now or never - charlie gillespie

chapter thirty eight

"What are you doing here?" Charlie asked me as he set me back down. I couldn't stop smiling.

"Oh my god," I heard Jeremy called from next to us. His head popped up from over the seats. "Is that Lake?"

"Lake's here?" I heard Kenny ask next to him.

"Hey guys," I waved at them. Charlie pulled me in close to his chest, hugging me tight. I wasn't complaining. He rocked me back and forth. After the day I just had, I really needed his embrace. I wrapped my arms around his torso.

"How did you-" Kenny started to say when we were interrupted by the flight attendant.

"I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you to sit down and fasten your seatbelts. We're about to take off," she smiled brightly at us. "Let me get that for you," she said grabbing my bag and storing it over my head.

"Here, take my seat," Charlie said letting go of me and pointing to the empty seat next to Owen.

"Hey you," I said, bumping my shoulder with Owens as I sat down. He gave me a weak smile.

"Hey yourself," he bumped his shoulder with mine back. "Care to explain what in the hell you're doing here?"

"Are you gonna tell us what happened?" Charlie asked.

I nodded my head and explained everything. "And then he said that we were betrothed."

I watched as both of their faces fell, jaws practically on the floor.

"Wait, are you being serious?" Owen said. I crossed my legs and nodded my head, equally shocked. "Like an arranged marriage?" I nodded my head.

"I know. I don't understand him at all. I hate how he thought I would just go along with marrying a complete stranger."

I saw Charlie's hands clenched into a fist, his knuckles turning whiter by the second. I reached across the aisle and covered his hand with my own. "It's okay, I'm fine. I wasn't going to do it either way," I tried to comfort him and he just shook his head.

"I'm just imagining a world where we never met. Would you have gone through with it?"

Woah. I never thought about it like that.

"Of course not, at least I hope not. I probably wouldn't have, but it would have taken forever to get the courage to stand up to him," I said realizing that if the boys hadn't walked into my life a couple of months ago, I would probably end up marrying a stranger.

"That's no life to live!" Charlie yelled, causing a few people sleeping to jump up.

"Calm down, we don't have to worry about that anymore," I said.

Charlie just shook his head and turned to face forward, getting absorbed in his own mind.

Suddenly, Charlie in the row next to us was having a panic attack. "Go," Owen nodded at me. I gave him an apologetic look before unbuckling my seat belt and scurrying over to the seat next to him before the stewardess could see me.

"Are you alright?" I asked and he just shook his head. When I saw Owen post something about how he was uneasy on flights, I thought he was just messing around.

I watched as he grabbed a bag and began inhaling and exhaling. "You really don't like flying huh?" he nodded his head again. "Okay well, let me tell you a story," I said, thinking it might calm him down.

"Please," I heard him say into the back.

"Once there was this little blonde girl with pigtails in kindergarten. All of the girls and boys would tease her about how she always brought her teddy bear with her to school," I watched as his breathing started to calm down, taking less breaths into the bag.

"One day, the kids stole her teddy bear during nap time. She was devastated. That teddy bear was her only friend. Her best friend. While she was crying alone during recess, two other girls beat up those annoying kids and brought her back her teddy bear. And they've been best friends ever since," I smiled down at him, rubbing his back with my hand.

He had calmed down now, pulling the bag away from his face. We had already taken off. "Feel better?" I asked and he nodded.

"That's a really cute story," he said, smiling down at me. "It really got my mind off of taking off. Thanks, Lake."

"Anytime," I said.

"Those two girls wouldn't happen to be anyone I know, would they?" He asked, grinning down at me.

"If you're asking if they were Ava and Sawyer, you would be completely correct. From that day on we spent recess together, Sawyer's nose stuck in a book, Ava making up crazy stories about dragons and werewolves, and I was just happy to be there with them."

"It's really hard not to fall for you, Lake. And trust me, I'm really really trying my best here, but you aren't making it easy when everything you say is so fascinating," he said slowly, staring deep into my eyes.

Holy shit. He couldn't just say things like that.

I don't know why but when he reached for my hand I let him hold it. I knew I should've pulled away, but I didn't care. I rested my head on his shoulder and let myself fall asleep, not worrying about anything for once.

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how cute was this chapter?? 😩

I'm also really conflicted atm because I ship Lake with both Charlie and Owen!! How sad??

Anyways I hope you guys like the chapter!!

Let me know what you think!