Original Love

Charlie’s POV:

“What the hell?”

Charlie groaned and rolled over, instantly recognizing the voice that woke her up from a peaceful sleep. She prayed that if she kept her eyes closed and looked like she was still asleep that they would just go away. But she knew that that was just wishful thinking. Now that she was here, the other girl wasn’t going to leave until she got an explanation.

Opening her eyes, she turned her head to look next to her to see the person lying to her right also awake with a sleepy and slightly confused look on their face. Charlie couldn’t help but smile at that as their eyes met and he managed a small smile in return. His hair was all messy in an adorable fashion and he still looked sort of out of it and she could just hear is thoughts about what was going on and who woke him up and what time it was.

“I know you’re awake Charlie!”

Charlie rolled her eyes as she let her eyes linger on Alex a moment more before turning her attention to the annoying person standing a few feet from the bed with her arms crossed and a pissed off expression.

“Rachael, it is way too early for this.” She said as she rubbed her eyes willing the headache she could feel coming on. “I’ll be out in a sec, can you just go put some coffee on and I’ll explain everything?”

Her best friend just huffed in annoyance and didn’t say anything more as she turned on her heel and walked out of the room. Charlie closed her eyes and took a deep breath to keep herself calm. Rachael was going to be a living nightmare if she didn’t get out to the kitchen and explain soon. But all she wanted to do was stay in bed and do nothing all day. She had almost twisted her ankle the other day while teaching her class and it was still a little sore. There was a reason she had taken off while Alex was still in town so that she could spend time with him before he had to leave again but now it looked like she wasn’t going to be able to since she had to spend the morning explaining everything to her psychotic best friend.

“You’re thinking too hard,” Alex said as he broke her from all her thoughts.

She turned her head to look at him as he ran his hand up and down her sides making her snuggle in close to him. “I know. And I really don’t want to get up and go put out the fire that’s been created.”

“Is it really that bad?”

Charlie nodded, “yes. And it’s going to be even worse once she realizes exactly who you are.”

Alex cringed, “is she really that bad?”

“You have no idea. She’s a total fan girl and way too over protective of me and those two things together is not going to end well.” She replied with a sigh. “I should probably get up and start explaining things. Besides, I need coffee. It’s way too early to try and function properly without it.”

“It’s nearly ten,”

“Exactly.”

His laugh rang though the room making even her crack a small smile. His smile was simply contagious and even though she was really worried about what was going to happen with Rachael, she found herself smiling too.

“I should go and make sure she’s not secretly burning down my kitchen in spit because I didn’t tell her anything.” She sighed as she forced herself to sit up and out of bed. “Just give me a few minutes to talk to her before you come out ok? I need to calm her down a little bit so she doesn’t attack you.”

Alex simply raised his eye brows as she laughed and pulled Alex’s hoodie over herself since she was freezing in just a pair of shots and a thin t-shirt. He wished her luck as she headed to the door and gave him a nervous smile in return as she cautiously walked down the hall toward her kitchen. Charlie could hear her best friend before she could see her and when she got to the doorway, she sighed in relief when she simply saw the coffeepot brewing and Rachael leaning against the counter with her arms crossed as she looked at her phone.

When Charlie cleared her throat Rachael looked up and glared as she set her phone down and turned without a word to get three cups out of the cupboard. “I assume he’ll want some coffee too?”

“Yeah, thanks,” she said as her best friend handed her a full cup of coffee just the way she liked it. Charlie knew not to say anything as she took a sip of the drink in her hands knowing that Rachael would start the conversation whether Charlie liked it or not.

“So, who’s the dude?”

Charlie took a deep breath to calm herself down and set the cup on the counter. “My boyfriend.”

“Since when?”

She bit her lip, “about two days ago.”

“And you’ve already slept with him!?”

Charlie nearly choked on nothing. “Rachael! Just because we were in bed together does not mean I’m sleeping with him. He just got in three days ago and I’ve missed him and we were cuddling. He asked me to be his girlfriend two days ago and all we’ve done is cuddle and kiss occasionally. What do you see me as a slut?”

“No, Lottie no, I don’t, I’m just worried. You haven’t dated anyone in forever after what happened with your mom and da-”

“Stop.” Charlie said, raising her hand up. She prayed to God Alex wasn’t listening in on this. She really didn’t need to explain this to him yet. She wasn’t ready. The only person who knew was Rachael and she only knew because she was there when it happened. “Don’t. Just don’t go there. I don’t need you bringing them up alright? I am a grown ass woman. I can take care of myself.”

Rachael visibly calmed down at that realizing that she went too far. “I just care.” She whispered quietly.

