Stardom

Start of Something

As soon as he was gone, I released the breath that I'd been holding in for what felt like the whole day. Securing Charlie's jacket even tighter around my body, I hurried to pick up my clothes that were laying on the floor.

"What were you thinking?" Charlie said, finally breaking the silence, his voice unnervingly quiet.

"I was thinking that I wanted him to leave me alone," I replied curtly, snatching my bra from the floor.

"Then you should have come and found me!" He shouted.

"Because you made a great job of stopping him coming back after the other night," I snapped.

"So you thought you'd put yourself at risk, just to make a point?"

"No! I made a decision to handle the problem and put an end to it on my own terms," I shouted back, "I'm the one that he was going to harass, and even if you did throw him out, how was I supposed to know he wouldn't find me outside of the club?"

Charlie's face paled, clearly, he knew I was right, that it wouldn't be far off the mark for something that his brother would do, simply to get his own way.

"I'd have protected you, Selena, just like I do the others," He argued back, a pleading edge to his tone. "It's my fucking job to look out for all of you, to make sure this shit doesn't happen!"

"You can't protect me at all hours of the day and night, and I don't want you to," I yelled back with exasperation. "I have a life to live, and I wasn't going to start looking over my shoulder just for the price of a single fucking dance!" I folded my arms across my chest, staring back at him determinedly, "I made a choice, on my own terms. And no matter how angry that makes you, you know that it was the right call in the long run."

A deafening silence stretched between us, neither of us willing to back down from our position on the matter. I wasn't sure how long I stood there, just staring at Charlie, waiting for him to accept that the choice was mine to make, it could have been seconds or even minutes that ticked by. It was only when Charlie's phone rang in his jacket pocket that the pair of us both snapped back into the present. I awkwardly tried to shield my chest as I began to slip out of the jacket. Before I could even pull it from my shoulders, his hands had landed on me, pulling it closed again and holding it in place on my body. There was barely an inch between us as I looked up into his deep blue eyes. The phone continued to ring, but Charlie ignored it, his concentration solely on me.

"Your phone," I muttered, not tearing my eyes from his as the loud ring persisted.

"Ignore it," He whispered softly, his breath brushing my cheek, "You were right, and I'm sorry."

My chest began to rise and fall more rapidly as the air grew heavy with tension, and the heat of his touch flowed through the jacket, searing my bare skin beneath. His gaze drifted south and there was a pleasant flutter in my stomach as I saw the darkening of his eyes.

"You should get dressed," He murmured.

I nodded slowly, unable to force myself to move beyond that range.

The phone began to ring again, and Charlie let out a sigh, dipping his hand into the pocket of his jacket and withdrawing his phone.

"I've got to take this," He said, his eyes on the screen. "Change here and then you can head home for the night," He added with a small smile.

"Okay," I replied, my voice coming out a little raspy as I still recovered from the intensity of a moment ago.

Alone in the room, I took a deep breath, struggling to understand just what had come over me back then. Eventually putting it down to the peculiar nature of the incident, I changed back into my uniform and proceeded downstairs to collect my things.