Best Friend

Chapter 11

Harrison POV

My blood was pumping three times faster than usual as I left the gym, the scene of Charlotte crying over and over still playing in my mind.

I really fucked up.

I never should have spoken to her at my mom's party, I should have just stayed away and ignored her existence completely, after all, she did it so easily to me ten years ago.

Ten fucking years since I laid my eyes on her, and she can't even give me a proper explanation as to why she ignored me in the first place, that bullshit about me moving on and her wanting to move on was rubbish, I won't buy it.

I moved for the sake of my career, that much was true, but I had always planned on coming back for her, I worked myself to almost death to just get parts in movies and tv shows, all for the sake of a dream I've had since high school.

Charlotte fucking Miller... the only woman I've had any sort of feelings for, for as long as I could remember I was in love with her, and it was obvious, everyone around us knew that I liked her, only she didn't see it.

10 years... 10 goddamn years and for what? I slept with her and if anything, it's just made the situation even worse.

My first time and it goes like this... it's almost laughable, I had this stupid thought that if I waited, she'd come around and reach out, fuck- we'd even date, and then I could introduce her to my friends, have her move to LA with me, even get married one day with kids.

It was, of course, all just madness, I knew Charlotte better than she knew herself, I knew she'd never reach out, and that she probably moved on, it drove me crazy, until I saw her one day, since then... I just knew.

Livestreaming to talk about adult toys, I couldn't believe it until my assistant, Rebecca told me all about her and how 'informative her streams are' yet all I could think of is how she's never really changed.

Her voice was maturer, but still, the only thing that captivated me, and her hair, it was still long with curls in at the end, she was always beautiful, or so I thought, but now... even though she wore a mask to hide her face, I knew she would still be beautiful, if not more then I remember.

I make it back to my mom's place and shut the door behind me, walking further into the house I find my parents in the living room, having breakfast.

I drop my bag by the sofa and throw myself on it, not missing the way my parents looked at each other as they watched me, with concern on their faces.

"And good morning to you too." My dad says, making me sigh as I lay on my back.

"I was worried when you didn't come back, did Charlotte get home alright?" My mom asked as I nod my head.

"Did you manage to talk?" She paused. "She's a stubborn girl, but if you just give her time, she'll come around."

"We talked." I sat up on the sofa. "It didn't go so well, I don't think time will make it better." 

"She hates me."

My mom moves from the sofa and comes to sit next to me. "Harrison, she doesn't hate you."

I chuckle and smile at my mom. "I need to go take a shower." I get up from the sofa and pick up my bag. "Are we still on for dinner?" I ask them both as they nod sadly.

"Your mom is right, she just needs time, don't give up son." My dad says as I leave the room.

Time... space, whatever, you name it, hasn't she had enough time already? Ten years worth of it.

There was so much I wanted to tell her, the truth, the whole truth to why I really left, and why I didn't come back sooner, it was all just such a mess that I couldn't control myself the moment we were alone, it was a perfect time but I ruined it.

It's all because she phoned me... if I didn't get that call this morning, none of this would've happened, it's because of Rebecca and my agency that I'm even in this mess in the first place.

A girlfriend... what a fucking joke.

I was doing well, too well as an actor, but the subject of women always surrounded me, everywhere I went people were hounding me over friends they saw me with, or fans that I hugged or spoke to, or the rumors that I was gay because I was never caught with a lover.

I was a superstar with no personal life to report on, it got so bad that I was followed around 24/7, had my house broken into, and even had my phone stolen, just for someone to get a story, it all got so bad that I couldn't ignore it anymore.

'A girlfriend would fix everything, all you have to do is play along'

Those fucking words, I should've told them to go fuck themselves, but I couldn't deny how right they were, if I had a girlfriend and kept it on the down low, they'd eventually get bored, which they did, after a year or so.

I started fake dating a model, who gets paid to be publically seen with me, since then it's helped her career, and mine, and since then we've become the 'it' couple of Hollywood.

A part of me always worried people would find out the truth, that my career would be over the moment people found out, now I'm just worried I'll never speak or see Charlotte again.

The things she must think of me now, I slept with her while I kept it hidden from her, but since she hit me with those words, the words that almost broke my fucking heart again, I couldn't say it, I couldn't tell her the truth.

I wanted her to feel what I was feeling, and what I was feeling was so familiar, that pain brought it all back to our past, making it hurt just as badly as it did back then.

Everything I said, everything I told her was true, I really did love her, I always have, but the moment she said she didn't love me, and that I was just 'one of many', I couldn't take it, knowing that I meant so little to her.

I left her place and went straight to the gym, and while I was there I thought of a plan... something that was keeping me sane, from not going back there and pitifully begging on my knees for her to listen to me.

I was sick of waiting, but even worse- I had reached my limit.

I'm going to make Charlotte Miller fall in love with me, by any means necessary, and then I was going to do what she did to me all those years ago, and then again a few hours ago.

It's time she finally learned what it felt like, to have your heart ripped out of your chest and stood on.

Minutes, hours, days, weeks, months... I was going to make her fall head over heels for me, and then I was going to break her heart, the same way she broke mine.

I'm not the Harrison she remembers from when we were children...

...I'm not someone you can easily throw away.