Age Is But a Number

Caitlyn and Nick were lying in the sand, letting the water lap at their feet. The sun was beginning to set and they watched as the sky above them grow darker and darker. Joe was making sand castles with Frankie in the distance and the two heard them arguing over whose is the best.

“Kevin doesn‘t seem to care that Charlotte isn‘t even sixteen yet,” Caitlyn commented, her hand tingling with the longing for Nick’s hand.

“That‘s because I haven‘t gotten a chance to tell him yet,” Nick replied. His hand tingled like Caitlyn’s. “I‘ll have to tell him soon.”

Silence passed for a few moments.

“Caitlyn, I, um, have to tell you something,” Nick said, his voice quiet, his heart pounding with anticipation.

“Um, okay,” Caitlyn replied, turning on her side to face him.

“We always seem to talk about Charlie and Kevin, and not that much about how you and I feel.” Caitlyn blinked a couple times, nervousness making her nauseous. “I . . . I like you a lot, Cady. You make me crazy and I think you‘re beautiful, and you are an amazing person all together. . . . You bring out the best in me.”

“Oh, Nick,” Caitlyn breathed. He was leaning in closer to her. She felt something within her, waiting to come out. Was it words? Her feelings she had tried to hide?

No. It was lunch.

Luckily she had turned the other way before she spilled her lunch all over Nick. Romantic moment over, he tried to comfort her as she spilled breakfast too.

Kevin and Charlotte had made their way back from their little walk by that time. Joe and Frankie smashed each other’s sand castles and came to investigate. Nick had them get water and a towel for Caitlyn as he helped her up. He asked her if she wanted him to carry her and she did not object.

“She faints” - he pointed to Charlotte - “and she throws up,” Joe commented. “I‘m going to get a girl that explodes. I just know it. I‘m next!”
-~-
“Well, a single guy can only take so much love,” announced Joe, pulling up his pajama pants way too high. He tucked his shirt into his pants and sighed. “I‘m going to bug Frankie now.”

“It‘s about time,” Nick mumbled, half asleep, stroking Caitlyn’s hair as she slept peacefully in his arms. “No pun intended.”

Kevin let out a small laugh as he leaned against Charlotte’s leg, trying to suppress the smile that was forming just from touching her. Charlotte’s hand resisted the urge to touch Kevin’s curly hair. It looked soft, fun to play with, and it was just in her reach as she sat on the chair near the couch.

Joe waved goodbye in an awkward way and ran out of the hotel room, slamming the door behind him. Charlotte laughed and looked over at her best friend and soon-to-be boyfriend. Caitlyn was lying in Nick‘s arms on the couch, completely out like a light, off in dream land while Nick was wondering if this was a dream that he did not want to wake up from. He was almost asleep himself, completely relaxed as he stroked her hair, her cheek, admiring her beauty.

Kevin was trying not to stare at Charlotte. She was sitting behind him on the chair while he sat on the floor and if he turned around it would be obvious that he was staring. He felt that she was starting to warm up to him more and more lately. At first she hated him, wanted nothing to do with him, and then he saved her. She was bleeding so much . . . did her father kick her that hard? And why was it coming . . . from that area? Kevin remembered the blood dripping down her thighs. If a broken rib had punctured a vital organ, wouldn’t she be bleeding internally? He never really got the exact news as to what happened; he would find out.

“I think they‘re asleep,” Charlotte whispered to Kevin, leaning down to whisper in his ear. “Nick is snoring.”

Kevin shivered from the sudden gooseflesh rising around the back of his neck and looked over at his younger brother. Sure enough, Nick was out cold, his cheek leaning against Caitlyn’s head.

“Aw, how cute,” Kevin whispered. He pulled his phone out from his pockets. “Kodak moment, can‘t miss it.”

As Kevin took a picture Charlotte couldn’t help but stare. Kevin Jonas had a beautiful side-profile. She snapped herself out of it and pulled her knees up to her chest, hiding her blush and her smile.

“You wanna go talk in the other room? I don‘t want to disturb them,” Kevin said quietly, pointing towards the bedroom.

“Oh, um, sure,” Charlotte answered, becoming nervous. “I guess.”

