Stay With Me

Chapter 30

// Meryl's POV //

I mean, I know that it was kinda stupid to not want the public to know about me and Charlie, but I felt that to some of our fans it would be too much of a shock and they wouldn't accept it. And on the other hand, there are some fans who have shipped me and Charlie from the beginning and I could only imagine the hysterics they would go into when the read their newsfeeds and found out that Charlie and I were dating. It would only be a matter of time before we started getting messages to the effect of "I knew that you guys were meant to be from the start!!!" and "Yassss! I can't believe that my dream is finally coming true!!! Merlie lives!!!" I don't think I could handle it. Not that it is bad, I just think I could deal with it right now. Knowing now the extent of Charlie's love for me and top of what we have always had for each other, I knew from the moment we started dating he would want to proclaim to the world that we were an item, tell the world that "the great Meryl Davis" (his words not mine) was his. I guess that he felt he should wait a few days before he announced it though for my sake. I knew it was coming but still it hit me like a ton of bricks that morning when he knocked on my door and asked me if we could tell the press about us in our next interview. I don't know what got into me, though. I am never weak, but I simply broke down crying. Charlie tried to comfort me and that meant a lot to me. I buried my head in his chest and he wrapped his protective, muscular arms around me and kissed my head. He held me like that for what seemed like hours but was probably only a few minutes, but then we heard the flash of a camera. And then another. And another.

This can't be happening. I thought to myself. I was trying my hardest to come up with a plan to cover up for what the cameras just caught, but then I remembered that Charlie had basically said while he was comforting me that everything was going to be alright so he was going to tell the world about us. I had a mini panic attack. But then I heard Charlie's voice. He said, "Um..." I had never seen him at a loss for words before. I looked pleadingly at him. I was trying to say with my eyes, "Please Charlie. Don't say anything. We need to talk about it more." He seemed to get the message because he gave me the "Anything for you." look.

Then one of the paparazzi pulled out a microphone and said, "What do we have here? Is America's favorite ice skating duo now a love duo?" and he shoved the microphone in mine and Charlie's direction. Charlie looked at the man with the microphone and then to the man holding the camera recording him and said, "What difference does it make? We are ice skaters and that is that." He turned around and and went back inside his apartment and I followed his lead. He locked the door and walked away from it as far as possible so that the microphones couldn't pick up the sound.

"Meryl. I'm sorry. I probably just blew the lid on everything. I know that you wanted to keep us a secret, but..but..."

"Its okay. Just like you said, no matter what happens we will always have each other." and I smiled. I brushed a curl out of his face and I saw him smile. I grabbed his waist and hugged him, then instantly I was wrestled into a bear hug by Charlie. Even when he is the sad one, he knows exactly what to do to make me feel better.

// Charlie's POV //

I couldn't let Meryl down. I knew that she didn't want the press to know about us yet. When I saw the cameras I froze and had no idea what to do and was speechless, but then my adrenaline kicked in and I knew what I had to do to save us. I just said that it didn't matter. I know that the picture is going to be everywhere though and we will have no explanation. I let Meryl down. I had no idea how I could live with myself. This was huge. It wasn't like I ordered her the wrong kinda of soda, I basically went directly against her wishes. But then, Meryl knew just what to say to make me feel better, even though she should be the one feeling down. I couldn't help but wrap her into a bear hug when she wrapped her delicate arms around my waist. I love her and nothing in the world could change that. I was just worried about what we would find when we searched our names. I mean I know how fast those tabloids upload things and how much they are able to twist the meaning of a picture.

I said to Meryl, "You wanna see if anything has gone up online about what just happened yet?"

"Um.." she said nervously, "sure."

"I opened up my laptop and opened the browser and searched "Meryl Davis and Charlie White." I cautiously pressed enter, afraid of what we might find. When the page loaded, we both looked in horror at what we saw on the first page of results. My jaw dropped and Meryl gasped...