I opened the door of our car before hopping into the passenger's seat followed by Lou who sat beside me on the driver's. I soon noticed Eleanor from the corner of my eye as she took a seat behind Louis. Out of nowhere, I got one silly idea in my head.

 I flashed a playful smirk at my brother who in return gave me a look that screamed 'are you high?’. I jumped out of the car and it confused the two of them.

"What's wrong with you?" Lou and El said in unison which widened the smirk on my face.

"Aww...Look at you both! Aren't you guys the most adorable two-legged creatures on earth?" I said as I placed my palms on either side of my cheeks, gushing over them. My brother rolled his eyes in frustration. He hates it when I ship him with Eleanor.

I always knew El had a thing for my brother. Can you imagine how wonderful would it be to see my 'strictly non-dating type' brother actually going out with someone? And especially when it was someone like Eleanor, who's been the greatest support for me since- well, since things started getting ruined.

"Charlotte, get in already!" Louis said as he pressed the horn. The loud irritating sound of the horn filled my ears.

"But I want you guys to sit together!" I complained, making a childish face.

I looked at their faces. Something was seriously wrong with the two of them. I mean, I always teased them around each other and they know, it's just something I do to fluster and irritate them. That's it. But even an oblivious person like me could make out that something was fishy.

I immediately regretted my words. I knew it was normal for me to tease Louis but the look on El's face was enough to make me feel bad. I noticed my brother was about to open his mouth, only to make things worse but then Eleanor cut him off.

"We, Charlotte, do not want to sit together." El snapped. I stared at her in amusement. My gaze traveled to my brother who was just as shocked as me. He turned his head to peek a glance at Eleanor who was relaxed. I laughed mentally at Louis's face. He looked- shocked? Taken back? 

Good for me. Good for my ship.

Without uttering a word, I sat inside. "But that won't make me stop shipping you guys together." I stated proudly and either of them didn't reply. They looked annoyed.

It was a bright and cheerful morning. I put my hands inside the pockets of my red hoddie as I buckled my seat belt. I love wearing hoodies, even in summers. Most of the clothes I own are full-sleeved.

It was a Saturday. I wouldn't have got out of my bed at this hour of day if it wasn't just for mom.

I scratched the back of my head, giving a last and final thought to mom's offer as I peeped outside the window of our car. She clearly stated that I needed to get out of my shell and get my lazy ass into something productive. By productive, at the moment, she wanted me to start by helping her friend, Olivia with her day boarding. I don't know what made mom convince herself that I was the perfect candidate for this job. I mean, I can't even take care of my socks and she wants me to look after a whole lot of kids at work?!

But it won't hurt, will it? Trying something new?

"Lou-" I said breaking the silence. "Do you think I should go to Olivia's?"

I think after all that I had been through in the past few months was just too much for me to handle. No, I didn’t slip into depression or anything. Neither had I aimed on spending my days crying for someone, even for some terrible things that I did. I knew it was way too harsh and that I had made a huge mistake but I just couldn’t blame myself forever, could I?

Working after school again would help me take things off my head.

Plus, stopping right after getting hurt is like disguising your opportunities of new beginnings as painful endings. We never know what's waiting for us, right?

My brother took his eyes off the road to look at me for a second. "Who said we are heading there?"

My head snapped in his direction and I screamed in horror, "Wait, what?"

"Yep" Eleanor said excitedly. "Your mom said Olivia had to go out for something important and she left the place with her sister for a while. We can have this day for ourselves!"

"What?!" I exclaimed. "I wanted to sleep!" I crossed my hands over my chest.

"That's exactly what we expect form a sister who's brother is going to leave her in a week." Sarcasm dripped from Louis's words. His words hit me hard.

Louis is leaving.

Yeah, right. Good Morning, Evans.

My brother is leaving.

"I-I didn't-" I stumbled upon my words.

"I know." He said calmly. "Plus, we still have a week before I leave for college!" he faked enthusiasm to cheer me up but that definitely didn't work.

Louis was going to leave for college in a week which was approximately six and a half hours away from the city we lived in. I wasn’t going to see my brother for days, weeks and for god knows how many months. He was the only person on whom I could rely. His presence always strengthened me.

And speaking about me, despite having a full dose of drama in my life, I cleared my exams with straight A's. As lame as it sounded but I never wanted any of this to affect my grades. I worked pretty hard, harder than usual and the results were fine which means, I'll be starting with the last year of the high school from this Monday. Back to same old schedule. The only difference would be the fact that a couple of faces I'm used to look at everyday would be missing. Louis wouldn't be there anymore.

