CHAPTER EIGHT
in my head
•
THE sound of rain continuing to pour and pour outside made charlotte miserable for the day ahead. she was never a morning person, but nearly everyday she'd have to wake up at 4am to get ready for work. sometimes she really considered quitting and just fleeing the world and live in a little cottage off the grid.
while humming along to Ladders by Mac Miller, sitting on the floor of her room doing her makeup, charlotte realized she couldn't get the thought of gracie abrams out of her head. she couldn't figure out why, maybe it was because they've been spending time together which she never would've guessed could happen, or maybe it's because she enjoys the thrill she gets from seeing gracie. though she couldn't really describe why she gets that either.
suddenly, her phone started to ring since jude called her. she answered hesitantly, knowing she hadn't talked to him about hanging out with gracie yet and he definitely had seen the articles and such.
"charlie," he breathed out, sounding rather frustrated. "if one more person on the street asks me about you and gracie i'm going to jump into oncoming traffic."
"would it kill you to be a little less dramatic."
jude exhaled and charlotte could practically see his eye roll. "so how did that all happen."
"well, we both happened to be in the same bathroom, next thing i know i'm in her car and i wake up the next day in her house in her clothes. y'know she has a dog, i really thought she'd be a cat person. and it smells so good in there it's like—"
"wait wait wait," jude laughed. "are you guys friends?"
"define friends," charlotte awkwardly said before sighing. "i mean i think so. yeah we are. but i can't have dad and mom know. or y'know the public."
"i think you should drop her. she can't be better than her family, imagine being raised to hate certain people and then all of a sudden liking them. i cant believe that for a second."
"jude, that literally happened to me. i grew up thibking she's a bitch, but she's not too bad."
"yeah whatever," her brother muttered. "look i just don't think it's a good idea. i saw one rumour from the picture of you guys walking that she kidnapped you and you're currently in her basement."
"do people really see her as someone capable of that, she literally has finger paintings of stars taped to her fridge."
"i don't know, bitches be bonkers," jude replied. "anyways i gotta go get ready to head to the studio, i'll see you."
"kay, love you," charlotte said before hanging up.
she began tapping her fingers against the floorboards rapidly, the pit of anxiousness over how her family feels about the abram's was growing in her stomach, and she knew gracie probably was feeling the same.
she took three shakey breaths in an attempt to calm down before finishing up her makeup and getting dressed for her day. thats when she had the brilliant idea for what she should do in her free time after work.
future boy band
4:28am
charles
what u all doing
tnight
mario kart irl
nothing
little miss broadway
we hanging out??
charles
yes yes yes i need
to de-stress
matthew, marcus ???
marccie marc
yeah sure, your place?
charles
yes
mattybraps
i cant tonight
i'm taking this girl out
marccie marc
WHO
mattybraps
ur mom
little miss broadway
u guys r so mature
it shocks me
anyways fuck matthew,
what time?
charles
whenever after
6 i'll be off work then
caleb
caleb
caleb
mario kart irl
no charlotte i'm
not picking up snacks
little miss broadway
oooo no caleb pls get
snacks im starving
PLEASE
mario kart irl
fine
charles
favouritism much
marccie marc
no he just a simp
littlemissbroadway
????
mario kart irl
ok the both of u can
jump off a cliff
charles
😐
__
"cut!" the director shouted from across the set of which charlotte was sitting in front of a murder board. charlotte smiled and slumped back onto her elbows. "that was perfect charlotte. alright, let's wrap it up."
charlotte nodded and got up, walking over to her bag and quickly fished out her car keys. she said goodbye to the crew before dashing out to her car and driving out to head back to her apartment. the freckled girl never really liked driving alone, she always felt like she was more prone to crashing without a passenger beside her. strangely enough, this got her thinking of driving with gracie the night before, where she got to wear her hoodie again, the same hoodie she carefully placed on a hanger this morning and noticed that it still had that coffee scent.
by the time she got back to her place with gracie still stuck on her mind, she already knew sadie had let herself and caleb and marcus inside because she could hear music blaring through the front door. charlotte opened the door and wasn't surprised to see sadie cooking pasta in the kitchen and marcus and caleb playing chess on the floor instead of on the coffee table in front if the couch.
"hey charlie," sadie smiled, licking sauce off her finger, "do you want some, i'll put some on a plate for you?"
charlotte shook her head and took her shoes and coat off, setting her purse aside before hopping on top of the kitchen counter to watch sadie cook.
"hi marc, hi caleb," charlotte said, though she knew the boys wouldn't respond since they were always far too focused on the chess board. she then met eyes with sadie who seemed to be studying her face. "what, did i not blend my highlighter enough again," charlotte asked, pulling out her phone to check her face in the camera.
"no," sadie mumbled. "you're thinking about someone."
charlotte raised an eyebrow. sometimes the amount that sadie knew about her truly scared her, "what?"
"i kinda assumed, i mean you're not even focused on the fact that your favourite song is playing."
charlotte then noticed the beautiful sound of right where you left me by taylor swift and smiled, "oh. no yeah, i was thinking of someone, and she just won't get out my head."
a curious smile spread across sadie's face, "who?"
charlotte sighed, "no one. no one, don't worry about it." she wasn't sure why she decided not to tell sadie about her new interactions with gracie, but it did feel more safe to do so, just in case. "anyways, caleb was texting me the other day and he told me you two are planning on going with each other to the met in may."
"mhm," sadie nodded.
"as friends? or like..." charlotte asked, her hopefulness of caleb finally asking sadie out skyrocketing.
"as friends of course," sadie said in confusion, pouring pasta into three plates. "why, did he say something?"
"oh. no yeah, nothing," charlotte said, waving her hand carelessly to brush it off. "anyways, i'm gonna open a bottle of wine, i've been off today."
"what kind?" she heard marcus ask.
"oh now you can hear when i mention wine," charlotte said, rolling her eyes and hopping off the counter to walk to the wine cabinet.
"i'm a man of few interests."
"charming," charlotte replied, pulling out a bottle as sadie handed her four glasses. after finishing pouring the wine, she and sadie joined caleb and marcus on the floor. marcus and charlotte smirked at each other when they noticed caleb tense up as sadie blindly inched closer to him.
"caleb, how are you losing to marcus," charlotte asked genuinely as she examined the board.
"oh fuck you," marcus scoffed.
"I'm letting him win," caleb replied.
while marcus and caleb fell into an argument that sadie was too busy laughing her ass off at, charlotte noticed a notification pop up on her phone that made her air rise.
_____________________________
NOTIFICATION CENTRE
1 new message!
gracie
not to sound like a stalker, but i'm near your apartment building, wanna do something fun? 🍃🍃
_____________________________
__
soph!
this chapter took so long for me to finish omg
in other news, the tracklist for GA1 sounds so good, already claiming 'this is what the drugs are for' and 'fault line'