| 11 |
❝ If there were any words to describe how beautiful you are, Webster would have to make a whole new dictionary just to describe your smallest feature. ❞
A SHEEN OF sweat covered her face, her forehead, her slightly chipmunk-like cheeks, her neck... Her breathing was unsteady and quick, her chest heaving up and down, up and down...
Her nose was running, her eyes were red and puffy. Silent tears streamed down the curves of her cheeks and the brim of her rigid nose.
Charlotte dry-heaved into the small trash bin beside her bed, hoping she didn't wake anyone up. Retching and crying and rocking and hyperventilating.
Teddy. She needed Teddy.
Charlie wiped her lips with her forearm and quickly brushed her teeth, getting the disgusting taste out of her mouth. She began to steady her breathing, in and out, in and out.
Tiptoeing down the stairs she burst out of the door and began running, running to the place she knew he'd be.
It was dark, she could barely see where she was running. Houses blurred in her vision and she pulled her black hoodie closer to her body as she ran. Charlotte started to wheeze a little, due to slight asthma and also probably because she never ran.
It was around eleven o'clock, she concluded, and after a couple minutes of running, she finally made it to Dunkin' Donuts.
Peering in the window, she saw him hunched over the counter, a pencil in his hand, dressed in his work outfit that included a small visor.
Creeping near the door, she slowly pushed on it, walking into the brightly lit donut store.
Theodore looked at her, startled, slamming his notebook closed. "Oh, er, h-hey, Charlie, what's up?"
The door closed with a whoosh behind her, a small breeze nipping at her sore legs. Her lip quivered and she breathed out her nose slowly, slowly. Theodore seemed to notice her mood by her wavering lip and ghost track of tears down her cheek and her furrowed eyebrows.
"I... I... I-" she stumbled over her words, dropping her arms to her side.
"Shh," he murmured, taking off his visor and trudging over to her. "Come here."
He was much taller than her, and her head came up to chest height beside him. He cautiously stooped down and scooped her up, his arms slithering around her petite frame, drawing her closer to him like a drawbridge being closed, him roping her in like the chains attached to the bridge, slowly closing the gap between them.
Her fingers grasped the back of his shirt, her face shoved against his hard chest. Her arm hooked over his shoulder, reaching around his neck. Her nose was squashed against his chest, her cheek smushed, a couple stray, silent tears soaking through his work shirt.
"I'm s-sorry, I didn't know where to go, a-and I needed to see you, and-"
"Charlotte, hey- hey! Charlotte, look at me," Theodore murmured, letting go of her. "What's wrong? You can talk to me."
A breath rattled her body and she quickly whipped her head back and forth with a solid no.
Theodore sighed. "Fine. But one day, you'll tell me."
She gave him a grim 'sure' look and tapped her foot on the linoleum floor.
"So..." he started, scratching the back of his neck.
"Soo..."
She was surprised at how she wasn't freaking out over the hug. It wasn't every day that Theodore Orion Higgins hugged people. It made her feel strangely special inside.
"Were you drawing on the job?" she whispered as a conversation starter, nodding towards the notepad.
"Oh, oh, this? Haha, nah. Yeah, well, I do a little, here and there, bit of this, that, nah, so, I guess, er," he stuttered and subconsciously reached for the notepad.
"What were you drawing?" she asked curiously, peering over him.
"Oh, it's, um..." He pushed his glasses up the brim of his nose. "It's nothing."
"Could I see it?" she asked, her lip quivering into a smile at how adorable he was being. She'd never seen him more flustered.
Now she realized why she ran to Teddy the minute she woke up. Not only because he would be the only one up, but also because he could cheer her up, and didn't push for questions like many others did. He was a good friend.
Friend. Friend... The word made her slightly frown.
"Okay. But promise that you'll eventually tell me why you're not in bed right now, deal?"
She could tell he was tired. His deep, husky voice was sluggish, and his eyes seemed to be pried open.
"Deal," she mumbled.
She followed him to the front counter and he glanced down at her for a split second with his electrifying, bright blue eyes, his bushy black eyebrows knotted together before he took in a deep breath and opened the notebook.
