Goodnight Hollywood Boulevard

“Wake up!”

Charlotte jumped on Bobbie’s bed, giggling as she watched her little sister bounce from the force of her feet hitting the mattress.

“Bobbie! Wake up!”

Bobbie groaned, pushing her head under her pillow. “Char, go away,” she mumbled.

Charlotte fell into the space next to her sister. “Your rehearsal is in a couple of hours,” she told her, as if she were completely unaware. “Bobbie, you’re graduating tonight!”

Charlotte ripped the pillow off of Bobbie’s head to reveal a grin. “After rehearsal, we need to go shopping, okay? I still don’t have a dress to wear.”

“Oh no!” Charlotte playfully wailed, laughing. “I thought I was making you one?”

Bobbie sat up and looked down at Charlotte. “I didn’t think you had finished it? You’ve been so busy with your other ideas and getting ready to go back to Arizona and whatnot, I didn’t want to bother asking..”

Charlotte smiled. She may have been busy putting ideas together for her sample line but that didn’t mean she forgot about her little sister’s big day. She got out of bed and dragged Bobbie along with her, taking her down the hall to her own room.

“I finished it one night right after Garrett left,” Charlotte explained as she shifted through her closet. She held the dress in front of her, still hidden from Bobbie, and looked at it for a moment longer. She hoped her sister would love it as much as she did.

“Char,” Bobbie exhaled, standing at the sight of it. “It’s so simple and beautiful! I love the little crystals on it.”

Charlotte smiled as Bobbie took it from her and further examined it. She listened as she praised her work and cooed over the little, thoughtful details Charlotte had put into it. It wasn’t exactly white, as her school had called for; it was crème in color, strapless, and accentuated with a bow and two pleats to bring in her waist. Bobbie instantly peeled off her pajamas and gingerly tugged the dress on. It was tailored perfectly to her body.

“We just need to do a little alterations tonight after dinner,” Charlotte commented thoughtfully. “Do you like it? Is it okay?”

“Like it?” Bobbie gasped. “I love it, Char! Thank you so much.”

Charlotte hugged her sister close and kissed the top of her head. “I’m just sorry mom can’t make it. Or the boys; I know how they’ve become like brothers to you.”

Bobbie smiled, pulling away slightly. “Char, I kind of have something to confess.”

The front door opened downstairs and their father’s loud laugh could be heard trailing up the staircase. His laugh, however, wasn’t the only one the girls heard.

“Bobbie?” Charlotte asked cautiously, worried that she was getting her hopes up. Those laughs just sounded too familiar to be business partners of their father’s.

Bobbie grinned, “I couldn’t help it! I had to bring them here.”

Charlotte only hesitated for another second before she was racing down the stairs. There, at her kitchen counter, stood the five boys she loved more than anything. One, in particular, held a bouquet of daisies.

“There she is,” John said, catching the attention of Garrett.

Charlotte couldn’t contain her excitement. She ran toward him, and when he held his arms out to her, she jumped into them. “I’ve missed you so much,” she said before her lips caught his. He laughed into the kiss.

“We just left, like, a month ago,” he said once they had separated.

As her feet touched the ground again, she shook her head at him. “Don’t try to pretend like you haven’t missed me.”

Garrett grinned, kissing her quickly. He slid his hand into hers, lacing their fingers together, and turned to Bobbie. “These are for you, Miss Bobbie. Congratulations.”

Bobbie smiled as she took the flowers from Garrett. She put them into a vase before she went back upstairs to change out of her dress. She left shortly after catching up with the guys for graduation rehearsal.

The boys wandered around on the beach, no doubt in search of naïve girls to hit on, while Garrett and Charlotte went upstairs to her bedroom. Charlotte wandered right into her room, but Garrett hesitated in the doorway. Things had changed since he had last been there.

“So you’re already packing up, huh?” he questioned softly, walking over to a box. He looked at its contents, and added a few more things to the box.

Charlotte poked her head out of her closet and saw Garrett now seated on the floor. She grabbed a hat and walked over to him. She placed her hand on his shoulder, lowering herself into a sitting position next to him. “Yeah, I just started this week,” she said.

“You decided, then?” he asked, looking over at her. Her lips curved into a small smile as she brushed the stray hair out of his eyes. “Do I want to know what your plans are?”

Charlotte shrugged, still smiling. She had missed the soft glitter in his eyes, and the shine of copper in his hair. “What if I say no? No, you don’t want to know?”

