"Mommy!" A little boy called out as he sped off to the kitchen. His eyes widened as he saw his mom and dad kissing.
His mom noticed and pulled away, lightly smacking his dad. "Hey, sweetie." She said smiling as she bent down to the little four year old boy.
The boy, Danny, completely forgot the kiss as he whined, "Flynn won't gimme my DS!"
She laughed and walked over to the play room, "Flynn!" She scolded playfully, "Share." She warned.
Flynn, her six year old son groaned and tossed the game to his brother.
Their dad walked in the room as well. "Hey buddy." He ruffled Danny's hair. Danny simply grinned cheekily at Flynn, who glared back at him.
The mom and dad smiled at each other and walked out of the room. "You make a great dad." She said softly, biting her lips.
He chuckled, "And Charlie? You make the best mommy ever."
Her eyes gleamed as she kissed him once again and then said against his lips, "Oh, Kevin. I know."
-----
It was ten years later, and Charlie was 28 years old now. She married Kevin when she was 20, and started having the kids, Flynn and Danny, two boys, when she was 22. She graduated college at 22 with a masters degree in writing.
Charlie, with a little help from her father, finally got her dream job as head editor and writer of Vogue magazine. Her husband Kevin was still a model, switching from companies on weekly basis.
And she loved him. As for Caleb? She realized her love for Caleb would never fade. She eventually did forgive him for his actions, for he was just a dumb 18 year old boy when he did it. She still hadn't spoken to him in 10 years though. Charlie, embarrassingly, still wrote letters to him every day. She now had a box packed with 10 years of letters written to Caleb. Even Kevin understood that it was something she had to do.
Charlie kept in touch with Kylie, Oliver, and even Henry, who she became best friends with a few years after she met him. The two were inseparable. As for Monica, Charlie completely lost touch with her.
Charlie lay sprawled on the couch flipping through TV channels when she got a call from Kylie.
"Charlie!" She squealed.
"Hey Ky. Babe. How are you?" Charlie said with a smile on her face.
"I'm so great. Actually, I was calling because I'm forcing you to go to our high school reunion, which is in like a week." Kylie playfully said.
"Oh my god!" Charlie practically shouted, "I completely forgot. Wow. Are you going?"
"Yes." Kylie confirmed, "I'm taking Joshua and the kids too. We're going on a vacation to California. We're staying at my mom's beach house. And I really wanted you to bring Kevin and Flynn and Daniel as well. We have so many extra rooms!"
Charlie smiled at the great idea, "That sounds like the best plan I've heard in forever. You know what, Ky, I'm gonna go talk to Kevin about this and book the plane tickets. Save me those rooms, alright?" She joked.
Kylie grinned, "I'll talk to you later, Char?"
Charlie, "Definitely." She clicked off the phone and skipped over to her bedroom. She saw Kevin laying on the bed flipping through one of Charlie's magazines.
Charlie blushed as she walked over and said, "How would you feel about a vacation, baby?"
Kevin smiled, "I'm guessing Kylie called about the reunion?"
She nodded with a big smile on her face, "She did."
"Looks like we're going back to California then?" He licked his lips.
She bit her lip and jumped on the bed beside him, running her fingers over his bare chest, feeling his toned muscles. His eyes gleamed and he pounced on her, "God, you're so cute when you try to be sexy." He laughed playfully.
She jokingly glared at him, but continued 'trying to be sexy' as she playfully unbuttoned her top, and Kevin's eyes followed her fingers lustfully as she did. "Well, then I'm gonna be fucking gorgeous when I do this." She slipped out of her skirt and licked her lips as winked at Kevin and her piercing giggle filled the room as she readied for whatever crossed her way.
-----A week later-----
Charlie walked across the familiar street of her home town. She was currently holding Flynn's hand tightly as they crossed the street while Kevin was laughing loudly and giving Danny a ride on his shoulders.
Whenever Charlie passed a person that she knew back when she was in high school, she spared a smile and a wave. "My feet hurt, mommy!" Flynn groaned as he slumped his shoulders and barely dragged his feet across the concrete sidewalk.
Charlie smiled and picked Flynn up in her arms before setting him back down and she sighed, "Geez. You're really heavy now, Flynn!" She joked.
Flynn crinkled his nose at her and huffed his chest but he had a playful smile on his face, "Can we go get ice cream later?" He begged.
Danny was quick to agree with his brother for once. From atop his dad's shoulders, he chanted, "Ice cream! Ice cream! Ice cream!" Flynn started chanting with his brother and Kevin and Charlie rolled their eyes at the kids.
Defeated, Kevin sighed, "Alright, you two! We'll get ice cream if you both shut up." He joked, "Not too much though." He glanced at Charlie, "We wouldn't want mommy to get fat right before her high school reunion."
Charlie smacked his arm and mumbled a grouchy, "Whatever." The kids laughed loudly.