She got up and walked towards the bedroom, her nerve endings a live wire. Being alone in a bedroom with a guy made her nervous. But this was Kevin. She trusted him; she knew he respected her. She still asked him to keep the door opened.

Kevin walked in and sighed, walking over to one of the single beds and lying down on his back. His head was at the footboard and Charlotte sat in between the bed Kevin was lying on and the other bed, facing him. His bed was against the wall and the other bed against the opposite wall. An ugly colored lamp sat on a nightstand in the middle.

“I have a question,” Kevin announced. He looked at her and she nodded. “What kind of surgery did you have, exactly?” Charlotte’s eyes widened. “You know, the one you had after the run-in we had with your dad?”

Charlotte looked down and pulled her knees up to her chest. She purposely ignored his question, refusing to answer. If he knew . . . he would think she was a slut, a dumb teenage girl who fooled around and got herself pregnant. It was what she feared, and she felt that if he thought that, he would not look at her the same. She liked the way he looked at her now. Charlotte was . . . was really starting to like Kevin - she hated to admit it, but, she was.

Kevin realized how uncomfortable that question made her. “Okay. Sorry. Um . . . I have another question: what do you want to do once you graduate?”

Charlotte did not hesitate to answer this question. “I‘m most likely going to get a scholarship through softball, so I‘m going to continue to do that. I‘d want to go pro. But, I doubt I‘ll be able to get through all of that with my heart.”

“Don‘t let it stop you,” Kevin says, turning on his side to face her. “Look at Nick: He has Type 1 Diabetes and he runs around on a stage all the time. He has four albums - a fifth one in the works - and is living his dream.”

“His condition is a little different from mine,” Charlotte replied. “He has that Omni Pod that helps him keep balanced out, that prevents him from fainting and over working himself. He doesn‘t have to take breaks while on stage.” Charlotte looked down at her folded hands, sad. “He‘ll be able to have kids one day - I won‘t.”

“Why not?” Kevin asked. Sure he’s thought of a life with Charlotte, and that included kids somewhere in the mix.

“I guess your heart rate speeds up a lot when having a baby,” Charlotte explained. “It could be fatal to me because my heart would not be able to handle it. I don‘t even know if I‘ll get to the age where I can have kids.”

Kevin went pale. “What - what do you mean?”

Charlie sighed. “I mean the doctor told me when I was fourteen that I most likely had about . . . maybe ten years, more or less depending on my heart, until it starts to gradually wear down and . . . stop working. And that‘s even at stage 3. He still said that it could change abruptly - how many years, anyway.”

“So . . . you don‘t have that many years to go until. . . .” Kevin realized that she has come into his life at a time where her life was starting to slip away. He still hadn’t gotten the age he thought she was (nineteen or so) confirmed, and so he just stayed with it. And if she was told at fourteen she had ten years, more or less, till . . . then he wanted to spend all the time he could with her, even if he did have a few more years.

“Yeah, so what? God will take me when He wants to and I don‘t want any sympathy until he actually does,” Charlotte snapped. Sympathy. Don’t do it. “Don‘t treat me like a puppy with a broken leg, got it?”

Kevin was not fazed by her sudden anger and understood why she snapped. He nodded and promised that he would not treat her any different just because he knows this . . . information. Charlotte sighed a deep sigh and looked away from Kevin’s too-handsome face. He had that unfair advantage and she believed she didn’t, so why was he staring at her like she was beautiful?

“Why do you stare at me like that?” she questioned, peering through her hair that had fallen over her face.

“Because I get lost in your green eyes,” answered Kevin, stretching his arms, reaching them high up into the air, trying to be nonchalant and smooth like Joe seems to be ninety-percent of the time.

“You have green eyes too, so why don‘t you stare at your reflection?” Charlotte was happy that her hair was covering her now pink cheeks.

“Correction: I have hazel eyes, not green. And that is just weird.”

“You‘re weird,” Charlotte muttered.

And I think I love you, since we‘re stating the obvious, Kevin thought, but kept his mouth shut tight. His heart just pounded so much harder.

“Yeah, I guess I am weird,” Kevin sighed, smiling over at her.

Charlotte couldn’t help smile back, her heartbeat quickening, but not in the medical-emergency way it always seem to do.

And I wouldn‘t love you any other way, Charlotte thought, perfectly content.