Age Is But a Number

Caitlyn and her mom said yes to Charlotte staying with them. How could they decline? Charlotte was basically family. She needed help to get away and stay away from that place that didn’t even deserve the title Home.

Harold, Charlotte’s dad, wouldn’t find her either. When he actually noticed she was gone (whenever he came down from his high) he was going to be furious and try to find her and drag her back by her hair. She didn’t know it, but she was what helped him draw in those guys who always bought the lethal drugs from him. They came over not only to buy drugs, but to look at Charlotte. It was another reason why leaving was one of the best decisions of her young life.

“And you‘ll be sleeping in the guest room,” said Caitlyn to Charlotte. She placed a bag down by the door and let Charlotte in ahead of her.

“Really? You‘re guys‘ special guest room?” Charlotte asked, her voice a little mocking. “The lovely guest room with the orange walls and pink flowers?”

Caitlyn chuckled lightly. “Of course. Only for you, Charlie.”

Charlotte smiled at her friend and sat herself on the beautiful, luxurious bright yellow bed complete with fuzzy neon blue and green pillows. This room is one that is hardly ever used so Caitlyn’s parents let her and her older sister (by four years and was 10-years-old at the time they got this house. Her sister is now in college) design the room. It was completely up to them and what Charlotte saw every time she came to this room was the orange walls with pink flowers and the yellow bed with blue and green fluffy pillows.

“Charlie?” Caitlyn called after a short pause. Charlotte looked at to show her that she was paying attention. “Welcome home.”

And that’s what it felt like to her. It had before, but now that she was living here permanently, it really started to sink in. Two days had passed since she left and it already been amazing living with her best friend. Like a dream that she hoped she never woke up from.

“I need clothes,” said Charlotte to Mrs. Matters, Caitlyn‘s mom. “Do you think you can drop me and Caitlyn off at the mall so I can get some?”

“Of course,” she replied. “After you guys eat I‘ll drive you up there and you can stay until . . . five, okay? You guys are going to help me with dinner.”

“No problem,” Caitlyn said to her mom. “Thanks.”

.:-:.

Harold Reynolds came home to find his daughter gone. Since his wife, Gina, didn’t tell him anything useful he slapped her across the face until she told him that Charlotte had left about two days ago. Harold had been gone for that amount of time, staying with his friend - a druggie, of course - not only getting high but cheating on his wife.

He stormed off angrily to Charlotte’s room and threw everything around, thinking she could somehow be hiding. There wasn’t much to throw around; things were missing, gone, along with her.

Harold walked to the door and opened it, but was stopped when he heard his wife asking where he was going. He shouted at her that it was none of her business, but not as kindly or G-rated as it sounds. Steamed, he slammed the door shut and got into his car, burning rubber as he went to search for his daughter.

But where could she be? He didn’t know if she had any friends that she could be with right now other than some softball team, but he didn’t know any information on them. He tried to think of the places a 15-year-old girl could be and thought of one thing: the mall. He was a druggie and an alcoholic, but he was smart enough to know where his daughter could have run off to. How hard could it be to find his teenage daughter in the nearby mall?

.:-:.

“Laura, I‘m sorry, but it‘s over,” Kevin told his now ex-girlfriend.

“I don‘t understand why, though,” she replied. “Everything was fine between us, babe.”

“You call me catching you in my hotel room, in my bed, with another guy fine?” he retorted. “How is cheating on me fine?”

“I never thought you‘d find out,” she murmured, but Kevin still heard.

“Well I did, and I‘m done with you. I‘ve been done with you since that day, so please, stop calling me. It’s been a month, let it go. I can‘t talk with you right now.”

“Ugh, fine! I don‘t care anyway!” Laura shouted. “You know, that guy is way better than you anyway. He doesn‘t have that” - She dropped an emphasized f-bomb - “purity ring holding him back!”

And she hung up.

“But he probably does have STDs,” Kevin muttered under his breath. He put his phone in his pocket and grabbed a sweater and the hat he was going to wear today. He pushed up his glasses up since they were starting to slide, then checked himself in the mirror before walking out the door.

As he held back the pain from talking with the girl he once loved, he text his brothers that he was going to the mall nearby and he would be back whenever. He didn’t have Big Rob with him, no bodyguards, just him and his thoughts.

Most of his thoughts were centered on Laura, his girlfriend of two years. He loved her and she turned around and stabbed him in the back. But he had gotten over her, like he said. No use hurting over her anymore.

