crashed again.

I open the message and am surprised to see the person's name.

I go to his profile, and as expected, he doesn't have it private, many photos of him and his friends at the beach, restaurants and university appear. The number of people he follows and who follow him is more than I could have ever met in my entire life.

I go back to the message and read what it says.

"We're not going out today, everyone is coming to my place. Although I have no idea how, you know where it is. You don't have to bring anything, there will be everything here. If you need me to pick you up, I'll do it without a problem, because I still don't understand how you're coming. "

I put my hand over my lips, repressing a small smile.

I quickly type a reply after hitting the follow button and sit down in front of my computer to finish the work, thinking, really, what will I wear later.

Alex

"I'll be there."

I look at her response from a couple of hours ago and smile again. I followed her back the moment she asked for my request. I could see she had a few stories highlighted, most were from heaven, and some were with some friends. But no sign of her brother.

As close as they were.

"...take out? "A question echoes in the kitchen. I turn to look at Mosi who rolls his eyes when he sees that I'm not paying attention to him. "Are you okay? You've been distracted."

"I'm fine, I was just checking a college email." I lie, and he is well aware of that.

His irritating smile is present. I push his face away with my hand, putting my cell phone in my pocket.

"I need the cooler." he says, and we both go to the kitchen.

The house is slowly filling up, there are more people than we are used to because the first exams are officially over. Some guys from other colleges have come, and the house doesn't seem as spacious as before.

I look at my phone and notice that there are no messages. I hesitate to text her, it's past the usual time for her to show up. Still, I decided to wait.

She said she would come. That's enough.

"Alex! Come here, join us." Emi yells at me, she's sitting with some girls and guys in the living room. I raise my hand so she can see that I have seen her.

I turn to look at the front door before approaching them.

The drinks have started to blur my vision, the music is louder, and the sun has completely disappeared. The dim lights of the house create a more party atmosphere, people are having a good time.

I see that it's past ten o'clock at night when I notice the front door opening.

The image of the black-haired girl makes me stand up, pushing aside with little care the legs of a girl I wouldn't recognize right now.

Char walks in a little awkwardly, as if she'd been ringing the doorbell for quite a while, and decided to just walk in after no one answered.

You wouldn't even hear the doorbell ring anyway.

I approach her, and when her eyes meet mine, she smiles.

"Sorry I'm so late, I had to mail my letter to colleges before midnight."

As if it were a bucket of cold water, those words make me stop. Images of the past flash through my mind, of the girl in front of me who was a few years younger. And then I remembered what I had forgotten for some reason: the age difference. Char is about to finish high school when I'm in the middle of my college career.

I look around and wonder if this environment is good for her.

Of course not, I've known that from day one, but I know that, for some reason, she needs this in order to get away. Maybe, I could get closer, know what's going on, and help her in a different way than giving her a taste of different drinks every week.

"Do you...want something to drink?" shit.

His eyes look at me a little confused, as if he's understood the change in atmosphere between us. Her brow furrows slightly.

Her finger points to the kitchen.

"I'll help myself; don't worry, you're the host; I don't want to keep you."

Before I can stop her, the girl starts walking.

Emi's voice and the other girls make me look away, so I reluctantly approach them.

I don't know how long it takes before I stand up again, with the notso-good excuse that I need to use the bathroom.

So much booze that it needs to come out.

I walk up the steps, standing still for a few seconds, looking around, hoping to find the black-haired girl. I have no luck, so I run quickly to the bathroom in my room.

I go downstairs as fast as possible, trying to immerse myself in the sea of people to avoid being noticed by Emi and the girls, and trying to find Mosi who has abandoned me all night.

I go out to the garden and see the guys playing beer pong. The music is loud, and people are dancing while playing.

"Alex! At last, you show up!" says Mosi before he steeps his drink after losing a round.

"I could say the same thing." I grumbled, waving to some of the guys I hadn't said hello to.

"Want to play?" he asks, as he waves in the distance to a girl who just came out to the garden with a group of girls.

"I'm fine, have you seen Char?" I ask, searching with my eyes.

Mosi laughs beside me, almost spitting out her drink.

"Little Char? Of course, I have." His smile makes mine disappear completely. "She played with us for a while, a marketing guy was her partner, and when they won, they went to celebrate inside. Didn't you see her? She must be in a corner."

My jaw tenses.

"She knew him?" my friend frowns in confusion. " Char, did she know the guy?"

"I'm not sure, I would think not."

I sigh and nod, say goodbye to my friend, and start walking into the house.

My gaze is subtly passing by all the girls and guys who have taken their space.

I walk into the kitchen with no results and wonder if Char was stupid enough to go home with him.

I open the refrigerator to pour myself some water when I see a flash inside the door of the washing machine.

I put the bottle back down, and without a second thought, I went inside.

The two people inside parted ways. But not fast enough that I couldn't tell they were about to kiss.

"Dude, we're a little busy," says the guy, smiling slyly and gesturing to Char with his head.

The girl has lowered her gaze, trying to avoid my eyes, which are looking for any indication that she doesn't want to be here.

"Char?" My question is like a bullet to the guy. His skin turns pale, and I know from his face that he's thinking that somehow the girl next to him might be being unfaithful and that they've caught them in the act.

The guy breaks away from her as if she is infected with something. He raises his hands and points at her.

"We haven't done anything, I swear. Is she your girlfriend?" he asks nervously.

As if it's not the first time it's happened to him, and he's afraid of getting hit or something.

"Char?" I ask again, and this time her eyes do land on mine.

I almost gasped at the sight of her, her eyes seemed so dull. As if there was no life inside.

"I'll... I'll leave you two alone." The guy doesn't wait for an answer and leaves the room, closing the door behind himself.

Char looks away and stares at the white robe hanging in front of the washing machine, as if it's the most exciting thing in the world.

I sighed as I approached her, stepping in front of her and cutting her off from the view of the stunning robe.

"Char?" I ask again, not knowing what I'm asking or what I need her to answer.

"Why do you keep saying my name?"

"Maybe I'm waiting for you to answer?"

"What exactly do you want me to answer?" she asks angrily, looking into my eyes, not averting them at all this time.

"Did you kiss him? "I ask, and my eyes close the moment the words are spoken, and I'm not surprised to see the look of indignation on her face. "I'm sorry... I..."

"Why does that have anything to do with you?" Her words are dry and hurtful, as if it's nothing to her.

Maybe I'm not. In fact, I'm not. I'm her brother's old friend.

But then why do I feel like I need to protect her? Is it because she hasn't told me the reason why she needs this?

"I didn't mean it that way." sigh. "You can do whatever you want, Char, I was just worried that he wanted to do things that you didn't feel ready for, that's all." I say, and I'm sincere. I hope she can see it in my eyes

And when she does, her gaze softens.

"I didn't kiss him. Did you see his face?" A genuine laugh comes out of my mouth, which causes a big smile to appear on her small face.

"I was hoping you'd say that. I was going to have so much fun if he'd been your first kiss." I say, getting a smack on my shoulder.

"I don't plan on kissing anyone anytime soon," she says, and my eyes darken at the thought.

"You promise?" Her eyes flash, somewhere between surprise and confusion, but I don't take it back this time. I wait for her answer, an answer that may be more crucial than I expected it to be. But it wasn't her gaze or the small smile that appeared on her lips that almost made me sigh. It was her word.

"I promise."