#Online•jdb

57• Reconnect

"Oh, yeah, you're right. Any ideas, Char?" Dylan looked at me.

My eyes widened and my cheeks were puffed, crammed with apple bites.

"Hmm?"

"Any ideas about where Justin is?" Sam repeated.

I chewed and swallowed, "uhm... why would I know?"

"It was a just a question," Sam said, "why are you acting so weird?"

"Weird? I'm not acting weird," I avoided eye contact because I know she'd be able to read me like an open book if she saw my eyes - lying fiercely.

I could see, from the corner of my eye, that Sam was scowling at me, unfortunately deciphering through my facade.

"Oh my god, you know where he is," she said.

"You do? Where?" Dylan asked.

"Char! Why won't you say?" Sam nudged me.

"It's not important where he is, geez," I shook my head.

"Oh. My. God," her eyes widened, "he's in your room," she said as a statement more than a question.

I instantly looked at her and gulped down, nervously.

"Wait was he there the whole night?" Dylan asked.

"What's with the 3rd degree?" I asked, anxious for this conversation to stop.

"Char, what happened to you waiting until you were sure you wanted to be with him?" Sam asked, calmly and - surprisingly - non-judgmentally.

"Calm down, S. We didn't have sex or anything. We just talked and watched series and then fell asleep," I shrugged and then paused momentarily, "and maybe we kissed."

"What?" Sam and Dylan said in unison.

"You don't have to act so shocked. And I promise I'm not moving too fast or anything. It was just... in the moment. And I wanted it to happen. Please don't give me a lecture," I sighed.

"Char..." Sam put her hand over mine, "I'm not gonna lecture you. I told you from the start that I understand you have feelings for him and I just said I'd be here for you to help prevent you from doing anything you regret. I don't expect you to just avoid him. I want you to be happy and if you're sure that whatever happened last night you don't regret, then I'm fully onboard with that," she smiled sincerely at me.

"Thanks, Sam. I don't regret it. I mean, I can't be his girlfriend right now but it was really nice being close to him and..." I looked down as my cheeks turned red, "I really liked waking up with him," I looked back at her and Dylan, "and I swear, if I didn't want him to kiss me or have slept over, I would've stopped it."

"You don't have to explain yourself to us, Char. It's your life and your choices to make. Like Sam said, we just want you to be happy," Dylan smiled at me.

It felt good to talk about this without any judgement from them. I needed this.

"Can you guys not tell any of the others? I just want this to be lowkey and I don't want everyone to know and jump to conclusions. There's enough of that on social media. We're just hanging out and seeing where things take us," I explained.

"It stays between us, C," Sam wrapped her arm around my shoulders and gently squeezed me.

"I agree," Dylan nodded.

"Thank, guys," I smiled, "uhm, Dyl, could you please pass the Cheerios?"

"Sure," he took a clean bowl out the cupboard then handed me the bowl and Cheerios box. He slid the milk carton closer to me.