“I know you do, and I’m fine, seriously. You don’t always have to worry about me you know.”

Rachael smiled, “I know I don’t but you know I will anyway.”

Charlie returned the smile and stepped forward to hug her best friend for a few moments for a silent ‘I’m sorry’ and ‘you’re forgiven’ between them. They were such good friends that they hardly ever needed to use words to communicate. They always knew what was on each other’s mind just by a glance and that was one of the many things Charlie loved about her best friend.

When they let go after a few moments, Charlie smiled and glanced behind her to see if Alex was there. But he wasn’t and she knew he wanted to give them a little time to talk. But now they had talked through it and she really wanted to introduce her boyfriend to her best friend.

“Do you want to meet him?”

Rachael just rolled her eyes and nodded, “Duh. We’ve only been talking about him for the last ten minutes. I’d like to talk to him and threaten him about ever hurting you like any good friend would.”

“Just go easy on him, please,” Charlie replied making Rachael promise before she went back to her room to tell Alex he could stop hiding now.

Opening her door, she found him lying exactly how he had been when she had left. Only now he was twirling his hair between his fingers and had a far off look on his face. She walked as quietly as she could as she headed to the bed and climbed on top of him, looking down with a innocent look on her face as he jumped slightly and his eyes refocused and then his lips turned up into a cute smile.

“You survived,” he stated as she shrugged. “How did it go?”

“Ok, we’ve hugged and made up, and she wants to meet you.”

“So that means I have to get up.”

She nodded.

“So that means you have to get off of me.”

At that she pouted making him laugh. “Aw but I don’t want to get up. I’m comfy here.” She replied as she leaned down and lay on top of him, nuzzling her head under his chin and closing her eyes. He instantly wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head even though they both knew that they had to get back up.

After a few moments, she finally did force herself up and pressed her lips against his for a quick kiss before she crawled off the bed and headed back toward the door. When she was back in the kitchen, she noticed that Rachael was now sitting at the kitchen table reading the paper and a cup of fresh coffee on the table. Charlie mentioned Alex was coming as she warmed up her cup and then sat across from her, taking part of the paper that Rachael wasn’t using and trying not to freak out too much as she waited for Alex to show and have her best friend freak out all over again.

She heard footsteps coming down the hall toward the kitchen and she looked up and grinned at Alex when he appeared in the doorway. An audible gasp came from Rachael and she glanced over while biting her lip to see her best friend sitting there, staring wide eyed at her boyfriend still standing there. Alex looked all awkward standing there with a worried look on his face and his hair sticking in every direction. He was still wearing the sweats and t-shirt he had gone to bed in the night before, well minus the hoodie that Charlie was now wearing, and couldn’t look any more adorable.

“Um Rach, this is Alex, my boyfriend.” Charlie said, finally deciding to break the silence since her best friend actually was speechless for once. Which was shocking but Charlie wasn’t going to go there. Her mind was too focused on which scenario out of a hundred would actually happen once Rachael got her voice back. “And Lex,” she went on, “this is my best friend Rachael.”

Alex gave his best charming smile that had Charlie weak at the knees and thankful that she was actually sitting as he stepped forward. “It’s nice to finally meet you Rachael, Charlie always talks about you.”

“I-it’s nice to meet you too,” Rachael managed to say as she turned to look at Charlie suddenly. “Lottie do you know who this is?”

Charlie laughed at that, “Yes Rach, I know who that is. I actually met him a few months ago before I went to their concert. That’s sort of why I went even though you didn’t go with me. I already knew Alex and Jack.”

“And you were going to tell me about this when!?!” Her best friend all but screeched.

Well, it looks like Rachael got her voice back.

“I was going to tell you when we went to the concert together. Then you didn’t come and then I didn’t know what exactly Alex and I were since we’ve been more or less flirting ever since we met and then he asked me to be his girlfriend two days ago and I was going to tell you whenever I saw you next.”

She rolled her eyes as she looked up to Alex and then back to Charlie. “Whatever, but I don’t care if you’re a celebrity or not. If you hurt my girl I will personally fly to Baltimore and kill you in your sleep. Don’t think I’m not kidding either.”

Alex gulped and held his hands up in surrender as Rachael glared and pointed a finger at him. “You have my word I have no intentions of hurting her. I really like her.”

After a few more moments of glaring, Rachael suddenly smiled and shrugged instantly going from menacing to sweet in a matter of seconds. The sad thing was Charlie was really used to her best friend’s sudden mood swings and just laughed at Alex’s confused and slightly scared expression.

“Good.” Rachael said as she stood and grabbed her empty cup of coffee off the table. “Now why don’t we get breakfast going and you can tell me how exactly you two met.”