Rock Bottom | Charlie Gillespie

Charlie POV #3✨

Perfect Harmony Rehearsal

"Quit dropping me, Gillespie," Aubrey warned me in a whisper, brushing the dust from the ground off her leggings. I rolled my eyes; it wasn't like I was purposely dropping her, this dance was more complicated than I was expecting, and Aubrey isn't the easiest partner to work with.

"Take a break," Kenny called out, pausing the song; Aubrey sighed in relief and moved over to the other side of the rehearsal space. As if the fake dating wasn't bad enough, Kenny requested we write a song together to put in the show, which we were currently learning the choreography to now.

"The choreography is really good, by the way," Aubrey spoke to Tori; I watched the two of them closely, debating whether I should go over or not; Tori and Aubrey used to be friends, but once our fake relationship started, their friendship stopped. I can tell Aubrey has been trying all week to get Tori to talk to her, but it never worked; in response, Tori nodded, a thin-lipped smile on her lips.

"It is," I join their conversation, swinging my arm around Aubrey's shoulder. I hold back a laugh at the glimmer of annoyance in her eyes; Tori, on the other hand, smiles sweetly at me, acting as if she hadn't been completely cold to Aubrey before my entrance, "Great work Tor."

"Thanks," Tori replied bashfully; I glanced down at Aubrey to find her already looking back up at me; it was apparent I was irritating her, but I was having too much fun to stop.

"Tori, can we get your opinion on this," Paul calls her over; she nods, leaving Aubrey and I alone; looking her shoulder at me one last time as she goes, I hadn't realized how obvious her crush on me was until the other day, but now that I know its kind of hard not to notice it.

"Can you stop enjoying this so much," Aubrey whispers, shrugging my arm off her shoulder.

"I don't know what you're talking about?" I shrug, acting innocent; She can't seriously be this annoyed; if she were in my position, she'd do the same thing. Aubrey was unconvinced though, staring at me blankly with her arms crossed over her chest, "Relax, Aubrey, isn't tori being jealous a good thing? It means our relationship is believable."

"She hates me," She reminds me a matter of factly; it was obvious not many people openly disliked Aubrey Summers; she's used to most people worshipping the ground she walks on.

"Okay, and?" I ask, "I do too; she's not special." I smirk, proud of my comeback.

"Okay, and what if one of the guys suddenly started hating you because of our relationship," She reasoned with me; the smirk on my face fell; I guess I never thought about it like that. Tori wasn't just a random person to Aubrey; she used to be one of her friends; I guess I would feel the same way if Owen suddenly started hating me out of the blue.

"Bree, I-"

"Ready to get back to work?" Kenny claps his hands, cutting me off; Bree and I both turn away from one another, "Charlie, Tori is gonna help you with the lifts," Kenny informs me, pointing over to Tori, who has a small smirk on her lips, "Bree, you can take a longer break." As we walk over to the center of the room, I glance over at Bree; the look in her eyes is a mix of annoyance and hurt; without thinking, before we go our separate ways, I interlock our hands, squeezing hers comfortingly before walking away.

"Okay, so we're gonna start right before the lift," Tori instructed; it took everything in me to keep my eyes on her and not the girl sitting a mere few feet away watching us. It felt like Tori was taking an eternity to explain the moves, but after a couple of minutes, I held her in my arms securely, slowly spinning her around.

"I think he's got it now," Aubrey announced, standing up from her spot on the floor. I placed Tori down, smirking at her knowingly; if I didn't know any better, I'd say she's jealous, but that's absurd, "I mean," She awkwardly clears her throat, "wouldn't it be better if Charlie rehearsed the scene with me, considering I'm the one he'll be lifting in the scene."

"Very true," Kenny nodded in agreement, "thanks for the help, Tori." As Tori walked away, I got back on my knee's this time placing my hands-on Aubrey's waist.

"Was somebody feeling a wittle jealous?" I whisper, using a baby voice; even though I didn't believe she could be jealous of Tori and I, it was still too much fun bugging her.

"Shut up," She muttered in an annoyed tone, placing her hands on my shoulders; I resist the urge to reply with a snarky comment; instead, I lift her like I'd done moments ago with Tori, not dropping Aubrey like our previous attempts.

"Amazing!" Kenny exclaimed, clapping her hands; I grinned, placing Aubrey back on the ground, "Let's run through that one last time, then you're good to go for the day!" Aubrey smiles at that, "There's just one more thing we want to add to the end," I nod eagerly; whatever it is, it can't be as hard as the lift, "well, because this is Elena's dream sequence, we want you to lean in for a kiss."

"A kiss?" Aubrey stutters; I can tell she's trying to play it cool.

"But they're not supposed to kiss until the last episode," I remind Kenny; I knew eventually we'd have to kiss, but that wasn't for a while, and I'd like to prolong that having to happen for as long as possible.

"You're not actually gonna kiss; we wanna keep the fans waiting until the last episode," Kenny explains; I let out a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding, "You're just gonna lean in for one."

"Why are you so reluctant to do this?" Tori asks Aubrey; I'm pretty sure this is the first thing she's said to her in weeks.

"I just wanna make sure Elena and Luke's story is being told in the best way possible," She answered in a sweet voice; I nodded in agreement, sure kissing Aubrey wasn't something I wanted to do, but this is our job, we're professionals. "So," Aubrey turns her attention away from Tori, "Should we take it from the top." Kenny nods, moving over to the speaker, while Aubrey links her fingers through mine, leading us over to the center of the room again. Kenny presses play on the song, and both of us began dancing, singing along to the track as we do so; I hate to admit this, but I have yet to find one thing Aubrey Summers is terrible at, and it's really getting on my nerves, while I struggled to learn the routine, Aubrey picked it up no problem, carrying the entire performance. Usually, when the song ends, I walk off, leaving Aubrey alone; but this time, I turn Aubrey around, so she's facing me. She wraps her arms around my neck, leaning up so her forehead can rest against mine; I expected I'd be inwardly cringing or counting down the moments for this to be over, but instead, I leaned in closer, longing to be closer to her.

"That was perfect," Kenny clapped, breaking us out of our trance; Aubrey moved off of me pretty quickly, "we're done for the day; get some rest!"

"That was-" Confusing, tempting, kind of amazing; I had always thought almost kissing Aubrey would disgust me, but I felt the exact opposite.

"Interesting?" She asks, scrunching her face up in disgust; I guess that kind of works too, so I nod, moving away to grab my bag from the other side of the room; as I do, my mind races, I almost kissed Aubrey Summers, and I wanted to.

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The third Charlie POV... how are y'all liking these so far?
Any scenes y'all wanna see from his point of view?