THE GUARDIAN 彡 the society

TWENTY FOUR

"SHE'S SPECIAL," Luke muttered, holding up the ring, "I want her to feel special."

Grizz smiled at the boy who seemed utterly in love with his girlfriend. Luke and Helena were one of the cutest couples to exist, said so by the cupids Kyla and Valerie themselves, and people wished that nothing will ever come between them.

"She sees in me who I can be, not just the dude I think I am." Luke looked up at Grizz. "When someone sees you like that, you want them looking at you forever."

Grizz glanced over at Clark who was staring at Luke with furrowed eyebrows. A lot seemed to be running through his mind as Clark's eyes seemed to become cloudy. When Clark caught Grizz's gaze, he simply cleared his throat and turned away to look at the other rings. Grizz waved him off and looked back at Luke, his words making Grizz think about something, or someone.

Clark stared down at the glass container of multiple rings with an occupied mind. After he heard Luke say that, a thought crossed his mind. Clark glanced back at the two boys who were too busy putting things away and he quickly grabbed a ring.

"You ready to go, Clark?" Luke asked, making Clark slightly jump. He turned around and nodded, "Yeah, course, let's go man."

➖

Charlotte took a bite into her sandwich, a satisfied sigh leaving her at the taste. It was a simple sandwich but she was starving since she didn't have breakfast. She was too busy helping Helena pick a wedding dress. In the end, after going—breaking in—to the dress store, Helena still went back to her mother's wedding dress.

Charlotte was thrilled to hear about Luke proposing to her cousin. Charlotte really liked Luke and how he treated Helena so she was glad that it was him that proposed to her.

Charlotte knew it was pretty early for them to get married but considering the place they were in and the change of life, Charlotte thought it was best that they did what they had to do.

"I'm done changing, Char!" Helena called from upstairs, making Charlotte grab her sandwich off the plate and run upstairs fast.

"Coming!"

Charlotte ran to the room where Helena was and her heart stopped. Her eyes softened at the sight of her cousin in the wedding dress. Charlotte let her hand drop to her side — still clutching the sandwich — and walked forward to Helena.

"You look exactly like your mom.." Charlotte muttered quietly, feeling her eyes get glossy.

Helena let out an uneasy smile, "Please don't cry or I'll start crying too.."

Charlotte laughed and wiped her eyes before tears could fall, "Sorry, it's just that, I'm so happy for you, Helena.. You deserve this so much."

Helena smiled and reached for Charlotte's free hand. She let Charlotte to the bed and the two sat down next to each other. She placed a hand over Charlotte's hand and looked straight at Charlotte.

"You deserve to be happy too, Char,"

Charlotte took a bite out of her sandwich, "But I am happy,"

Helena gave her a look, "No matter how hard you try to hide it, I know you. You laugh and you smile but I know you're not truly happy."

Charlotte shrugged, "Maybe I'm not happy, but it's hard to find happiness when I have a huge responsibility on my shoulders — like I have to take care of everyone in the town."

"That's what Allie is here for,"

Charlotte snorted and shook her head, "The girl can only handle so much, I mean, look at her, she gets teary-eyed all the time."