The three of you sat in the booth, talking, and waiting for your ice cream to arrive.
Madison seemed to take a liking to Charli, and the same could be said the other way around.
Both girls thought the other was sweet and fun to be around, and the conversation was natural.
Madison was sitting on one side, and the two of you sat in front of her, together.
Your hands still conjoined from earlier since each of you got comfortable holding the other's hand, and there was no need to let go.
Charli mindlessly brushed her thumb across the skin of your hand as she was talking, your connected hands in her lap, resting on her thigh.
You liked the little gesture, it comforted you, keeping a wide smile stained across your face.
"No because think about it, the fact that you chose to wear this shirt in the morning, created an alternate reality where you chose a different one. Any little choice you make creates a different reality where you did something else, meaning that are endless possibilities." Charli explained, as you and Madison were hooked to the conversation.
"So, does that mean that for basically anything you can think of, there's a reality where that happened?" Madison asked.
"Yeah, totally. Anything." Charli nodded.
"So, there's probably a reality out there where you two are dating or something." Madison said, and you gave her a look before turning to look at Charli to see her reaction.
"I mean, probably. It isn't that different from our reality, so that could be a thing. It probably is." Charli said, turning to look at you and smiling.
You returned the smile as Madison once again internally celebrated the success of her move.
See, the entire time Madison was doing or saying little things to check how you two reacted. Everything she did so far went smoothly and like she thought it would, all according to her plan.
She knew that you can often be oblivious to things, so she checked if Charli might possibly feel the same way.
Her plan was to see enough evidence to form a final opinion, and then give you her advice to you later. Pushing you towards the right way.
You looked at the girls that sat in the booth with you and felt your heart skip a beat over how well they're getting along.
You knew that they would like each other, but deep down still thought that something might happen and screw everything up.
But that worry is way gone now, they have already gotten close, and you can sense that both of them are comfortable around the other.
"Madison?" A man behind the counter called for our order.
"Yes, that's me." She said as she was getting up.
"Don't do anything while I'm gone." She winked and left.
Both Charli and you turned to look at the other, smiling at Madison's teasing nature.
"You heard her y/n, don't do anything stupid." Charli said and laid her head in your lap, looking up at you.
This was the first time she has ever done anything like this. In fact, this was the first time that anyone, except for Madison, has ever been this close to you.
She started playing with your hand she was holding, and you could feel your heart almost jumping out of your chest.
"Y/n..." Charli called.
"Yeah?" You responded.
"Can you um, play with my hair?" She asked, pouting at you.
"Oh. Well, okay." You said, anxious about doing something wrong.
She looked back down and continued playing with your hand, while your other was hand was hovering in the air, almost stuck in place.
She noticed you aren't doing anything, and you noticed she stopped playing with your hand.
"Y/n?" She looked back up and your eyes met, she could sense how nervous you were.
"Um, I just don't really know what to do or uh, you know." You said, stumbling on your words.
"It's okay, don't worry. Just..." She softly grabbed your floating hand and guided it towards her hair.
"See? Nothing happened. Now just do whatever, I don't really mind." She smiled and went back to doing her thing.
'God, I'm so awkward around pretty girls.' You thought, mentally face-palming yourself.
You calmed down and just brushed her hair slowly with your fingers, not really knowing what to do.
"Yeah, that's nice." Charli said and closed her eyes at the feeling.
You looked at her face and admired it as you kept going, seeing how relaxed her face is, with a cute tiny smile and just everything about her face in that moment was perfect.
You two were busy doing your own thing, and didn't even notice Madison, who was approaching the table with a tray of all of your ice cream.
Madison looked at the two of you and felt herself melt at the sight.
She knows how hard it is for you to get close with people and open up, and the fact that with Charli it all came so naturally was really surprising to her.
She loved seeing you so happy, and now you were happy, all the time.
She put the tray down as quietly as she could and slid into her seat, which went unnoticed by the two of you.
"This is so sweet, if you eat the ice cream after this you might need to go to the dentist." Madison said, catching the two of you by surprise.
Charli sat back up, and soon both of you missed the warmth and touch of the other.
To make up for the loss of warmth, you both scooted a little closer, your shoulders almost touching.
"Sorry to interrupt but ice cream melts, you know." Madison said and you rolled your eyes at her but kept silent.
The rest of the afternoon was spent in that ice cream shop.
The time passed so quickly, as the three of you ate your ice cream and talked about many different topics.
You almost didn't notice that it isn't as light outside anymore.
The ride home was spent singing along loudly to the songs on the radio you knew, Charli and you holding hands again.
When it was time to say goodbye to Charli and drop her off, the three of you got out of the car.
Madison hugged Charli first, whispering into Charli's ear a little, "Good job, I like you."
