The Last Virgin Standing

Chapter 37: The Ty-Breaker

Dedicated to shellieblack8 for her comment on the last chapter. It was hilarious. (She said the reason why Tyler stopped her was because he was on Team Luke.)

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Chapter 37: The Ty-Breaker

My room was my safe place for the next week and a half. I avoided everybody (including my own father out of shame) at all costs. I only went out for school, bathroom breaks, and food (which I promptly brought up to my room). I kept a few cereal boxes and Little Debbie snack cakes up here in case I got hungry. Dad checked on me a couple of times, and after I assured him the problem wasn't Luke, he just assumed I was on my "time of the month" or was dealing with stupid teenage drama. I ignored any calls and texts I received, but only one was from Tyler. The rest were from Emma (Ian issues), Ian (Emma issues), and Luke. This was the most anti-social I had been all year, and I had to admit, it was sort of nice.

Luke tried to come over countless times, but I kept my door locked. "C'mon, Charlie. I know you're in there," he would say. I would keep quiet until he left. Some of the time I wouldn't even know he had come over (my earbuds were cranked up to the highest possible volume, which wasn't safe at all) until Dad said something when he told me dinner was ready.

Ignoring my friends at school was much more difficult. Since they were in some of my classes, I had to pretend I was dutifully studying, sleeping, or not paying attention, none of which were true. I ate lunch in a hallway that was only used for midday rendezvous. I carried all of my books in my backpack. The extra weight wasn't worth it, but I dreaded seeing one of them, especially Tyler. Although, it seemed as if he was trying to ignore me. I avoided eye contact and social interaction with everyone, not just my friends, because I was paranoid that they knew. I knew I was playing with fire when I got involved in the games, but I never imagined getting burned.

Luke came in at the right time. I was refilling my stash of snacks when he walked in. "Charlotte! Finally," he muttered.

Bent over, clutching three boxes of Pop-Tarts, I was like a deer caught in the headlights. This was not happening. I didn't spend agonizingly boring days at school and lonely days at home to have it all ruined because I had the munchies. "Luke...hey."

"You've been avoiding me," he said.

"It's not just you," I said.

"Did I do something wrong?"

"No. It was something I did."

"What did you do?"

"I don't want to talk about it." I didn't want to remember because it was a low point in my life. I should've had more self-control, and I shouldn't have let it get that far. I was glad Tyler stopped it, but what if he didn't? It was a shameful moment that no one needed to know about, let alone Luke. I might've told once upon a time, but now it would be extremely awkward.

"Charlie, you can tell me anything. You know that, right?"

"Yup." I couldn't tell him this. It would crush him into little smithereens. "I just want to be alone right now."

"Don't shut me out, Charlie. Please. I love you."

I knew that he did, but I never imagined he'd say it out loud, at least not this soon. I suddenly felt a little queasy, and it wasn't the butterflies. In that moment I realized that I didn't love him like I used to. I was holding onto feelings of the past. I loved him to the moon and back, but I wasn't in love with him. He was my best friend, but I couldn't picture myself walking down the aisle to him anymore. He meant the world to me-that would never change-but my world would not longer revolve around him.