He walked into the mall through the automatic sliding doors, nearly bumping into a girl with pretty red hair mixed in with a bit of brown. He did a double take as she said excuse me in a small voice, not even noticing him as she talked with another girl with dark, jet black hair. The red-brown haired girl was the one he really took a notice to: she had light green eyes, somewhat pouty lips and a button nose.

“Whoa,” Kevin breathed as he stopped walking, watching her walk away. She looked athletic as he got a full view of her. She must have played some kind of sport.

Kevin began to walk forward, scratching the back of his head, some fingers interlocking with the curls in his hair. His heart rate sped up some as he tried not to follow the girl as the need to be near her became stronger and stronger. She had made a left, so he made a right and walked hastily to the closest store. It happened to be Virgin Records.

He made his way to the country genre and started looking through the CDs by Brad Paisley, one of his favorite country musicians. Still, even with some of his favorite music in front of him, his thoughts centered on Laura and the mystery girl he had found himself attracted to.

.:-:.

Charlotte began to rub her arm as she felt it tingle. It had been doing that since she bumped into that guy with the nice looking, dark, curly hair and from what she could tell brown eyes. She thought she saw green in there somewhere. Either way, she couldn’t get his face out of her mind; he looked familiar somehow but she brushed it off as she questioned why his light touch had caused goose bumps on her arm.

“You know, that guy that bumped into you looked familiar,” said Caitlyn. She checked her makeup in the small mirror she had in her purse. Charlotte saw no need for her to check because her makeup always looked perfect with the perfect shape of her eyes, resembling her ethnicity: Japanese.

“Creep-o, get out of my head,” Charlotte told her. Caitlyn tilted her head to the side, which she does frequently. “I was just thinking that.”

Caitlyn let out a small giggle. “Sorry Charlie.” The rhyming and causing Charlotte to roll her eyes made Caitlyn to giggle more. Caitlyn rhymes words with Charlotte’s name quite often; Caitlyn finds it hilarious while Charlie tries not to laugh. She finds it both annoying but secretly hilarious.

The two friends left their current store, Anchor Blue, and went back the way they came. They passed the mall’s front doors and went to the Virgin Records store to find some CDs to listen to. Caitlyn was going bonkers and was suppressing a squeal as she made a beeline to the Pop section.

Though the two friends are like sisters, they have very different tastes and different personalities as well. While Caitlyn is the one who loves pop, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, and the Black Eyed Peas, Charlotte loves music with “actual instruments and not a computer.” Her music ranges from Flyleaf, Hawk Nelson, Evanescence, Paramore, et cetera. The only Disney Hollywood Records artists she will tolerate is Demi Lovato. Caitlyn is loud, out-going, and talkative. Charlotte happens to be fairly quiet, a bit shy, and when she does talk it’s usually soft, but laughs loud. She’s learned since she was younger that being quiet can keep the bruises away.

“Oh gosh, you dragged me in here for them?” Charlotte asked bitterly. She looked away from the happy expression Caitlyn had as she held up a Jonas Brothers CD and noticed curly hair a couple isles ahead of them. She raised an eyebrow, wondering if the back of this guy‘s head happened to be the guy who bumped into her. She decided to call him Mister Curly-Bumper.

She also had a habit of naming random things and people. On their way to the mall she pointed out a pile of trash in the shape of a face to Caitlyn and named it Gary.

“Yes I did,” Caitlyn answered. “The Jonas Brothers are amazing.” Charlotte noticed the curly haired guy was in fact Mister Curly-Bumper and had noticed he became more interested when he heard The Jonas Brothers being mentioned. Curious.

“Yeah, yeah,” Charlotte said. “Warn me before you blast their music so I can get out of hearing range, please.”

“I‘ll make sure to blast it even louder, then,” Caitlyn replied happily. She saw Charlie staring at something and looked in the same direction. “What are -” She gasped when she recognized the curly hair, the sideburns, and let out a small shout.

Charlotte jumped. “Gah, what?” she questioned. She was suddenly dragged down to the level Caitlyn was now crouching at.

“Why did you not tell me you were staring at - at -”

“Mister Curly-Bumper?” Charlotte finished.

“No not - Mister Curly-Bumper?” Charlotte blinked a couple times, not fazed by the raised eyebrow Caitlyn was giving her. “Mister Curly-Bumper happens to be Ke-Ke-Kevin Jonas!”

Charlotte did not make an effort to hide her disgust as she wrinkled her nose.

“Stand up and see if he is still there!” Caitlyn hissed. Charlotte left a blank expression on her face. “Fine, I will!”

