"What'd you get for number nine?" Henry asked. Charlotte glanced up at him, wondering why he was asking her when he could see her homework easily. "I got b."
She shifted on her bed to sit up a little higher so that her shoulder was pressed into his. Before her parents came home, they were catching up on some homework they had been putting off with their dates and interview they had in the past couple of days. It was supposed to be both of them doing the homework, but Charlotte knew that she was doing all the work while he stole her answers. She was fine with that, though, because she enjoyed spending some quiet time with him outside of the public view.
"You got it right for once."
Henry bumped into her shoulder, making the math book that was situated precariously on her lap fall down to the floor with a loud thud. Her homework flew high into the air as she let out a sigh. She peered over the edge of her bed, staring at the sad looking book on the ground.
"Doing homework in bed is not a good idea. I do have some other ideas, though, that the bed is perfect for," Henry said. Charlotte slid off her bed and threw a glare at him. He furrowed his brows at her like he had no idea why she was glaring at him until they shot up into his hairline. "I totally meant we should nap. Because I'm exhausted from trying to find Seymour Butts. That's all that I meant."
"Right. That's what you meant. I know what goes through boys' heads, Henry."
"I wasn't thinking about anything like that!" He was pleading with her now, she could tell. His voice was a little strained as he sat up, his own math book shifting to the bed. "I swear all I wanted to do was nap. That's it. I swear it on Ray's life."
She bent down to pick up her homework and math book, grinning to herself. By now, she knew that Henry had meant that, especially because he had been falling asleep a little earlier. She just liked making fun of him. It made her day every time she could get him to be a little embarrassed.
"Don't worry, I was thinking about it, too." Charlotte nearly burst out laughing when she saw how color slowly filled his cheeks and neck. She set her stuff on her bed and crossed her arms over her chest. She said, "You're so gullible, it's honestly a little ridiculous."
"I am not gullible!" Henry said, shaking his head. However, a confused frown appeared on his face. "What does gullible mean?"
"That you believe almost anything that people say to you. It means that you're very trusting of anyone you meet, which doesn't make sense because you fight villains nearly every single day."
"That doesn't mean that I find everyone a threat," he said with a shrug. When she glanced over at him, she found a thoughtful look on his face. He seemed to really be considering his next words carefully. "I like to trust people until they break it because I feel like that's the right thing to do."
Charlotte was impressed by what he was telling her. She hadn't really thought of him to be a true genuine nice person like that, especially since he met Ray and became his best friend. But he was still the boy she met all those years ago and chose to be best friends with. He still saw the best in people even though he saw the worst in the world every single day. That, for some reason, made her smile.
He turned his focus back onto his homework, giving Charlotte a little time to study him. Right now, he seemed so at peace with everything. Even though he was in his Kid Danger uniform, he had an easy smile on his face. None of his movements were stiff or forced; he seemed so sure of himself here with Charlotte. That was one thing she liked about him, that he was so sure of himself no matter what was going on.
"I'm starving," Henry suddenly said. He sat up on her bed, setting his homework down on top of hers. "When is it dinnertime?"
"Soon. My parents are going to be home in, like, thirty minutes."
"Good." He grinned at her, making her heart jump in her chest. "Let's go make dinner for your parents. That will put me in a better light with them after our little escapade in your bathroom a few weeks ago."
Charlotte rolled her eyes, but she really did like his idea. He was already going to meet her parents tonight, so why not make dinner for them? That would hopefully make them happy to see her after a long day at work. Plus, maybe it would make them like him after finding him in the bathroom that one day.
"Good thinking."
Henry nodded like he knew that, too. The two of them headed downstairs, and Charlotte made a beeline for the rack in the kitchen holding all their cookbooks that they bought but never, ever used. Her parents didn't have time to cook dinner with each other and eat a meal together, and neither did Charlotte. She was glad that she could do this for them.
"I've been wanting to make this for a long time," Charlotte said as she flipped through Morgan Maykew's cookbook. She tapped the page when she opened up to it, and Henry peered over her shoulder. "My parents love spaghetti, and we love Morgan Maykew. What better dinner to make then something that we all would love?"
"Great idea."
"I know. I have a lot of those."
He stuck his tongue out at her. She returned it as she opened the refrigerator to get everything they needed to make the spaghetti and chocolate sauce. Even though Morgan Maykew created outrageous recipes, she hoped her parents would like it because this night was important to her. Yes, her parents had met Kid Danger before when they caught the both of them in the bathroom together, but this was their first official chance to spend time with him and get to know him, even if he technically was Henry who they knew and loved. For some reason, she wanted her parents to like him just as much as she did.
