40 Steps

"Ass."

"Whiny bitch."

"Why Steve? Because I'm upset that my boyfriend is practically fucking my dear cousin in the hallway before my sister's wedding?"

"Maybe if you stopped complaining and only opened your mouth for other things, we wouldn't have this problem."

"Go home!"

"What?"

"Go fuck a whore; it's what you're good at anyways. I'm sick of dealing with your shit," Charlotte turned on her heal and stalked back to the bride's suite fuming.

"I'm a fucking groomsman Charlotte!"

Charlotte threw her fist above her head and flung her middle finger up, leaving him to curse loudly and walk away.

&&&

"—going to fall for you all over—"

"Oh Char there you are."

A bushel of white French satin crossed the room quickly and swept the unsuspecting bride's maid into a hug.

"Charlotte is everything okay?"

"Mm, yea," Charlotte replied nonchalantly slumping into a nearby chair.

"Are you sure? Oh please tell me nothing is wrong—"

"Taylor, chill, everything is fine, stop worrying," Charlotte reassured her older sister.

"Are you sure? You seem uneasy—"

"Tay, I'm sure. Now stop worrying about me and focus your attention on that fiancée of
yours that is crazy enough to want to marry you today," Charlotte grinned.

Taylor chuckled hugging Charlotte, "Thanks sis."

"No problem, now relax. We need to go meet the groomsmen," Charlotte turned towards the other bride's maids and the maid of honor.

They nodded and followed her out of the room to the foyer.

"Uh we're missing someone," the maid of honor and Charlotte's eldest sister, Bailey, counted the present members.

Two of the groomsmen glanced at each other and then one of them, Rian, spoke up,
"Uh, yea, well Steve's exact words were, 'I'm not escorting that bitch two feet, find another fucking usher.'"

Charlotte crossed her arms and pursed her lips as everyone stared at her waiting for an explanation.

"So what? I'm walking down by myself?" Charlotte ignored the silent requests for the latest gossip.

"No, no, a friend of Rian's agreed to escort last minute. He's changing right now," the other glancing guy, Nick, replied quickly.

The group relaxed and waited silently. Charlotte felt seven pairs of eyes eyeing her out of the corner of their eyes until a noise broke the silence and shaggy brown haired boy appeared.

"Okay, everyone line up, we have a minute before we go," Bailey ordered.

Charlotte stood behind Madison and looked at the unfamiliar boy eyeing her up and down before shaking his head and sweeping his bangs out of his face.

Charlotte mocked his actions and held out her folded arm to him. He linked his with hers and whispered, "Kiss me if I'm wrong, but is your name Anne?"

"Looks like you lose Sparky," Charlotte murmured back.

He pouted and mumbled back, "Don't deny what you really want sweetheart."

"Follow my lead," Charlotte whispered walking forward through the open doors.

"I love a girl in control," Alex smirked falling in step with her.

Charlotte grinned and focused on the front of the chapel room.

When the couple reached the end of the aisle, Alex lifted her hand and brushed his lips across the back of her hand and walked over to groom's side.

Alex stole glances at the beautiful girl standing across from him as she watched the procession happily. Her eyes met his and he smirked quickly. She stuck out her tongue at him and replaced her gaze to its former focus. He was nonetheless completely infatuated with the wavy golden blonde haired bride's maid.

&&&

"So what was the deal with Steve not escorting you?" Taylor asked Charlotte as they stood alone in the hallway outside of the ballroom where the reception was taking place.

Her sister shrugged, "Why don't you ask Elle."

Taylor's eyes widened and immediately fell to a sympathetic look. "Oh Char, I'm so sorry."

"Nah, don’t be, he's a piece of shit anyways," Charlotte waved it off.

Taylor surveyed her sister a minute before smirking, "So who was the hottie escort that wouldn't stop gawking at you during the ceremony?"

"Hey now! You're a married woman now, no hottie's for you anymore," Charlotte laughed shaking her index finger in the air.

"I can still notice!"

Charlotte rolled her eyes and shrugged, grinning in spite of herself. "I don't know him."

"Yea like that'll stop you. You can't stop grinning Char; go jump him already," Taylor quickly stepped out of her sister's reach and headed through the doors.

Charlotte laughed, shook her head, and followed suit.

&&&

"Will the wedding party please step out after the bride and groom begin, then everyone else join in," a male voice called over the mic turning on the chosen wedding song.

Charlotte stood up from her plastic chair and walked towards the dance floor holding back her eye roll. The now familiar shaggy haired boy stepped forward and happily rested his hands on her hips. She smirked and wrapped her arms around his neck. She felt her body being pulled and realized there was only about two inches in between her and her dance partner.

"They told me your name was Charlotte," he began.

"Yes."

"So why did I lose a kiss?" he pouted.

"Anne's my middle name," Charlotte replied simply.

Alex mumbled under his breath.

"What was that?" Charlotte peered at him.

