As Cold As Ice // Charlie Gillespie

Chapter 24

I don't think I've ever felt something like this. It's like my whole body is on fire but as calm as never before at the same time. My heart is racing and I could swear it's beating so loudly, Charlie must be able to hear it. When we pull apart we just look at each other for a moment, both smiling. Then Charlie softly brushes a strand of hair out of my face, resting his hand in my hair. Slowly he leans closer to me again, brushing his lips against mine. It's like electricity is running through me, my lips tingling with the memory of Charlie's touch.

Neither one of us says anything, we're both just smiling at each other. After a little while I snuggle my head back against his shoulder and he pulls me closer, wrapping both his arms around me. My eyes are closed, our kiss reminiscing in my head. "We should get to the party" Charlie whispers. I know we should but I really don't want to. "Let's stay here for a little longer." It's such a beautiful moment. It's completely dark by now. The night sky is so clear, only filled with stars and the moon in the distance. Charlie doesn't contradict. He keeps his arms wrapped around me, softly placing his head on mine.

After a little while longer I can feel my body starting to shiver. Reluctantly I lift my head off Charlie's shoulder and look up at him. "I guess now we really have to go." He smiles at me lightly before he places another soft kiss on my lips. Immediately I'm not cold anymore again but I still know we have to go so we both get up. Our hands find each other almost automatically. Instead of taking the shortest way back to the car we take the long one. When we reach the car I'm freezing but I don't mind at all. I wish we could stay here for longer, just him and I.

Right now I'm more than glad we're in my dad's car because it's the only car we have with seat heating. It doesn't take long until I'm not cold anymore, even though I think that's only party because of the heat and partly because I can't get the feeling of Charlie's lips touching mine for the first time out of my head. The drive goes by way too quickly. When we pull up in front of the club I wish we could just drive an extra round but it's already 10:30pm. The party started 1.5 hours ago and I'm sure people are wondering where we are. You can be invisible all the time but if you're not at that party people will notice. It's insane if you think about it.

When Charlie opens my door he holds out his hand for me to take which I gladly do, the brightest smile plastered onto my face. He pulls me up so quickly I fall against him which causes him to smirk. I'm sure he planed that because in the blink of an eye he kisses me so quickly I might as well have just imagined it. Before I take a step back I whisper "This really is the perfect date." Intertwining our fingers he smiles at me and then pulls me along towards the club doors. I shot Sarah a text shortly before we arrived and I can see her walking through the door as we are approaching it.

"Mia!" she shouts over the music. Of course she immediately notices that Charlie and I are holding hands. She shoots me a you have to tell me everything later look but leaves it uncommented for now. "Hey Charlie." If you don't know her you wouldn't notice the sound change in her voice but I do. She's super curious and happy at the same time. "Hey Sarah." I can feel Charlie look at me in the corner of my eyes so I turn to look at him too. His eyes silently ask me whether or not we should go inside so I just nod. Turning back to Sarah she looks at us impatiently so we start moving inside the club. It is packed with people and I feel like there are already different camps, some people dancing in the main room, others playing billiards and the last group chilling at the bar.

"Omg I love this song! Let's dance!" Sarah is trying to pull me along. I turn around to Charlie who I can tell is suppressing a laugh. He takes a step closer to me and says "I'll grab something to drink for us." The music is so loud that I just nod. For a second longer I don't want to let go of his hand but Sarah is getting impatient and pulling my arm stronger so I let go and turn around to follow her to the dance floor. She immediately starts jumping around happily. When the song is over she takes a step closer and says "I can't wait to hear everything." And I can't wait to tell her - well not every detail but most of it.

I can see her look at a point somewhere behind me with a smile so I turn around to see Charlie approaching us, trying his best to balance the three drinks through the crowd of dancing people. When he's almost next to us I can see someone bump into him but he balances it out so well nothing happens. When he's in front of us he holds out one drink to Sarah and then to me. "It's Strawberry Daiquiri. Hope that's ok?" I turn to Sarah and we both look at each other in full on surprise. "How'd you know that's our go to?" The brightest, most contagious smile appears on Charlie's face. "I guess I know you very well by now" he says as he takes a step closer towards me, placing a gentle kiss on my cheek.