And nor would he be.

"Damn it!" Louis's voice successfully pulled me out of my thoughts. He looked quite frustrated as he banged his hand on the steering wheel. Within a matter of seconds, the car started retarding before finally coming to a halt. He probably mumbled a few curse words under his breath before looking out of the window by his side in frustration.

"What's wrong?" I heard Eleanor ask.

"The car stopped!" he replied, gritting his teeth.

"Oh" I said casually and my brother looked at me with a confused expression on his face. "Then start it."

"Charlotte Evans! Who would say you're eighteen?!?" Louis said unbuckling his seat belt. That was true. I had turned eighteen. I was born of twenty ninth of February and hence my birthday never comes, of course, except for the leap years. I rarely get to celebrate on the same day. However, around ten years ago I decided to I would celebrate it with Louis’s in March, just like twins.

I smiled, taking his remark as a complement. I mean, who wouldn't want to look younger than their actual age?

"I'm going to get out and look for help." Lou said before leaving. Thanks to god, our car didn't break amidst the road or at some remote place. I didn't have any idea about our current location. Neither I was aware of where we were heading to.

"So, we are stuck! Wow." I said.

"Pretty much." El replied, passing a hand through her lose hair. I quickly turned my head to face her, looking straight into her eyes.

"Oh. My. God!" I yelled. She looked as if I had creeped her out. "There's something wrong with you!"

"What?"

"Say what? There's something fishy between you and my brother. I can smell it."

"Of course, you dog!" she said.

I pretended to be offended. "You technically called me something that totally rhymes with the word 'Ditch'" I raised my middle and index finger to imitate the quote marks.

"Isn't that something to be proud of?" she asked sheepishly.

"What the hell?" I questioned and she started laughing.

"Hey, I meant rich. I meant rich, okay?" She said in between the laughter. "I really didn't mean it that way." She tugged a dark strand of her hair behind her ear.

"I don't believe you-" I said and paused for a fraction of second, "-unless, you tell me what's wrong with you two."

"There's nothing-"

"Holding me back?"

Eleanor rolled eyes at me and now it was my turn to laugh at her. I really missed having a female friend in my life and Eleanor made it better.

"Sure, I'm not holding you back. Go girl, say 'yes' already. Marry my brother have ten, fifteen children and send them to the same school as we went to, grow old together, die together and then go to hell together. I-"

"I'm over him!" She said quietly. It was loud enough for me to hear all of it. My mouth was probably hanging in the air. No No NO!

"Ha Ha Ha, Eleanora!” I guffawed, sqeezing my eyes shut. “You almost got me there. We are past the April fool's day."

"I'm not Eleanora! And I’m not kidding either, Charlotte Evans." She replied.

"First of all, stop addressing me with my full name y'all." I stated, "And, I don't understand what could possibly go wrong between you and Louis. I mean-"

"We weren't dating or anything in the first place, Char." Her eyes softened, rather reflected a pained expression within them. "Look, Char, You always knew how I felt for your brother. I always liked him but I never expected him to return those feelings. But you made me believe that and trust me, I'm not complaining. I am grateful to you for constantly trying to bring us together but you know what? It can never work out." I heard her quietly. I felt my chest grew heavier. “We are best as friends. We talk all the time!”

She was right.

I always had to force Louis to hang out with Eleanor. I mean it’s not like he hated her. It was quite opposite actually. Louis and El were good friends. I had seen Louis and Cal helping her out with her articles at school. She was the school’s editor after all but when I mentioned them getting together, Lou got awkward.

"Besides, he's moving to college and all. He'll be far away and sometimes it's better for us to stop running after something delusional. Some things are just meant to end for good." She smiled but it didn’t touch her cheeks. I reached out to touch her hand, smiling back.

“I know, I’m sorry, El-“I said, “I shouldn’t have tried so hard to make things work out but it’s something else that’s bugging me. You and Lou have a quite good bonding. I mean you guys surely are good friends but I noticed you two are behaving quite strangely.”

She was quite. I sensed she wanted to tell me something but changed her mind.

"I guess, I need some fresh air." She said but before I could accompany her or even say another word, she was out of the car. I knew she really liked my brother. She really felt something real for him but he was not ready to let someone in maybe it was just not because of Violet but it could be also because he doesn't like her that way. Anyway, I was the worst person to give relationship advice or for that matter any kind of advice to anyone about.

