Playing Friends

It takes Charlie a mere ten minutes to explain the whole uneventful situation she's unfortunately stuck in to her best friend. She's never been too fond of long and dragged out speeches. A brief, concise, and straight-to-the-chase response is the route she has always preferred. It saves time and prevents the environment from being further exposed to more carbon dioxide.

Throughout the rather short (but very intriguing) narration, which sounds eerily similar to one of those teenage chick flicks you can find airing on television in February, Jillian has been gaping nonstop. She resembles a fish out of water and hasn't been able to properly utter a single word yet.

"So let me get this straight," she breathes, finally managing to gather her thoughts together. "Hayden is secretly dating the Cecilia Isles. The one you saved at Matt's party? The girl who's a shooing for valedictorian and the object of nearly every senior guy's affection? Do you know how unattainable she is? How did this even happen? Now it makes sense. I was wondering why you asked me to text Hayden out of all people that night."

"Yeah, I figured she'd feel safest with him. I don't really know the details about the two of them, other than the basics." Shrugs Charlie. "All I can tell you is that they've been seeing each other since May. And, like I said earlier, she's not allowed to focus on anything other than her studies, which is why they have to keep their relationship hidden and what not."

"This is sooooo bizarre. I'm sorry, Charlie. Anyone in my place would have a really hard time wrapping their head around this too. Just give me a few more hours to let it all sink into my brain. It just seems like something right out of a movie, you know? Because you were the only person who knew about their forbidden love and, coincidentally enough, are involved in the rumors going around about the two of you being an actual thing, they asked you to be their cover? It's sheer brilliance if you asked me. I expect nothing less from the senior class's 4.0 GPA student." Jillian nods in approval and her friend exhales.

"It was quick thinking on their part, I'll give them that," Charlie sighs. Personally, she would have never devised such a plan; it's far too complicated for her taste. It probably would have been a smarter choice if she had decided to spend a day thinking Hayden's proposal (pun intended) through instead of agreeing on the spot because of the guilt. It's not like it's her fault that Mr and Mrs Isles fancy the authoritarian parenting-style over the rest.

"Oh my god!" Jillian shrieks, tearing her away from her train of thoughts. Charlie stares at her, an eyebrow quirked in the air. She's waiting for the girl to continue. "What if Hayden starts liking you? Or what if you start liking him? What will you do then?" She begins to bounce up and down, causing the springs under the mattress to squeak.

"What kind of pot are you smoking? There's no chance in hell that either one of those things are going to happen," Charlie dismisses with determination. "First off, he's absolutely smitten with Cecilia and secondly, he's not my type. I don't feel attracted to him whatsoever."

The last part of her claim leads Jillian to snort out loud. "Charlie, you don't have a type. You never did. Besides, what does attraction have to do with anything? You sound so shallow, like those girls in our class who are always competing with each other to see who has the hotter boyfriend."

Incredulously, Charlie scoffs and squints her eyes. She feels royally offended. "You did not just compare me to those walking, blow-up dolls." A deep frown has etched onto her face, accompanied by a valley of creases that have situated on her forehead. "I'm not being shallow either, I'm being honest. There are several forms of attraction. Like, I don't know, the kind referring to something beyond the physical realm? I'm not saying he's not easy on the eyes. I'm just saying that I don't find his personality or appearance appealing. We're all entitled to our own opinions. Just because he has a swarm of girls that would kill to be called his, doesn't mean I have to be the same way. In the end, it's all about my choices and individual preferences, and I honestly wouldn't prefer someone like Knight. Under normal circumstances, you and I both know that I would never choose him."

"Okay, okay. I take back the comment about you being shallow," Jillian resigns. "I'm just saying that anything's possible. I mean, look at you right now." A playful and mischievous smirk dances across her lips. "You have a boyfriend and, according to you, it's someone you don't find attractive at all."