The room began to swirl. Her breath got caught somewhere in her throat. Her eyes widened as she took in the drawing.
It was her.
Charlotte's breath left her body as she looked at the drawing, the drawing so beautiful, so breathtaking, so incredible, so unbelievably unlike her, yet completely identical. In the drawing she had a loose braid that ran down her right shoulder, each detail so realistic and smooth and flowing.
You could just tell that Theodore drew it somehow, as it was like him in a way. Effortless, beautiful, detailed to every little extreme. Just like Theodore, how every move he made to every word he spoke to every pickup line and cute, cheesy sentence he said was effortless and smooth as heck, and him as a whole was beautiful. His personality, his body, his face... And she could deeply describe what Theodore looked like, as his face was detailed so incredibly and handsomely. It was like he was pulled from a movie, the way he looked like a model.
It was drawn like Theodore would draw, it was drawn... Like Theodore. Breathtaking, every contour made to perfection. He made her heart stop and her breath whizz away until it was dizzying. His face was contoured gorgeously, and Theodore had such prominent cheekbones and his jawline was so greatly detailed and his collar bones were so noticeable it was like he, himself, was a drawing created by him. He was his own drawing. His own creation.
He had his own flaws; every human did. He had a couple pimples dotting his face. His eyebrows were super bushy. He was fairly blind [his glasses were super thick]. But it made him realistic. And cute, to Charlie.
And so Charlotte noticed in the drawing she wore a Beatles shirt, and her lips were in such a dazzling smile that was unrecognizable to her, and every freckle and every pimple and every scar was on that paper down to her very last eyelashes.
And it made her wonder if Teddy looked at her the way she looked at him, the way she studied him carefully as if to remember his every feature and every 'scratch his pencil made during his drawing of himself' to use her earlier metaphor. If he looked at her so much that he knew exactly where each line and squiggle and dot and shading went.
Maybe it was because it was eleven o'clock, and she seriously needed to sleep. But she felt the urge to cry, she assumed because of how gorgeous it was.
"Holy hell," she breathed out, stepping towards the notebook and lightly tapping drawing-her's freckles.
"I'm sorry, I'm such a freak, I know," he mumbled, his hand trickling through is raven-black hair.
"No, no, it's unbelievable," she insisted, a smile of such awe filling her face.
"Really?" he asked, blinking with wide eyes and a hopeful grin.
"Yes, really. Don't second guess yourself, honestly."
Theodore's bushy eyebrows scrunched in deep thought until he ripped out the page in his notepad. "Here, take it."
"Are you sure?" she questioned. "You could sell it and become famous."
"Nah," he grinned a dazzling grin. Then, taking out a pencil he scribbled his name and her name, and then a small heart between them. Theodore Higgins ♥️ Charlotte Jackson. "There. If I do ever happen to become, famous you can sell it yourself."
"I'm never going to sell it," she whispered, mostly to herself.
"You're real pretty," he started to say suddenly, abruptly stopping.
Charlie blinked.
She gulped. She had a feeling, a strange feeling deep in the pit of her stomach, something that tonight had been roaring and raging and soaring high. He was so sweet, to be honest, it amazed her.
"T-thanks," she stuttered, she actually stuttered, and rolled up the drawing and tucked it in her hoodie pocket.
He was about an inch away, maybe two. She could smell his intoxicating scent, the heavenly shampoo or cologne or whatever it was that made that smell. Her heart was on the verge of dropping out of her chest and just flopping on the floor like a dead fish. She was pretty sure her legs were wibbling and wobbling and wavering. Her hands were certainly trembling.
Be brave. Be strong.
She turned to face him and noticed the violent red blush spreading across his cheeks. His glasses were sliding down his nose. His head was slightly cocked at her, his brilliant blue eyes popping with color in the now slightly darkened store. His cheeks looked pale and soft, and almost powdered. Light freckles dotted his crooked, curved nose. His fluffy, night-black hair messily curled around his ears and his forehead.
In a moment of such a strange feeling, in a moment of such admiration, she stood on her tippy toes and craned her neck, planting her lips upon his soft, pale, freckly cheek.
