Charlene's POV
The last few days of the year are meant to be ones filled with joyful memories and cheer. I like to think of them as an annual closure. Whether or not you had a good year, you make the last few days worth remembrance, just so you could say that you left it on a good note.
I'm glad I could say that my year is going to have a happy ending. Yeah, I fell like a million times in the past three months. Yeah, I was part of a fight that resulted in someone getting their face punched. Yeah, I kind of ruined Christmas dinner with my stupid sarcasm. But at least I got to do those things with special people, my four best friends. Francesca, Evan, Jon, and Ricky.
Oh, Ricky. Now, he was someone who was a very big part of my year. From putting me in a state of temporary insanity, to sweeping me off my feet (literally), I could truthfully say he was my favorite part of 2016.
Today is December 30, meaning it is the second to last day of the year. It's pretty much the last regular day of the year, since tomorrow everybody will be partying, so the five of us figured, what better way to end the year off than with an afternoon in the city?
It was now 12, and the four of them were going to be here any minute now so we could head over to the subway together. Just as I checked the clock, my phone buzzed from my bed. I walked over to see that it was a text from Evan. I swiped my finger on my phone, revealing his message.
We'll be there in 1 minute. You better be ready or else :) - Little Evan
"Or else."
Crap.
That was never a good sign. The last time that came from one of my friends, I almost broke a rib. It's a long story.
I quickly threw on a pair of riding boots, and my warm anorak jacket. I tugged on my scarf, and grabbed my bag and my new DSLR camera (I finally got to open my presents a few days ago). Starting now, I wanted to capture every special moment that came my way. I have a feeling i'm going to have a lot of them next year. I wrapped the strap around my neck, and darted down the stairs. I could practically feel their presence outside the house. We just have a connection like that. Or maybe it was just because I could already hear their freakishly loud voices from inside. I bolted past the living room, having a little count down with my every step.
3
I headed towards the door, their bickering getting louder.
2
I grabbed the knob, twisting it backward.
"1." I mumbled to myself, as I opened the door, revealing four idiots posing in different positions. Francesca was in the process of getting on Jon's back, but from the looks of it, she just looked like she was about to kick his butt. Evan had his arms crossed in front of his chest, making him look like a wannabe thug, which isn't even possible because, let's face it, Evan was the least intimidating person to have walked on the planet. I swear I've seen babies more frightening than him. And then there was Ricky, as usual, leaning on the side of my door with that cheeky smirk on his face. Just how I liked him. I rolled my eyes at them, shaking my head at how stupid they were.
"You guys are so fabulous." I chuckled, stepping out of the door and locking it.
"You know it." Jon said, wrapping his arm around Francesca's shoulder.
We walked down the porch, and down the sidewalk. The sky way pretty gloomy, and I wasn't sure whether it was going to rain or snow. The nearest subway was right next to the park, which was pretty close to my house, so I bet we'd make it to the station before the weather hits us. In about 10 minutes, we were already passing through the park.
"Aw, look chipmunk, that's our tree. That's where I first asked you out on a date." He said, grabbing her hand. She cooed at him, and snuggled into his arm. Ricky and Evan looked at me with repulsed faces, and I shook my head at them.
"Oh c'mon, they're having a moment. It's adorable. Plus, at least they're in front of us, and not next to us." I said, grabbing my camera and snapping a picture of them, knowing they'd probably love to see it later on. I smiled at them, seeing how they looked at each other. One day, I hope to have a relationship like they do. Ricky scoffed and glared at them.
"Yea, having them in front of me is great. I have a full view of them eating each others faces off like wild pigs." He screamed the last part mockingly. Francesca looked back at us, sending Ricky a death glare.
"We heard that." She snarled.
"You were meant to." Ricky said in a fake girlish voice.
I looked up at Evan, who had the same wide eyed expression on his face as me. I latched on to his arm, gripping it tightly.
"I'm sitting next to you on the subway."
-
"I'm starving!" Francesca randomly squealed, clutching her stomach. We all turned to look at her with confused faces. We've only been in the city for 20 minutes, and we haven't even done anything yet. I wasn't even hungry yet, and I'm usually the first one to scream out in starvation. Jon chuckled and nodded his head.