Because the things he did and I did were......

We both were out of our minds.

I always thought we could've saved our not so perfect bond from getting strained. Sure, we were toxic for each other but, maybe we could've lasted a little longer. Maybe.

But if I thought about El's words, I change my mind.

I sighed.

I didn’t really need to think about stuff like that. Not then at least.

I wanted to get out of the car. The smell of the leather seat covers always made me want to puke. 

I closed the door of the car behind me, scanning my surroundings. The car was parked at the roadside. The place was foreign to me. I saw cars passing by me but there was no sign of Lou but I spotted my friend a couple of meters away from me, scrolling through her phone. I wanted to have a moment for myself before approaching her. I folded my arms back to my chest, leaning back on the side of the car, examining nothing in specific. My mind wandered to things she just said and the impact it had on my brain.

"Don't even-" I said out of nowhere, "-don't even dare to mess with my head, you idiot."

If anyone made me stand in the middle of a sea of people and I would’ve still sensed him smirk. I turned my head towards my left.

He was looking down at his sneakers with a smirk hanging at the corner of his mouth. The rays of sun falling on his hair made them look yellow instead of golden. His hands were in the pocket of his signature ripped jeans and he leaned on the same side of the car as me. 

I rolled my eyes at him.

"Admit it, you want to see me." I was mad. I was so mad about how right this moron was. "And I'm not messing with your head, dumb-ass."

"Don't call me dumb-ass, you dumb-ass." I said grumpily as I looked at him fiercely. He looked beautiful. He always does.

He smirked again, "So what's up inside your head?" he asked turning his pretty face towards me, ignoring my previous comment. I really tried my best to look away but couldn't. "Except for me, of course." I glared at the narcissist jerk standing in front of me.

"You are not on my mind!" I snapped.

"Sure. Absolutely." He said, catching me lie. 

"What?" I scowled.

"Nothing. I said I believe you. "He controlled his laughter, irritating me even more. "What's troubling you? Come one tell me."

"You!" I raised my volume in frustration.

"Charlotte." He warned.

"Finn." I repeated causing him to roll his eyes.

"It's Eleanor's words isn't it?" he said and I fell quite. "It's her words. The words she just said?"

I nodded. "It’s not just about her and Louis-"

"She's right, Char." I immediately turned towards him, looking straight into his green eyes. There was no playfulness within them, just dead seriousness. Not anger, just concern.

I knew where it was going to head. I knew what he was going to say. I knew!

I opened my mouth to complain but he beat me to it. "Sometimes it's better to let go than to cling onto something delusional." For a moment it felt like I could really hear him breath.

"Wha-What d-does that even- even mean-?" I stuttered as I kept staring at him. My throat was sore. I wasn't even able to complete the sentence I wanted to say.

With a sad look on his face, Finn looked at the ground. His eyes didn't meet mine. I kept looking at him with confusion, anger, frustration, a lot of emotions mixed together, totally unexplainable.

"This-” he said, “Whatever you're doing inside your head, it's toxic, Char!" he gritted his teeth. "You need to stop!"

"Sto-stop what?" I choked on my words. First it was Eleanor. She was completely broken at the moment. I could sense it. I can never see her this way and now? Now it's him. What was he even trying to say? Or more like why was he even saying such things? Didn’t he know that it was my way of handling things?

"Finn, I'm happy this way." I struggled to reach out and touch him, though. "I smile all the time."

"You do!" he said, "You do but it's not the same. You aren't the same person anymore. You never spared a thought on crap but look at you now! You think of- you think of things all the time!"

"But-"

"This is not real, Char!" He yelled. I jumped backwards at his sudden reaction. I felt a deep pit inside my stomach. "I am not real! I'm not coming back. Maybe never! You need to stop."

"Stop what?" I questioned, gritting my teeth. My eyes were moist, not because of what he said but because I knew he was absolutely right.

"Stop being delusional!" he mumbled. A sad smile appeared at the corner of his lips.

I moved closer to him, decreasing the gap between us two. He blinked slowly, taking his time. His piercing fake-green eyes were fixed on my face, studying my features as I studied his.

"I'm sorry." I said, almost breaking down. Sorry was just a word against what I did to him.

"I know." His voice was gentle. I raised my hand to reach out for his face, to feel his skin against mine. I already knew how wasted my effort was.

