Beautiful Mistake

"Who did this?" He repeated loudly when I didn't answer. I flinched. He sighed.

"Daddy." I whispered. He clenched his fists.

"My brother did this to you?" He asked angrily.

"Uncle Charlie-please-it doesn't matter-" I started.

"Doesn't matter?" He yelled, standing up. I flinched again. "Why the hell would this not matter, Christina? Huh? Tell me that"

"Because he's in the hospital in a coma. And when he wakes up, if he wakes up-he's going to be put away." I said, choking on tears. He looked at me for a second before pulling me to my feet and hugging me tightly.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you. Please don't cry." He whispered. I tried to stop myself by taking shaky breaths. He rubbed my back soothingly. "Why didn't you tell me?" He asked quietly. I shrugged, squeezing him tighter. I could finally speak after calming myself down.

"You had your life here and I didn't want to bother you." I said meekly.

"You know you can always call me for anything." He said. I looked at him and smiled.

"Now I don't have to." He smiled even bigger.

"No, you don't." He agreed. He looked at me. "You gonna be ok?" He asked. I nodded, knowing he was talking about Joe.

"I'll just forget about him." I shrugged. He kissed my head.

"So what do you wanna do?" He asked.

"I dunno-I'm kinda tired." I shrugged.

"Well, go to bed-we'll do something tomorrow." He said lightly.

"After you call that guy?" I questioned. He nodded.

"I promise." I hugged him goodnight and kissed his cheek.

"I love you, Uncle Charlie." I said. He smiled.

"I love you, too, Nerd." I smiled and went up to my room. I climbed into bed, falling asleep almost instantly.

I was woken up by two people jumping on my bed. I opened my eyes to see Willy Wonka and Frankie both grinning at me proudly.

"We made breakfast." Frankie said proudly. I smiled.

"And what did you make?" I asked, smiling at him.

"McDonald's." He said and I laughed.

"You're so cute." I said.

"Thank you." He grinned. "Kevin and Nicky are downstairs with Ashy." He said as Charlie rolled off the bed and landed with a loud thud. Frankie clapped excitedly and Charlie popped his head up, grinning.

"Alright, champ. Let's let Chrissie get up." Charlie said, lifting Frankie up and over his shoulder. Frankie waved sadly at me as they left my room. I groaned, rolling over and within minutes I was asleep again. Next thing I knew I was being flipped over someone's shoulder and carried downstairs.

"This is a little much, don't you think?" I asked, yawning and squeaking.

"No-now stop being cute." I heard Charlie say.

"That won't be hard." I sighed. He dropped me on the couch, on people. I looked up to see Ashley, Kevin, Nick and Joe. I groaned and got up, sitting on the other side of Ashley.

"Morning, Angel." Ashley smiled. I smiled back, rubbing my eyes.

"Sup?" I said jokingly, jerking my head. Kevin, Ashley and Nick laughed. Joe just looked at me. I rolled my eyes and stood up, walking into the kitchen.

"Breakfast?" Charlie offered and I shook my head.

"Not hungry." I muttered.

"You ok?" He asked.

"Yup-just not hungry." I smiled. Ashley came into the kitchen.

"Hi, baby." She said. I smiled. "So, the boys have to go clean their house so I was wondering if you wanted to go walk around?" She suggested. I looked at Willy Wonka. He nodded, winking at me.

"Sure. Just let me go get ready." I jumped off the stool and headed up the stairs. "Bye, guys!" I called, waving over my shoulder. I jumped in the shower and quickly did my business. I got dressed, blow dried my hair and straightened it, making the new length to my lower back instead of the middle where it is when it's curly. I put on some eyeliner and mascara, brushed my teeth and checked my reflection. I was wearing a tight-form fitting My Chemical Romance T-shirt with a thin thermal with tiny skulls and hearts on it and a pair of black, skin tight jeans. I slipped on my checkered vans, put my phone in my pocket and headed downstairs.

"Whoa." Ashley said as I reached the landing.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"Joe's gonna be drooling." She laughed.

"Let's not talk about him." I said, but I couldn't stop the butterflies in my stomach. She looked at me, but didn't say anything. We went into the living room and the guys were still there.

"Wow." Kevin and Nick said, looking up at me. Joe looked up at me, but his face remained blank.

"Alright-enough gawking-go clean." Ashley laughed.

"You should walk us to our house." Kevin said and I laughed.

"We can do that." I said. They stood up and we headed for the door. Joe was walking slowly. We started towards their house and Nick linked arms with me.

"Hi." He said, smiling. I smiled back.

"Hey, yourself."

"So what are you girls going to do today?" He asked.

