small world

chapter 50

can anyone even believe this is chapter FIFTY?! fifty chapters, i cannot believe it. 

CHARLIE

“Am I a terrible friend? Should we turn around? Because I would do that for you… Sam I need you to pull over!”

The car jerked as my American native best friend still continued to struggle driving on the opposite side of the road after her months of living here in the United Kingdom. My heart was racing but it wasn’t because of her terrible driving, but because I feared I was making a huge mistake, leaving Sam in some of her last days in England when I knew the second June 10 rolled around I’d feel the regret from my head to my heart straight down to my toes.

“Charlie,” Sam said calmly as she put the car in park, “it’s okay! You’re already cutting your vacation short for me, I’ll be here when you get back and you can be the one to take me to the airport next time,” she smiled sweetly but in her eyes I could see her trying to keep it together. I leant over and wrapped my arms around her, cuddling my face into her, smelling of vanilla and Downy and just Sam.

“Okay,” was all I said as I sunk back into my seat, trying to sound upbeat but the notes of sadness were still evident.

“Lets get you to the airport before you miss your flight or change your mind, don’t you worry about me Charlotte Parker.”

But it wasn’t her I was worried about

HARRY

Emma was a hurricane; she turned up before I could run for shelter, shook everything up, tearing my heart from my chest like uprooting a tree from the ground, and left swiftly with me in nothing but ruins and despair. My heart ached because she was a full force that I knew all too well. She was mysterious and ruthless and strong-minded and all of these things that back then I found intriguing, now came back to haunt me. Months ago when I was on my high horse and had all of my friends and family and the boys and Charlie cheering from me, it was Emma I was chasing after. There was something about having the fame and pursuing the other girl; I lived such a structured, scheduled life, with the perfect fans and band mates and girl friend, that something about being 18 and famous made me want to break free from it all for just a little while. Emma and her friends were rash and reckless, and for a brief moment in my life I’d lost who I was and found myself craving the danger that she thrived on. And she was always there. When Charlie wasn’t there, she was. When Charlie was there, she was. Charlie’s on her way here right now, Emma’s already been here for who knows how long – even when I least expect it she’s there, like a shadow in dim light on a dark night, trailing not far behind me but completely out of sight.

And that’s the problem. I’ve been out of sight out of mind for far too long; now that I’ve seen her again one-on-one with my own two eyes – not just in passing from her hanging out with Charlie, which I was now sure was just part of her devious plan – she wasn’t just on my mind, she consumed it. And not in a ‘I can’t stop thinking about you because I’m mad for you’ Charlie kind of way, but a ‘you scare the absolute living shit out of me and could ruin my life and everything that gives it meaning’ kind of way. And as we drove back to the hotel in our black SUV, and I thought about this being the same car that would pick up Charlie in just a few hours time, and the fact that Emma was close by and could show up at any point to cut the string as she’d been sharpening her shears all this time, I realized that Charlie could very well be seeing more than just Australia this weekend. She could be seeing not her Emma, but my Emma, and I could be seeing the end of something beautiful.

CHARLIE

I got situated in my seat on the plane, and even though she was long gone by now, Sam’s knowing voice was playing over and over in my head. Samantha Greene had this beautiful way of always being right, and I think that was partly why I loved her so much. It was so refreshing to have somebody on my side that was so sure of herself and the world around her; she was so in touch with everything in a way that made you believe everything she was saying, because most of the time she was exactly right. This way about her was Louis in female form, because the two of them, aside from Harry, knew me inside and out, upside down and backwards. And they always knew what they were talking about – they always knew what was best for me because they always had my best interest in mind, no matter what.