Page 107 of You Float My Boat

‘Hey, if you need me to be back up when you tell him, I’m always happy to take on Hugo,’ declared Stella, letting out a bark of laughter. ‘Unless you change your mind, in which case I’ll have to take back everything I said about the cupcakes.’

Thankfully, that seemed to raise a smile, even though my insides were now doing somersaults at the thought of him changing his mind about the two of us. He must have noticed my body tensing, because this time it was him squeezing my hand.

‘I’m not changing my mind. I also realized I liked you way before he decided no one can date you. He will have to deal with it.’

My teeth, my jaw, my fists,everythingclenched. Were we living in the Dark Ages? Or Tudor England? Or even the 1950s? If Charlie wasn’t around I’d date every single one of his crew mates just to piss him off. Yes. I wasthatpetty.

‘Hey,’ Charlie nudged me, totally misreading the annoyance on my face, ‘it’ll be okay. We’re all adults.’

‘Weare. The jury’s out on my brother.’

Charlie snorted a laugh, which seemed to do the trick in smoothing out the worry on his face. He turned to Stella. ‘So, what are your big Valentine’s plans?’

Stella’s brows knitted together tightly as her eyes darted between Charlie and me. Quickly. Suspiciously quickly. ‘What? What does that mean?’

I could see Charlie biting down the smile; he wasn’t doing a very good job of it, but he was trying. I’d not mentioned his theory to Stella, even though he brought it up nearly every time I saw him. Instead, I’d been on the lookout, not that I’d noticed a single thing going on between them beyond the usual sniping from Stella, but Charlie was adamant – Leo and Stella were hooking up.

I swear to God if he was right, I’d never hear the end of it.

‘I just remember you saying you had plans tonight. Remember, we were all in the theatre and Leo asked you.’

‘Oh … um …’ she spluttered, her eyes darting tomine and back so quickly I wasn’t sure if I’d imagined it. ‘Oh yeah, that was just to get him to shut up. No plans tonight, just me, Ben and Jerry. PlusThe Holiday, I think.’

‘The Holiday?’ A small crease formed on Charlie’s forehead as he looked at me, ‘That’s a Christmas movie, isn’t it?’

I nodded, ‘Yes. But it’s the only one acceptable to watch any time of year. Plus, it’s Stella’s favourite.’

‘Oh.’ His mouth held in a straight line while he tried to understand, but clearly didn’t. ‘Cool, well, enjoy it. What’s Leo doing then?’

‘I dunno. Why d’you keep asking me about Leo. Why would I know what he’s doing on Valentine’s? Probably annoying some poor girl by talking about himself all night,’ she snapped.

‘I only asked once,’ replied Charlie calmly, and there was no disguising the amusement in his voice.

‘Well, I don’t know what he’s doing.’

Charlie’s head bobbed and he looked up to the skies. ‘Come on, I’ll walk you two to rehearsals.’ He opened his umbrella, big enough to shelter the three of us. ‘Maybe Leo will be there, and we can ask him.’

If I’d been paying attention to more than Stella grumbling about Leo, or the feel of Charlie’s hand sliding into the back pocket of my jeans, or the way his lips softened as they pressed into my cheek, I’d have noticed Evie storming past with enough fury to open the Gates of Hell.

And I would have known exactly why the rain clouds chose that moment to break.

18. Charlie:

(Sex. It’s like riding a bike …)

Bloody Valentine’s Day. I did not think this through.

Scuffing my shoe along the dirt path, I cursed every decision I’d made tonight. Or at least the last one. The one where I’d left Violet at her door.

I wasn’t sure it was possible to be an idiot and a genius at the same time, but I was definitely giving it a good try. I, Charlie Masterson, was definitely an idiot.

Yup. You are.The voices in my head agreed.You really ballsed this one up.

I couldn’t deny it. Up to approximately twenty minutes ago, everything had been perfect.

The whole day had; from the moment I’d left Violet at the theatre, and kissed her goodbye with a promise to see her later. Even training hadn’t been too hard. And we’d just returned from dinner.

In hindsight, the second she opened her door, I should have known I’d choke. Sweet, lovely, funny Violet had been replaced by a fifties sex bomb. The smile she greeted me with wrapped around my heart and whispered, ‘You’re totally fucked.’

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