Charlotte's Scars

Chapter 15 - Christian

                "I knew you, of all people, would appreciate this – go on, look around."

                Technically I only needed one bedroom, so I decided to turn this one into my own personal study and library. It was the larger bedroom of the two, so even with so many books it still had a nice open space concept. There were book shelves all along the two sides of the room and a big window on the furthest wall. Two leather couches sat on each side of the window with a small coffee table between them.

                "I eventually want to open up the roof, and put windows up there to bring more light in here," I said while watching Charlie read the spine of the books. "And the ceiling is pretty high – I could add a little in-door balcony up there."

                "If you do that, you should make a spiral stair case going up to it." She turned to look at me and there was a big, goofy smile on her face. She blushed and added, "I don't know why, but I just love spiral stairs."

                I nodded and watched her for a few more minutes until I heard the beeper in the kitchen go off. "It sounds like the food is done. Are you ready to go out for dinner?" 

                She titled her head and asked, "Where are we going?"

                If took fifteen minutes of hiking through the forest to make it to my private beach. Luckily, there was a nice little trail we were able to use, but even with the trail, Charlie almost tripped three times. She kept apologising for her clumsiness, but I didn't mind it. It was kind of cute watching her try to trek through the woods.

                "This is Crystal Lake, isn't it?" Charlie asked while taking little twigs out of her hair. "I didn't realize how close you lived to the water."

                "Yeah, it is. I really lucked out getting property right on the lake-"

                "Wait, your property comes all the way out to here?" She cut me off and looked impressed.

                I chuckled, and said, "Yeah – this beach is on my property. Of course, I don't own the water, but the shore is all mine." I set the cooler on the picnic table and started to pull out food.

                I noticed Charlie was fidgeting uncomfortably, and she kept averting her gaze away from the food. I raised my eye brow, and asked, "What's the matter?"

                "Well, I kind of already ate at my parents' house," she admitted and her cheeks grew red.

                "Ah – crap." I almost wanted to laugh at my foolishness. "I'm sorry, I should've asked you. Why didn't you tell me when we were at my house?"  

                She bit her lip and looked at the ground. "I felt bad because you went to all that effort to cook – I didn't want to embarrass you," she said bashfully. 

                I laughed – I couldn't help it. She was afraid to humiliate me, and yet, I spent half my time intentionally trying to embarrass her. It wasn't that I was a dick – okay, maybe I was, but I never wanted to hurt her. I just liked seeing her blush, even if it meant making her feel shy and uncomfortable.

                Fuck, I really was a selfish dick.

                "Don't ever be afraid of embarrassing me – if anyone deserves to humiliate me once in a while, it's you." I walked over to her and pulled the twig she missed out of her hair.

                Her cheeks flushed and she looked back to the ground before saying shyly, "Thanks."

Yup, I was definitely a selfish dick, but she was just too cute.