now or never - charlie gillespie

chapter two

"Hey Lake! Cool name! Thank you so much for your kind words it means the world to me. We're currently on a press tour so who knows maybe I will get to teach you a thing or two after all! Keep an eye out for me!"

I stared back at my phone screen in total shock. I couldn't breathe for what felt like a really long time. I don't know what's worse, the fact that I actually sent that mortifying message to him or the fact that he actually saw it.

"What's up buttercup?" Ava said sticking a lollipop into her mouth and jumping onto the staffs lounges counter top.

I just handed her my phone and her eyes went wide as well. "Oh my god! No way!" She screeched in my ear only making the embarrassment worse. "We have to write back," she said immediately pressing keys on the screen.

"Woah there," I said snatching the phone out of her hands. "I've already exceeded the 'sending an embarrassing message' quota for a lifetime. I'm good, thanks," I said putting my foot down and walking out out of the lounge. I groaned when Ava came walking behind me. I knew she wasn't going to let this go.

Okay so maybe we underestimated just how likely it was for Charlie to actually see my message.

"Do you understand how huge this is?" She said running in front of me, forcing me to stop in my tracks. She threw her hands up in the air as if exasperated and I rolled my eyes at her for what seemed like the thousandth time today. Always the drama queen that Ava. I pushed her to the side with my arm and continued walking towards the locker rooms. I wondered which excuse she would try to convince me with this time. As I opened up my rusty locker and started getting dressed, she just leaned against the lockers, lollipop in mouth, rambling on about how I might never get this chance again.

"5 minutes until our staff meeting ladies," Mrs. Roberts, our staff manager yelled from behind us. I quickly wrapped my apron around my waist, made sure my white sneakers were laced and hurried over to the circle all the other employees were standing in, Mrs. Roberts in the middle. She was holding her clipboard, her glasses were an inch away from falling off her nose and she was reading over her notes.

"Must be really important if we have a meeting right before shift," I whispered to Ava as we scooched closer to the front of the circle.

"Come on Lake! How can you be thinking about work right now?" She asked. I looked over at her and to my surprise she was completely series. It made me laugh. I loved how she only worked here for moral support. It was sweet. So I let a little smile slip, unfortunately she took this as her chance to campaign her plan. "What if this leads to something big? WHAT IF," she whispered more aggressively but when I glared at her she shrugged her shoulders and lowered her voice.

"I want to remind you all that half of the staff is out with the flu, so you'll all have to take on their shifts. Stop by my office at the end of the day to pick up your new schedules..." Mrs. Roberts began to give us our duties for the day but my concentration was cut short when Ava began to speak again. I inhaled sharply.

"What if," she whispered from the corner of her mouth completely ignoring my gestures for her to shut up. This girl was too much for me early in the morning. "It's meant to be."

This made me stop listening to Mrs. Roberts all together. "Hold up a minute," I said grabbing Ava by the arm and pulling her to the back of the circle so we wouldn't get in trouble. "Is Ava actually talking to me about destiny and fate?"

She rolled her eyes at me. "Yes yes, who knew? But you have to agree with me. This reeks of higher power," she said point her hands at the ceiling.  "And if we're honestly speaking, what are the odds he answers you back a second time?"