"Fake boyfriend," the girl corrects with her jaw clenched. Charlie knows Jillian is teasing her on purpose now and she doesn't find it the least bit amusing. She can already hear all of the snide and snarky comments she'll be slammed with again tomorrow because of her newly publicized and confirmed status as Hayden's significant other (courtesy of his little stunt today at lunch). She doesn't need her own best friend joining in with the masses. "I wouldn't have helped them if there was somebody else that could do the job."

"Sure you wouldn't have," Jillian hums, her tone completely contradicting her words.

"I'm being serious. You should have seen how pissed I was when my dad asked me if we were dating!" Charlie bellows as her arms flail around wildly in the air.

"I could imagine it," laughs Jillian. "I'm kidding with you. Lighten up. You do realize you're going to have to do stuff real couples do to sell this whole thing though, right?"

Her limbs fall back down to her sides. "What do you mean?"

"Oh come on, Charlie." Jillian's eyebrows wriggle up and down, doing the worm. "It hasn't crossed your mind yet? You're going to have to hold hands, hug, kiss and all of that other jazz in order to trick everyone into believing that you guys are legit. It would be weird if you didn't. People would definitely find it fishy and you'll be ousted before you know it."

"Shit." She slaps her forehead. "I forgot all about that. Whatever." Charlie waves her hand dismissively. "I'll go over the details with him later."

"You should write this out and publish it as a book or something," Jillian suggests, getting giddy. She claps like excited children at the circus. "Who knows, you could rake in a ton of money and maybe someone will even make it into a movie."

"How about no?" she replies curtly. "I hate writing. Why do you think I barely passed Composition with a C minus? I would also like to keep my life private, thank you very much."

"That's what ghost writers are for!" her friend counters. "Just think about all of places we'd be able to go!" She stares off into nothing in particular, most likely envisioning the future that will never happen.

"Let's not go there. Don't you work today?" Charlie reminds and she successfully manages to change the topic when Jillian's skin turns as pale as a ghost's.

"I do! Crap!" She jumps off the bed and gathers her belongings. "I'll see you at school tomorrow!" she hollers as she runs out. Charlie follows Jillian downstairs where she shouts a haste goodbye to everyone before the front door slams shut behind her.

"She's going to be late, isn't she?" Charles chortles from the kitchen.

"If there isn't traffic, she'll make it on time." Charlie chuckles. "Anyways, what are we having tonight? Mac and cheese would be amazing," she chimes. "I can cook the bacon if you need me to."

"I was thinking about making some pork chops. Layna gave me a recipe that's been in her family for decades and I wanted to try it out," her father explains.

"Wait, you're going to try to cook on your own?" The girl gapes. "What's the occasion?"

"You know me so well." Charles grins. "I want you to invite Hayden over for dinner tonight."

"What?" She chokes. "Why?" She's seen enough of the guy at school. She doesn't want to have any other excuses to see him after the clock has already struck 2:45 PM.

"I am your dad, Charlie," he sighs as he stands tall and crosses his arms. "I have every right to threaten any boy that dates you. It's my job."

Baffled, she shakes her head. "But it's Knight. I thought you said you approved of our relationship because he's a good kid?"

"He is, and I do," Mr Whitmen confirms. "However, I still have to talk to him man-to-man. It's a paternal thing. You wouldn't understand. Just tell him to come over." The firm tone in his voice tells Charlie that there is no room for discussion.

With a nod, she goes to her room. She scrolls through her contacts and finds his information listed under the K section. They exchanged numbers at lunch. It would have been extremely suspicious if they didn't have a way to contact each other, especially if there's an emergency. Like the one at bay right now. Charlie's thumb hovers over the call icon before she inhales and presses it.

The line rings four times and is finally answered. "Hello?" Hayden answers, sounding winded.

"My dad wants you to come over for dinner," she delivers without beating around the bush.

"Tonight?" He pauses. "I can't. I'm taking Cecilia out on a date. You know how rare it is for her to spare some time for me. Can't you tell him I'm not feeling well?"