Charlotte heard his sharp intake of breath as soon as her lips came into contact with his cheek. It took about three seconds for Charlie realize the situation; her lips were on Teddy's cheek.
She quickly gasped and backed away from him, bringing a hand to her lips as he lightly touched his cheek with his fingertips.
"Oh, did I just, I think I j-" Her stumbling and stuttering was abruptly stopped when Theodore stepped forward, once again closing the gap between them, the drawbridge closing within a matter of seconds.
Theodore's hands flew to her cheeks and his lips descended upon hers.
His lips were cracked and chapped, but still somehow soft and velvety. His fingers threaded through her hair as her arms awkwardly lay limp by her sides, her lips smashed against his.
She didn't know what to do. There was no time to panic.
Charlotte threw her arm over Teddy's shoulder and leaned into the kiss. Their noses bumped and his glasses slightly dug into her cheek, but it was perfect.
Charlotte Jackson had never kissed, been kissed, or even really thought about kissing someone (except for maybe kissing someone like Sam Claflin, minus the fact that he's married. Ooh, or Grant Gustin; that boy was downright adorable).
It was the best kiss she'd ever had.
Technically it has to be the best kiss she's ever had since she hasn't kissed anyone else, but that also means it was technically the worst kiss she'd ever had as well, although she was leaning more towards the first technicality.
It lasted about five seconds. In total. Or maybe ten, she wasn't exactly sure. Charlotte blanked out half of the way through. His lips on hers, the boy whom she strongly suspected wrote the notes of encouragement every day to her. The boy that had gave her his hoodie late at night at Dunkin' Donuts, the boy that drew a picture of her, the boy that sang a Beatles song right beside her, the boy that was her best friend.
Their lips stopped kissing and she unhooked her arm from around his neck. Charlotte backed up a couple of steps.
"Charlotte..."
His voice was hoarse. Charlie could feel him staring at her but she couldn't bring herself to look him in the eye. Her eyes focused on the linoleum floor, anywhere but his piercing blue eyes.
"Theodore."
Her eyes met his.
The ocean meeting the earth again.
The water was swirling, spitting, whirling and roaring, a full-blown storm in the irises of his eyes. She felt as if the ocean were swallowing her up.
With that last thought, she whisked as fast as she could out of the Dunkin' Donuts, sprinted home, and crawled back into her bed cocoon to a dreamless, restless night.
a/n
SOOOO???
SO MUCH #TEDLIE ACTION I CAN'T
THOUGHTS? I know, everything seems rushed, but it's needed for.. later on ;) I needed some excitement, this book was getting a little snooze-ey
dedication goes to @ninjahginjahbecause it was their birthday. I tried to update then, but I'm so slow xD
there's something super cool that has happened. @NegativeWriter26has done, as I'd like to call it, the Teddy Challenge. "Oh my gosh... My friends and I are pulling a prank on my "Teddy" and writing notes about your stories and quotes from this book along with minor details and lol it's funny.
Today while he was buying lunch, one of my friends rushed to put it next to his water bottle, so when he came back with his lunch, he was taking a drink of water and saw the note [We wrote to: _his name_ to make sure he read it] and he tried to figure out who sent it, but he couldn't trace it back to me b/c my friend who he hardly knows wrote it. He has no class with her either, so...
It's only Note One out of four. It gets more cryptic as the days go by... I feel bad but it's so funny that it washes away the guilt... and I have two classes with him and didn't even mention the words note(s), wattpad, your name, or anything concerning this story AnD iT's So FrEaKiNg HaRd."
She's been private messaging me about it, and she's been giving cute notes to her own 'teddy' as she calls him. now I think this is so freaking cool, and maybe we can start something. call it the #TeddyChallenge spread a little happiness! I dunno, I feel like that'd be so cool. write a note to your crush telling them they have a nice smile, write a note to your friend telling them something you like about them, do whatever. take the #TeddyChallenge and spread the word!
GOALS:
40k reads in total [AIMING SUPER HIGH BC !!!!!]
200 votes ???
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