chapter fourteen:
careful what u wish 4

        "I'm not wearing a dress" Charlie looked down at the pile of dresses that rested on her bed. She looked away from the pile towards Hanna, who smiled at her. "Well, I thought you'd wanna wear one for the occasion. I even went ahead and grabbed all the ones that aren't full of glitter. I know you hate that".

"Still not wearing a dress, besides why exactly am I going to this thing again? I thought you were the one hellbent on figuring out who A was". Hanna groaned in annoyance as she sat down on the girls bed "well it could be fun, our first dance as a couple?".

Charlie looked at the dresses then at Hanna "well my mom set a curfew for me ever since A attacked me. She still thinks it was like a one time thing, I don't need another hospital visit. So I'm gonna stay home where it's safe for once. While all of you go on a wild goose chase, I'm sure you'll have fun".

The knock on Charlie's door made her sigh and she opened it, her brother looked annoyed himself as he leaned into her door frame. "Mom said Hanna can't stay past six, something about family dinner and how we need to spend more time together".

Charlie frowned "since when did mom care about us spending time together? Last I checked you were the favorite and she couldn't care less if I showed up to dinner or not". Jack shrugged as he pushed his headphones over his head "whatever, just figured I'd tell you so she doesn't freak out if you're gone".

He walked off and Charlie turned at Hannas gasp of surprise "you think she's on drugs? Since when did your mom interact with you? You've literally never once sat together for dinner, and I'd know given I used to spend the night all the time". Charlie pushed her door shut with her foot and sighed as she sat down at the edge of her bed. "Maybe I should run off to that dance then, might get me out of whatever dinner is. I mean we've always eaten in our rooms. At least since dad died, we haven't used the dining room since".

"Well I think it could be a good thing, you were talking about wanting more time with your mom since she's always up your brother's ass. You just gotta steal the spotlight for a few days if you're lucky".

Charlie looked at the pile of dresses "where did you even get all of these? Did you steal them or something". Hanna stood up "why don't you just try one on, and who knows maybe if your so called dinner is fast enough. Can you meet me at the school? Spencer's hell bent on getting Ian's laptop, like that's gonna even remotely help with anything".

Charlie rolled her eyes "enough Ian bullshit, if he was the asshole running around tormenting us, I'd know by his cheap aftershave. Besides can't you for once focus on something normal, like school and being a literal teenager. We only get to experience that once".

Hanna tossed a dress at Charlie and she grabbed it with a slight huff "okay then start with the dress, that's a teenager experience right there. Blues also your color and I'm never wearing that one anyways. I mean none of my heels would watch".

Charlie chuckled "seriously Han, if you want me to wear this dress. Then you gotta earn it, which seems fair given we're dating now. So if I wear this dress then you gotta wear something of mine".

Charlie tugged open her closet door and Hanna pushed it shut "there's no chance that's happening, no offense but your fashion sense is awful". Charlie grinned as she looked at Hanna "yet somehow you're still into me, most couples share clothes".

Hanna looked like she wanted to physically barf as Charlie grabbed a sweater "okay fine you can wear your clothes, I'll take the dress back. As for sharing, you can gladly keep that and maybe get me something less depressing and not void of color".

Charlie fake gasped "what's wrong with my sweater, it's the perfect balance of warmth and comfort, which is the goal when wearing something. I wanna be able to breathe when I'm dancing".

The knock on Charlie's door made her sigh "right, must be almost six then" she put her sweater back into her closet. Hanna was already putting on her shoes by the time Charlie opened her bedroom door.

"Mom by any chance could I go to Hanna's after dinner, her mom's out for the night and she doesn't wanna be alone". Charlie rarely got to leave her house given her mother's paranoia and it only increased with the attacks. "Not tonight sweetie, we have family dinner, remember. Can you help your brother set the table, I'll see to it Hanna gets home alright".

Hanna looked up "don't worry about it, I'm actually going to the school anyways. Spencer's gonna pick me up, it was nice seeing you". Charlie's mother smiled "well I hope you have fun, I'll be sure to speak with your mother about us meeting for dinner one of these weekends. Could be fun".

Charlie and Hanna looked at one another with a slight frown, Charlie shrugged as she walked down the hallway. Hanna followed behind her fixing her hair "okay is your mother possessed? Because our parents have literally hated each other ever since like high school. Dinner with both of our mothers, god that night that happens I'll let A hit me with a car again".

Charlie glared at Hanna when she made the comment and Hanna shrugged "gotta deal with it somehow, we both know the bitch is crazy. Might as well try to lighten the mood with jokes". Charlie sighed as she opened her door "maybe avoid cars, and anything sketchy while you meet up with Spencer".

Hanna walked onto the girls porch and paused "are you sure you can't come? I mean we can make up a really good excuse for you to sneak out. Is your mother gonna be really upset if you sneak out?"

"Yes she will be Hanna, you don't know her like I do. If she even finds out I thought about sneaking out, my windows would probably seize to exist. Look I'll see you at school, and I'm sure when she's feeling extra nice I'll be able to go over again. Just let this die down for a few more weeks".

"Did you even tell her about us?" Charlie tensed at the girl's question "uh.. yeah I did". She smiled weakly "I gotta set the table, I'll text you updates". She closed her door and Hanna sighed before she walked off.

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        Charlie hated awkward conversations, and ever since she sat down at the dinner table that's all she dealt with. Her mother wasn't good with conversations let alone when it involved something serious. Charlie knew it was serious by the big bottle of wine she watched her mother drink in one gulp. Charlie pushed her hands together as she looked at the plate of food in front of her, it looked not even fully cooked and half of it was mushed together.

Jack cringed as he picked at his plate, his fork not when indenting the so-called meat. "Mom, uh... so why exactly are we doing this? We never eat together, we haven't for years". Charlie tensed when her mother looked right at her, she saw the hint of annoyance behind the woman's eyes.

The same look she got whenever she didn't eat all of her food off her plate. The thought made her wanna vomit as she stabbed her fork into her food. That nagging voice inside the back of her head made her get a headache as her mother sighed.

"It's about your brother" Charlie's hold tightened on her fork "what about him, he's traveling isn't he". The room went dead silent and Charlie felt sick as she let the fork dig into her palm. "I got a call this morning from the police. Apparently a young woman was taking her dog for a walk when it started digging. They found a body, it.. it was your brother".

Charlie went completely still, everything around her began to turn blurry as her breath quickened. Her phone went off and she gulped nervously as she grabbed a hold of it and quickly looked at the new text message.

Some secrets you can't keep buried forever-A

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authors notes: yall I'm not dead! YAYYYY!!!

in recent life updates I started college so that's been very eventful. Thankfully so far it's not hard and I have some spare time hence the update! I saw a Tik Tok about pretty little liars and was hellbent on updating this story ever since. Trust I missed my gay girlies desperately, I really wanna write more this year so whenever I have spare time. Trust I will be here, even if it takes a few days to get something out. My current obsession of the week will be this story, making it my goal to finish season one!!!! Also squid games! Girl I'm obsessed, fics in the work btw.