𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃𝐄𝐍 𝐅𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐃. ᵒᵘᵗᵉʳ ᵇᵃⁿᵏˢ ²

07

    She felt just a little bit stupid that the whole time, she was convinced her boyfriend was dead. But he wasn't, and so all those nights she spent crying seemed so far away now. She felt like the last month of her life was a blur, that none of those dreams she'd had were even real anymore, because he was alive somewhere, the whole time. She wondered how he was going to react when she would get to tell him everything, from the agents at her grandparent's house, to moving into the penthouse for a month, and wishing every night she could see him again, all while thinking he was gone forever. She was waiting for when she could look into his eyes and tell him how much she missed him.

    The world seemed to lighten with a golden aura that day after the news. Like everywhere she looked got brighter and brighter with the more it sunk it. Everything was sort of jumbled in her mind like a big maze, but she knew what the most important thing was, and it all revolved around that. She couldn't stop thinking about everything at once— how he was going to get back, if he was going to come back, how they would clear his name, what she was going to tell her grandparents, and how Charlotte would stay unnoticed by Ward and Rafe through all of it.

    She didn't know what she was going to tell her grandparents, and when. She knew automatically that she had to, it was one of her secondary thoughts, because the family of three vowed to no longer keep any secrets from one another after that summer. They knew everything about the whole John B and Ward issues, all minus the one common factor— the gold. Caroline and Daryl were in the running about exactly what happened, because Charlotte told them everything, and it would be sort of, well, out of trust if she failed to mention the fugitive was actually alive and not deceased like they thought he was. She was going to have to tell them eventually, it was just a matter of how and when.

    As of right then, the only thing that mattered was her friends. She would worry about her grandparents later, although her mind was such a mess that she didn't know if she was even capable of worrying anymore, or if all she could do now was worry. Learning that John B was somewhere breathing sent her mind into orbit, it spiraled everything out of control and she knew she would have to take the reins of it soon enough. But for now, she focused on her friends, hugging them until the shock wore off, and until her cheeks were stiff with tears.

    It was crazy how much chaos could arise from only a few sentences.

    "Just for the record," JJ was saying, as Kiara pushed open the back door of The Wreck. "I never doubted him,"

    It was late in the afternoon, a few hours after school ended. They'd gone the rest of the school day, restless in their seats, thinking about everything until the bell rang. Simply put, Charlotte felt like she couldn't sit still for the rest of the day, listening to her teachers talking, and she didn't care that it was her first day of public school anymore— her mind was too preoccupied with far more important things.

    She had called Caroline, because Caroline and Daryl didn't know what texting was even though they had smartphones, and told that her and the Pogues were going to The Wreck for supper, to "celebrate" the new school year. They thought it was a great idea, and it didn't matter that she wasn't home for the evening because they were stuck at the motel anyways, swamped with work and getting things back to normal after a month of letting employees keep the place up.

    The Pogues had sat in the restaurant, and if she hadn't just learned that John B was alive, she would have felt overwhelmed with all the memories that the old place held. They ate food that Kiara made for them happily, sharing the same smiles and laughs, and talking about how crazy of a day it was. They could not stop talking about John B since he was the only thing on their minds, quite literally, because they were still talking about him on the way out of The Wreck.