I'm Yours Tonight

CHARLOTTE's POV

I didn’t return home to my apartment until the morning. I walked with Brad back to his hotel shortly before, so he wouldn’t get lost around the city that early in the morning. We spent the wee hours of the morning in my favourite spot in the city, just discussing our lives for a while. It was weird, but great at the same time.

I tried to close the apartment door as quietly as I could, as to not awake Layla. She was already in the kitchen making her breakfast when I entered the apartment though. She looked up at me when I entered, but soon focused her attention back to her frying pancakes.

“Where were you last night? Did you spend the whole night out with Brad?” she asked, not looking up to me. By the irritated tone of her voice, I was suspecting that she was still upset about our little disagreement the previous night. Things were still tense due to the entire Ben situation, but she wasn’t the one who got kicked by the dude.

“Yeah. We just walked around and talked. When did the other boys leave?” I asked, sitting in front of her at the counter.

“After you did.” she then looked up to me, a serious expression playing across her face. “Char, you didn’t even bother to text me where you were. I was worried sick! I thought Ben had come back to kidnap you or something!”

“Sorry, I didn’t think it would be this big of a deal to be honest. It’s not like I was alone or anything…” I mumbled. I was always the one getting in trouble and having to apologise. It was generally from little things that didn’t really matter, but Layla was the kind of person to blow things out of proportion.

“No, I’m sorry. Seeing Ben just made me really stressed. You know what it’s like…” she often did this, jumping from anger to apologizing quickly after. She turned off the pan, dropping her utensils. “I could really use a coffee. Come down to the café?”
I agreed, and I grabbed my phone and keys, and followed Layla to the café.

"Hey, can I please get two regular caramel lattes, one with skim milk." I ordered. The lady serving me nodded, taking my payment and proceeding to make the drinks. I went to go sit with Layla, who was at a table, waiting for me.

"Charlotte? Charlotte Gray!" someone called out my name. I spun around and saw an unfortunately familiar face. I blushed, and tried to hide my face.

"Lucas..." yet another name that was painful to say.

"I cannot believe it. You look so different!" he complimented. That was a lie, because I didn't look any different than I did the last time he saw me, which was two years ago. If anything, I looked much worse.

"Yeah, you too..." that was not a lie. He DID look different. He had grown his hair and styled it to have a fringe. He was taller, and his skin was clearer. The only thing that hadn't changes was his adorable green eyes.

Every second I was standing there, it felt like my heart was being stabbed. I remembered EVERYTHING, even the things I hadn’t told Brad. The words he said, and the pain I felt… Layla saved me by jumping up next to me, beaming at Lucas.

"Oh my god, hi Lucas! I haven't seen you in years! What are you doing here in Melbourne?" she seemed so oblivious to the fact that I was practically dying inside.

"Well, my Dad passed away, so I am here visiting some relatives."

"I'm sorry to hear that..." Layla's phone rang, and her face lit up when she saw whom it was. "Oh, it's Sam! I have to go, I'll see you back home, okay Char?" she hugged me and skipped away. Awkward silence snuck up as we were standing there. I was thankful that my order was called. I was afraid that he would say something cute, and I would fall for him all over again. When you love someone like I loved Lucas, your feelings for him or her don’t just fade away.

"Well I better go now... It was nice seeing you again... bye..." I said, quickly hurrying away.

"Wait, Charlotte!" he ran to catch up with me. I spun around to see his eyes staring deeply into mine. They were the exact same beautiful sparkly green as I remember.

"Before I came to Melbourne, Kate gave me something." Kate was my old best friend that he was very close to. He pulled out a book that I recognized immediately. "I read through all of your poems and songs." his face was completely serious.

"Uh..." I didn't know what to say. Those poems were written when I was 16, and when I thought I loved him. I wrote down all my feelings and everything I thought about him – the good, the bad, the downright frightening… Knowing that he had read all of it was worrying.

He let out a small chuckle, and he held out the book for me to take. I shook my head; there was no way I wanted that crap back.

