Charlie's POV
I cannot get the image out of my head.
His lifeless body lying on the tiled floor.
His pale skin turning blue.
He looked dead.
I thought that he was dead.
Two weeks had passed, which meant that summer was officially over and the beginning of my senior year of high school was now in session.
"How is he doing?" Asked Clayton as we were seated at our regular table for lunch.
"He's doing better." Adelaide answered from beside him.
Adelaide had transferred from St Griffiths so that she could spend her senior year with her boyfriend, which was pretty cute.
"He's been asking for you." She turned her attention to me.
I haven't seen Ace since the ambulance came and rushed him to the nearest hospital. Don't get me wrong, I so desperately wanted to.... But I just couldn't.
I didn't want to see him in that state.
"How are you liking Clarence High?" I asked her, changing the subject.
I can see her slightly frown before she responds. "It's not too bad, much better than I expected it to be."
I looked across the lawn to the empty parking space where Ace always parked his motorcycle, and I couldn't help but frown.
I felt bad that I hadn't been to see him yet.
"Hi guys." Ryan greeted us, holding his lunch tray. Tom was standing right behind him, his eyes awkwardly looking over to Ella.
"Hey, Ellie." He greets her.
"Hi." She responds.
Well this is awkward....
"I'm going to get a head start to class." I tell the group, standing up from the table.
"I'll come with." Ella says, reaching for her mini backpack.
"There's still ten minutes left until next period." Clayton stated.
"I walk very slow nowadays." I joked.
"Okay, see you later?"
"Uh, sure." I offered a friendly smile before walking off.
Ella slips her arm around mine and linked them together. "That was awkward." She stated.
"Very." I agreed. "So, are you and Tom like, friends now? Or?"
"He wants to be friends, but I can't stand looking at his stupid hot face." She groaned. "It's taking all of my energy to stop me from slipping my tongue in his mouth."
"Ugh, I did not need that visual." I say, grimacing.
"So why haven't you been to see Ace?" She wondered as we entered the school's building and walked slowly down the corridor.
I sighed dramatically. "I don't know." I answered. "I guess I'm annoyed at him. I know that makes me sound like a bad person, but... I just can't."
"Are you okay?"
"Not really." I answered honestly. "I haven't been getting much sleep. Every time I close my eyes, all I can see is...." I couldn't even finish the sentence.
"That sounds rough, I'm so sorry Charlie." She puts her head to my shoulder.
"Summer didn't go the way we wanted, huh?"
"Next summer, I am not leaving my bed." She says.
I murmured in agreement.
~
That night, I was seated at the dining table when mom placed a bowl of Teriyaki Chicken and fried rice on the placemat before me.
"Hmmm, this smells delicious." Dad stated.
He was accurate. This food smelled like heaven.
"I've been looking at recipes on Pinterest." Mom says. "Tomorrow night, we're going to have homemade lasagna." She smiles as she takes a seat and begins to dig into her food.
"Wait, you have Pinterest?" I queried.
"Sally from across the street was telling me about it. She says she makes all of her food from Pinterest recipes, so I thought that I would give it a go." She says.
I take a forkful and cautiously put it into my mouth.
The food tasted nice. Much nicer than it looked, that's for sure.
"Hmmm, this is good." I complimented, taking another forkful.
"Thanks." Mom smiled.
An awkward silence ensued as we each continued to eat our dinners. After finishing off dinner, mom headed back into the kitchen to get dessert, which she also made from looking at a recipe on Pinterest.
"I made apple pie." She says, placing the pie on the table.
That's my cue to leave.
"Ugh, gross." I grimaced.
"Oh, I'm sorry sweetie, I forgot that you don't like apple pie." Mom apologised.
"No, it's fine. I was full, anyways." I get up from the table and head towards the stairs.
I get upstairs and decide to have a nice warm shower before getting ready for bed.
Today was exhausting. I thought to myself. Sleep was calling me.
After showering, I hope into bed and reach onto the bedside table for the book that I was currently reading. I only had a few chapters left of 'The Hate You Give', and I was hoping to finish it before reading something else.
I've read a lot of books, and I usually always read every book twice, except for 'Twilight', which, in my opinion, was straight up whack.
What kind of vampire sparkles? I rolled my eyes just thinking about it.
As I get into continuing the chapter that I had left the book on last night, my phone vibrates like crazy from the bedside table.
