Charlee.
I’ve wanted for so long to apologize from the bottom of my heart for all the hurt that my actions caused you. If it hadn’t been because I knew how close you were to Drew when she insisted you’d understand once she explained, I would have never agreed to go forward with it. It’s unfortunate the way things went down, but we really had no choice. I swear to you like I did to Drew back then, I didn’t know they were going to do everything they did on Facebook. I didn’t realize how cruel they’d be about it. For the longest time, not a day went by that I didn’t think about it. Before you left, Drew promised me you were over it. And even though she said I shouldn’t ever contact you, that it would only bring back the ugly memories, I just had to. I really, REALLY needed to apologize to you personally, even if it is in the form of a letter. I want you to know that I meant it when I said you were special. I meant everything I said to you back then. I truly hope you have moved on and can someday forgive me.
Danny
Charlee had gone numb the moment she read Drew’s name. There was no way, no way, this could be true. She crushed the letter in her hand. How dare he try to put this off on Drew, the one person besides Gwen and her grandmother she’d always trusted with her life? Drew was the best friend anybody could ask for, and she’d been just as devastated about this as Charlee had been. She even cried with her for days. For Danny to throw this on her—Drew insisted he go through with it? Horse shit!
As livid as she felt, she was glad now that she’d read it. Now she could accept what a worthless piece of shit Danny really was. He was still trying to feed her the crap about thinking she was special and meaning everything he’d said so sincerely back then. Did he really expect her to believe that when in the very same letter he accused Drew of being in on the whole thing—the worst thing that Charlee had ever had to live through?
Even as she walked back to her seat with the letter now crushed in her pocket, she felt a bit numb. She knew this was impossible. Drew would never do something like that to her. Charlee couldn’t even think of an instance in which they’d have no choice but to go through with it.
She racked her memory now, thinking back to how it all had happened to begin with, and her stomach dropped a bit, remembering how Drew was the one who had encouraged her to accept the invitation that she’d already turned down. As much as she liked Danny, she was so excruciatingly shy she couldn’t even imagine going to a regular party with him. But Drew was the one who insisted she go. Charlee had finally agreed but said she would only go if he asked again. There was no way she was bringing it up again, and secretly she hoped he wouldn’t—that maybe he’d already asked somebody else. Then the very next day, he brought it up again.
With her heart starting to thump, she shook her head as she reached her row of seats. It was just a coincidence. There was no way in hell Drew would do something like that to her. No way, and she was done even entertaining the very idea.
They landed at LAX just before 9:00 p.m., but since their bodies were on Eastern Time, they were all still exhausted. Natalie picked up Walter while Abel and Drew picked up Hector and Charlee. As much as she hated saying goodbye to Hector, she could hardly wait to get to her bed. She was so exhausted.
She told Drew all about her weekend and even gave her some of the specifics of how she’d finally got to live out some of the hot fantasies she’d had of Hector. Drew giggled incessantly when Charlee told her about the way she’d woken Hector up on their flight there.
“Does not surprise me in the least that he’s so damn hot in bed,” Drew said as she pulled into a gas station. “I’m not gonna lie to you, Charlee, and this was before you two got together. So like we’ve always fantasized about the same guys in the past, and I wasn’t breaking any girlfriend code or anything, but I’m just gonna admit it,” she said as she parked and pulled the hand brake up. “I had a few pretty steamy fantasies of my own that involved Hector.” She shrugged, opening her door. “You’re one lucky girl. Your man is hot.”
Charlee sat there as her friend walked around the car and swiped her credit card at the pump. Normally, this wouldn’t have bothered her in the least, but given the crumpled letter in her pocket and the roller coaster of emotions she’d felt ever since she read it, her mind was still a bit dazed. Thoughts of Drew fantasizing about Hector continued to linger annoyingly for a few more minutes until Drew’s phone ringing loudly startled her out of them.
“Is that my phone?” Drew asked from where she stood, pumping gas in her car.
“Yes,” Charlee yelled out.
“Answer it if it’s my dad. He’s actually home tonight, and I told him to text me if he wanted me to pick something up for him on the way home. But he always calls instead.”
