His Deepest Secret

Charlotte returned home thirty minutes before her parents did, which was fortunate for her. Her parents had made no attempt in telling her if she was or was not grounded, but would ground her if they found out she didn't stay home today.

"Charlotte!" her parents yelled as soon as they stepped through the front door.

"I wonder what she's doing," Gracie told her husband.

"Charlotte! Come downstairs!" he yelled up the stairs.

The married couple walked into the kitchen and set down their jackets. Harry and Gracie had went to Harry's boss' party, the one which would announce who his boss' new partner would be. They had a reason to celebrate and wanted to share their news with Charlotte.

"I'll go upstairs and get her sweetheart," Gracie told him. She went upstairs and opened Charlotte's bedroom door.

Charlotte was quietly snoozing on her bed, her face resting in her book. Gracie couldn't help but smile at her bookworm of a daughter. She walked over, sat down on Charlotte's bed, and gently shook her daughter's arm.

"Huh?" Charlotte asked, her head barely lifting off her book.

"Hey," her mother answered. "Wake up girly."

Charlotte opened her eyes to see her mom right there. "What's up?" she asked, sitting up and fiercely rubbing her eyes.

"We have some amazing news to share with you and we are going to celebrate tonight. We could never celebrate without you hun."

"Oh."

Her brain wasn't even awake, but she just nodded her head.

"Come on," her mother said. They both stood up and walked out of Charlotte's bedroom. When they got to the kitchen, Harry was placing a six-pack of Coca-Cola, two bags of pretzels, and multiple bags on the table.

"Guess what time it is kiddo?" he asked Charlotte.

Her eyes opened wide as she realized that they were going to have a card night. It was forever since they last had one. All night, they would drink soda and eat candy and junk food while they played Rummy, Gin, Nines, and even Poker. Their bets were candy, which they bought an almost endless supply of.

"We haven't had one of these in forever! What are we celebrating?" she asked, happy yet confused.

"I got promoted!" Her father cracked open two Coca Colas and handed one to her. "Cheers!"

She smiled at her dad and clinked her soda can against his and her mother's.

Wow, what would the promotion mean this time?

---

The night passed, and the next day came. Hopefully, today would be a better day. Anderson was happy when he was with Charlotte. Except, yesterday, the devastated look on her face led to him feeling even more devastated and depressed. When she left, those feelings hit him and stayed with him all night long. He was finally able to sleep after one a.m. Unfortunately, he woke up at seven a.m. and couldn't go back to sleep.

As Anderson walked down the stairs and into the brightness of the kitchen, he could hear his parents talking. They're awake and most likely made coffee.

Mmmm...

"Good morning son," his father said.

"Morning," Anderson mumbled.

"You look tired around the eyes," his mother commented. "Did you get much sleep last night?"

He shook his head no as he poured himself a steaming, hot cup of coffee.

His mother frowned and his father put his arm around her as a way to comfort her and let her know not to get upset in front of their son. After the day before yesterday, his mother has been feeling extremely sad, depressed, and less hopeful. It seemed like his father would have to take the role of being strong for their son.

"I'm going to the store today after work sweetie, is there anything you want me to pick up?" she asked.

"Soup and crackers?"

"No problem," she replied. "Off to work, love you two!" She kissed her husband and hugged her son before she walked out the door. His father was soon to follow and said his goodbye.

After the front door closed, he felt lonely all over again. He walked over to the couch, grabbed the blanket that was hanging over the back of it, and laid down. When he turned on the TV, Spongebob Squarepants appeared on the screen.

He found comfort in his favorite cartoon and being snuggled up in a huge blanket on the couch.
Hopefully, just maybe, today would be better.

---

Beep-beep!

Beep-beep!

Beeeeeep! Beeeeeep!

Charlotte's hand slammed down on the snooze button of her alarm clock and fell back down, hitting the side of her bed. She didn't want to open her eyes, but she had to open them. Today is an important day.

She sprung out of bed when she remembered and headed straight for the shower. Once she was done, she peeped outside her window to observe what the weather was like today. Raining still.

Charlotte dressed in black jeans that were tight on the thighs but loose and flared out on the bottom, a loose, baggy band shirt, and converse. Who the hell would want to dress up on a rainy day?

