Page 44 of Hope for the Best

Chapter 15

Hope Jones

Charlie Morgan had kissed me like he was my boyfriend. He had kissed me like I had never been kissed before—like I didn't even know was possible.

I stared in the mirror at my own mouth, looking to see if there was any proof that we kissed for such a long time. I had come into my bathroom to take a shower and change, and Charlie was in the living room waiting for me. I didn't know why I expected my mouth to still be pink or swollen, but I looked in the mirror, anyway.

Inspecting my own mouth made me remember his kiss, I pictured it and I felt a yearning sensation as a result. I quickly finished combing my hair and then I towel-dried it one last time before heading out to meet Charlie. He was sitting on my couch, and he started to get up.

"Stay and rest your leg and I'll come sit by you."

My apartment was small, and I made it to Charlie quickly. I looked at him after I sat next to him. "Do you need an ice pack or anything?" I asked.

"No, thank you. I'll do all that when I get back to the house. Hey, I was thinking you could come over tomorrow even though AJ is still there."

"What? No. He's only got a few more days."

"I know, but I don't want to wait a few more days to see you. And you might have fun coming out and going onto the water with everybody. We've got a gigantic innertube. It's really fun. Ten people can ride on it, and it spins."

"I already told AJ that I was working every day this week."

"Just come over after you get off. I'll go out on the water with y'all."

"But your leg."

"I'll live."

"I would, but I don't want to try to act like I don't know you in front of him again. That's just weird. I'm definitely closer to you than I am to AJ."

"Well, I hope so," he said, reaching out for my hand. "Why don't we just go ahead and tell him. If we tell AJ we're together, then there's no confusion, and you can just come over there and be there with me."

"We would never tell AJ we're together," I said, half-thinking he was joking.

"Why not?"

"Because then we would basically be telling the whole family."

"Yeah?"

I looked at him like he must know he was missing something. "That's not what this is, though," I said.

"What do you mean that's not what this is?" he asked.

"Well, me and AJ were hanging out, but we never had any future plans or made any kind of announcement or anything. No one really even knew I was there to hang out with him. It's casual."

Charlie's eyebrows furrowed when I said that. "Casual? You're saying whatever's going on between me and you, it's too casual for me to say anything about it to AJ or my family? Is that how you feel?"

"I thought that's just how it was," I said, feeling somewhat stunned.

"Are you embarrassed?"

"What? Embarrassed? Me of you? No. Why would I be?"

"You tell me. You're the one who doesn't want to tell my family you're coming over to see me."

"I didn't say that, I just said we shouldn't make any announcements about it. AJ's going back to Chicago, and you're going back to Miami. There are too many factors for you to go mentioning this to anyone, that's all."

"What are these factors?" Charlie asked, pulling back and looking confused.