"We'll go get some food. Do you guys wanna come with us?" Jon asked.
"I'll go, even you guys are less flirty then these two." Evan said, smirking at Ricky and I. I slapped his arm, feeling my face burn.
"Do you guys want anything?" Francesca asked, still snickering from Evan's stupid remark. We both shook our heads.
"Okay then, call us if you need anything. We'll see you guys later. Or never, we wouldn't want to ruin anything, you know." She said wiggling her eyebrows before turning around with the boys.
Ricky looked at me with a smirk, the ends of his unmade hair flowing from under his beanie. I turned away, trying to get away from the awkwardness by staring the big stores on the sidewalk.
I haven't seen him since we cleaned up the mess we made in the kitchen on Christmas, which was even more awkward because not once did we talk about the almost-mistletoe kiss. Heck, we didn't even talk about the almost-kiss that happened at my doorstep about a month ago.
Why do I always find myself in that situation with him? It's like the universe is trying to tell us that we should stop trying. And I don't know whether that's a good thing or a bad thing.
"I guess it's just the two of us again." He grabbed my hand from inside my pocket and held it tightly in his.
"As always." I chuckled. He gave me a small smile, and looked around Time Square, probably looking for a place to go. His eyes quickly lit up, and his attention diverted back to me.
"Let's go to Toys R Us!" He pleaded, already dragging me throw the pavement like a little boy. I swear he's a 5 year old trapped in a 17 year old boy's body, but to be honest, it was pretty cute.
He shoved me inside the store and let go of my hand. Ricky ran towards the escalator (He literally ran like a loose toddler), leaving me alone at the entrance. In the process, he ran into a little girl and knocked down her Barbies on the floor. I could see her face turning red and her eyes tearing up.
I walked over to her, and bent down to reach the floor. I picked up the boxes of Barbies, and put each box in her hands.
"Are you okay, sweetie?" I asked comfortingly. I used to volunteer to help little kids, so I knew a thing or two about how to cheer them up.
"The b-bad boy p-pushed me." She sniffled, her breathing hitched. I sent her a warm smile.
"If if makes you feel better, I'll find him and kick his little butt for you, okay?" I said standing up to go and get Ricky. I was cut off by a little hand gripping mine. I looked down to see the little girl who was now smiling at me with her red face.
"I wanna come with you!" She squealed, jumping up and down. I couldn't help but giggle at how eager she was to kick his butt.
"Don't you need to go back to your parents? I'm sure they're looking for you, hun." I reassured her. She looked at me weirdly, as if what I said was the stupidest thing she's ever heard.
"I'm 6. I'm a big girl now. Mommy and Daddy said I could go." She said nodding her head at me. I laughed, and she pulled me lightly towards the escalator.
"My name is Charlene. What's your name?" I looked at her, her little fingers still wrapped around my hand.
"Sophia, but people like calling me Sophie." She smiled as we rolled up the escalator. I walked towards the back of the floor, knowing exactly where Ricky went. The sound of his voice approached us as we walked closer to him. Surprisingly, I heard another voice blending in with his.
"No fair, you got the better toy!" I heard a Ricky screaming.
"But you're bigger than me!" A little voice yelled, erupting in fits of giggles. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
Sophie and I stopped at the Spiderman section to see Ricky and I little boy attacking each other with tickles, and from what I'm seeing, the little boy was winning. Ricky was lying on the floor while the little boy was flailing his arms at him. A smile rose to my lips as I watched them playing with each other. I grabbed my camera, snapping a picture of the little boy playfully smacking Ricky on the face.
"Asher?" Sophia said in a high pitched voice. I looked down at her, wondering who she was talking about. Ricky and the little boy looked up at us, wide eyed. They both stood up.
"Ew, why are you here Sophie?" The little boy stuck his tongue out at her. Ricky and I looked at each other in confusion.
"Wait, you two know each other?" Ricky asked, looking from Sophie to the little boy, who I presumed was Asher. Sophia tugged on my arm, and sent me a disgusted look.
"We're twins." She said, sticking her tongue out at Asher. I looked at the both of them, now seeing the resemblance. They had the same big green eyes, light brown hair, and freckles.