Charlee glanced back at the screen on Drew’s phone. Sure enough, Daddy flashed across it as it rang again. She picked up and answered. “Hi, Mr. Morris, this is Charlee. Drew is pumping gas right now.”
“Hi, Charlee,” he responded cheerfully. “I trust Drew was on time? She was worried she might not be.”
“She was right there waiting when I came down the escalators.” She smiled; already any negative thoughts of Drew were fading fast.
He told her what he wanted from KFC, and Charlee assured him she’d relay the message. When she hung up, she noticed the picture on Drew’s screen and smiled. It was one Drew took just after they arrived at the airport this past summer. They both smiled big as Drew held up the phone in front of them and took it. Drew said the photo would represent their “new beginning.”
Drew had taken a lot of pictures that day and in the ones that followed. That felt like a lifetime ago now, and Charlee searched her phone for more photos. Hitting something that popped up Drew’s text message log, she froze when she saw Hector’s name near the top. Was it possible that Drew knew another Hector? Not likely. Charlee would’ve heard about him already. But Drew would’ve mentioned it to Charlee if they’d ever texted. She hit his name and was certain now this had to be another Hector. There were way too many messages between them for Drew not to have mentioned this.
Feeling a little underhanded and guilty that she would suspect anything of not just Drew but Hector as well because he hadn’t mentioned anything either, she glanced back to see where Drew was. She appeared to be wrapping it up, so Charlee scrolled up quickly and read a few of the exchanges.
Drew: Are you sure?
Hector: . . . Tempting. Very, VERY tempting but as much as I’d love take you up on that offer, I’m gonna have to pass on any of that from here on. It just feels wrong now.
Drew: Okay, but just so you know the offer stands indefinitely. Charlee can be . . . complicated. So just remember I’m your go-to girl, and I’m only a text away. ;)
The driver’s side door opened, and Charlee set the phone down immediately, the blood thrumming against her ears loudly.
“So does he want me to get him anything?”
“Yes,” Charlee said at the moment, unable to remember what her dad had asked for. “Uh,” Drew started the car but didn’t pull out. She stared at Charlee, waiting. “A chicken sandwich,” Charlee finally said.
Whatever they talked about on their way to KFC and then back to Drew’s house was a blur now. All Charlee could think of were the texts. There had to be an explanation. So why not just ask her? She couldn’t. The fear that this might be what it actually sounded like was paralyzing. It just couldn’t be true, but why hadn’t either of them mentioned that they texted each other? Certainly Charlee would mention to Hector if she was texting with any of his friends, especially if his friends were making her very tempting offers that felt wrong. And what did he mean he needed to pass on them from here on? The offer stands indefinitely. What the hell was she offering him? His go-to girl?
Charlee rushed straight toward her room as soon as they got to the house.
“Aren’t you gonna eat?” Drew asked.
“I need to unpack first,” she said as she blew past Drew, the anger and feelings of betrayal mounting.
There was a knock on the door. “You okay?” Drew called from the other side.
“I’m fine,” Drew said, reaching for the crumpled letter in her pocket.
“Okay . . .” Drew said, obviously picking up on Charlee’s not so fine tone. “I’ll be in the dining room with my dad if you wanna join us. You should before your sandwich gets cold.”
Charlee couldn’t even respond now that she reread the letter from Danny. If this were really true, if Drew were capable of doing this, tempting Hector with who knows what and telling him Charlee was complicated, then maybe she did know about the dog party beforehand.
Her mind raced now as she paced in her room. Could Hector have really done something with Drew, even if it now felt wrong and had turned Drew’s offer down? She remembered his interest in Drew before he showed any in Charlee. Her head buzzed with so many things coming to her now.
The day after the keg party, Charlee had gone back to bed, and Drew was gone when she woke. Then Drew had acted so weirdly when she got home, and Charlee had asked her where she’d been. Unable to take it anymore, she rushed out of her room, stopping only when she saw Drew’s phone on the table in the front room. She picked it up and opened the text message log and clicked on Hector’s name. She scrolled randomly, reading the first exchange it stopped on.
Drew: I can’t believe you’ve never noticed. She so pathetically obvious about how lovesick she is!
Hector: Yeah, well, kill me I hadn’t. Maybe my mind being so preoccupied with another girl had something to do with it.
