Page 2 of The One I Hate
She doesn’t see me, but I see her. She’s like the ghost of memories past. Late nights studying with her random concoction of snacks. The coffee she would make me every day even though I never drank it. Arguing about who should be on the professional wrestling Mount Rushmore. Dance parties in my kitchen because we were slap-happy from pulling all-nighters.
The kiss. The one kiss. The last night I saw her. The kiss I thought was going to change everything.
It did. Just not the way I thought.
Because no one before or since has pushed me the way Charlie did. No one has ever challenged me like her. Or called me on my shit. She was the only one outside my immediate circle who could make me genuinely smile. And no one refused my offers for dinner or a date more than she did.
She was one of a kind. In every way imaginable.
And she never said goodbye.
I nearly flip the table over as I start marching toward her. I’m guessing she still hasn’t seen me. If she has, she’s doing a greatjob of ignoring me. Which seems fitting considering the way she left all those years ago.
“Charlie!”
I’m pushing through groups of people without apologizing, which I know is a dick move. But I need to stop her before she disappears.
Again.
My pace picks up as I call out for her, but she doesn’t turn around.
“Charlie!”
Okay now she has to be ignoring me. It’s like the phone calls and text messages all over again. No way she didn’t hear me. I just yelled so loud I think the DJ stopped playing music. And judging by the look on everyone’s faces, my voice came through just fine. Yet, she’s picking up her speed and not even looking back.
I’m just a few feet away from her when she pushes the kitchen door open.
No. Not again. I feel like if she walks through those swinging doors it might be another fifteen years before I see her again.
“Bug!”
This she heard. It stops her on a dime.
I watch with bated breath as she slowly turns around. Now that I’m close, I can truly see the woman Charlie has become. Full curves. Red hair that reminds me of fire, which is exploding wildly on the top of her head in a messy ponytail. Deep blue eyes that I could get lost in so easily. Lips that are currently making a surprised “o” shape.
“Simon?”
We both stand and stare at each other for what feels like hours. This is the most surreal moment of my life. I honestly thought I’d never see her again. I thought she was a part of mypast that was dead and buried. But she’s not. She’s here. In front of me. As beautiful, and apparently frustrating, as ever.
I want to say so many things. Ask so many things. Yet, only one thing comes out of my mouth.
“What the fuck, Charlie?”
She rears back. Which…fair. Might not have been my best opening line, but it wasn’t a lie. Because seriously, what the fuck?
“Nice to see you too, Simon.”
Did I mention Charlie was sarcastic? The two of us, when we were both on our game, were a master class in smartass dialogue.
“Were you really not going to stop?”
“Stop?”
“I was yelling for you.”
She looks up then back down as she shrugs. “Sorry. I didn’t hear you.”
Got her.