"Nothing," Alex responded staring across the room. He felt nervous around the gorgeous girl standing a mere few inches from him. She stared at him with intense curiosity and gave off an air of defiance.

He felt her finger tickle the back of his neck and returned his gaze to her face. She winked and stared off at the couples next to them. He gained a sudden ounce of confidence from the flirty gesture, "You know most girls would be on their kne—"

"I'm not most girls, Sparky—"

"Alex—"

"—so don't expect me to get on my knees and—uh, find your key. Hi gran," Charlotte quickly reworded the end of her sentence.

"Every key needs a lock," Charlotte's grandmother winked at the two.

"Gran!" Charlotte laughed in spite of herself as Alex doubled over in a fit of laughter.

"Hey now, he's cute, you're both young, go have fun," and with that she walked away.

Charlotte turned and looked at the boy howling with laughter. "Your grandmother is awesome!" he blurted out after he caught his breath.

Charlotte rolled her eyes and stood with both her hands on her hips trying to hold back the grin tugging at the corners of her mouth.

"Anyways…" Charlotte replaced her hands around his neck as he replaced his and pulled her even closer than before.

"You know, you should listen to your elders," Alex whispered smartly.

"But not the insane ones; don't think you're going to get under my dress that easily, buddy," Charlotte patted Alex's arm lightly.

“Damn.” he chuckled softly, resting his head against hers.

They swayed to the music in a comfortable silence. Charlotte loved how comfortable she was around this new boy. She loved how he played along with her antics and how he was nervous yet confident.

"Inquisitive and thoughtful, she was the challenge he'd been waiting for," Alex breathed into her ear sending a slight shiver down her body at the warmth. He smiled at the response and discreetly placed a trail of kisses from her collarbone up to her ear.

Charlotte considered the charming boy placing pleasurable kisses on her skin. She weighed her options and glanced around the room, spotting what she was looking for, judged it, and then whispered in his ear, "Forty towards two o'clock, twenty to nine o'clock, five to three o'clock--chase me." She brushed her lips against the soft skin of his ear then turned.

He grabbed her wrist. "Where are you going?"

"I have to meet family, meet you in five," she grinned then disappeared into the crowd.

Alex replayed the riddle in his head and slowly spun on the spot eyeing the room. After a few minutes of repeating the fourteen words over and over, he spotted what he was looking for and smirked. He walked casually forward and through the double doors, took a left, spotted a door and noticed the sign. He peered around the empty hallway, music blaring from the ballroom. He slowly opened the white door and glanced in. All the stalls seemed to be empty along with the rest of the bathroom except for the 5'6" blonde smirking at him from her stance against the adjacent right wall. She nodded to the door and he turned and bolted it. He walked forward and stood directly in front of her.

"Told you," he whispered cockily placing both palms on the wall on either side of her head tilting his head slightly.

A smile played on her lips as she grabbed a fistful of his shirt and pulled him down, crashing his lips into hers. He moved his hands from the wall to gripping her hips as her hands slid up in to his hair. Their lips moved in synch until Alex ran his tongue along her bottom lip waiting for entrance. She accepted and smiled into it. He pushed his body against hers and trailed his lips down her jaw line to her neck.

"You're gorgeous," he mumbled into her skin.

She responded by pressing her body closer to his.

Alex moved his hands down grasping just under her butt. Charlotte complied and wrapped her legs around his waist, her just-above-the-knee length, dark blue dress being shoved father up her thighs. He moved his lips back up to hers and kissed hard and passionately as her hands helped him out of his jacket. She pulled his mostly tucked in shirt out and slid her hands under brushing her hand lightly across the bare skin just above his waistline.

Alex stopped kissing and looked her in the eyes as she moved farther down unclasping the button and sliding the zipper. He closed his eyes sharply and slid one hand along her thigh under her dress.

"Well this was fun," Charlotte unwrapped her legs, and fell to the floor. Alex's eyes snapped open at the sudden change and closed his fingers around her wrist as she, yet again, slid from his grasp.

"Where are you going?" he asked breathlessly.

"I have to get back to the other party," she smirked, rubbing his upper thigh.

She looked in the mirror and flattened any stray hairs as he growled, "Fucking tease."

Charlotte chuckled, "C'est la vie." She released her hand from his, slid on her fallen shoes, and walked to the door unbolting it.

"You might want to stick with carrying your jacket around," she said glancing around his waist. "See ya' around Sparky," she winked and left.

Alex swore under his breath after looking down and fixed his appearance in the mirror.
He grabbed his jacket, hoping no one noticed. He walked out to an empty hallway and sat down at a table and searched the room. After he determined she wasn't anywhere in sight, he sighed in defeat.

Alex felt a buzz in his pocket and grabbed his cell. "New text message" flashed across the screen. He opened it up to the text that set a grin on his face.

Sparky: I had to get back to New York for school, cya around sometime maybe?

He loved chasing this girl.