"Char!" I hopped on my spot, snapping into the reality as I heard the sound of El's voice from a couple of steps from me. I turned to look at her, replacing the frown on my face with a smile. Her excitement dropped on the ground as she looked at me.

"Have you been crying?" she immediately walked towards me, scooping her arm around my neck and drawing me closer to her.

"No. Not crying but thinking." I successfully changed the tone of my voice.

"Thinking about what I said?" She faced me as I broke the embrace first. "I'm so sorry Char. I'm an idiot. I'm fine I swear and Louis's too. And no no no no no! We are not fighting!" she reassured me.

"Really?"

"I swear!" she grinned and I returned the gesture.

"So why are so excited all of a sudden? It better be worthy because you guys practically kidnapped me to get stuck here." I questioned as I smoothed my clothes.

"Don't worry, your brother found help. They must be coming soon. It'll take time but I guess it leaves us together, yay!" he chirped.

"Why are you acting like me all of a sudden while I'm sulking here?"

She rolled her eyes. "Because we planned something for you and as far as I know it is, going perfectly horrible."

Suddenly my gaze flickered to a caravan across the road. Its exterior was given a wooden look, painted sky blue. It was decorated with stuff like artificial stars and decorative pieces which were....well, which were quite unusual. On the top of the entrance, I notice a picture of a bat which surely creeped the hell out of me. Beside the vehicle, stood a woman, wearing a mauve robe outlined with violet borders. From her looks, I assumed her to be bald. Her head was covered with a matching violet bandanna.

We were at some distance from her so I couldn't really identify her features but I knew that she was wearing dark make up. She waved her hand at us and gestured to approach her. I looked at El and gulped.

El pointed towards herself and arched an eyebrow without lifting her gaze off her. Without absolutely zero expressions on her face, the weird woman nodded.

"Should we go?" Eleanor asked me with a hint of fear in her voice.

"Of course not!" I screamed.

"Where's the Charlotte I knew?" she questioned and I stared at her in amusement.

"What?"

"What what?" I countered. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"What if she needs help?" El asked.

"First help yourself and then others, you doofus. Our car broke down. Wouldn't it be better if we help ourselves first?"

"Point taken but we should go and check!" she said dragging me across the road before looking at either sides of the road to check for the vehicles approaching. I looked back towards our car, where I just stood moments ago, with him. it's actually funny how my mind make me see things that I want to and every time they seem to be so real that I end up wishing that I never wake up.

I must admit the close up view of the woman lead me to two conclusions- the first being the fact that she was really bald and wearing a lot of dark make up, rings and accessories and the second that she was more freighting than I assumed her to be.

"Hello pretty girls." She tried to smile.

"H-Hi!" El said but immediately smacked my head lightly, "Stop staring and close your damned mouth." I made a face as I realized that I have been staring the woman for longer than I should.

"So if you're done staring, dear, I would like to introduce myself." The lady said. She had a quite hoarse voice for a lady. "I'm Martha Washington."

"I've heard this name before." El said scratching the back of her head and I nodded in agreement.

"That's because, dear, I'm a well known fortune teller. I can't only read tarot cards but also predict future on crystal ball but-"

"Oh please woman, don't tell me you're Helen Keller's cook's daughter?" I said cutting and pissing her off simultaneously. 

Eleanor shot me another death glare while I decided to purse my lips. "I-just thought. I mean that's what I read in my English supplementary book when I was in tenth grade!" I complained.

"That's not it." El said.

"Finally an intellect." Martha said smugly. By then, I was sure she had personal grudges against me.

"No, I mean isn't the name of USA's former first lady? George Washington's wife?" Eleanor said out of nowhere. "Say Bingo! Say Bingo! Please say Bingo! I'm right, aren't I?" She jumped excitedly.

I would like to correct, the lady had built grudges against me and her both.

"Ahem." The woman cleared her throat. "I would like to predict your future. I like you girls and the price would be half." She came straight to the point. By the look on her face no one would tell that she was actually fond of either of us.

"Say you don't have customers!" I mumbled and she scowled at me.

"Really?!?!" I could see the spark in Eleanor's eyes as she mentioned her offer. "You'll predict our future?"

"That's right."

"But we don't-"

"We are doing it." El interrupted me.

She held my hand and I gave her an 'are you sure?' look to which she replied positively.

She lady, Martha had an audacity to smirk at me. It was her victory smirk! See! I told you she'll hold a grudge.

"So you don't have any crystal ball? Tarot cards or anything?" Eleanor asked with a little disappointment flashing in her eyes.