Henry and Charlotte worked together to follow the recipe exactly like they should so they could make the best possible dish they could. It was easy to work with him in silence because they knew each other so well that they didn't need to talk to figure things out. After many years working together and being best friends, they knew exactly what the other was thinking even before they could think it. That was another thing that Charlotte liked the most about him. She liked that she didn't have to explain anything from her past because he had been part of it.
It didn't take long for them to get the spaghetti noodles boiling. While Charlotte watched the noodles to make sure they didn't burn, Henry stirred the chocolate sauce in the pan next to her, occasionally bumping into Charlotte. Every single time he did that, he grinned at her softly. That made her heart thump against her chest because she couldn't help but notice how adorable he looked in the soft light.
"Do you want to taste test the food?" Henry asked her suddenly, shaking her from her strange thoughts. "Be careful, though. It's hot. You probably should blow on it before you eat it."
She nodded and grabbed a fork. She scooped up a few noodles before putting some of the chocolate sauce on it. Charlotte swallowed the few spaghetti noodles and the sauce they had made and grimaced as it burned the whole way down. Henry was busy stirring the noodles since she was testing the food, so he didn't notice that she did exactly what he said not to do. That was good because she didn't want him to make fun of her. She was supposed to be smarter than him, and she didn't like it that he was right.
"How does it taste?" he asked her.
"It tastes worse than the pumpkin guts we had to eat after Piper failed her JAM class," Charlotte said to him. He finally turned to look at her, and his eyebrows jumped into his hairline like there was something wrong with her. It was probably because she had started pacing across her kitchen floor; the thought of facing her parents with terrible food terrified her, especially because her fake boyfriend was over and officially meeting them for the not-so-first time. "It's not good at all, Henry. I don't understand how it tastes that bad when we followed Morgan Maykew's recipe down to the teaspoon."
Henry grabbed her shoulders when she walked by him, forcing her to stop pacing. She stared up into his eyes as her heart got stuck in her throat. There was something in his eyes that startled her. His eyes weren't focused on hers; they were staring at her lips, almost hungrily. But that couldn't have been right because they were Henry and Charlotte right now in front of no one. They weren't Kid Danger and Charlotte faking their relationship in front of all of Swellview.
"Why don't you taste it?" she whispered to him, wondering why her heart was suddenly racing. Maybe it was because she was terrified of kissing her best friend alone in her house. "Tell me what you think."
"You have some spaghetti sauce right here." Instead of listening to her like she wanted him to, he reached out with one of his hands and swiped across her upper lip. Her cheeks grew a little warm. "I got it." He stared at her with those soft brown eyes, the ones that she had always known ever since she was little. "And to be honest, I was thinking about it earlier, I just didn't want to admit it to you."
They didn't move an inch away from each other. Against her better judgement, she found herself leaning closer to him as his magnetic eyes pulled her in. They had kissed a lot since their first one at the carnival, and she hated it. She hated that her most private thoughts and feelings were being put on blast in front of everyone in Swellview. Having a romantic relationship should have been something private to her, something personal. It should not have been something public, something of an act.
But this was different. They were alone. They weren't putting an act on for anyone. This whole thing was private, just for the two of them. Was that why she felt his lips brush against hers without her pulling away? Or was there something else going on in her heart that made her continue kissing her best friend?
Just as soon as it started, it ended in a flash of white.
Henry pulled away from Charlotte so quickly that he ran into the stove, his hands touching the hot pan. He yelped in pain as he jerked away from the stove, but his eyes were trained on the window across the island, where the flash of white had come from. There was something about his face that made Charlotte scared, and her skin prickled uncomfortably.
"Get down," he whispered as he bent down himself. Charlotte squatted on the ground behind the island. Her mind really wasn't working right now, and it got even worse when he shut the lights off, leaving her in total darkness to the truth. "I think someone was taking our picture."
"What? Really?"
"I'm going to check outside to make sure no one else is out there. You stay right where you are until I get back inside."
Charlotte didn't have to be told twice, though she didn't like that Henry was going to face whoever it was alone. What if it was Seymour Butts or his people? Though she was still on the fence about him being real or just something Schwoz made up to get her and Henry together, she was still afraid that someone bad was going to take Henry from her.