Boyfriend is calling....
I bookmark the page and set it aside as I look down at the phone screen.
I answer it before it could go straight to voicemail and I place the phone to my ear.
"Charlie?" His voice came through, causing my heart to palpitate.
I take a breath before replying.
"Hi." I say, awkwardly. "Um, h-how are you?"
Why am I being so weird?
"Much better now that I'm talking to you." He says. "I've missed you."
"I miss you too."
An awkward silence followed.
"I am so fucking sorry, Charlie." He says. "I was a complete idiot."
"You promised me." I stared up at my ceiling.
"I know, I'm sorry." He says.
"You could have died. And I was the one who found you." I sniffled.
"I know, I fucked up and I'm sorry. More sorry than you'll ever know." He exhaled through the phone. "I completely understand if you hate me."
"I could never hate you." I tell him.
"You should hate me, forever."
"Nah." I tell him.
He takes in a deep breath before slowly exhaling. "I uh, I leave for rehab tomorrow." He tells me.
"Oh?"
"Yeah. I was hoping I could see you?"
"I have school." I stated.
"So I'll wait until after school finishes to leave." He says.
"Okay."
"How is school, anyways?" He asks.
I groaned before responding. "It was exhausting."
"Spare no detail." He says.
"Don't you have to go to sleep, or something?" I wondered.
"Nah, I slept all day today so I am good." He says.
"Alright."
We talked on the phone for what seemed like hours, until finally I had fallen asleep on the phone.
In my defence, I was seriously tired.
~
The following afternoon, I arrive home and find Ace seated on the steps of my front porch. Adelaide, who was seated next to him, stands up and tells Ace that she'll be waiting in the car.
As she walks over to the car and gets into the driver's side, I stand awkwardly with my eyes glued to my own shoes.
"Hey." He says.
I stand upright and look over at him. "Hi." I forced on an awkward smile.
"How was school?" He wondered.
"Uh, it was okay." I tell him. "So, you're leaving for rehab?"
"Yeah." He stands up and takes a step closer to me. "I came to say goodbye."
"It's not goodbye." I state. "I can always visit you."
"Charlie..."
"Do they even allow visitors?" I wondered.
"Charlie..."
"Is it like prison? Will I be frisked when I visit?"
"Charlie.." His face was woeful. And just like that, my heart sank.
I knew what was coming.
This wasn't just a 'see you later' goodbye.... This was a 'I'm breaking up with you' goodbye.
"No." I shake my head in disbelief. "No."
"I'm no good for you,"
"No, you are good for me." I interjected.
"I might never get better, and I don't want you to see me like this ever again." He says.
"But-"
"You don't deserve to be with someone who is broken beyond repair."
"But, you said you loved me." Tears began welling in my eyes.
"I do." He places a hand on my arm.
"Then why?"
As he takes a breath, tears began streaming down my face.
"I don't want to ruin your life." He wipes away my tears.
"You're not.... You won't." I say.
"I will." He insisted.
"So I don't get a say in this?" I asked.
He doesn't say anything. Instead, he just presses his forehead against mine, his right arm snaked behind me so that his right hand his holding the back of my neck. His eyes, his beautiful green eyes, are looking into mine as he says. "I'm glad I met you, Charlie Harrington."
"Stay." I croaked. "Please."
Again, he wipes away my tears. "I can't."
He was breaking my heart.
"I love you." He wraps me in his arms, and I hug him tighter than I have ever hugged anyone in my life.
I didn't want to let go.
"I'm sorry." He releases me, taking one last look in my eyes before walking towards the car.
I'm crying my heart out as he gets into the car and starts down the street.
My first love wasn't supposed to end like this.
We were supposed to go to prom together, and post adorable and romantic pictures onto our instagrams. We were supposed to stand together during graduation, and eventually head off to college and possibly share the same dorm room.
But together, we burned like wildfire.
Too bright, too fast.
But then, like a wildfire, we burned out.
___________________
Well, that's a wrap on Bad Boy Vacation. I apologise for the dark turn in this story, and I hope you readers will not hire a voodooist to put a curse on me.
I had a different ending for this book entirely, but at the last second I switched it up.
Again, I'm sorry for the sad ending, I'm also sorry that I rushed the ending.
But I promise, this is not the end of Ace and Charlie's story.
CHACE IS NOT OVER!
Love you, and I wish you all well.