Charli smiled and Madison went back into the driver's seat, grinning at her.
"Today was really fun, I'm glad I waited outside your class." Charli said.
"Believe me when I say that I'm happier about it than you are, we should do something like this another time." You smiled.
"Of course we will, are you kidding? I loved hanging out with you today. Maybe next time we could go somewhere alone?" Charli suggested.
"That sounds great, just think about places we can go, and we'll go wherever you want, I don't really care." You said.
She then grabbed you into a big, warm, and sweet hug. One of the best hugs you have ever gotten.
You hugged her back, giving the same feelings to her.
Charli grabbed you tight, she didn't really want to let go, but she had to.
You both separated from the hug, and Charli said, "It's a date then, goodbye y/n."
"Bye Charli." You said and saw her turn around and walk towards her front door.
You got in the passenger's seat, looking back at Charli through the window and seeing she's doing the same.
You waved goodbye to her, and Madison joined as Charli waved back.
You then saw her getting into her house, and Madison started driving.
"You two better date. Too cute not to." Madison said, and you smiled at her words and closed your eyes.
You both arrived home to your tiny apartment and instantly sank on the couch, turning the Tv on.
Your place, technically Madison owns the place but both of you live there, is small. Despite its tiny size, it manages to give a very warm feeling of home. You picked the furniture together and made the apartment your own. It is decorated with furniture you both like, and this place very quickly became your favorite place on this planet.
In the meanwhile, Charli was sitting on her bed in her bedroom that's on the second floor of her big house, mindlessly scrolling through her phone.
A house like the one she lives in takes quite a lot of money to afford, it is huge compared to your place. Many people would dream of living at a house this size, but Charli's an exception. Truthfully, she would rather live in a place like yours instead.
She has lived in this house forever.
For as long as she can remember, she called this place her home, but it never felt like home.
The furniture is in a very modern and minimal style, which does look nice, but to Charli it feels like a fancy hospital rather than a family home. It's all very black and white, no warm colors
With her sister gone, and her parents being at home only in the early mornings and late nights, Charli was always alone.
This huge house with one tiny girl in it, it gets lonely.
Feeling alone and bored of scrolling on her phone, her mind started to wander everywhere.
She thought about all kinds of things and moved on to the next thought, speeding through and trying to find something that is worth focusing on.
That seemed like a hard task until her mind started thinking about you.
Soon enough, everything she thought about was all you. All about that pretty girl that she had spent the day with.
She thought about her day with you, how fun it was, how she felt while holding your hand, how she felt when she was laying in your lap and you played with her hair, how she felt when you dropped her off and she had to say bye.
Then she thought about tomorrow with you, what you two could do, what she would wear, what you would wear, but mostly about how she casually called it a date.
Then her mind just focused on you. How pretty you are, that beautiful eyes of yours that gave her comfort, that how nice you are, how kind you are, how fun you are.
She couldn't believe that Tyler had described you as ugly and annoying.
She was obviously jealous of you, or blind, Charli thought.
All of the sudden, all she could think about was just you. Y/n.
She thought about what you could be doing right now, and she found herself missing you, badly.
She didn't even care if she was supposed to miss you or not, she didn't even think about what missing you meant, the only thing she cared about was hearing your voice or seeing your face.
She grabbed her phone and opened her contacts, her finger hovering over the button to call you.
While Charli was debating whether she should call you or not, you and Madison were eating popcorn while watching some stupid kids' movie.
You laid your head in Madi's lap while she ate the popcorn and occasionally put some in your mouth too.
She found herself also mindlessly caressing your head or playing with your hair too, and of course you didn't mind. You loved when she showed affection in little ways like that.
You two did your thing until your phone started ringing.
Being the lazy person you are, you tried to reach the phone that was on the coffee table without moving from you position.
You tried to, very unsuccessfully, grab it with your hand and by the time you did, it was too late to pick up.
You groaned and dropped the phone down to your chest, annoyed at how you just barely made it.
Madison looked over to you with a wide smile, rolling her eyes at your actions and taking the phone to her hands.
"Let's see who it was, maybe it was something important." She said, unlocking your phone.
"OH MY GOD." She started laughing loudly which made you fall off her lap, and onto the floor.
"Ouch, Madi...." You whined but she kept on laughing, her laugh only getting louder.
"What? What is it?" You asked, getting back up and sitting on the couch again.
"It's- It's your girlfriend- I'm- Oh my god." She said, letting out uneven breathes between her words as she laughs and tries to calm down.
"What?" You asked, and she just handed you, her phone.
You saw Charli's contact name in red, meaning that she was the one who called.
"I can't believe she already misses you, this shouldn't be this funny, but it is." Madison said, having calmed down but still giggling. "She likes you y/n, it's obvious."