"Sure, I have." The woman told El without lifting her gaze off me. "But for that you need to come in with me-"

"No, I'm not going inside that." I crossed my arms to my chest. "Who knows if you're a kidnapper?"

Martha rolled her eyes before moving forward. She took the hold of one of Eleanor's hand and paced it between hers and closed her eyes. The dark violet eye shadow was clearly visible to us. She was actually a quite creepier than I assumed her to be.

"Ask whatever you wish, my child."

I don't know how we ended up here. I mean I was supposed to be at my mother's friend's place but my brother practically kidnapped me before abandoning me and my friend in the middle of nowhere. I had absolutely no idea about where he was planning to take me but I know for sure that meeting a random and probably a fraud fortune teller on the way.

"How to get full marks in all the subjects without studying?" My apparent best friend asked with puppy eyes. What was I even expecting from her and ew! Did I noticed drool out of her mouth?

"Ah-" The woman chuckled nervously and whispered something to herself which were curse words for sure.

"Never mind. How to top the exams in one night?"

"Do you girls have something realistic to ask?" the woman complained while El angrily stepped away from the woman. "This is not done."

The woman took several minutes to convince Eleanor and she was even successful. I really found it very frustrating because I really had no interest in it. I put my hands into the pocket of my jeans and observed my surroundings.

I looked over El's shoulder to glance the across the road where we were standing moments ago. I don't know why but a part of my head hoped to see Finn. Standing at exactly the same place where we just were. I know it was just an illusion. A fragment of imagination formed inside my head but I hoped it to be real.

"I bet you don't agree upon that, Char!" My friend's voice brought me back from my track of thoughts.

"What?"

Eleanor rolled her eyes at me. "She says there's no specific time, no specific place or no specific situation for finding love!"

I looked at them blankly. "Don't talk 'love' with me." I stated flatly.

"Why?" The woman asked, "Does it remind you of specific someone?"

I froze on my spot. She just did not go there.

I really hate when people brought this topic up. I was too young to talk of something so big, so important. I mean, I always had a bad hand at all this stuff especially after straining my relat- Technically, I did not have anything except frenemy-ship with Finn. We both ruined everything for each other.

"No. Charlotte doesn't love anyone except me." Eleanor changed the topic for me. "And her brother, and her mom, her dad and her dog too."

"Thanks for telling the number of people in her family, dear but it's serious. You can't challenge my words." She said. "Falling in love isn't a choice. It's just something happens out of nowhere."

"I-" I let out a nervous chuckle, "-I prefer not to say anything about it because I would say otherwise."

"But love can be anywhere. You shouldn't just behave like that." She protested. I don't how did the topic even got diverted from future prediction to love-life and before I could protest any further, Martha started blabbering over dramatically. "It can be anywhere, your one true love. He would've come in your life or not. He can be here or there." She started throwing her hands in the air like a mad woman.

I raised my hands to surrender. "I'm officially frightened by your actions out and I'm leaving."

"-He can be right in front of you-" She said and I started stepping backwards, still facing her.

Suddenly, I stepped over something and my back rubbed against something hard.

"Ouch!" I heard him scream in pain.

"-Or right behind you." Martha completed with a smirk, adding much more to the awkwardness.

Oops! Did I just step over someone?

I jolted backwards and my eyes met a familiar pair of chocolate brown ones.

His expressions of pain turned into a sense of recognition as his eyes met mine. His hair were brown, just like the 3-month old memory of him inside my head remembers.

He smiled at me, causing his eyes to squeeze a little.

"And here we meet again."

A/N

Hi everyone! Here’s the newest chapter but those who have already read this one on the previous book, I’m sorry. I’ll update soon. And this one has some changes in it.

Anyway I’ve got a couple of questions for you guys. Please feel free to answer :)

1. How do you feel about Louis going away? My boy is off to college, I’m crying.

2.What do you think about charlotte’s new job?

3. Any idea about why Lou and El have kidnapped Char?

4. Anyone Missing Finnie Bear? Because my heart is sinking without him :(

1. Anddddd Who is this new guy? Any guesses? ;)

P. S I'm done with my final exams and would be promoting to final year too. Please pray that I pass chemistry because class 11th has merely signified as my..... Well nevermind :(

Thank you guys for reading. I love you all so much. Please keep on reading, commenting and voting and supporting.

<3

(above Song- Because I Had You By Shawn Mendes)