Promises (Jack Gilinsky)

Chapter 47

Jack's POV:

I lock my eyes on the doorway to the kitchen as I watch Charlotte's brother walk in.

He was pretty tall, a few inches taller than me. He had really dark brown hair that was close enough to black and blueish-hazel eyes. He and Charlotte didn't look alike at all.

Charlotte spoke up immediately when he entered. "Jack, this is my brother, Caleb." She says.

I get up and extend my hand out to Caleb. He shakes my hand and says, "Good to meet you, Jack."

"You too." I say. This isn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be.

Caleb sits down in the stool next to Charlotte at the counter. He seems like a pretty laid back guy. I don't know why I was so nervous.

Caleb and his dad start to talk about sports with me as Mrs. Williamson finishes setting the table. "Dinner's ready," she says, signaling for us to take a seat at the table.

------------------------------------------

When dinner is over, Charlotte's mom asks her to help clean up. So, Mr. Williamson, Caleb and I go into the living room while they do.

I sit on a chair across from the couch where they are sitting. I decide to start a conversation.

"So, Charlotte said that you go to Virginia Tech." I say to Caleb.

"Yep. I just finished my sophomore year." He says, obviously impressed that I was interested in his life. I wasn't just acting either. I thought I should get to know him since he's back for the summer. This is the kind of thing that the old Jack would never do. Wow, what has Charlotte done to me?

"So, do you play any sports?" I ask.

"Yeah, I'm on the basketball team. What about you?"

"I play basketball, too. Actually, we just won the state championship last month." I say, relieved that I actually am having a conversation with him.

"So, are you any good?" Caleb asks.

"Well, I would hope so." I say, laughing a little.

"Cool, maybe we could play sometime?"

"Yeah, sure."

Just then, I hear Charlotte's mother call from the kitchen. "Daniel, could you come here please!" She calls to Mr. Williamson.

"Coming!" He says, getting up from the couch and leaving Caleb and I alone.

I'm about to restart the conversation we were just having when Caleb starts a whole different one. "So how long have you and Charlotte been dating?" He asks.

I'm taken back by his question. It's not exactly what I was expecting him to say when we were talking about something completely different.

"Umm, about a month." I say.

"How serious are you guys?" He says. I was expecting this interrogation to come, but after I met Caleb, I was kind if hoping it wouldn't. Too late now.

"Depends on what you consider serious." I say, hoping that this doesn't make him angry or anything. I really am trying to choose the best things to say, but I'm not doing a very good job.

"Well, do you love her?"

"Of course. She's the most important thing in the world to me."

"Okay." He says. "What exactly happened between you two that pretty much broke her heart? And why are you still with her if it did?"

This is the question that I don't want to answer. It only happened a week ago, but it seems like it's been so much longer. Even thinking about it makes me upset. I just want to wrap my arms around Charlotte to ensure her that everything is okay when I have to talk about it.

"It was really just a big misunderstanding." I'm hoping that I can get away with just this, but my luck isn't that good.

"What kind of misunderstanding?"

"Well, Charlotte thought I was cheating on her. She pretty much just like disappeared. I didn't even know why until the next day when my own friends tried to beat me up for it because they thought I was cheating on her, too." I'm trying my best to be vague about it.

"Why did Charlotte think you cheated on her?"

"Well, there's this girl that I can't stand who kept flirting with me. She would constantly text me and ignore it every time I told her to stop. Charlotte saw some of the texts she sent me and thought that I was seeing another girl behind her back. But, everything's good now. That's just part of the past." I say, hoping we can drop the subject.

Caleb just nods at me. "Just wondering, how many girlfriends have you had in the past?" He asks.

I sigh. "Way too many." Even though it's a horrible answer, it's the truth.

"Then what makes you think you deserve to be with Charlotte?" He asks, leaning forward and putting his elbows on his knees. He's obviously no longer impressed with me.

"Ya see, that's the thing. I don't deserve to be with her. I told her that when we first started dating. She didn't listen though. She thought that I deserved better than her, which is completely wrong. There are so many guys that deserve to be with Charlotte more than I do. She is the most incredible girl I've ever met, and I'm just some guy who can't keep a relationship for more than a couple months. But, Charlotte gave me a chance. She gave me a chance to prove that I wouldn't hurt her and that I would care about her, and I fell in love. She did too. So, I don't deserve Charlotte. But, she couldn't see that. If she loves so much that she couldn't see my obvious flaws, then I think that we belong together."

It takes me a few seconds to realize that those words just came out of my mouth. I didn't even know I was talking. The words just flew out of my mouth without me thinking.

At first, I'm a little panicked by the fact that I said all of that. But, when I look at Caleb, he just smiles, crosses his arms, and leans back on the couch.

"I knew you were a good guy," he says, smirking at me. I smile a little, happy with myself for once. Finally, there is nothing holding me and Charlotte back from being happy.

This is one of the best feelings I've ever had.

---------------

Ok guys so I'm probably going to to some sort of updating spree today because I spent a while writing last night so I'll probably update like two more times today

I have a game tomorrow and since games don't take as long as practice does, I might have some time and update again tomorrow