Chapter 15 - Christian

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Chapter Fifteen

Christian

                "Whose house is this?"               

                I turned the truck engine off and smirked. "Mine."

                Charlie looked at me and furrowed her brows. "What?" She shook her head and said, "No, you live with your parents." 

                I got out of the truck and walked to her side and opened the door. As she climbed out of it, I said, "I did live with my parents, but I thought it was time to grow up." I looked up at my kickass little house and grinned. "The finalizations went through today. I am officially a home owner."

                "Christian, that's awesome!" Charlie beamed. "It's such a nice house, too."

                Although it wasn't very fancy, I did agree with her. It was only a one story house with two bedrooms, but it was on the outskirts of town and it had over fifty acres of land. Most of it was forest and hills, but I liked to hike so it was perfect for me. It did need some work, but I'd always wanted a house I could work on and fix up to my liking.

                "Thanks." I took her hand into mine and said, "Come look inside, I want to show you something."

                We walked into the house and I could see the amused smile creeping on her face. I rolled my eyes, and said, "Yes I know there aren't any doors on the bathroom or bedrooms – it's kind of a fixer-upper."

                "Actually," Charlie looked at me and pushed her glasses up her nose, "I was just trying to decide if you did that purposely or not." She raised her eyebrow, and asked, "Wait, that wasn't what you wanted to show me, was it?"

                I laughed. "You know, you sure are a smart-ass once you get over the stammering." Not that I minded at all. As much as I liked her when she was shy and blushing, this confidant side of her was just as captivating. Over the past couple days, I could tell she was becoming more and more comfortable around me. She talked more, spluttered less, and laughed a lot.

                "Is that such a bad thing?" she asked with smile.

                Through my life, I'd been with my fair share of women, and by that, I mean I was with someone new pretty much every week. I'm not going to lie – I had a good time with them, but our conversations were less than stimulating. They always wanted to talk about hair, finger nails and gossip, and I preferred it when they didn't talk at all – but it was so much different with Charlie. 

                She wasn't just smart, she was passionate and studious. She didn't only memorize facts like some people do, but she would think about them, and try to gain the most in-depth understanding she could. If I told her about something she didn't know, she would want to pick it apart and try to evaluate every single detail – it was the hottest thing I'd ever seen.

                If someone gave me the choice to either spend the night with a kinky sex-crazed porn star or spend it just talking with Charlie – I would pick Charlie every single time.

                "Not at all," I finally admitted. "Now come on. It's just right in here..."

                I walked over to one of the bedrooms, and she hesitated in the hallway – her eyes evaluated me with suspicion.

                "Don't look at me like that, little nerd," I said with a smirk. "I promise I won't bite."

                Charlie rolled her eyes and took the last three steps that brought her to the bedroom doorway. When she turned to look into the room, her mouth fell agape. "Wow..." was all she was able to say.

                "I knew you, of all people, would appreciate this – go on, look around."

                Technically I only needed one bedroom, so I decided to turn this one into my own personal study and library. It was the larger bedroom of the two, so even with so many books it still had a nice open space concept. There were book shelves all along the two sides of the room and a big window on the furthest wall. Two leather couches sat on each side of the window with a small coffee table between them.

                "I eventually want to open up the roof, and put windows up there to bring more light in here," I said while watching Charlie read the spine of the books. "And the ceiling is pretty high – I could add a little in-door balcony up there."

                "If you do that, you should make a spiral stair case going up to it." She turned to look at me and there was a big, goofy smile on her face. She blushed and added, "I don't know why, but I just love spiral stairs."

                I nodded and watched her for a few more minutes until I heard the beeper in the kitchen go off. "It sounds like the food is done. Are you ready to go out for dinner?" 

                She titled her head and asked, "Where are we going?"


                If took fifteen minutes of hiking through the forest to make it to my private beach. Luckily, there was a nice little trail we were able to use, but even with the trail, Charlie almost tripped three times. She kept apologising for her clumsiness, but I didn't mind it. It was kind of cute watching her try to trek through the woods.

                "This is Crystal Lake, isn't it?" Charlie asked while taking little twigs out of her hair. "I didn't realize how close you lived to the water."

                "Yeah, it is. I really lucked out getting property right on the lake-"

                "Wait, your property comes all the way out to here?" She cut me off and looked impressed.

                I chuckled, and said, "Yeah – this beach is on my property. Of course, I don't own the water, but the shore is all mine." I set the cooler on the picnic table and started to pull out food.

                I noticed Charlie was fidgeting uncomfortably, and she kept averting her gaze away from the food. I raised my eye brow, and asked, "What's the matter?"

