Chapter 17
New Year’s
CHARLOTTE
Days whizzed by in a blur, and before I knew it, Christmas Eve was upon us. My folks had the day off tomorrow and the day after, so I would be spending some quality time with them. They hardly took any days off throughout the year, so we made the most of these rare moments.
But tonight, I was heading over to Tracy’s place. I figured if I got home early the next day, it wouldn’t be a big deal if I wasn’t there first thing in the morning.
I wrapped up an online gaming session with the guys, grabbed my bag and Tracy’s present, and headed out to her house. I was hoping she would like the gift I got her. I was already wearing mine to show her that we matched. I was a tad anxious that matching bracelets might be too childish, but I was sure that was just my nerves talking.
· · ·
“Charlotte!” Tracy greeted me with a hug at her door.
“Hey, Charlotte,” TJ called out from the living room, hearing me at the door.
“Let’s go put your stuff down. TJ wants to watch a funny Christmas movie; do you mind if we watch with him?” Tracy asked.
“I don’t mind. I really do need to get used to him. He is your brother, after all,” I told her once we were in her room.
“That reminds me, you two are twins. Aren’t twins supposed to be super close and stuff? You both seem to do your own thing.”
“We used to be inseparable, but him being a boy and me being a girl means we generally like different things now. We’re still close, just not attached at the hip like when we were younger. We did more things together back when I went to parties with him. Now, we don’t,” she explained.
“I guess that makes sense,” I told her.
“Oh, before we go back downstairs, I have a Christmas present for you!”
“I have one for you too!” she replied excitedly.
I handed her the small box, and she quickly opened it.
“Wow, Char, I love it!”
“Look, I have one too. The charms go together, so we match,” I explained.
“That’s so cool. You’re the best. Here, open yours,” she told me.
I took the red box from her and unwrapped it. When I opened it up, I was shocked.
“What? How did you know?” I asked. Inside the box were two small silver hair clips with little wolves on them.
“I saw you staring at them when we went shopping. You seemed to really like them,” she said.
I didn’t know she had noticed me looking at them and thinking how cute the wolves were. Since wolves were the symbol of Mars, I had always liked them—and the silver barrettes were just adorable.
“Tracy, I love them! Thank you so much!” I said, pulling her into a hug.
“I love my gift too,” she replied, before continuing, “I guess we better get downstairs, though. TJ is waiting on us.”
“Yeah, let’s go,” I said happily.
In the living room, she sat on the chair—which put me on the couch with TJ. I wondered if she had done that on purpose, trying to force us near each other. It didn’t really matter, however, since the couch was big enough that I wasn’t right next to him.
After we both sat down, TJ started the show. It was a pretty funny show, so I spent most of the evening laughing with the two of them. I was a lot more comfortable there than I thought I would be. Maybe I really could be friends with TJ someday.
After the movie was over, Tracy and I went up to her room and watched a holiday chick flick before going to bed. I lay in bed for a while, pretending to sleep, until I was sure that she was deeply asleep. After I knew she was, I snuck out of her room and headed downstairs.
“Hey, want some company?” I asked TJ, seeing him sitting on the couch playing a game.
“I was kind of hoping you’d come down,” he said, turning around and
smiling at me.
Dang, he was hot.
“Here,” he told me, handing me a controller that was already connected.
“What are we playing tonight? This doesn’t seem to be the same game as last time,” I asked, sitting down next to him.
“No, I thought we’d play campaign mode instead of online this time, so I picked a different game. In this one, we can each pick what type of character we want to be and work together to destroy the minions of evil.
I’m playing as a warrior, so I’ll fight with a sword,” he told me.
“Oh, I want to be a sorceress!” I exclaimed. I quickly picked out my character and customized the appearance.
“Let’s do this!”
We played happily for about twenty minutes.
“Yes!” I exclaimed.
“Level up! Look, look, I get to call down a meteor shower of fire!”
“Yeah, but I can do a spinning attack with two axes at once,” he commented, laughing at my enthusiasm.
“FIREBALL BLAST!” I yelled, shooting a fireball at some enemies a little later.
“Shhhhhh! You’ll wake Tracy!” he exclaimed, quickly putting his hand over my mouth and laughing.
“Whoops!” I said, muffled behind his hand, cracking up with him.
· · ·
We had now been playing for several hours, and I was starting to get tired, but I didn’t want to stop, so I tried not to show it. I scooted down a little on the couch so that my head could be resting on the back of it while
we kept playing. I was having so much fun laughing and talking with TJ while we played.
“Hey, are you getting tired? We can stop playing and pick it up again next time,” TJ told me, pulling me toward him so I could put my head on his shoulder.
“Mmm? No, I’m okay. I’m having fun,” I said sleepily.
TJ
Charlotte was hilarious. I was having so much fun playing with her. I knew she was smart and sweet and gorgeous, but I hadn’t realized how funny she was. Could this girl get any more perfect?
