Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 147128 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 736(@200wpm)___ 589(@250wpm)___ 490(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147128 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 736(@200wpm)___ 589(@250wpm)___ 490(@300wpm)
‘I like the new guy,’ she offered, as she opened the drawer.
‘Great,’ I mumbled, a little mystified at why we were still talking about him. ‘Did you find them?’
‘There are no scissors here. Let me try the other one. Oh, I might actually want to be on his team. After you see him, I think you’ll feel the same way. No scissors here, Charlie.’
‘What are you even talking about?’ Frowning, I tried to rise on my tiptoes to look around her to see who they were going on about and got my first look at my new colleague’s profile.
Eyes downcast, he smiled at something my dad said, which I could not for the life of me hear, shook his offered hand and then turned to face us.
Tall guy, brown messy hair, broad shoulders, and last but not least, if I wasn’t mistaken, brown eyes.
It took me a few seconds – or maybe more than a few, I wasn’t exactly sure – to recognize him, and the moment I did, a low hum started in my ears, drowning everything and everyone out. I dropped back down to my soles. I must’ve let out some sort of a sound, because more than a few faces turned my way. I slapped my hand on my mouth to silence any further objections and hit Gayle’s head with the balloons.
Suddenly my heart was having some issues. She turned to peer at me, and after blinking at her for a few seconds, I snapped out of it.
‘You have to find me scissors,’ I whisper-shouted.
‘Let me check and see…’
I clutched at Gayle’s arm. ‘For the love of God, get me some scissors!’
‘I will, I will. Jesus, calm down, your dad won’t see you. What’s wrong with you today?’
‘Nothing is wrong with me,’ I whispered harshly. ‘I just need the damn scissors to get rid of the balloons.’
She turned to check another desk so I closed my eyes, took a slow and steady breath to centre myself, and then took another peek at William Carter.
Gayle came back with no scissors.
‘It’s him,’ I mouthed to her before she could tell me.
‘What?’
‘Him. Him. The one standing next to my dad. It’s The Guy. I need my scissors,’ I whispered more urgently. When she still looked confused, I kept going with the same description.
‘The guy. Remember? My Guy. Diner Guy. The Guy that I can’t shut up about that makes you think I’m so naive? William Carter is my guy. Was my guy. And I think I hit him with these goddamn balloons twice already this morning. I think. Same suit. Same shoulders. I can’t see his ass, but I think it’s his ass. Please find me scissors because I don’t think I can move.’
‘Okay. Did you lose it? Is it the rain? Are you cold or someth—Wait a minute… The diner catch?’ Frowning at me, Gayle shook her head. ‘Don’t be ridiculous, Charlie. That was years ago.’
‘Why would I…?’
‘Charlie?’
My dad’s voice boomed in my ears, and my eyes widened in panic. I might have actually whimpered. Before I could consider what I was doing, I turned away, closed my eyes tightly and faced the windows behind us. I felt Gayle try to pull down the balloons to help me out, but when my dad called my name a second time, I ducked. The third time he called my name I was on the floor on my hands and knees… one second I was there, the next I was completely out of sight.
Like very bad magic. That was me. Bad magic.
2 Charlie
There was a long moment of stunned silence in the office, during which I wasn’t quite sure what would be the next best step for me: get up and act like nothing was wrong, or keep going with the hiding game. There was a very good chance, as in 99% chance, that the diner guy, William, wouldn’t recognize me, but… Then my dad called my name again and things became clear pretty fast. Since I was already closer to the floor, I dropped to my hands and knees and started shuffling around people and desks. If some legs had trouble understanding the emergency of the moment and didn’t move, I pushed them out of my way. You could say once I started something I committed to it.
‘Charlie!’ Gayle hissed.
‘Where is she?’ I heard my dad ask, and I started crawling faster around more desks and legs. I heard some snickers and whispers I chose to ignore, but didn’t stop moving.
For obvious reasons, when you have ten very colourful balloons attached to your wrist flying around, trying to hide isn’t really the best option or the smartest idea.
Was I being childish?
Very.
Was I proud of that?
Not at all.
Did I want William to see me in the state I was in after I had such a big crush that even after years had passed, every now and then I still thought about him?