“Throw it out if you have to, I don’t want to go back there,” I scoffed. He nodded and slid it back into his shoulder bag. He was silent for a few moments, just staring at me and smiling.

“I feel so terrible for how I treated you, Charlotte.” He took the tray of coffees away from my hands, placing them on a nearby table so that he could step closer to me and remove the space in between us. “You were always there for me, no matter what, but all I did was treat you like shit.”

I was trying so hard to resist from crying. The tears were pooling at the bottom of my eyes, but there was no way I was shedding another tear for him. His hands cupped my face so that he could stare right into my eyes. “I was a fool to let someone like you go.”

What?

Was I hearing him right?

No. I was sure he hated me after the way we left things at my 18th party.

"But... What about what happened at the party? You hate me, right?" I asked.

"I couldn't hate you. I deserved every word you said to me. We’ve been too close for much too long for me to every hate you." he grinned.

My heart then took over my brain, and I had seemed to forget everything I promised myself about never forgiving him.

“Well, how about we pick up where we left of?” I took a marker out of my pocket and wrote my mobile number on his hand. “I think we should go out some time.”

“I think we definitely should.” He smiled, and kissed me on the cheek before leaving the coffee shop.

So maybe I hadn't really gotten over him. But that didn't matter, because I knew Lucas well enough to know he liked me, and he wasn’t lying like he had before. And, I was going on a date with him too. My life was seemingly perfect.

BRAD'S POV

When I woke, I knew that today would be an interesting day. I had decided that today was the day I would tell Charlotte how I felt about her. I know that I had only known her for one day, but something inside me told me that I needed to tell her as soon as I possibly could. She needed to know how special she was, and how perfect I thought she was.

She was gone when I woke up, which just added to my nervousness. Sam, who was sitting on the counter eating coco-pops, had told me that he spoke to Layla, and that her and Charlotte would see us before we left to return to Sydney in the nighttime. I didn't need to be told that Andy was sleeping off his hangover because it was obvious; it was what he always did.

A few hours past, and Sam and Layla had made plans to meet up for lunch. Sam thought it would be a good idea for me to join them, so that Charlotte and I could get a chance to talk again. As nervous as that made me, I was prepared to talk to her.

Sam and I entered the specified restaurant, sitting at a booth that was located in the back corner. It was a place that I had been to once before, and I loved it immensely when I was there before. It was a good place to have a serious chat to Charlotte, in my opinion.

Layla approached our table. She grinned as soon as she saw Sam sitting across from me, and gave him a quick one-armed hug. They said their hellos, but I was too distracted because Charlotte was not with her.

"Where's Charlotte?" I asked. She grinned, knowing that I had taken a certain liking to her.

"She's still at the café. We met up with Lucas there; I think she's still talking to him." Layla giggled, sitting in the booth beside Sam. Lucas...?

Like it was on cue, Charlotte came through the door to the restaurant, coming to our table. She looked extremely pretty in her skin-tight black leggings and Descendents t-shirt. Her face was slightly pink, and she was beaming wildly.

"Hey Char! What happened between you and Lucas after I left?" Layla asked. Charlotte sighed with happiness, sitting beside me in the booth. I slid over so I wasn’t sitting directly next to her, but a little ways away.

"We just talked about old times. He actually apologized to me…” her voice trailed off. My heart sunk, deeper than I thought it could. I was hoping so much that she wasn’t going to say she actually forgave him… or that they decided to go on a date or something.

"And what happened after that?" Layla asked excitedly. She was grinning almost as much as Charlotte was.

"I’m going to dinner with him tonight, and I guess we’ll see where it goes from there…” she spoke so calmly. Layla let out a small squeal, leaning giving her best friend a congratulatory hug. Sam looked over at me, giving me a sympathetic look.

I was happy for Charlotte, but I was really disappointed that it wasn't me that she asked out.

"I better get going. Sam, I'll meet you back at the hotel..." I mumbled, walking out of the room. Charlotte said something to me, but I didn't hear her.

What was so good about Lucas anyway? How could she forget all those years he was mean to her! I don't see him with a gold album, or thousands of fans. He wasn't right for her.

I was.