Way Forward (GirlxGirl) [E-book available on MEB]

Maybe you'll love it

"It's barely 10."

"So?"

"So you need an AA meeting, man." Glen's remark puts a smile on Charlie's face. He is a lovable young man with talents that can expand a lot more than he can ever anticipate.

"Let's go."

It is a standalone building on State Street with its own parking space and outdoor tables. The building itself looks modern with the feel of rural Italian from all the plants and decorations. There are a lot of windows that allow the sun to shine its light into the indoor area. Charlie takes her time to observe the surrounding while Glen takes photos of the exterior. There are a few cars in the parking lots and by her wildest guess, a couple are possibly the owner's and the chef's. The other one makes her lose her sunglasses. It looks familiar but she is a bit too far away to see the plate clearly.

"Hi!" A solid male voice projects aimlessly since his two guests are not standing together or even close to one another. His male guest is making his way back from the sidewalk in front of the restaurant while his female guest is standing by her own car. So he looks back and forth between the two with the brightest hospitality smile. "You must be from the agency?"

"Yes." Charlie shakes the hand that is politely extended her way by the man who is taller than both of her and Glen. He is not exactly muscular but he is definitely manly-man healthy kind of way. "I'm Charlotte. I'm with the PR team. This is Glen, our photographer. I'm just accompanying him for the pictures. There is no change in your marketing team or anything."

"Alrighty. I'm Shawn."

Charlie is taken back a bit but not enough to be noticed. She knows how stupid it is but somehow the name becomes haunted now. She unconsciously becomes to dislike every Shawns in the world. "Nice to meet you."

"You guys are just in time. My chef is preparing lunch. Eat first, yeah?" The man with the neat slicked-back hair offers with the smile that hasn't left his tan-skin face. He is very well-put-together from the way he stands and the way he dresses with his polo shirt perfectly tucked into his khaki pants. The aura of the man who has just walked out of some girls' daydream is shining so bright out of him that Charlie almost feels the need to put her sun glasses back on.

"Definitely." Glen says with wide eyes of delight as he adjusts the backpack straps on his shoulders. The way he looks now is no difference from those interns from the movies; a camera hanging from his neck, a bag on his back and a spin in his head.

"Great." Shawn smiles with the incredibly sincerity in his eyes before extends his arm towards the huge glass door entrance. "My girlfriend is joining us. I hope you don't mind."

"Of course not." Charlie mumbles as Shawn rushes his steps past her to open the door and lets them in. "Oh, thank you."

Inside, Charlie gets to enjoy the marvelous atmosphere of the modern-looking Italian restaurant for a brief moment. Right when she is appreciating the firewood pizza oven that was built beautifully behind the bar, she sees something or someone at the corner of her eye. Her instinct whispers so soundly for her to look and she complies without any second thoughts. And there she is. The girl with the eyes that are filled with kindness and compassion. She is shining that sight at her without a word of explanation. Her heart instantly feels so warm from the sight but the whole situation between them and around them makes everything turn so cold.

"This is –" Shawn makes his steady steps towards the girl with his adoring gesture.

"Nicole." Charlie interrupts Shawn with the exact information he is about to pass on.