                "Well, I kind of already ate at my parents' house," she admitted and her cheeks grew red.

                "Ah – crap." I almost wanted to laugh at my foolishness. "I'm sorry, I should've asked you. Why didn't you tell me when we were at my house?"  

                She bit her lip and looked at the ground. "I felt bad because you went to all that effort to cook – I didn't want to embarrass you," she said bashfully. 

                I laughed – I couldn't help it. She was afraid to humiliate me, and yet, I spent half my time intentionally trying to embarrass her. It wasn't that I was a dick – okay, maybe I was, but I never wanted to hurt her. I just liked seeing her blush, even if it meant making her feel shy and uncomfortable.

                Fuck, I really was a selfish dick.

                "Don't ever be afraid of embarrassing me – if anyone deserves to humiliate me once in a while, it's you." I walked over to her and pulled the twig she missed out of her hair.

                Her cheeks flushed and she looked back to the ground before saying shyly, "Thanks."

Yup, I was definitely a selfish dick, but she was just too cute.

"Well, did you at least want some desert?" I asked and walked over to the picnic table. I pulled out two pieces of cherry cheese cake. "Karla told me this is your favourite."

                Charlie's eyes widened. "More like my kryptonite!" She took the plate with the biggest piece and sat down beside me. "I thought Karla was giving you the silent treatment."

                I shrugged. "She's slowly coming around."

                When we finished eating our desert, Charlie stood up and walked over to the shoreline. Unlike her, I didn't have supper, so I pulled out a Tupperware container with lasagna in it. I ate it while watching her walk along the beach.

                Further down she picked up a little rock, and it looked like she was about to skip it on the water, but it plunged right under. I burst out laughing – unintentionally, of course – and she turned around to glare at me.

                She reached down for another rock and tried to whip it this time, but her eyes were closed and she ended up throwing it into the sand. I laughed even harder.

                When she reached down for the third rock, and I noticed it was as round as a golf ball. I couldn't take it anymore and put my food down. "Wait – wait," I said and rushed over to her. "First of all, this-" I took the rock out of her hand and showed it to her, "is too round. If you want to skip stones on the water, you need something flat – like this!" I picked up a rock that was flat but oval shaped. I flicked it toward to the lake and it bounced six times before finally going under.

                "Show off," Charlie whispered and then picked up a good looking stone. She faced the lake and was about to throw it but her posture was all wrong.

                "Wait – let me show you." I grabbed her hand and put her index finger against the edge of the rock. "Okay, now put your thumb on this flat end and your middle finger on back of it." I put my hand over hers to show her. I walked behind her and guided her body to the side so she was standing with her left leg closest to the water. "Now spread your legs slightly until they are shoulder width apart."

                I put my hands on Charlie's shoulders, and said, "Now squat down a tiny bit so when you throw it, the rock will be close to parallel with the surface of the water." I could feel goose bumps rise up on her skin as my hand slid down her arm, and cupped the back of her right hand. "When you're ready, you have to flick your wrist like this..." I leaned her body forward with my own, and guided her arm out toward the lake while showing how to move her wrist.

            It felt so good to be touching her so I stood there a couple seconds longer than I needed to. I could hear her breath in deeply, and she didn't let it out until I took a step back. My arms ached to wrap around her, to touch her, to feel her lips against mine. I had to keep reminding myself she wanted to take things slow.

                I tried to clear my dry throat and then said, "Now try it."

            It took her a moment to understand what I was talking about, but when she tossed the rock, it bounced four times and went under. She jumped up and shrieked with glee. "I did it!" She turned around and hugged me. "Thanks! I've always wanted to do that."

                I chuckled while hugging her back – and almost didn't let her go. A few second past and I finally whispered in her ear, "So have I proven myself yet?"

                She smiled, and said, "You're getting very close."

                I couldn't stop myself from saying, "Does that mean I can kiss you?"

But before she could answer a big gust of wind blew the cooler of food to the ground.

                "Ah, shit!" I ran over to it and tried to gather it all up.

                "Hey Christian, I think we should head back – those look like storm clouds." And as if they heard her, a loud boom of thunder echoed around us. I looked up and sure enough, dark, ugly clouds were coming toward us from across the lake.

                By the time I packed up all the food and dishes, the clouds were nearly above us and it started raining. "Hurry up, Christian!"

                "Okay, let's go," I said and we both started running toward the trail. We barely made it ten steps before it started to pour. Charlie almost tripped on a branch, but I dropped the cooler and caught her. I decided to hold her hand while we ran and left the cooler behind – I could come back for it later, but if I let her run by herself, she would probably fall ... a lot.

