Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Chapter 11

After the second kiss, Jeremy was feeling really bad. Although he was enjoying the time he was spending with Charlotte, he felt bad because he didn’t feel bad about his action towards her. He thought he should be feeling guilty, to say the least, but he was perfectly fine with what he was doing.

Charlotte, on the other hand, was having a really hard time dealing with her feelings. She tried to put Robin out of sight and out of mind, but it wasn’t a total success.

They decided they needed a change of scenery, somewhere where there were lots of people moving about and intimacy would be hard to achieve. So they walked across the street to the Hilton and decided to sit in the lobby. It was still early in the evening, so they figured it would be okay.

They sat on the sofa across from the front window of the hotel. Charlotte tried not to think about how much she enjoyed his kisses and Jeremy tried not to think about how right she felt in his arms.

They talked about what they did for a living and about how, when they were younger and in school, they both wanted to be owners of their own businesses, and the fact that it came true. Jeremy talked about the struggles of trying to get his company off the ground and how his mom was his biggest supporter and Charlotte told him about how nervous she was when she planned her very wedding on her own.

They talked about getting together with all their old friends, but then decided against it. Charlotte didn’t want to meet Jeremy’s wife, and she told him that. She didn’t want to have a face to put with a name. “Out of sight, out of mind,” she’d told him. He didn’t completely believe her, though. He just wasn’t all that comfortable with Robin meeting Charlotte. Hell, he already knew he was in hot water with his mom. Now that she’d made contact with Charlotte, she was bound to throw it in Robin’s face any chance she got.

But that would just have to be something he dealt with when it happened. Now that Charlotte was back in his life he couldn’t very well let her slip away again. Robin would just have to understand and he figured he would have to find a way to present Charlotte as a friend, a sister even. He just wasn’t sure how he’d be able to pull that off.

“What’s going on over there in that head of yours,” Charlotte asked Jeremy. “You’ve been quiet and in and out for the past few minutes. I’m starting to think I’m just talking to myself.”

He laughed. One thing he could never do to Charlotte was ignore her.

“I’m just thinking about how crazy this all is. I mean, I have my best friend back, but at the same time…” he trails off.

Charlotte looks at him eagerly, waiting for him to finish his sentence. She wanted so badly to get inside his head. She knew that when he was deep in thought, he was quiet and that when he finally did speak up, he meant every word he said.

“I’m so married,” he said as he dropped his head against the back of the sofa. “Going any further with you would be so wrong, so very wrong, but yet, that’s all I can think about. Not the consequences, but how right is sounds, and is.”

He leans back again. Expressing himself in this manner was not what he wanted to do. He wanted to start over, to go back to yesterday when none of this had come up. It was just easier that way. He wouldn’t be confused and he definitely wouldn’t be contemplating getting a room. But he was, on both accounts. He couldn’t help it. He just wanted to kiss her all night, they didn’t even have to do anything else.

And to be quite honest, Charlotte was thinking the same thing. She just wanted time with him, just to be near him. She felt like, after all they’d confessed to each other, they deserved it. So what if he had a wife. He was going to go home to her. For pete’s sake, he married her. She just wanted, no NEEDED, a little time alone with him. Just for once and then she would be satisfied. No. She knew that was a lie. But she knew that if she got that time she could remember it and him forever.

Charlotte shook out of her daydream when Jeremy got up from the sofa.

“I’ll be right back,” he told her.

She took that moment to send a quick text message to her sister.

Hey sis! Guess who I’m out with? Jeremy Johnson! Yes, that Jeremy. I’m turning my phone off for a while and will talk to you when I make it home. Love you!

She’d just turned the phone off when she was startled by a presence standing over her. She looked up just as Jeremy reached his hand out to her. She looked at it and then back up at him. She knew what he was asking without even having to say the words.

“Charlotte, I want us to be the most truthful we’ve ever been in our entire lives right now. I would really regret not asking you this if we left from here right now. You know that the decision is completely yours to make, whatever you decide to do. But please know that all I’m asking for is extra time. You can just sit and stare at the wall for all I care. I’m just not ready to let you go yet.”

He stood there with his hand outstretched to her for what seemed like an eternity. Neither of them ever let the other one’s gave fall from sight.

Charlotte sat with her hands folded in her lap for only a second before she reached out to take his hand. Once he felt that contact, he gripped her hand as though he was holding on for dear life. She smiled at him as he placed his other hand on the small of her back and guided her over to the elevators.

5 comments:

Sandy said...

Oh my! This is getting good!!

mum said...

I could just cry. This is SO good! mum

AshleyK said...

I can't wait for the next post!!!

Dido said...

UGH!! Not to be a pest, but are you posting just once a week? or maybe twice a week....??!

Just loving the story! :)

Lady said...

Last week was crazy for me (plus I was off Monday). I only post at work, though. But I am not going to set a posting schedule just for this reason. I am going to try and get out a post at the very least, three times a week.

I really appreciate that you guys want the story that bad! That really makes me feel good. ;)

Please just bear with me. Thanks for reading!