It felt like forever that Henry was gone. All Charlotte could do was wrap her arms around her legs and rest her head on her knees with her back pressed up against her island, wondering what it was that made her want to kiss her best friend without the presence of the citizens of Swellview present to put on their act for them. There was something strange going on in her heart, something she didn't really want to acknowledge just yet. It wasn't time for her to admit it to herself.
Her whole entire house was deadly silent as she waited for Henry to come back to her. All besides the quiet footsteps creaking across the hardwood in her living room. Fear seized her heart, and she sat there on the floor in the dark, absolutely paralyzed. This was it. This was how she was going to die. Seymour Butts and his people were going to take her and kill her just to draw out Kid Danger and Captain Man. They were risking her life just to get a villain. She was risking her life just to save her boss. Why in the world had she agreed to something like that?
"Charlotte."
Whoever it was knew her name! That sent her heart into an unnatural rhythm. She knew she had to do something to protect herself. As the person creaked into the kitchen, she jumped out of her hiding spot, brandishing the pan that she had grabbed from the sink. Strong hands grabbed her arm tightly just before she knocked them over the head with the pan.
"Charlotte, it's just me!" Henry said quickly. He pushed her into the shaft of light from the streetlight outside her house, and she could see his brown eyes widening into his red mask. "Were you really going to hit me over the head with a pan?"
"Yes!" She shoved his hands off of her arm, letting her arm drop down to her side. The pan bumped into her leg uncomfortably. Even though her heart was still racing, she was angry with him that he made her feel that scared. "I thought you were an intruder or Seymour Butts! What else was I supposed to do?"
"You're not exactly strong."
That was not what she wanted to hear at all. Charlotte raised the pan threateningly, and Henry took a few steps back from her with fear written across his face. "That's why I need to lift more weights."
"Don't you mean ever?"
Charlotte nearly dropped the pan as he said those words to her. They were the same words as what he had spoken to her in her kiss dream about him. Surprisingly, she had totally forgotten about that dream that basically started this whole thing, though that wasn't really the truth at all. It just coincided with everything that had been happening to her and Ray and everyone she knew.
She turned around quickly and placed the pan back in the sink. There was something even stranger going on in her heart. She knew that she wasn't in danger anymore, but it was still racing and beating hard against her rib cage. Those words brought memories of her recurring dream back to her. This time, though, she had kissed her best friend multiple times. Things were different between them, and that's what scared her the most. It had been what was scaring her the whole time she had that dream. Now, it was reality.
"What made the white flash?" Charlotte asked absentmindedly as she stared down into the sink.
"There were a few paparazzi outside. They were trying to catch us doing something, I guess." Charlotte took a deep breath. This was her life now. She was forced to be in the spotlight because she was dating one of Swellview's superheroes. She didn't know about Henry, but she hated that. "Don't worry, though. I ran them off after I broke their cameras."
"What? Why would you do that?"
"Because I'm tired of people following me. Don't they realize that I'm a human being, too?"
Charlotte was surprised at the force of his words. It felt like he had been harboring these feelings for a long time, and now that they were out in the open, they were going to blow her away. She glanced at him, trying to read his face in the darkness. Lately, he had been a little angrier than normal. Did it have something to do with being Kid Danger? By now, she knew that something was troubling him, and it definitely wasn't Ray's upcoming death. She wished he would tell her about it, though, because she wanted to help him.
The lights flicked on suddenly, and Charlotte had to blink multiple times to be able to see through the stars. "Why'd you turn on the lights, Hen --"
"Nice to see you again, Mr. and Mrs. Page," Henry said quickly. He appeared at her side, wrapping an arm around her shoulders, as she whirled around to find her parents standing in the doorway to the kitchen. "Charlotte and I made dinner tonight for all of us."
Though her parents didn't exactly look happy, she was glad that they were here. It had gotten incredibly awkward between her and Henry because of what he had said, though he didn't know it yet because he was shooting her a quizzical glance. She shot one back, hoping he understood that she wanted to know who was outside her house when they were about to kiss. Now she couldn't stop thinking about that, either, making her cheeks flush even more. Neither of them could talk about anything, though, because her parents were sitting down at the kitchen table behind the island.
She busied herself with getting four plates from the cabinets while Henry picked up the pot that held their awful spaghetti and chocolate sauce. She wished her and Henry had time to talk together about everything, but now they were forced to spend an evening together with her parents. That was going to create more awkwardness between them, she just knew it. Charlotte couldn't wait for this night to be over.