now or never - charlie gillespie

chapter fourteen

The morning he was leaving, I took off from work. He decided he would make me breakfast. I thought it was going to be a disaster ending in Sawyer being homeless, but he actually pulled through. The breakfast wasn't bad at all. He made me eggs. I watched as he assembled his breakfast. He grabbed bread and started smearing peanut butter and jelly, added some blueberries and some maple syrup. I think I even saw him grab some cheese. My stomach turned at the thought of eating that. He grabbed a bag of chips and put a handful onto his plate, eating in silence.

"Is everything alright?" I asked, yesterday still stuck in my head. I asked him several times but he wouldn't budge.

He took a big bite and looked up from me nodding his head. "Mmhmm," he just mumbled looking back down at his food.

Just then my phone started ringing. I furrowed my brows. That's weird. It was Owen.

I immediately hung up on him and called him back in FaceTime so that Charlie and I could both talk to him.
"Owen called you?" Charlie said checking his phone.

"Lakey!" Owen said when he saw me. "There you are. Have you heard from Charlie? He isn't answering his phone."

I turned the phone so they could see each other. Charlie just gave Owen a forced smile with his mouth full of food. "Always lovely taking to you Charlie," Owen said sarcastically. "So Lake, are you excited Charlie's finally gonna get out of your hair because that's totally understandable, don't feel bad," he said teasingly.

"Yea he's been driving me crazy," I said playing along.

"I'm right here guys!" Charlie said defensively. He rolled his eyes. Why was he in such a mood today? It was kind of upsetting me since it was his last few hours with me.

"I knew I always liked you, Lake," Owen said and I smiled. I liked this. Our banter with each other's friends, it really made my heart flutter. Maybe we were really something more. Maybe I should talk to him, I thought to myself. I was quick to erase that thought from my head. I don't think I have the stomach to confront Charlie with my feelings and get rejected. But if I didn't speak to him how would I know what his problem was?

"Whatever," Charlie said rolling his eyes and going over to the couch, picking up his guitar. I watched as he mindlessly strummed the guitar as Owen chatted to me about his day. I rested my head in my hands on the counter, just listening to Charlie, paying no attention to Owen. The tune sounded familiar. I only recognized it when he started humming. It was one of my favorite Maroon 5 songs 'Sunday Morning'. I got up to get something to drink from kitchen, listening to Charlie hum the words. As I grabbed two sodas from the fridge I couldn't help but sing some words to myself.

"That may be all I need. In darkness she is all I see," as I continued the rest of the chorus with a hum, I turned around and saw that Charlie had stopped strumming and turned to face me.

"Where did that come from Baker?" Charlie asked completely shocked.

"What?" I asked nervously.

"You never told us you could sing!" Owen said over the phone.

"Wait come here and sing some more for me," he said adjusting the guitar on his lap, beginning to strum again.

"What? No, I was just singing along with you. I love that song," I said trying to change the subject. There was no way in hell I was gonna sing in front of him. I cant believe I even let myself slip up like that.