Unintended Consequences

Chapter 5 - Archer's POV

    She had pulled me aside at our family's picnic and asked me to watch out for Charlotte. Her sharp nails had clung to my arm while she stared up at me with tears in her eyes. Fuck... what was with these women and making me do shit with their tears? I didn't know what to say and I really just wanted the whole interaction to be over, so I had agreed.

"Look," I said as I sat down in front of her, "It doesn't seem like you're okay... So if you need to talk or some shit just... say it. I might be able to help." I said all of this while staring at the grass because me and meaningful conversation really didn't mix.

    When she didn't respond right away I looked up and saw her staring back at me. Her nose scrunched up a little and her eyes were narrowed like she thought I had ulterior motives. Fuck, remind me why I'm trying so hard to help this girl? I could be eating a burger by now. But instead, I just stared back with both eyebrows raised clearly signalling that I was waiting. 

"Well..." she started with a soft, light voice, "it's stupid really. I had my first two classes this morning and they both just went horribly. I thought I was ready for college but I don't know. I think I'm too dumb or too immature. Everyone else seemed to have so much to contribute and then when the professors called on me I just panicked and barely got a few words out. I sounded like such an idiot... I don't know how I'm going to survive this semester let alone finish my whole degree."

Well, fuck me... This is the most I had heard Charlotte speak in years. Had her voice always been this nice to listen to? I mean shit—I knew she was upset but if I laid down I'm pretty sure she could put me to sleep. I realized a little late that I was supposed to be helping her so I scrunched my face, looking up at the sky, and tried to think of advice for her.

"Look you're in freshman classes right? I don't care what those idiots pretend, no one has a fucking clue what they're doing when they first get here. Some people just fake it better than others." I looked down at her to see if I was helping at all. The tears in her eyes had dried up so I guess, at the very least, I wasn't making it any worse.

    "Plus, you were smart enough to get in here, so you're smart enough to stay. I'm not particularly fond of talking to people either,"-that made her smile a little-"so, I always try to make a few notes when I'm doing the readings and find stuff I feel comfortable talking about. Then when the prof starts a discussion just put your hand up early and say your piece from your notes. The classes are so big that most profs call on new people every time." I finished with a half shrug, "So if you get it out of the way on a topic you know then you'll be set for the rest of class."  Fuck... give me a damn pedestal, that's what I call a speech.

Her face brightened a little and she smiled timidly. It was a little disconcerting how much pride swelled inside of me when I realized I maybe actually helped. What the hell was going on?

"Thanks, Archer... I think I am actually going to try that." She picked up her backpack to leave when she suddenly stopped and looked back at me. "By the way... I'm uh... sorry about yesterday. I was frustrated but I shouldn't have yelled at you. It wasn't nice. I'm just a little sensitive I guess about people thinking I'm too much of a kid to take care of myself."

I smiled a bit that she thought her tiny little outburst had been not nice. She should listen to Coach yell at us after we messed up an easy play. That's not nice.

"It's all good. And for what it's worth," I said as I rubbed my jaw awkwardly, "I uh... don't think you're a kid." She gave me a genuine smile and thanked me as she stood up and began to walk back towards the dorms.

    By instinct, my eyes dropped down to check out her ass as she walked away. Fuck. She's got some nice curves on that tiny frame of hers. Nope... definitely don't think she's a kid.

After my little detour with Charlotte, I didn't have enough time for lunch so I ran straight to the football field for practice. I was one of the first guys there when I went to my locker to get ready.

"Oh hey, Archer! How's it going, man? You excited for drills today?" Looking up I saw that kid who had been with Charlotte twice now. What was his name? Matt? He's a chatty mother fucker who doesn't ever take a hint. Every other rookie learned right away in training camp to leave me alone—but this kid just keeps coming back like we're best fucking friends.

"Who the fuck gets excited about drills?" I snapped.

"Ignore him, Emmett. Johnson here gets a little grumpy when he drinks too much whisky. Honestly, he's grumpy when he doesn't drink enough whisky too. Wait fuck. Johnson, you're just always grumpy?" The fake ass shock on James' face made me roll my eyes.

    He knew damn well I wasn't a people person. We had roomed together freshman year in the dorms. Since I had managed to tolerate him for the most part we got rooms next to each other in the football house, sophomore year. He still annoyed the fuck out of me but he's not as much of an idiot as some of the others.

"Do you have to be so damn close to me?" I complained as James sat his ass on the bench practically on top of me.

"Kiss my ass Johnson you know you like it." I was about to wipe the floor with his smug face when Coach came in and yelled at us to hurry up. He also reminded us all about the mandatory Pep Rally we'd have to show up to on Thursday before our first home game. Great... as you can imagine I'm just filled with god forsaken pep.

    I gave both James and Matt one last annoyed glare, then turned around and quickly got into my gear. As I ran out of the tunnel and onto the field I let a small smile appear on my face. I'm not going to admit it to some idiot rookie, but football—even just running drills—was one of the few things that did make me happy.

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Okay, so I might have loved writing from Archer's perspective! All the swear words were definitely fun... Plus I think it's nice to show Charlotte from another perspective since she is always so hard on herself.

How did you like reading Archer's POV? Did his "voice" feel different enough from Charlottes?

Also, I know the first few chapters were a little slow! I really needed to set up a lot with this story (or at least I felt like I needed to) but now Charlotte and Archer are both going to start experiencing more...excitement? Is that the best word... guess we'll see!
—E.I.M