"Shut up, I'm calling her back." You ignored Madison and the phone started dialing.
"Put her on speaker, I want to hear." Madison asked.
You let out a little sigh but still did as she asked, not wanting to deal with her right now.
You see that she has picked up and put your finger on your lips to tell Madison to be quiet, and she nodded.
"Hi, you called?" You spoke up, regretting having said that the moment after you did, feeling that it was a little awkward.
Charli didn't think so, she was just really happy to hear your voice.
"Yeah!" She said with a little too enthusiasm.
"Yeah, I did call. How are you y/n/n?" She corrected her tone.
'Y/n/n?' You thought. 'Did she just call me by my nickname?'
It was a little unexpected, but you liked it. She must have heard Madison calling you by your nickname or something.
Madison smiled at her use of your nickname too and you returned the smile to her as well, speaking up.
"I'm really good, mostly because of earlier. What are you doing?" You asked.
Charli smiled at the mentioning of the afternoon, responding back.
"Well, right now I'm on a phone call with a pretty girl. What are you doing, y/n/n?" She said in a sweet tone.
Madison's mouth dropped open and she excitedly moved her arms around, silently screeching as you blushed.
"Oh, are you? I'm talking to the most beautiful girl I ever met right now. She called me and I couldn't answer in time because I was too lazy to move and couldn't reach my phone, so now I called her back." You played the same game she was, matching her energy.
Charli's heart skipped a beat at the word you called her.
'Does she really think I'm beautiful?' She thought, blushing as well.
"Okay enough of this, want to know why I called?" Charli questioned, giggling a bit.
"Yeah, I would love to." You responded.
"Well, I thought about you and wanted to call, but I also had an idea for what we could do for that project." Charli said, her wide smile hearable through her voice.
"Did you? What was it?" You asked, and Madison was silently screaming, "SHE THOUGHT ABOUT YOU?", while shaking you.
"Okay, this might sound stupid but hear me out. So, remember how I said, 'It's a date', Before you left?" She asked, pausing for you to respond.
"How could I forget?" You teased, but she kept on going.
"What if we do our assignment about dates? Think about it for a second. A first date with someone is a 'one in a lifetime experience'. After you have your first date with someone, or your first date ever, you can't have it anymore. Basically, what if we went on many different 'dates' and try to find the perfect one? Like the perfect place to go to, perfect thing to do together and stuff like that. We could rate each date and document how it went and what we thought about it maybe too." She explained. "What do you think?"
You thought about it for a second, that's a really good idea. No one else would probably do anything like that because they might find it weird to go on a date with a friend, but if you two don't, this could be really good.
"This sounds really good. It's easy to do and we would also enjoy making the projects because we can choose to go places and do thing we like. You're really smart, how did you come up with that?" You asked.
"I don't know, I was just really bored. Also, I am not a genius." Charli insisted.
"Well D'amelio, opinions exist, and in my opinion, you are." You said and you both laughed. "I can't wait to go on a date with you and have it count as homework."
"Well, wait until tomorrow then, that's our first one." Charli smiled at what you said.
"True. Thank you for calling me, I missed you too." You admitted.
"I clearly missed you more but whatever." Charli giggled. "See you tomorrow?"
"Of course. You know you can text me, right?" You asked, your turn to giggle now.
"I do, I just wanted to hear you voice. And that little cute laugh of yours." She said.
"Oh, is that true?" You asked, raising your eyebrows.
"Yup. Well, I'll go eat dinner or something, I'm hungry. I'll talk to you later, okay? Maybe we can facetime?" She suggested.
"I would kill you if we won't. Bye Charchar." You said, dragging out the last word.
"Bye y/n/n." She did the same, smiling at your use of a nickname.
Then you two hung up.
"AHH Y/N." Madison screamed.
"What?" You asked, smiling.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN? DID YOU AND I LISTEN TO THE SAME PHONE CALL?" She grabbed your hands.
"Yes?" You were really confused.
"Y/n. I don't know how you made a girl fall for you over like a week, but what I do know is that I clearly raised you well. The way you flirted with her so casually? Are you kidding me? Are you sure we aren't related?" Madison proudly said.
"What do you mean? Fall for me? Flirted? Did we listen to the same phone call?" You didn't take what Madison said very seriously.
"Y/n, please. You know what? I'll just observe and see what's going on without saying anything. You'll see I'm right eventually." She said. "Go take a shower baby, you're stinky."
"Shut up." You smiled and got up to take a shower. Not because of what she said, because you wanted to.
"Keep telling yourself lies y/n!" Madison said, referring to earlier, but it was almost like she could read your mind.
That girl seems to know almost everything, but who is she to be able to tell what's going on between you and Charli, she clearly has no idea what she's talking about, right?