Garrett shrugged, too, and added a book to the box. “I guess that’s okay, too.”

Charlotte chuckled, leaning against him. She rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes, breathing in his cologne and shampoo. “I’m coming back to Arizona, Gare,” she told him, in a voice just above a whisper.

He turned his head slightly so he could kiss her forehead. “Good,” he said, tone matching hers. “Good. I like your hat.”

Charlotte smiled, watching as Garrett continued to pack up whatever he could reach. Most of her room had been turned upside down. Books and sheets and clothes and journals and shoes were packed up in boxes. She had left a few things out, like her favorite clothes still hung in the closet, and her towels and makeup bags were left in the bathroom. She had purchased a new sketchbook after leaving Leslie, and she used it daily whenever inspiration struck. These things, her daily routine items, would remain lying around until the day she shoved everything into her little car.

The front door opened and shut, and thundering footsteps came up the stairs. Bobbie’s bedroom door swung open, hitting the wall – something their father hated. Charlotte smiled, placed a hand on Garrett’s thigh, and exhaled softly. She had missed him. And she couldn’t wait to go home.

But she stood up, much to Garrett’s dismay, and she slipped into her shoes, and disappeared down the hallway to her sister’s bedroom. Garrett stayed seated on the floor, holding a picture frame in his hands. In it was a picture of him, taken from behind. He guessed it was from one of their previous tours, perhaps even the day he first confessed that he liked her.

He gently placed the frame in the box, pulled his phone out of his pocket and sent a text to Pat. He stood and, as he was crossing through the doorway, Charlotte and Bobbie were coming his way. Bobbie took the stairs, while Charlotte stopped and held her hand out to him.

Garrett placed his hand in hers, and although it seemed as if she didn’t think twice about this action, he really took the time to feel her palm against his. “Char?”

“Hm?” she hummed, her eyes focused on the boys as they sauntered up the back deck.

Garrett kissed her, placing his free hand on her cheek. “I love you,” he mumbled against her lips. When he pulled away, he noticed the smile on her face.

“Time to eat?” John questioned as he slid the backdoor open.

They all went out to eat and, afterward, headed to the high school so Bobbie could be with her friends for a while before they all had to line up in the gym. The five boys and Charlotte sat in the bleachers by the football field, talking about life.

“So, you guys ready to blow up?” Charlotte asked the group.

They all chuckled, but John shook his head. “It’ll be an interesting ride,” he said with a casual shrug. “We’re proud of what we’ve done. That’s all the matters right now.”

“Little Char,” Kennedy said, and all eyes pointed to Charlotte. “Are you coming home with us or what?”

Charlotte looked at Garrett, then at the others. “Soon.”

“How soon?” Jared asked, the excitement building in his tone.

Charlotte laughed at the eagerness in his voice. “Very soon. A lot is going to change after tonight.”

And it did. Bobbie was no longer a little girl. She walked across the stage, turned her tassel, and she grew up just like that. She went out to parties afterward, leaving everything behind her. She would go off with her friends all summer and have as much fun as she could until college started in the fall. She was grown up. And Charlotte couldn’t have been more proud of her little sister.

The boys decided to go to their hotel and brainstorm some last minute ideas for merch and setlists, but Garrett and Charlotte went back to her house. Her father was out with some clients and Bobbie wouldn’t be home until the early hours of the morning.

Layer by layer, Garrett managed to remove Charlotte’s clothes without detaching their lips more than once. As they managed to crawl onto her bed, they pulled apart the sheets and blankets. Charlotte rested her head against her pillows, pulling Garrett closer to her by his beltloops.

Garrett pulled away from her lips and kissed from her cheek to the base of her neck. “I love you so much,” he muttered.

“Remember when we graduated?” Charlotte asked, unbuttoning his jeans. “That summer..”

“It sucked,” Garrett exhaled, with his eyebrows furrowed, causing Charlotte to giggle. “You wouldn’t talk to me. I thought I had lost my best friend for good.”

Charlotte grabbed his cheeks and kissed him roughly. “I only stopped talking to you because I thought it would be best for you.”

“Well, you’re what’s best for me,” he said, and kissed her again. “You’re all I ever want, Char. Forever.”

She couldn’t stop the smile from curving her lips upward. The look in his eyes – the love that mixed delicately with lust – and the way his words fell into the room like a promise of eternity made her heart flutter hard and she pulled him even closer to her.

“You can keep me,” she whispered, and in response he kissed her repeatedly.