"Just walk around, I guess." I shrugged.

"Lucky. I'd rather be walking around than cleaning. Especially if it's with you guys." He said and I felt special.

"Aw, Nick." I said and he chuckled.

"It's true." I smiled.

"So-what's the deal with Ashley and your brother?" I asked. He shrugged.

"Kevin's liked Ashley for as long as I can remember. But for some reason they've never…told each other." He said. "Between Kevin having girlfriends when she's single and her having boyfriends when he's single-and Kevin's too shy to even tell her-even in a friend kind of way-that he loves her." He explained.

"Does Ashley have a boyfriend right now?" I asked and he nodded. We reached their house and said goodbye. I even said bye to Joe-doing exactly what he wants-to forget about the kiss. He looked at me strangely before his brothers dragged him inside the house.

We started to walk away and Ash linked her arm through mine.

"So what were you and Nick talking about?" She asked.

"You and your boyfriend." I said and she smiled a little. "What's his name?" I asked.

"Bert." She said. "Well, Robert, but he doesn't like being called Rob or Bob." I smiled.

"Do I get to meet him?" I asked.

"Later-he's out of town visiting his grandma right now." She said.

"Oh, I see." We turned around a corner and she led me into a park. We sat on the swings and she looked at me.

"So what happened with Joe?" She asked. I shrugged.

"Nothing."

"Liar. He looked miserable last night. And this morning he wouldn't get out of bed until he heard we were going to your house." She said, smiling.

"Really? Because after he kissed me last night he just wanted to forget it ever happened." I said smugly.

"He kissed you?" She asked loudly.

"Not anymore. It's forgotten." I shrugged, looking around.

"Chrissie-" She started.

"I'm fine. I just met the kid. He's right-it was a mistake. So-I'm forgetting about it." I said confidently, getting up and heading out of the park. She followed. I was trying to hard to convince myself. I figured maybe if I just kept saying I was-I would forget. She looked at me-trying to decide if I was lying as we headed down another street. I looked up to see that Rachel girl heading our way with another girl.

"That's the girl you and Joe saw in the store?" She asked. I nodded. "Yeah-that's Rachel and the girl with her is Monica." Ash whispered as they got closer.

"Why do-" I started but they reached us and I stopped. Rachel gave a fake laugh.

"Ashley! I miss you!" She said in a very fake voice and my first thought was of a valley girl. Why would Joe want anything to do with her? I noticed Ash force a fake smile-it looked more painful than friendly. Rachel looked me over and smirked.

"Look, Mon-this is the girl I was telling you about-Joe's new toy." She said haughtily and the other girl smirked.

"Oh yeah-I see what you mean. She won't last a week." The girl let out a cackle and I raised my eyebrows, looking at Ashy.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ash asked defensively. I hated when people talked about me like I wasn't there.

"Oh, come one, Ashley-you know I'm the only girl Joe's ever loved. None of the other ones lasted very long." Rachel said obviously.

"Because you sabotaged them." Ash said, crossing her arms across her chest.

"I have, like, no idea what you're talking about." She said, up talking and flicking her hair over her shoulder. Ashy scoffed and Rachel turned to me.

"Joe stays with a girl long enough to get what he wants from them-and then he moves on. You won't last long at all-that is…if he decides to even give you the time of day." She smirked. "So I advise to not even waste your time. He's too good for you." She said, flipping her hair and leading her friend away. I paused, looking at Ashley. She didn't look at me, wouldn't make eye contact so I sighed and kept walking.

"Chrissie!" Ashley called. I slowed my pace so she could catch up. "None of what she said is true. She makes him sound like a slut. He's not in love with her. He's not too good for you-you're too good for him. And he would give you the time of day." I looked at her skeptically. "Hell, I would give you the time of day. Dayum." She said and I laughed. "I'm serious, Chris. She's full of herself-Joe can't stand her. Seriously. Nick and Kevin even asked him if Joe and she were the last two people on earth-what would he do? And Joe's like the human race would die." I chuckled.

"And what about him dating girls until he 'gets what he wants'?" I asked, lifting my eyebrows.

"He's not like that. The only girl he's ever broken up with is Rachel. Every other one has broken up with him because she's paid them or blackmailed them." She said darkly. "Have you noticed the ring that Nick, Joe and Kevin all wear?" She asked. I nodded.

"Yeah." I said, confused.

"That's their purity ring." She said simply.

"Oh." I said, feeling better for some reason. "So why do Joe, Nick and Kevin hate her so much?" I asked.

"Well, she and Joe did date-but she, uh, she messed up everything and almost got Joe arrested. But I can't give out all the juicy details-it's Joe's story." She said and I nodded.