"I know how you feel, little man, I have a twin sister too. They can be major knuckleheads sometimes." Ricky leaned down to talk to Asher, giving him a quick fist bump. Asher let out a small giggle.
"We came to kick your butts." Sophie screamed, clearly ready to charge at them. The boys looked up at us wearing matching smirks. What was Ricky teaching the poor boy?
"Really?" Ricky said mischievously, looking up at me with a smug look on his face. I opened my mouth to talk, but Sophie interjected.
"Yea, Charlene said she was going to kick your mean butt for knocking down my dollies!" She yelled at him. He stood up, and patted Asher's back tightly, signaling for him to move to the side.
"Is that so?" Ricky smirked, walked towards me. My heart raced, his smirk intimidating me. He's going to kill me.
"Well, I-" I started, but was cut off by Ricky taking my camera off from my neck and placing it in Asher's hands.
"Can I trust you to hold this for a few seconds?" He said sweetly. Asher bobbed his head up and down, and Ricky ruffled his hair. He turned back to me, with a sickly sweet smile on his face. Ricky stood behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist, lowering his head towards my ear.
"You're going to kick my butt, huh?" He whispered, sending chills on the back of my neck.
"Yes. Yes, I am." I declared, looking down at my feet.
"Not if I do this!" Ricky screamed, attacking my sides, causing me to pull away from him. He continued tickling me, as I tried to push his arms away from me while erupting in laughter. I heard Sophie and Asher giggling to the side of me. I pried his arms off me, and smacked his arm hardly. He winced, rubbing the side of his arm that I just hit. I grinned and stuck my tongue out at him.
"Sophie? Asher?" A woman's voice resonated around the floor. A man and a woman, who I'm guessing was their mother, emerged from the corner rolling around a stroller. The woman let out a sigh of relief, and leaned down to give her kids a hug. The man closed his eyes and rolled the stroller, trying to make sure the baby inside it doesn't wake up.
"Your Father and I been looking for you guys for the past 20 minutes! Don't ever leave us like that again, you understand?" She said sternly, still hugging them. The kids nodded, and apologized. She looked up at us and smiled.
"Thank you for taking care of them, they can be a handful, especially with a new baby and all." She said gratefully.
"How can we repay you?" Their father asked, sending us a warm smile. Ricky and I both shook our heads.
"Their company was good enough. You have really funny kids." Ricky said, looking down at the Sophie and Asher. He nodded, and looked at his kids with a smile. Their mother tapped them both of the back.
"Go say your goodbyes now." She said lightly pushing them towards us. Sophie walked towards me, while Asher walked towards Ricky. I bent down and gave her a big hug. She leaned in my ear, and placed her hands around her mouth, forming a circle around them.
"Is the bad boy your boyfriend?" She asked amusingly. I looked down, and shook my head. The thought of him being my boyfriend gives me a weird feeling in my stomach.
"No, we're just friends." I told her, smiling. She nodded and leaned back into my ear.
"You would look cute together." Sophie said with a smile, walking back to stand next to her parents. The smile on my face grew larger and a matching blush rose to my cheeks.
I stood up and looked over to Ricky and Asher, who were still talking. Asher leaned down to whisper in Ricky's ear. As Asher was talking, a small smile formed on his lips. Ricky looked up at me, but quickly looked down, making me wonder what they were talking about.
"I think so too." Ricky said, looking back at me. Asher whispered something else in Ricky's ear, and he looked down, his cheeks turning pink.
"I will soon, little man." Ricky said, giving Asher a hug and a pat on the back. Asher walked back over to his parents. They all waved, and walked towards the elevator.
Ricky stood up and grabbed my hand. My hand burned at his touch, and I could feel my embarrassing blush reappear on my face.
Oh, the effect that this boy has on me.
We headed down the elevator, and got out of the store. The cold wind rushed past us, along with the crowds of people on the sidewalk. Ricky and I walked down the sidewalk, looking at all the other stores.
"So, what were you and Asher talking about?" I finally asked, the curiosity building up inside of me. He looked down, and shook his head, a small smile appearing on his face.
"Just man stuff."
