Page 37 of You Float My Boat

I appreciate your support.

Charlie:

I’m already on my way to the bookstore for a copy of Shakespeare’s Complete Works.

Violet:

You really don’t have to help me. Stella will run through them with me. It’s cool.

I eased my feet off the chair in front of me and sat forward.

Scrolling to the top of Charlie’s messages I read through them again. Just like I had yesterday and just like I had the day before that. Four times he’d mentioned rehearsing lines with me. Five if you counted this last one,andhe was going to the bookstore for a copy ofShakespeare’s Complete Works.

Maybe he was joking about that last bit.

I couldn’t tell. I couldn’t tell a lot of things about Charlie Masterson, it seemed.

I also wasn’t sure why I was so insistent on him nothelping me, because there in equal parts black and white were my responses every time. I’d kept them lukewarm at best.

First off, it was pointless having him help. I’d never be able to concentrate. My chest was already thudding erratically at the thought, so to sit across from him while he recited lines for me? Yeah, nope.

And really, there’s no way he had time. His finals were in less than six months,andhe had the Boat Race. Which, according to my brother, was far more important.

So really, me declining his help was the best solution all around – he’d have more time for training, and I wouldn’t be distracted by the way his mouth moved as he spoke to me.

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