Caitlyn stood up, let out a small squeal, and then came back down, her eyes wide and breathing exhilarated.

“What?” Charlotte asked.

“He‘s. Right. There,” Caitlyn whispered. Her eyes widened with each word.

Charlotte let out a sigh and figured Caitlyn will never say anything to one of the three guys she constantly gushes about unless she does something about it, which she won’t when she can hardly breathe. Charlotte makes a huge sacrifice by standing and facing one of the three guys she really could care less for: Kevin Jonas.

“Excuse me, Kevin Jonas,” Charlotte begins as she confronts the handsome-but-she-will-never-admit-it man, “my friend here happens to be one of your biggest fans and would be extremely happy if you would sign this CD she is about to buy and take a picture with her.” Charlotte, her shyness taking over her, had kept her eyes on the buttons on Kevin’s shirt and tries not to slip into the shell she constantly hides in. Caitlyn owes her double now.

Kevin is cut off guard by the fact that the girl he had tried hard to avoid had found him. She seems shy, nervous, and avoids his eyes. He wants her to look up at him so he can see those green eyes he wants to see so badly.

The other girl, the one with the pretty shaped eyes and jet black hair, stood up and became stiff at the sight of him. This must be the friend that is the fan. He smiled at her and stuck out his hand over the wrack of CDs.

“Nice to meet you . . .,” he began, waiting for her name.

“Ca - Ca -”

“Her name‘s Caitlyn,” the red headed girl said to Kevin.

“Yeah, that‘s my name, ha-ha,” Caitlyn added. “Caitlyn Matters, Cady for short, like K-D, 17-years-old with one older sister and a loud Japanese family.” Caitlyn began to giggle nervously and this made Kevin chuckle in response.

“You guys already know my name,” he says to them. “But I‘ll still introduce myself: I‘m Kevin Jonas, 21-years-old - almost twenty-two! I have three younger brothers and have a loud family with too many nationalities to count.”

Charlotte knew that Caitlyn was about to name those nationalities but Charlotte nudged her before she did. She did not want her best friend to creep out one of the three Jonas Brothers that her best friend loves so much. Charlotte doesn’t love them so much.

“How about I buy that CD for you since I‘m signing it anyway,” Kevin says. He looks at Charlotte. “Any CD you want, miss?”

Charlotte raised an eyebrow. “You‘d buy me a CD too?” Kevin nodded. Charlotte scoffed a bit and laughed. “Thanks but no thanks Mr. Rich and Famous. I can buy my own things - me, Charlotte - thank you very much.”

Kevin, too, raised an eyebrow. “I was just offering, Charlotte. I‘m sorry if I offended you.” He smirked, fairly amused with her sassiness.

The three made their way up to the register and Kevin paid for the CDs he bought as well as Caitlyn’s CD, which technically was his and his brother’s. He did do some vocals and played guitar for all those songs.

He asked the cashier for a pen and kept his eyes on Charlotte. First of all, he liked her name. It seemed to suit her. After assessing her face again, her pretty face, he guessed her age. She looked too old to be seventeen, like her friend, but she didn’t look older than he. He guessed her to be somewhere around nineteen, possibly twenty. He was leaning more towards nineteen. Either way, she was old enough for him to actually have a chance. If he had a chance. She did not seem much of a fan.

“Why would I want a picture with you?” she asked Kevin, astonished that he had even asked. “She‘s the fan, not me.”

He should have been offended, but for some reason her snide remarks made him smirk once again. “Just an offer. Sorry again.” He stuck out his hand to her. “It was nice meeting you two lovely ladies.”

“The pleasure‘s all mine Kevin,” Caitlyn said euphorically as she grabbed Kevin’s hand and shook it. He decided to give her a hug. Maybe this would give him the opportunity to give Charlotte a hug.

Caitlyn was becoming lightheaded from the lack of air.

Kevin held his arms out for Charlotte. She kept on looking down, becoming shy once again, her arms crossed. After a few short moments, she went into his arms and gave him a quick hug and hurried out of the store, calling Caitlyn to come along.

“Thanks again Kevin,” Caitlyn shouted as she walked out of the front doors. “Bye!”

Kevin waved and stood there for a few moments, staring at the place Charlotte was just standing. He already felt like he missed her. Why the sudden connection he had to her? What was with the sense of being complete when she was in his arms?

He tried to shake it off as he walked out the door and went in the way he thought was opposite to the way the two girls went.