As we played, I could tell she was getting sleepy, but I really didn’t want to stop. After she scooted down on the couch to lay her head down, I asked her if she wanted to go to bed, but she said no.
I pulled her toward me so she could rest her head, since the position she was in on the couch didn’t look comfortable. To my surprise, she didn’t complain and actually let me do that. After a few minutes, I could tell she wasn’t really playing the game anymore. I looked over and saw that she had fallen asleep.
She looked like an angel when she slept.
I turned the game off and switched to a quiet show on the TV, putting my arm around her and holding her close to me as she slept. I knew I should take her upstairs, but I was enjoying holding her too much.
By the time the show ended, I was starting to get tired as well. I really wanted to just lie down on the couch and pull her next to me, but I didn’t figure she—or Tracy—would appreciate that. Against my wishes, I carefully got up and picked her up to carry her upstairs. She was so tiny that she fit perfectly in my arms. I really didn’t want to have to let her go.
When I got up to Tracy’s room, I carefully placed her down on the bed and kissed her forehead. I was about to walk out of the room when I noticed a small charm bracelet on her wrist with only one charm on it. It matched one I had seen Tracy wearing earlier, so I wondered if that was what Charlotte gave Tracy for Christmas. I knew Tracy had gotten her some hair clips with wolves on them.
Seeing the bracelet gave me an idea of something I could get Charlotte for Christmas, so I decided to go online and see if I could find what I was looking for.
I went across the hall to my room and booted up my computer. I brought up a shopping website and did a quick search for what I was looking for.
There were several different options. Looking through them, I found the perfect one.
Just picturing how her face would light up when she saw the present made me so excited. I quickly placed the order, noting that it should come before New Year’s. That was perfect, since that was the next time I would see Charlotte.
Honestly, I was a little sad about that. It meant I would go about a week without seeing or hearing from her. Maybe I could get her phone number to text her or something. I would have to ask her, but not tonight. Tonight, I needed to get some sleep.
· · ·
It had been a week since I’d last seen Charlotte. Christmas was nice with the family. My grandparents came over and we had a wonderful family meal—but I missed seeing my girl.
Okay, I knew she wasn’t actually my girl, but that was how I was going to think about her because it made me happy.
The last time she was here, she left before I woke up, so I didn’t get to ask her for her number. Maybe I could do it tonight.
Tonight was New Year’s Eve—so Charlotte would be coming over! I couldn’t wait. Her present had come in two days ago, and now it was sitting on my dresser, wrapped and ready to give her. I hoped she would like it as much as I thought she would.
· · ·
“Hey, what time’s your friend coming over?” I casually asked Tracy— or at least I tried to sound casual.
“Around five, I think; why do you ask?” she said suspiciously.
“I’m just curious. I know it’s just going to be the three of us tonight,” I replied.
“Yeah, that in itself is weird. Why didn’t you invite a friend?”
“Well, I know Charlotte doesn’t do well with people, so I didn’t want to overwhelm her,” I said.
“That is surprisingly thoughtful of you. Why do you care so much?”
“I can’t be concerned about my sister’s friend?”
“No. Now, cut to the chase. I see how you stare at her. What’s going
on?”
“Nothing is going on,” I said.
“But you want it to be?”
“Honestly?”
“Yes, honestly,” Tracy confirmed.
“Okay, fine. I really like her, but she doesn’t know that. She is funny, smart, sweet, gorgeous—she’s just perfect,” I admitted.
“You’ll have your work cut out for you with her. She is so shy that she can’t even talk to people. Your normal tactics won’t work, and she isn’t your normal type of girl. She’s innocent. Please don’t hurt her,” Tracy told me sternly.
“I don’t plan on it. She is special. If I could ever get her to notice me, I would hold on and not let her go,” I told her shyly.
“Trust me, she’s noticed—although she’s so naive that she doesn’t know she’s noticed. But I think you have competition. She has some guy that she talks to a lot. She swears they are just friends, but I think it’s more than that.
She’s planning to spend spring break with him, so you better act fast,” she warned me.
Wait, what? Another guy? I had to make her like me quickly, or else she might not pick me.
“Thanks for the warning. I’ll have to up my efforts.”
“Yeah, since she has never even talked to you,” Tracy snickered.
“Well, actually, she has,” I hesitantly told her.
“What? When? Explain now!” Tracy demanded.
“So, the last few times she’s come over, she has played video games with me after you were asleep,” I admitted.
“WHAT! How did this happen? You just played games?” she asked me cautiously.
“Yes, just played. The first time she came downstairs to get a glass of water when she woke up. She saw me playing and asked to join, so, of course, I let her.”
“Interesting. I guess I’ll let that slide—but she’s my friend. Don’t forget that!” she told me sternly.
“Although, I guess I can help you out a little tonight,” she added with a wink.
I gave her a big smile before going up to my room to hang out.