Suddenly, Charlie froze as she saw an oh-so-familiar face walking out of the ice cream shop that they were walking towards.
It was Caleb. And god, did he look good, too. Caleb didn't notice her staring at first, but when he looked up from his phone as he leaned against the glass wall of the shop, he caught Charlie's eye immediately. He recognized her.
The two were both standing still, staring at each other. Kevin and the kids noticed and Kevin said softly, "Is everything okay, Char?"
"Yeah mommy!" Danny agreed, "Who is that man you're staring at?"
Charlie didn't look away from Caleb. Her heart hurt when the most beautiful girl she had ever seen skipped out of the ice cream shop and looked around and spotted Caleb. She ran over and started talking to him.
Caleb slowly turned and a smile spread on his face. The girl softly laughed and stood taller so she could peck him on the lips. She said something when he pulled away that made Caleb laugh so hard he practically snorted.
Flynn impatiently was tugging on Charlie's sleeve. "Ice cream." He moaned.
Charlie couldn't bring herself to look away. The girl Caleb was with noticed her staring and she subtly pointed to Charlie, probably asking if he knew who Charlie was.
Caleb's gaze faltered and he looked at the floor, throwing his hands in his pockets as he shook his head.
Charlie finally looked away to meet Kevin's gaze. Kevin set his son down and walked over to his wife. He wrapped his arms around her and whispered in her ear, "Is that him? Caleb?"
She nodded against his shoulder. "I'm sorry." He whispered.
She shrugged, "It doesn't matter." She pulled away and met his eyes, "I love you, Kevin."
Kevin mouthed to her, 'I love you too.'
Charlie grabbed both Flynn and Danny's hands as she walked across the street and towards the coffee shop. Before she walked in, she turned her head to see Caleb looking at her with a sad, hurt look in his face.
"You all go in? I want to talk to an old friend." Charlie said to her family. The kids eagerly nodded and walked in. Kevin smiled, "I'm here if you need me baby." He followed the kids inside. Charlie's heart warmed at Kevin's understanding and trust in her.
Charlie took a deep breath and walked over to Caleb and his girl.
"Caleb Hughes?" She said with a smile on her face.
He grinned, but it didn't reach his eyes, "Charlie Harper." He said with a nod.
"Is this your, uh, girlfriend?" Charlie said and smiled at the girl who had her hands locked with Caleb's.
She smiled and extended her arm, "I'm Mia, Caleb's wife."
Charlie froze, "W-What?" She stuttered. Her gaze flickered down to the ring that was indeed resting on her finger.
Caleb looked at Mia, "Baby. Mind if I, uh, talk to Charlie alone for a second?" She slowly nodded and said, "I'll be waiting at the car, okay?" She kissed Caleb's cheek and skipped away happily.
"I thought you said... Mia was... dead?" Charlie whispered with wide eyes.
Caleb smiled, "I thought she was. But it turns out it was all just a scheme from her father. He set up the whole thing after Mia recovered. He made it look like she died to me and he told her that I died from a car crash. But...She's cancer free, Charlie."
Charlie whistled, "I'm so happy for you two." She said with a genuine smile on her face.
He nodded, "And I saw you... with your family. I'm truly happy for you as well."
Charlie smiled, "Maybe if we would have met differently, we could have been friends." She said quietly.
"We still could be. Vance and my mom never shut up about you, Charlie." He said.
Charlie nodded, "I'd like that."
"I love you, Charlie. I know we're both married and you have kids. I know. And I know we could have never been together. So I don't have regrets. But I just want you to know, I'll never forget you."
Charlie sighed, "I've written letters to you every day for the past ten years." She confessed.
His eyes widened, "You do that, too?"
She smiled, nodding, "I love you, too, Caleb. I should let you go back to Mia. She seems wonderful, Caleb." He nodded and smiled, waving at Charlie. She grinned, waving back and she walked into the ice cream shop and spotted Kevin and the kids had saved a spot for her at a booth.
She walked over and plopped herself down next to Kevin. "How'd it go?" He asked.
Charlie's fingers grasped the necklace that lay on her neck. The one with the four leaf clover on it. "I just realized something."
"And what's that?" He smiled.
She stole a bite from his strawberry ice cream and said, licking her lips, "That I love you. And what we have, is one in a million. Thank you for forcing me to go on a date with you, Kevin. If you wouldn't have done that, I don't know what would have happened to me." She sniffed.
He smiled and eyed her lips. The two had made sort of an inside joke, except it wasn't really a joke. You know how in The Fault In Our Stars, they had that "Okay? Okay." thing? Yeah, well, Charlie and Kevin also had something like that.
So he licked his own lips, staring at Charlie's as he whispered, "Do you mind?"
Charlie shook her head, realizing that the man who was staring at her loved her, and she finally got closure. She was finally capable of loving him back the way he loved her. And that's why, she whispered, "Please do."