now or never - charlie gillespie

chapter fifty five

I couldn't believe that just happened.

At first I was trembling with fear.

The second Charlie came out and sat next to me I instantly felt my shoulders relaxing. I don't know what it was but just knowing that he was next to me made me feel like nothing could go wrong.

When he turned to look at me, I completely forgot that we were singing in front of a live audience. It was just the two of us, eyes locked, staring at each other, singing, and having a blast.

From the kiss to this, he had my mind spinning, doing laps.

What did all of this mean?

As we walked off of the stage I was eager to talk to him about it.

"Yeah.. er... you did good out there, Lake. I'm proud of you," Charlie said from behind me.

Owen was currently squeezing the life out of me so it was hard to see Charlie. I felt him squeeze his way out of our tight circle and walk away.

I scrunched up my nose in confusion.

"What the-" Carolynn started saying but Jeremy instantly stopped her by shaking his head.

I let go of Owen and ran after him.

"Charlie!" I called after him but he didn't stop. "Wait up!" I said, trying to catch my breath.

He finally stopped in his tracks and slowly turned around, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Yeah?" He asked, looking down at the ground awkwardly.

Why was he acting weird?

"Um I just wanted to say thank you," I mumbled, suddenly feeling stupid for running after him.

"It was nothing," he shrugged his shoulders and turned to start walking away.

"Charlie... Wait!" I called after him again, closing my eyes immediately regretting it. Did I sound desperate?

"I really have to get changed for the next song..." he mumbled and I nodded my head.

"I just wanted to ask... why did you kiss me back there?"

I kept my eyes on his face, studying him. I was trying to find any bit of emotion that might give me a hint, but he was giving nothing away.

"It was the only thing I could think of," he said looking down at the ground, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"But... didn't you.." I stuttered, taken off guard by his answer.

Maybe I was wrong. Maybe he hadn't felt what I had...

"Look, I just wanted to calm you down. I'm sorry I did it... but it worked didn't it? Let's just not make a big deal out of it, alright?" He asked me, raising his eyebrows waiting for my answer. I slowly nodded my head and bit the inside of my cheek, trying to stop the tears from falling. "I'll see you later then," he said turning on his heels and walking off.

I stood frozen in my place, watching him walk away from me. It seemed to be his favorite thing to do these days. I seemed to be pretty good at just letting him go.