You, Me & 'Charlie'

You, Me & 'Charlie' - chapter 16

Chapter 16

So, I’d decided to try and not worry too much about Bree. We didn’t know for certain what was happening with her, but if we had the slightest hint, me and Paloma had sworn to go straight to her mum.

The rest of the week passed by fairly averagely and that was highly boring. The only funny things that happened were probably each day with Paloma singing about me and Jake and constantly asking about us.

The next week was pretty boring too. Bree was back in school, with a box of Kleenex in her bag in case she started spurting blood; her mum’s idea.

I tried to act as normal as I could around her. It was fairly easy by the time we’d got to the last couple of weeks of October.

Paloma was still dancing around me and asking about my dates with Jake and how he was even if she had just seen him in class. “Yes Paloma he’s great.” I grinned at her the week before Halloween.

She clapped her hands in an excited manner. “Aw, you’re adorable! How did the dinner with your parents go?” she asked, suddenly very serious.

“Haha, yeah, it went smoothly if that’s what you mean.” I said.

“Teehee, fantastic!” she cried, all hyper and dancing again.

I laughed at how excited she was.

The dinner she was referring to had happened last Friday. I’d told my parents me and Jake were ‘kind of dating’ in an off hand way. I didn’t want to tell them to be honest; having a relationship with your best friend you’d know since he was a baby was slightly creepy.

Mum took it well though and surprisingly, so did dad, though that was probably because he liked Jake.

Mum had decided to invite over Mrs Casswell, Jake and Ri for dinner. Ri was thrilled I was dating her brother. She told me quietly he wouldn’t shut up about me ever since he’d been 13. I went red at that comment. I’m glad Jake didn’t hear it because he probably would have done too. It went by fine and I was glad everyone had taken our new relationship as well as my friends had.

“So, are we gonna go to this Halloween party Jack’s throwing?” Paloma asked me as we headed for science class last thing this Friday.

I liked the way she automatically assumed I would come with her and we’d go as a pair.

“Of course, we go to the band’s parties every year!” I said.

“I knew you’d say that, obviously Jake was gonna go?”

I nodded “Well, Jack’s his guitarist, so I assumed.” I laughed.

Paloma nodded “Yeah, yeah. Anyway, we need to plan outfits. Is Bree going?” Paloma asked as we lined up for class.

“I guess so. No doubt Calvin will be there. Unfortunately.”

“Well, they are supposedly an item. We’ll just let them get on with it. He’s the least of your worries.”

“What can be more worrying than your friend dating a junkie?” I asked, wanting to hear what witty response she came up with.

“The colour of your dress for this party of course! And if it needs to match Jake’s outfit! We need to co-ordinate, there’s nothing worse than clashing with your date!” she said brightly.

I rolled my eyes. Paloma had to talk about fashion at the worst possible times.

***

I spent the rest of my weekend lazing around and generally doing nothing. I met Jake on Saturday, took Elliot and the twins out for a walk on Sunday and discussed outfits with Paloma over the phone.