“Are you . . .” Charlee looked up at Drew, who stood by the dining room entrance staring at Charlee holding her phone.
Hot tears blurred Charlee’s vision now. Drew had been the number one advocate all her life for trying to convince Charlee she wasn’t pathetic. Her using the word in describing her, and to Hector of all people, hurt more than her not telling her about the texts.
“Did you know about the dog party before I went to it?” Her words were a strained whisper. She could hardly believe she was saying them.
Drew’s expression fell, and Charlee knew right then it was true. “Who told you?”
A numbing chill ran down her spine. This couldn’t be possible. “Danny did. Is it true?”
She shook her head, but Drew’s words said otherwise. “I couldn’t tell you, Charlee.”
Feeling like her heart had just been ripped out of her chest, Charlee sucked in her breath but couldn’t hold back the emotion any longer. “You knew?” Drew’s own lip quivered now. There was no denying Charlee’s worst nightmare. Drew had done the unthinkable and joined the bullies against her. “You knew and you let me go?” She raised her now-sobbing voice. “Encouraged me to when you knew I didn’t even want to in the first place!”
Drew’s dad came to the dining room doorway, looking very concerned.
“I wanted to tell you,” Drew took a few steps toward her. “But I couldn’t.”
“Why? How could you let me go? How could you do that me?” The pain was so profound Charlee could barely breathe between sobs now.
Drew turned to face her dad then Charlee again. “I just couldn’t. It wasn’t supposed to turn out that way. You know I’d never hurt you like that, Charlee.”
“But you did! You knowingly let me do something that you knew would humiliate me. You pushed me to do it!” She sobbed, unable to understand how she could be so wrong about Drew. Then she gasped and looked back down at Drew’s phone in her hand. “You and Hector text?”
Drew’s eyes became a little wider. “I didn’t tell you because I thought you’d be mad.”
“You think!” Charlee dropped the phone onto the sofa and spun around.
The mortification that possibly Drew had told Hector about the dog party and maybe he too knew that Drew had been in on it sunk in.
“Charlee, please let me explain,” Drew hurried into her room behind her.
Charlee grabbed her still-packed carryon, her purse, and her keys and rushed out past Drew. “I’ll send for the rest of my things.”
“Don’t go, Charlee. Please!” Drew sobbed. “I’m begging you. I’m so sorry.”
Ignoring Drew’s pleas, Charlee walked out of the room and stalked through the front room.
“It’s late, Charlee,” Drew’s dad insisted now also. “Maybe you should wait until tomorrow morning if you really wanna leave.”
“I’ll be fine, Mr. Morris,” she managed to say before walking out.
She wanted to thank him for his hospitality, thank him for allowing her to stay there rent-free all this time, but she couldn’t. Her throat was so swollen it hurt. Saying the few words she had said alone was a struggle. Drew followed her all the way out, continuing to plead and apologize over and over.
Throwing her suitcase in the backseat of the car, she glanced back at Drew, who was now on her knees on her front lawn while her dad stood over her with one hand on her shoulder. “I love you, Charlee,” she continued to sob.
Never, not in a million years, would Charlee be able to understand how Drew of all people could do this to her.
~*~
The continued buzzing woke Hector. Frowning, he glanced at his nightstand as his phone finally stopped buzzing. He laid his head back and began to close his eyes when the buzzing began again. Grumbling, he reached for it. It took a moment for his eyes to focus enough to read the name on the screen, but he sat up instantly when he saw it was Drew calling him.
“Hello?” he answered, hoping nothing was wrong.
Drew said something he couldn’t understand through her sobs, but his heart was already racing. Something was definitely wrong. “What?”
“Is she with you?”
“Charlee? No? She’s not with you?” Hector pulled his legs off to the side of his bed.
“She left about an hour ago. She was upset.” Hector heard Drew take a deep breath and clear her throat in an attempt to speak more clearly. “I figured it would take a while to get to your place since I’m assuming that’s where she’s going unless she’s headed straight to the airport.”
“The airport?” Hector gripped his phone. “Why would she go to the airport? What’s she upset about?”
“I couldn’t tell her, Hector. I know she probably thinks I’m the worst person in the world, but I couldn’t, and it killed me to not be able to, but I swear if I had known how things were going to turn out I would’ve never encouraged her to go to that party.”