Charlie sighs in relief. She's glad to hear that Cecilia has taken her words from the party to heart. More importantly though, she's ecstatic that she doesn't have to spend tonight's dinner playing house. It would have been miserable. "Yeah, I guess so," she replies.

"Thanks, Charlie. You're a lifesaver!"

She doesn't bother giving the boy a proper goodbye and hangs up. Swinging her door open, Charlie walks over to the stairs and shouts to her old man. "He's not feeling good! He asked for a raincheck!"

A moment later, Charles appears at the bottom of the staircase. He cranes his neck to look up at her. "Shouldn't you go check up on him then?"

"No, why would I?" she returns. "He's capable of taking care of himself. I'll be in my room, drowning in my own tears if you need me. I have an eight-page essay due next week, and I don't have a clue what I'm going to write about."

Charles laughs. "All right, but make sure you mop up after yourself."

Four hours later, the girl is laying on her stomach, skimming through her Facebook page for any kind of distraction. Meet procrastination, every student's arch nemesis and best friend. Charlie hasn't accomplished much. The only words she has typed out consists of her name, her teacher, the dreaded class and the date the paper has to be submitted on. She's supposed to do some research on a controversial topic where she also has to discuss her opinion on the subject and whether or not she believes there are any immoral or moral issues involved.

Yay for philosophy, not.

The house hasn't been devoured by flames yet, which means her father is doing fine venturing into unchartered territory on his own. What Charlie doesn't know is that Mr Whitmen isn't alone. A knock resonates and she glances over to the door. It pops open and a familiar head of dark brown locks pokes inside. "So this is what your room looks like." Ethan's eyes roam the space and Charlie sits up.

"What are you doing here?"

Ethan steps inside. "Your dad invited Miss Layna and I over for dinner."

Great. She dodged a bullet earlier with Hayden, but now she's been bombed with Ethan's unholy presence. "Doesn't explain why you're in my room," Charlie grunts.

"Hey, you're familiar with my room. It's only fair that I got to get acquainted with yours too," he argues.

"Get out before I drag you out," she orders.

"I can see that you're still mad at me for what happened in Gherardi's class," Ethan notes, nodding his head.

"Being mad at you would imply that I actually care about your thoughts and opinions. I don't." Charlie is telling the truth. She isn't mad at him; she doesn't have any reason to be. If anything, she's more annoyed with Ethan for entering her sanctuary without her consent.

Normal people would have waited until they were told to come in. But of course he would waltz in ill-manneredly as though he owned the place.

"Are you positive about that? 'Cause you nearly ran me over after school. Would it help if I told you I was a complete jackass that didn't know what the hell I was talking about?" he offers with a small, hopeful smile.

"No," she quips monotonously. "But it's nice that you know you're a jackass."

"Ha ha, very funny," Ethan mumbles dryly as he approaches her. "I'm being serious here. I stepped out of line this morning. I really meant it when I said I wanted to be friends with you. Can't you forgive me?"

Charlie peers over to the boy and the corners of her lips curl upwards for a split second without her permission when she finds him staring at the floor. Who would have thought that the newly appointed class flirt can look so vulnerable? "Since you sound remorseful, I'll let it slide. Do it again, and you can consider yourself dead to me. Got it?"

Ethan's face flushes with relief and brightens. He lifts his head up and sends her a winsome smile. "You've got yourself a deal. Now that we're friends again, do you think we can play a game of Halo before dinner? I've been dying to try it since the beta came out."

"You apologized because my brothers told you that the game was mine, didn't you?"

A sly grin greets her. "Maybe," Ethan muses. Charlie starts to scowl at him and he quickly redeems himself. "But, mainly, I did it because I was wrong. So what do you say?"

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Author's Thoughts: I'd like to dedicate this chapter to CSkies13! Because we both like the friendship between the two girls! I hope you guys liked this chapter. We can see more progression with Ethan and Charlie. Did you expect him to apologize? Comment and vote if you want to :) I hope you have a wonderful day!