Rock Bottom | Charlie Gillespie

Charlie POV #4✨

The thanksgiving trip...

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to New Brunswick airport; on behalf of our entire crew, we'd like to thank you for joining us on this trip and hope you have a fantastic stay." The flight attendant's monotone voice rang through the plane. I sighed, glancing over at Aubrey to see if she'd heard the message, but her head was still rested on the window beside her; the plane's landing didn't seem to wake her at all.

"Aubrey?" I whispered, gently shaking her shoulder; everyone on the plane was rushing to get off, all anxious to see their families for the holidays; I was too, except I had to wait for the sleeping girl beside me, "we're here." I shook her shoulder lightly once more; Aubrey groaned, squinting slightly at the sun that was blaring through the windows around us. If this trip had happened a couple of weeks ago, I would have been dreading it; I couldn't stand being in the same room with Aubrey for an extended period of time then, let alone an entire trip; but now, I didn't mind it too much; ever since that rehearsal the other week, I can't quite decipher what it is I feel towards Aubrey Summers.

"Do you think they're gonna believe us?" Aubrey finally speaks to me, trying to keep up as we walked through the airport. I glanced back at her, chuckling at how adorable she looked when she just woke up; the ponytail she put in her hair was slightly messy, and she trailed behind me tiredly. I wasn't used to seeing Aubrey like this; she was usually the most confident person in the room, was meeting my family really that nerve-racking for her?

"What happened to you being a good actress?" I teased, confused feelings or not, bugging Aubrey Summers was still one of my favorite past-times.

"I am a fantastic actress," She corrects me, a proud smirk replacing the slight nervous expression she wore, "I'm more worried your family will be able to see through your lies."

"Nah," I shake my head, pausing so she can catch up with me, "my mom will be too excited to notice, and my brothers are oblivious." Aubrey laughs lightly at that, "Meghan's the only one I'm worried about," I admit, my younger sister was usually pretty good at knowing when someone was lying, "just follow my lead, and we should be good."

"Why can't you follow my lead?" Aubrey argued; I roll my eyes; this is what I mean about confusing feelings; sometimes I have moments where I think she's adorable or hearing her laugh makes my heart speed up; but then, there are moments like now, where she reminds me of all the reasons I never liked her in the first place.

"Because you're the reason we got into this mess in the first place," I remind her bitterly. I would probably be here alone if it weren't for her roommates bringing up the idea; they practically pushed me into a corner and made me say yes. "Okay," I take a breath, linking my fingers through hers; the baggage claim was right ahead, where mom told me she'd be waiting, "you ready to show my family your fantastic acting skills?" I ask, using air quotes around the word fantastic.

"You think you can keep up?" She countered sarcastically; I roll my eyes in response and open my mouth to argue back until I see a familiar smile in the crowd.

"Charlie," My mom waves me over; I quicken my pace, dragging Aubrey behind me, letting go once we've reached my mom and I've pulled her into a hug, "Oh, I've missed you."

"I missed you too, mom," I mumble, kissing her head.

"and you must be Aubrey," Mom greets Aubrey as we pull away from our hug; I smirk as Aubrey holds her hand out, and my mom ignores it, pulling her into a tight hug, "it's so nice to meet you, I've heard so much about you." Aubrey glances at me from over my shoulder, with a furrowed brow, she probably thinks I've told my mom stuff before we were forcing into this relationship, but the reality is I never even brought Aubrey up until this whole thing started, so all my family has heard is good things.