The Perfect Match #1

A New Start

"What did your brother do to you?" I asked as I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Kaylee I am afraid if I tell you... you will leave..." Charlie blurted out looking away from me. I frowned and cocked my head to the side.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I don't want to talk about it." He said as his stare hardened on me. Something I hadn't done since I was little came to mind. I was going to talk about my parents. To get him to talk about his brother.

"If I tell you what happened with my parents and why they left will you tell me about your brother?" I asked hoping he would agree. He stared at me some more and then finally said yes. We went to the park and sat on the bench. Today was an awfully hot day outside. When I finally got settled down I spoke.

"My parents were loving caring parents. My mother stayed at home 24/7, and my father worked a 9 to 5 job." I said quietly as flash backs played in my mind. Charlie kept quiet so I continued.

"One day.... I was about 18 years old. My parents didn't come home at their regular time. So I didn't panic until about 3 hours later. I called and called and called... no answer. So my sister is not good with pressure. So I had to take all the pressure for her. I had to send her to her room and I called the police. After days of searching they didn't find anything. And Lexy's teachers started to worry about her grades and wanted meetings." I paused to clear my throat to stop me from crying.

"Continue." He rushed me in a calm tone. This Charlie had made me want to spill my guts out and spill my darkest secrets.

"I told her to say they couldn't make it because they were on a business trip. And I told her not to tell anyone. After about a month the police came knocking on the house door.... they told me they found my parents in some torture chamber. I never knew who would do something so cruel..." I trailed off with my voice and soon. A tear fell down my cheek. I quickly wiped it from my cheek and looked up at Charlie to see him staring at me. He looked worried.

"As soon as I found out the news I had no choice but to drop out of college.-"

"You were in college at 18?" He said frowning at me. I chuckled at his question.

"Yeah I skipped a grade...but I dropped out and worked day and night. I got enough money to adopt my sister.-"

"You adopted your sister...AT 18?!" Charlie said tilting his head. I laughed and nodded.

"The court said I was an adult in the eye of the court. And since I can become a guardian I could adopt her. I had to take some assigned classes on becoming an guardian but I got through. I was there when my sister smoked, came home drunk, got her boyfriend, when she needed to shop everything. I had to pay the bills, food, clothes, and other things. All in 2 jobs... my sister finally graduated and we got a call..." I trailed off thinking back to that day. "They said they found the people who did it.... it was two people my mother and father worked against. Apparently my parents were spies and knew stuff about the other countries so someone came and killed them." I ended my story with multiple tears. Charlie just awkwardly patted me on the back and told me that everything was going to be okay.

"Now your turn." I turned to Charlie and wiped away a tear from my cheek. He looked shocked as if my story made me not want to hear his. Well I did and I was going to. He finally sighed and finally spoke.

"My brother and I were close as children... our parents died when we were young in an car crash so we had to live with our aunt. When I was about.... 21 I proposed to who I thought was the love of my life. She said yes and we were going to live happily ever after. My brother was in a gang... and his gang leader wanted my fiance to be with him. So he got my brother to either get her to the leader or to kill her. My brother didn't want to do it at all. The leader forced him to and my brother..... shot her. Thank god almighty she didn't die but she left me because of the drama...." Charlie was looking in the distance at the trees. I felt so bad for him, I wished that he never had to go through this. It had to be so painful losing something that you love because of someone else you love. We sat in a silence. But this silence wasn't awkward, it was peaceful. I sat and thought about something I really needed to do.

"Okay I have an idea." I blurted out. Charlie turned to me and raised his eyes brows

"That doesn't happen often so this has to be big." I faked a laugh while he was laughing so hard.

"I need to go somewhere and while I am there I need you to go talk to your brother. He obviously had a reason to do it if he refused the first time." I said looking up at Charlie. He finally sighed and gave in.

"Fine, but where are you going girlfriend?"He said as a smirk crossed his lips. I gave him a blank stare.

"You need to ask properly... and don't you dare ask me now you must wait my child." Charlie was about to say something back but I put my hand to tell him to silence him. "Promise me you will go." I said giving him a deadly look. He rolled his eyes and nodded. "Now let's head to Mama Joes." I said as I skipped away from him.

~

I finally got Charlie to go talk to his brother and get his side of the story. And I needed to go talk to some people. As I got out of the car the sun was setting. I walked and walked and walked until I found the people I was looking for. When I did I got out my favorite blanket and sat down next to my parents grave. All I wanted was to talk and for them to listen.

"Mom, dad... I miss you so much you don't understand. It.... its been hard without you two. I am so sorry I haven't visited your graves since the funeral... and I am so sorry I failed you. I was supposed to be so much more for Alexis. But.... I have been the worst. And I am sorry for giving up the family house I know how much it meant to you two. But money got short after a while..." I just trailed off and stopped talking. I listened to the trees for a while. They just shifted against the night breeze. I hadn't noticed that Charlie was standing right behind me and how long I had been sitting there.

"Kaylee?" Charlies voice scared the crap out of me. I turned to him and he jumped. I didn't know why.

"What?" I said looking around.

"Were you crying?" Charlie said as he sat down beside me. I chuckled and nodded. "Well I can tell you didn't do it in a long time. So it's good to let all that negative energy out. And sometimes it's okay to cry. You know something? I cried when Sophie left me. I cried and cried and cried for days and took all my frustration on others who did nothing to me." I looked at Charlie to see him staring at my fathers headstone with the name 'Micheal Dallas'. He finally broke the silence still staring at my fathers headstone. "I wish I could ask him for his permission." He said still staring at the headstone.

Then finally looked down at me, and smiled. "So I will ask now...." He cleared his throat and looked back at the headstone. "Hello Mr. Micheal Dallas my name is Charlie Lyons. I would like to be your daughters boyfriend... my intentions with her are to care for her and to love her and to be there for her." I looked up at him with amusement in my eyes. My heart jumped from his words and he seemed as if he meant them. When he was done with his award winning speech he looked at with a heart melting smile and helped me up and turned to me.

"So will you Kaylee Dallas be my girlfriend?" He asked with a charming smile on his face. I hugged and kissed him on the lips. This kiss was beautiful and full of caring love for each other. Charlie pulled away and just stared at me. "Well is that a yes or a no my love?" He said smirking. I nodded my head and we left to go to his place. The night ended smoothly and I could imagine my father telling me how much he respected Charlie asking for his permission.