Hector stood up, bringing his hand to his confused head as he shook it. “What party? What are you talking about?”
“The dog party last year. She said she told you.”
The puzzle came together suddenly, but he still didn’t understand what Drew was saying exactly. “Yeah, she told me about it. So back up. What happened now?”
“She found out I knew it was one of those parties before she went and didn’t tell her.”
Everything Hector was trying to put together in his head stopped at once. “You knew?”
“Yes, but I couldn’t tell her—”
“You fucking knew they were setting her up, and you still let her go?”
“I couldn’t explain to her because my dad was here. I wouldn’t have even cared if he found out about the picture I texted an old boyfriend of my tits, Hector. But I didn’t want him to hear the rest.”
The anger was already too overwhelming, and she was still saying things that made no sense to him. “What are you talking about? What does that have to do with you not telling your best friend she was being set up?” Thoughts of Charlee being out there right now possibly on a plane back home inundated him. He rushed to the window, hoping he’d see her car out there.
“Danny came to me and confessed about the party. He said he only asked Charlee because word had gotten around that he was talking to her and he was being pressured to invite her to it. He said he only had because he knew how shy she was and was certain she would turn him down, which she did.”
Hector started out of his bedroom toward the front door. He hadn’t seen Charlee’s car from his window, but maybe he would if he walked outside. This shit was getting more confusing by the second. “I don’t get it. She turned him down? So how she’d end up there anyway?”
“I convinced her to go.”
Feeling even more disgusted with Drew, he understood completely now why Charlee would be so upset. He stopped at the top of his porch steps. “Why? Why would you do that?” Then it suddenly hit him. “How did she find all this out now?”
Drew was quiet for a moment then finally spoke again. “I don’t know. All she said was Danny told her, so I’m assuming she saw him in Maryland this weekend.”
Hector stopped once again at the bottom of the stairs and thought about that. Charlee had only mentioned meeting up with her mom on Saturday for lunch. She didn’t say anything about seeing the asshole. He did remember thinking she seemed a little weird on the flight home and when they said goodbye tonight, but he’d assumed she was just as exhausted as he was.
“Hector, she didn’t give me a chance to explain,” she said, her voice cracking once again. “And I know it was awful of me, but I had no choice.”
“What do you mean you had no choice? Of course you did. You know what?” he said ready to hang up on her ass. “I don’t even wanna hear your bullshit reasons. What you did was fucked up, and I don’t blame her for leaving. I don’t care that you’re feeling like shit right now either. You should be.” Slammed with another realization, he stopped where this thought was going, his mind rewinding back to a few things that infuriated him even further. “Was this why you said you had to do this for Charlee as much as yourself?”
”Yes,” she whispered.
“You selfish little bitch.” The words flew out without thought. “So after you literally helped set up your best friend, the one you claim to care so much about and who deserves to be happy, you watched her fall apart, saw what it did to her, and then you brought her out here and took credit for making everything better. So you could feel better about yourself?”
“I do care for her!” She yelled. “What I did could not be helped. I feel terrible about it, yes, and does it help me feel better to see her happy? Yes! Because she does deserve to be. And you will listen to my reasons, damn it. You are no angel either. You know all about feeling guilty and wanting desperately to make up for it.”
Hector didn’t say anything, but he continued to listen to her, partly because she was right: he wasn’t without his own faults, but mostly because she was hysterical now and he figured he may as well let her finish. But there was no way she’d let her lump them in the same category. He wouldn’t even help set up someone he didn’t know well much less one of his closest friends.
She was just about done with her explanation when his other line clicked and he saw it was Charlee. His heart jumped to his throat with excitement, but at the same time with the dread of hearing her cry. Because if Drew was hysterical about this, he knew Charlee must be too.
“That’s her on the other line,” he said quickly. “I gotta go.”
“Call me back,” was all he heard as he clicked to the other line.
“Charlee!” he said, bracing himself to hear her sob.
The last thing he expected was to hear a dude on the other end and the resounding words he said loudly. “You’re an asshole. You know that? And I don’t care if you are a badass boxer. If you were in front of me right now, I’d still take a fucking swing at you!”