15 Seconds Of Fame

SIX

Kailani Hale

I'd forgotten that earlier in the day I'd offered to give Sasha a lift home to save her the trouble of paying for a taxi. I hadn't realised how far in the opposite direction of my house she stayed. To my surprise, car ride with Charlie and Sasha was initially pretty quiet; I would have guessed a lot of conversation, initiated by Sasha but she'd proven herself to be rather daunted in his presence.

Sasha sat in the front next to me, her back leaned slightly against the door so she could be occasionally glance over at Charlie more subtly than if she were to be facing the windshield, not that there was anything subtle about it. Charlie sat in the back seat, the faint white glow coming from behind me indicated that he was occupying himself with his phone. Several moments later, the glow abruptly disappeared and Charlie spoke.

"I've really missed this place," he softly verbalised. I glanced at him through the rear view mirror and noticed him gazing through the window at the passing homes that were warmly lit by the street lamps. He was probably in a nostalgic daydream, reminiscing about his good old days.

"I remember the last time I saw you, you said your car was parked three blocks away from the café. Why did you take a taxi?" My question grabbed his attention. I might've been prying but I was at a loss for topics of conversation. We were all well aware of the silence and the lack thereof was almost a presence in itself.

"It was a rental," he said, making eye contact with me through the rear view mirror, "I was only supposed to be here until yesterday and they'd already reserved the car for someone else. It seemed like too much effort to rent another," he shrugged.

"That's me," Sasha said, pointing at the cottage that we were slowly approaching on the right side of the street. I pulled over and allowed her to make sure she had all her things before getting out of the car, "Thank you, Kai, for the ride. And it was awesome to meet you Charlie," she said before walking off into the front garden of her house.

"You can come up front, if you want. I'll look like a chauffeur if you stay back there," I joked. Charlie seemed to still be lost in his thoughts, but made his way to the front seat. "Everything okay?" I asked, still parked on Sasha's street. He first smiled at me and then he nodded.

I maneuvered the car back onto the road and began the journey to my house, still nervous about Charlie and the 'surprise' or 'proposal' as he put it.

"You said you were only supposed to be here until yesterday," I Started. He turned his focus to me and nodded, "Why did you stay another day?"

"To be honest, I'm not sure. Something just told me I had to, then you responded to my message and I had the idea...that I had."

I didn't know what to say, so I just kept my eyes on the road ahead of me, but I could feel glances from Charlie every couple moments. I guessed he was waiting for me to respond to what he's just said, and I was thinking carefully about what I was going to say next.

"I don't know how I can thank you for what you did," I finally said, "You really opened a lot of doors for us. I mean, before, we had no reason to carry on making videos together. I won't lie to you, we were on the verge of giving up and pursuing easier ventures, but then I had a breakdown in a parking lot and you came to my rescue. You came to our rescue, Charlie." I'd hoped my miniature speech wasn't over-the-top.

"I didn't know that it meant that much to you. It really makes me happy that I was able to to this for you guys," he said sincerely, "That brings me to the thing I wanted to talk to you about. I figured I'd just bring it up when everyone was there but I'd rather we talk to them about it together," he explained. The way he said 'together' stirred up an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach, but he meant well and I wasn't even sure why it affected me that way so I let it go.