Page 41 of Charm Me Not

I shook the negative thoughts from my mind. Una was a direct person. If she was hating everything, she would say so. And she was currently making her way down the course without too many snide remarks, so I had to assume she was having a decent time.

Without anyone there, we were able to get through the holes rather quickly, hitting the first five in less than ten minutes. I attempted to keep up conversation, but she wasn’t really participating, which threw me.

Then, on the sixth hole, the music over the loudspeaker changed. Taylor Swift’s ‘Love Story’ came on.

I leaned on my club like a cane and grinned. “Would you look at that? If that isn’t some sort of divine intervention…”

Una snarled at me, clearly not sharing my feelings about the universe and its uncanny abilities to intervene at the right moment.

“Come on… it’s a bop. You can’t resist it…” I said before circling around her and belting out the lyrics.

She pursed her lips and raised an eyebrow, but I just laughed and continued to sing as loud as I could, adding in some dance moves when the chorus started. I even used my club as a microphone, leaning my head back in true Taylor style.

All she did at first was glare at me or pretend not to watch. She lined up a shot, but didn’t even swing the club before I jumped in front of her at the last second, still singing.

“Charlie, stop. You’re so embarrassing!” Una whispered, glancing around to see if someone was watching.

No one was. Because no one else was here. Which meant it was time to go all out in hopes to put a smile on her face.

I dropped my club and reached for her hand. My other hand flew to my chest as I sang, my feet still moving to the beat.

Standing tall, I raised our intertwined hands above Una’s head, prompting her into a little twirl. The tiniest hint of a smile lifted at her lips as she spun, and I took that as a sign.

I kept dancing around her, spinning her in circles, tugging her toward me, and sending us into an exaggerated tango for a moment.

It was just the two of us, in our own little world, escaped from reality and the confines of our circumstances. Just Una and I, grins on our faces, hands knitted together, dancing back and forth around the green of hole six like nothing else mattered.

Right before the song finished, I cradled her back with a supportive arm and dipped her low, one of her legs extending behind me.

“What—” she gasped, her eyes growing wide before she realized what was going on. “Oh my God, Charlie.”

And then it happened.

She laughed.

Inches away from the floor, in my arms, Una laughed.

And she never looked more beautiful.

I lifted her onto her feet, grinning like a fool. She dusted invisible lint off her pants and bent down to grab our clubs, handing me mine.

“That was…”

“The most fun ever?” I finished for her.

She shook her head, but didn’t verbally disagree.

The entire vibe of the night changed after that. At hole eleven, Una perked up as another song came on.

“Are you about to burst into song? Because I’msohere for that,” I said, shimmying up to her with a grin. She rolled her eyes, but it didn’t wipe the hint of a smile off her face.

As we continued through the holes, we started becoming more competitive, even going as far as sabotaging each other.

“Are you joking?” Una screeched at hole fourteen. We were nearing the end, which made me sad. We were having an amazing time, far better than I expected. Even though we got off to a bit of a rocky start, I knew she was having a good time. Whether it was because of me acting like a fool or not, it didn’t matter. I would do it all again just to hear her laugh.

Choosing to get Una alone was the best decision I made. She seemed like a different person here than she was at school. More carefree, more open.

“If you can’t handle the heat…” I said, pretending to inspect my nails while leaning on my club. I may or may not have ‘accidentally’ tapped her ball into the little cave, essentially blocking her from making the hole in anything less than six strokes.

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