make you stay (g.d.)

fifty-one

ethan:

"i'm only doing this for elizabeth," charley says, piercing the silence that's overtaken the car for the past ten minutes.

"good," i respond dully. "me too."

she sighs, leaning her head back on my leather seats.
"you still have a thing for her, don't you?"

i glance at her quickly, then back at the road. "of course not. how'd you even know about that?"

"she told me," she shrugs. "you look at her a lot."

"she's like my sister, charley."

i feel her eyes on me. "and besides, you have a thing with bri, don't you?"

swallowing, i nod slowly and answer. "yes."

"you're lying."

my breath gets caught in my throat, but i force it to come out in steady patterns. "no... i'm not?"

"you don't actually like bri. she's just a distraction," she says softly.

and suddenly i'm angry.

"you've known me for 48 hours. who are you to tell me what i feel for other people?" i practically yell.

"relax, ethan," she smiles a little. "i won't tell him."

"what? what are you talking about?"

"i won't tell grayson," she says like it's the most obvious thing in the world. "that you still have a little crush on elizabeth."

"i don't! get that through your head."

"okay," she says doubtfully. "but your secret is still safe with me."

"i don't have a secret," i scoff.

"everyone has secrets."

"what's yours?" i ask on instinct, and immediately regret it.

she looks at me with questioning eyes and turns away. "if i told you, it wouldn't be a secret."

"i'm good with secrets."

she laughs a little. "that's what everyone says."

before i can say anything else, she points to a turn ahead and i jerk the steering wheel to the left rather quickly.

when i pull into a parking spot in front of her building, charley scrambles out before i can even put the car in park.

"what's the rush?" i ask, trailing behind her.

she turns to me with a smile, and i strangely find myself smiling back.

"gotta get the package, right?" she responds, and swivels back the other way.

i follow her up three flights of stairs and down a long hallway.

sure enough, a door with a box and a letter sits in front of it, both things marked with priority mail. the return address is in the united states, but there isn't a specific address.

charley looks up and down each hallways before sending me a thumbs up, and i nod, taking the package under my arm and slipping the letter into the waist of my jeans.