                When we broke through the line of trees, I could see my little house in the distance. I stopped and looked down at Charlie. She was completely drenched from head to toe and rain was running down her face.  Even though she kind of resembled a drowned kitten, she was still as gorgeous as ever. She didn't say yes back at the beach, but she never said no either.

                "What are you doing Christian?" She yelled over the roar of thunder. "I can see the house, let's hurry up and-"

                I pull her into my arms and crashed my lips down on hers. She kissed me back, but after a couple seconds started to laugh, so I pulled away.

                When I gave her a questioning look, she said, "Did you really just kiss me in the rain?"

                "Was that too cliché?"

                She nodded and then said, "But there's nothing wrong with a little bit of cliché once in a while," and kissed me again.

                When we finally got back to my house, the rain had eased up, but we were still soaked. We trailed water behind us as we walked into the living room. "One second, I'll go get you something dry to put on."

                I went to my bedroom and got changed into a dry pair of jeans – I didn't bother to put a shirt on. I didn't really have much clean clothes, and the only clean shirt I had, I brought out for Charlie.

                When I noticed her staring at me, I smiled knowingly. "Like what you see?"

                Charlie's face reddened and she snatched the t-shirt and pajama pants out of my hands. When she looked at the shirt, she hesitated for a couple seconds, but then asked, "Do you have anywhere with a door that I can change?"

When I said no, she glared before saying, "You really need to get some doors – and soon. But in the meantime, no peaking," and went over to bathroom to change.

                I had no intention of being a peeping peter, but I'm a guy – sometimes, we just can't help ourselves. I smirked devilishly and glanced around the living room wall. I could just slightly see the side of her, but she had her back to me. She pulled off her shirt, and I stiffened.

                There on the right side of her back was a gruesome looking bruise. It was such a dark purple that it was almost black.

                "Jesus Christ, Charlie, what's that?!"

                She yelped in surprise and pulled my t-shirt on as I rushed over to her. "Wh-what's what?" she asked with wide eyes.

                "-that huge bruise on your back?"

                "Were you watching me get dressed?!" She asked defensively.

                "Don't change the subject. Where did you get those..." my voice trailed off when I noticed the bruises on her arms.

                Her right forearm was almost completely purple and brown, but when I looked a little closer, I noticed it was in the shape of a hand print. On her other arm, there were five little circular marks almost as dark as the bruise on her back. They were finger prints – someone actually did this to her.

                I grabbed her wrists and showed her the marks. "Charlie, who did this to you?"

                "No one!" She pulled her arms back and marched out of the bathroom.

                I followed her and tried to lower my voice, but I was furious. "Please, just tell me who hurt you."

                "It doesn't matter."

                Was she serious? Of course it mattered. It looked like someone had beaten the fucking shit out of her, and by her defensive attitude, I was starting to think it was someone close to her. I couldn't imagine anyone in their rightful mind ever wanting to hurt Charlie, and just thinking about it caused a rush of fury to embrace me. I knew the worst thing I could do was yell at her about it, but I couldn't calm myself down.

                "It doesn't matter?" I asked in exasperation. "Those bruises are fucking huge. I've never seen skin look like that-"

                "Christian, I told you to leave it alone," she said and tried to hide them by folding her arms together.

                Watching her, I thought of all the times she worn sweaters and long-sleeved shirts even when it was really hot outside. On Sunday, everyone went swimming on Silver Sand Island, but she stayed in the shade the whole day claiming that she didn't really like water. My eyes lowered when I remembered touching her back Sunday night. She flinched away from me and I thought it was because she didn't want me to touch her, but that wasn't the reason – it was because I touched her bruise.

                "I won't leave it alone!" I yelled out before I could stop myself. I'd never felt so out of control. She pushed past me and headed for the door. "Where are you going?"

                "Home – this date is over."

                "You have no way to get home. We're on the outskirts of town, just come tell me what happened – please?"  But she already walked out the door and slammed it behind her. I took a second to try and calm myself down. I took a deep breath, and when I felt a bit more in control, I ran outside. I stopped when I saw her getting into the driver side of my truck. "Charlie!"

                She turned the ignition and it rumbled it life.

                Oh, Shit. 

                Before I could even reach the driveway, she was already speeding down the road. 

~~

Note: I think I may be falling for Christian :P <3

Thank you everyone for all your comments and votes, I really appreciate them, and I'm so happy that everyone is liking this story so far! Please continue to vote and comment if you like it. We've made it to #50 in Teen Fiction! Lets see if we can get any higher 8P

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