She found her jacket, keys, phone, and wallet within minutes and headed out the door.

Time to head to the mall.

---

Charlotte walked into one of her favorite stores and knew exactly where she wanted to go. When she reached the hat section, she smiled to herself. There was an abundance of cute hats, and she intended to get a few.

A loose, black beanie, a sick-looking hat, and a grey beanie that covered the ears.

Hmmmm....

She grabbed two of each, one size small and one size large, took them to the cash register, and paid for them.

Mission one accomplished.
She smiled to herself and headed out the door.

---

After multiple trips to different stores, she was finally done. It was ten a.m. Not too bad. She grabbed all of the bags out of her trunk and walked up the driveway and to the front door. Her knuckles that were frozen and white knocked against the dark mahogany door.

One minute passed until the door finally opened.

A sleepy Anderson opened the door not expecting anyone special.

"Babe?" he asked softly, his voice still full of sleep. It seems like he was able to go back to sleep after watching some cartoons.

She smiled and leaned up on her tippy-toes to kiss him. "Surprise!"

He smiled a huge smile and motioned for her to come inside. Seeing her awoke everything in his body and immediately made him happy. As he shut the door, he suddenly noticed all of the bags Charlotte had been carrying.

"Need help with those?" he asked.

"Nope! You don't get to look in them yet," she replied, smiling evilly.

What were in them that he wasn't allowed to see?

The sound of rain got louder as the rain fell down more intensely. It was sort of relaxing.

She put the bags on the floor in front of the couch, sat down, and patted the seat next to her.

"Come here you."

Anderson sat down beside her, putting his arm around her shoulder and kissing her cheek right away.

"So what's in them Charlotte?" he asked with sincere curiosity.

"Okay, sooooo here are the first things." She pulled out what seemed like ten cans of all of these different soups, crackers, orange juice, candy, apples, and chocolate milks. "I thought some yummy food and some healthy food would help make you feel better," she said shyly.

It was truly a nice gesture. He looked at all of the food and couldn't help but smile and laugh at how cute and sweet she was.

"You didn't have to, but thank you," he replied happily.

"I wanted to, and you're welcome." She picked up two other bags carefully. "Annnnd I'm starving now, so I went to Quiznos and got us bread bowls with broccoli and cheese soup inside and two Brisk teas."

"Mmmm," he murmured.

"But before we get to eating, I have a few more things." She picked up the remaining three bags and looked up at him with a more serious face. Anderson waited patiently, but didn't understand her seriousness. When she realized she let her sad emotions come through, she was quick to change her composure.

Crap, she thought.

"Uhm. . . I got you these. . ." She pulled out his three hats.

Now this took him by surprise. It wasn't just a small gesture to him. As he looked at the three hats, she pulled out three more, exactly the same as the ones she just laid out. Quietly, she took the loose, black beanie and raised it up over his head. She carefully placed it onto his head, biting her lip gently as she did so. His eyes looked into hers as she placed the hat on his head, and he saw strong feelings behind those blue eyes of hers. His heart felt like it was slammed against the inside of his rib cage.

Her hands that had just placed the beanie on his head slowly slid down until they were cupping the sides of his face. Her sad blue eyes looked intensely into his dark blue eyes. Her eyes said what her mouth did not.

The feeling of his heart slamming against his rib cage came back again. It felt like his heart was breaking as it was also growing.

Anderson really liked this girl.
Charlotte really liked this boy.

When Charlotte realized how intensely she was staring into Anderson's eyes, she looked down and tried to think of something to say.

"Uhm. . . I uhm-"

"Charlotte?" His blue eyes got as dark as the ocean looks when it's night time.

She looked back up into his eyes, waiting for him to talk. "Hmm?"

"Thank you," he whispered. His voice cracked and it felt like his eyes were burning. He grabbed her tightly into his arms so she wouldn't see the one tear that managed to escape from his eyes.

Mixed emotions filled his heart.
Sadness.
Happiness.

Devastation.
Hope.

Feelings growing.
Fright.

He wondered what emotion would he feel last?
What emotion would she?

Charlotte, the girl Anderson used to hate.
The girl he now needed.
Wanted.

The girl he was falling hard for
as his health was falling, failing.