Page 27 of If My Wishes Came True
I wait until ten on the dot, then toss my phone and keys into my purse so I can go out into the hall and knock on Charlie’s door.
He doesn’t know I’m coming, and I have no idea if he’ll be there.
He may even have a woman over, for all I know. It’s a Saturday morning, after all. What if he met someone last night and brought her home? It’s entirely possible.
But now that Vanessa’s helped me put my longing for Charlie in perspective, I’m so eager to spend more time with him that I’m apparently willing to risk total humiliation. It’s been six agonizing days since I saw him last Sunday, and I can’t wait another minute.
When I swing open my door, though, it’s like a scene from one of my favorite movies. Because guess who’s standing there?
That’s right. Charlie.
He’s a foot away from me, his arm raised, about to knock.
“Oh,” I say with a giant smile. “Charlie…hi.”
“Hey, Jenna,” he says, giving a relieved grin as he slides his hands into his pockets.
I laugh. “Would you believe it if I told you I was on my way to knock on your door?”
“Really?” His eyes crinkle at the corners, and he does nothing to hide the joy on his face.
It melts me. Charlie Sutton wears his heart on his sleeve, and I love that about him.
No—Ilustthat about him.
That’s all this is. Lust.
“I wanted to apologize for having to rush off last Sunday,” I say. “I was going to stop by your place earlier in the week, but then?—”
“You became famous?” he says with a chuckle.
“You saw the video?” I wonder if he read the frat boys’ comments too.
“I follow Lola Piper on Twitter.” He runs a thumb over his chin. “And yes, I’m secure enough in my masculinity to admit I’m a fan.”
God help me. I’m trying to see Charlie as less than perfect, but he isn’t making this easy.
“That’s why I stopped by,” he continues. “To make sure you’re okay with all the attention. I’m not sure I would be. I mean, I don’t even have a Facebook account, because it feels invasive to me.”
“So, that explains why I couldn’t find you. I was going to send you a friend request,” I admit with a coy smile.
“Well, consider it accepted.” Charlie’s cheeks get rosier. “Yeah, I prefer to keep my life offline…but I’m a pretty private person, so maybe I’m in the minority. Still, I imagine it’s not easy knowing the entire Internet is talking about you, no matter what they’re saying.”
I guess he did read the comments. The good, the cringey, and everything in between.
I nod. “Thanks. It’s been overwhelming, to say the least.” And then I take a step closer to him, wrap my arms around his neck, and hug him. He pulls his hands out of his pockets and holds me, his palms warming my skin through the thin fabric of my t-shirt. I take a deep breath and let myself relax into the space over his heart that feels like it was made just for me.
To lust over.
When we pull apart, Charlie looks down at his shoes before his gaze lands on mine. “There’s a photography exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art that’s been getting a lot of buzz. I was on my way to see it. Would you, um, like to join me?—?”
“Yes,” I say, the happiest I’ve been all week. “I would love that.”
Charlie and I walk around the museum for hours. We stroll through the photography exhibit, stopping for minutes at a time to admire the artwork, and he tells me everything he knows about light, and color balance, and composition. He learned some basics from a class he took as an elective at Dartmouth years ago, but most of it he picked up on his own, from books,or blogs, or experimenting with his camera. I hang on his every word—not only because there are parallels to painting I find really interesting, but because the passionate way he talks about art is so unbelievably sexy, I can hardly take my eyes off him.
After we’ve seen every photo on display, we tour the other exhibits, and I tell him what I know about painting. We talk about how the artwork makes us feel, and it reminds me of the day I spent at the Cleveland Museum of Art with Mrs. Swanson. A day that solidified my love of art, and quite possibly changed the course of my life.
Will today be a day like that, too?