-
Ricky's POV
I sprawled on my bed, my back sitting my soft sheets. It was now 7 in the afternoon, and I just got home from walking Charlene back to her house. After Toys R Us, we spent the rest of the day walking around the different shops in Time Square. Of course, Charlene bought 5 bags of clothes while I just ended up getting a new beanie and a shirt. She really can shop until she drops. Francesca, Jon, and Evan were still no where to be scene. I guess they weren't kidding when they said that they would leave us alone today, which I didn't mind because I loved just hanging out with her. She was so good with Sophie, and I found it adorable. I didn't know she was great with kids.
Heck, I didn't know I was good with kids. I always thought they were just bratty and annoying, but Asher turned out to be a cool kid. It's funny, he kinda reminds me of myself. He's going to turn out to be a pretty epic guy one day.
Thinking about my experience with Asher actually makes me excited to be a father one day. I would want a boy and a girl, and hopefully I'd have a wife who's as great with the kids as Charlene is.
Or better, she would be my wife.
I rubbed the back of my neck, nervously shrugging off my thoughts. I felt my eyes suddenly going wide as I realized what was on my neck. I looked down at my chest, gripping Charlene's camera in my hands. I completely forgot about Asher giving it back to me.
I got up from my bed, and headed out the door. She would freak out if she realized that she didn't have her camera, and as much as I'd want to see that, I didn't want to be that big of a jerk. I liked annoying her, not making her cry pools of tears. Seeing her cry would probably hurt me more than it would her. I've already caused too much distress for her.
As I walked down the pavement, I felt droplets of water fall on my cheek. In a split second, water was pouring hard on me. I hid the camera deep into my jacket, making sure it wouldn't get wet. I ran as fast as I could, now completely drenched in water. I reached her house, and quickly rang the doorbell. I tore off my soggy beanie and squeezed the water out of it, placing it back on my head after.
Mrs. Jones opened the door and looked at me with wide eyes. She quickly gestured for me to come in.
"Are you okay, honey? Why were you out in the rain?" She questioned. I took out the camera from my jacket, relieved that it didn't get wet at all.
"Charlene forgot this, so I ran over here to give it to her." I explained. Her eyebrow shot up, and looked at me like I just spoke in a different language.
"You ran? Sweetie, why didn't you just take your car over here?" She laughed. My car. Why didn't I take my stupid car? I slapped my forehead, realizing how idiotic I am.
"That's really sweet, Ricky. She's really lucky to have someone like you in her life. I'm glad everything worked out between you two." She placed her hand on my shoulder and gave me a warm smile. I removed my hand from my face and smiled back at her.
"I'm glad too." I said happily. She nodded, and looked at the stairs.
"She might be sleeping already, she was really tired when she got home, but you can still go up there to give it to her." She explained. I nodded and walked up the stairs as softly as I could.
I walked up to Charlene's room very quietly, in case she was already fast asleep. I wouldn't want to wake up the sleeping beauty. I creaked the door open, and just as I thought, she was peacefully sleeping on her bed. God, she looks adorable when she's sleeping. I gripped the camera in my hands. I lifted it up in my hands, trying to take a picture of her, but the camera quickly made some weird noises, making me place it back down on her vanity. I sat down next to her, and gave her a peck on the cheek. She mumbled something in her sleep, but I couldn't hear what she said.
"Are you okay, babe?" I said placing my hand on her cheek.
"Ricky?" She said groggily.
"Yea, I'm here." I replied.
"I kinda-sorta-really like you." She mumbled with a small smile on her face. My eyes went wide, and I went stiff.
She likes me back.
Charlene Jones likes me back.
God, I hope it's not just the sleep talking.
"But you're too dumb to realize it." She laughed slightly. I let out a soft chuckle at her remark. Even in her sleep, she's sassy.
Damn, she's everything I've ever wanted.
I tug a piece of hair behind her ear, and gave her a kiss on the forehead. I got up to leave, but as I was halfway through the door, I walked back in to sit never to her again. I had to tell her.
I had to tell her that I liked her back.
Half of me wished she would remember this moment, and the other half of me wished he wouldn't.
"Charlene?" I whispered. She mumbled something, and let out a soft snore. A smile spread to my face.
"I like you too, stupid."