Secrets: vanished & back

Chapter 15(pic of dress)~C

Slightly a filler chapter right now except for small part in the middle! Almost done with school so more updates coming up!! Dress on side-----------> (dont you love it?!?! I WANT!)  ~~syd   

**Charlotte’s POV**

The dress was indescribable. There were no words for describing how amazingly beautiful and perfect it is. I had to reach out and touch it to make sure it was real and this wasn’t all a dream.

The flawless, dazzling top half of the dress had spaghetti straps and could definitely show off any girl’s chest. There was a thick, light pink and silk wrap around the waist area that went down into a flowing bottom that ended around mid-thigh. I looked up at Ariella and asked with my eyes if it was really mine because I couldn’t get any words out of my half open mouth. She laughed and nodded after pushing the dress towards me.

“C’mon it’s yours! Go put it on silly! We need to hurry!” she exclaimed in a fit of laughter. With a bright smile, I took the dress and went to change. I came out as fast as I could to see how it looked and was in shock all over again. I would have never, in a million years, guessed that was what I would look like right now. The dress just seemed to be absolutely ideal. I was surprised to see Ariella standing behind me when she started talking.

“Char, I can’t believe you’re still the same best friend I’ve had over all these years. You look amazing babe! You went from little dorky middle schooler to sophisticated and beautiful high schooler in a matter of years. Oh I just love it all!”

“Thank you Ariella.” I genuinely replied, not sure how to respond any other way.

“Okay, I’m going to be right back, stay where you are.” A couple minutes after she left, I heard a knock at the door.

“You can come in.” I told them at the door. I turned around and saw Harry standing at the door, coming into my room when he made eye contact with me. The feeling was…different. Our eyes were locked when his mouth dropped open slightly. He started looking me all the way up and down when I immediately became self conscious.

What if he didn’t like the dress? Does he think I look weird or ugly? Dreading the answers to those questions I quickly walked over and sat on my bed, back to the door. I was looking out the window when I heard foot-steps coming closer to me. I started awkwardly fidgeting with my hands when I felt the bed slightly dip down, indicating to me that he sat down, and another hand take mine inter-twined in theirs. I slowly looked from our hands together to his eyes, waiting for him to tell to me to change or how unacceptable I looked. I had no idea where the sudden doubt came from, it was just a matter of minutes ago when I thought I looked ideal. But now I cared so much for his approval I would change my clothes. Why? I had no idea…

We stared into each other’s eyes for a bit when he finally spoke to me.

“Charlotte, you look…” he slightly breathed out. Looked what? Looked what??!

“Yes?”

“Absolutely perfect.” Did I hear that right? Did he just say perfect?  I felt the heat rise to my cheeks making me blush in realization that I had nothing to worry about the whole time. Becoming lost in thought, I forgot to give Harry a response. I noticed when Harry quickly changed positions by standing up suddenly, rubbing the back of his neck with his other, and looking at the floor instead of in my eyes.

“So, uh, I just came up here to tell you I’m going to be leaving soon so you could go to your show. I hope you have a good time and I’m, uh, really happy you could meet your friends again.”

“You’re going to go home?” he nodded. “Oh.” I tried to hid my disappointment but it was hard when I did not like being without him in my situation.

“Maybe I could see you tomorrow?” he asked looking into my eyes with slight hope.

“Yeah,” I replied desperately. “I mean, err, I would like that a lot.” I went on trying to regain my dignity.

“Great. So I’ve been thinking and I wanted to know what you would think of this idea I had. Well because you don’t really remember any of our previous dates or anything like that I was thinking we could, sort of, start over. Like if we just met a couple days ago and had our first dates, well again.” As he spoke he shifted awkwardly from one foot to another. Avoiding eye contact with me, I noticed Harry would fidget with his feet every time he was nervous.

“Harry,” I said pulling him next to me on the bed and looking straight into his eyes, “I would love that so much.”

“Really?” he asked as a big smile, showing off his dimples, appeared. Unable to choke out any words I just nodded with a smile of my own.

“Perfect! I will plan everything just be ready here tomorrow night M ‘Lady.” He said with a completely fake accent. I started giggling when he continued on with the accent. After laughing together for a bit the door opened to reveal Austin. We both looked over and I met Austin’s gaze.

“Could I speak with Charlotte?” He asked looking Harry in the eyes, sending him some kind of note. Harry then got up, kissed my forehead, and left without another word. I turned to look at Austin with surprise in my eyes.

“Hello.” I said barely audible. I could tell whatever facial expression I held almost brought tears to his eyes, making them slightly glisten.

“Hey so I know you have to go soon and I just thought I’d drop by before and say tomorrow I would like to have a talk with you. I, uh, heard what happened and want you to know I want to help you.”

“Oh, alright. Yeah we can talk tomorrow I guess.” I could help not hiding my excitement of being able to talk to Austin about my past. I was dying to know more about it. Before I knew it, he came over and hugged me. He held me so close to him, not wanting to let go. A couple of tear drops went down his cheeks while he pulled back to look at me. He looked all over my face, hair, and outfit.

“You look great Cher Bear.” He said with a light chuckle. Apparently, that was my nickname from now on.

“Alright I let you go now. I, uh, I love you.” He said to me. I opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. Quickly he spoke again.

“It’s fine, don’t say anything back. I understand. See you tomorrow.” And with that he left my room to go back into the hallway. After he left I let out a huge breath I didn’t know I was holding in.

 ****~~~****

The show went great. It was an amazing performance and being with Ariella and Chris really helped me. It wasn’t awkward at all, they completely included me in everything, and explained any “inside jokes” I didn’t get. It felt great being around them and anyone who looked knew we were all close. The ride home was alright and when they dropped me off first, I thought they were going to drive away but Ariella came out of the car too. She offered the idea of a girl sleepover and I happily accepted. We stayed up a bit listening to music and talking. We talked about anything and everything. The music was great and I would always ask her who was singing and the names of songs.

Our time together was wonderful and we finally fell asleep around 3 in the morning. The next day was surely going to be another adventure for me.