Little Shy Ariel (ft. Harry Styles)

Chapter 24 - Respect

“You know what? I wish you would’ve been here last summer,” Ella tells me and my head snaps in her direction, my eyes meeting hers. “It would’ve been so nice to have more time to get to know you. I’m just passing by, I’m not even staying over today.”

I… I never thought someone would want me to be around, that someone would want to have got a chance to know me better.

“Me… me too,” I reply with a hesitant smile, still surprised by her confession

We smile at each other and stay there for a bit longer until Ella realises she has to go, Charlie is waiting for her. She even laughs that she forgot about her friend. She asks me if I want to meet him but I decline at first, yet she insists.

“He’s really nice and you’ll like him!” she tries once again.

“I-I-I’m… it’s hard… new people… I” I ramble again, feeling all anxious one more time.

“He’s really nice, I swear! Come on,” she begs and I take a deep breath.

Mare says to talk to someone I’ve never seen before or known of. Ella… well, I had heard of her and I met her when I was a kid so she doesn’t exactly fit the profile Mare gave me. But Charlie… well, I haven’t even heard oh him before.

“O-okay,” I give in and Ella is so happy about it.

I follow her to where an old truck is parked, a guy inside resting calmly with his hands in the back of his head, lying back.

“Charlie!” Ella calls and he snaps back to reality, only then he opens the door and gets out of the truck, walking up to us. I stay a bit behind, scared and too nervous to move.

“Ella! Where did you get? I was about to go looking for you.”

“You were sleeping”, Ella accuses him folding her arms and Charlie laughs, confessing he was indeed asleep. “Anyways, I met Ariel,” she turns around and only then she notices I stayed behind so she runs to grab my wrist. “Come,” she tells me softly and I gulp but let her lead me to Charlie. “Charlie, this is Ariel. She lives by the lake,” she tells him and he opens his eyes in recognition.

“Hi there, Ariel. Nice to meet you. Ella says that place is amazing, you’re lucky to live there,” he says with a kind smile, his brown eyes inviting me to trust him.

“Hi,” I say. I can’t utter anything anymore and he looks worried, he even looks at Ella as if she has the answer, but Ella only shrugs. “It’s… it’s nice to meet you,” I manage to say with difficulty but he smiles encouragingly and offers his hand, which I shake shortly.

“So… you work here now?” I nod, hugging myself. “How did that happen?” he asks and I see the exchange between Charlie and Ella.

“It’s okay, Charlie,” Ella tells him. “Rhonda didn’t buy the lake, she’s just… renting it.”

“Oh,” Charlie says. “Good, that place is too great to sell it.”

“I-I know,” I say and that’s all I can think of. Talking to Charlie is not as easy as talking to Ella, but I’m doing it. “Dad… Dad would never sell it,” I add, struggling to make the words come out but trying.

“Clever man,” Ella and Charlie say at the same time, smiling at each other. “Anyways, we gotta get going,” Charlie reminds Ella and she nods. “It was great meeting you, Ariel.”

“Likewise,” is my answer.

“Goodbye, Ariel. It was great meeting you. Please, take care of this place and the horses,” Ella says stepping in to give me a hug. “And please, take care of Niall while he’s still here.”