Royal Dilemma

Chapter Ten

(Charli's Point of View)

 I feel like a little girl picking petals off of a flower. He'll text me, he'll text me not. He'll text me, he'll text me not.

I aggressively turn over in bed and glance at the clock. Great, it's two in the morning and I have to work tomorrow. At this rate I'll be lucky if I get any sleep at all.

CJ promised he'd text me but, again, he seemed so shady. Why not give me his number and ask for mine instead? That's totally an evasion, right? It has to be. I want to believe him though, he seemed so earnest when he said we'll talk tomorrow. I'll text you tomorrow. I promise. The words he spoke keep repeating in my head. I promise.

Promises never seemed to mean much to the people in my life. My parents made countless promises to me that they never kept. So when I promise something I intend to follow through. I hope that's how CJ feels too.

I roll over in bed again and take a deep breath, letting it out slowly. I can smell CJ's scent in my sheets. It's surprisingly comforting.

I fall asleep in time to get around five hours of sleep before I have to go to work, which isn't too bad. At least I won't spend the day dead on my feet.

I don't wake up with a text from CJ, but it's also morning time and he might sleep in so I try to relax. To distract myself I sit down on the couch, feet curled up underneath me, and start up a text conversation with Piper, who's always up early to work the breakfast shift at the restaurant she works in.

Me: Take a guess. 1 I found the cure to cancer 2 I gave a guy my number last night 3 I've just grown a third arm

Piper: Ummmmm I pick 1

Me: Wrong. It's #2 which is how I know I've finally lost my mind

Piper: Why?? Did?? You do that?? You never give your number to strangers

I hesitate.

Me: He's not really a stranger last night was the third time we hooked up

Piper: EXCUSE ME??????

I cringe. I knew she'd freak out if I told her. When I say I never do repeats, I mean it.

Piper: WHO IS THIS MAN

Piper: I MUST KNOW

I tap my fingers on my leg a few times. I know I'm the one that brought it up but I still feel weird talking about it.

Me: His name is CJ and he's hot and allergic to corn

Piper: The man of your dreams

Piper: When did you meet him?

Me: A couple months ago I think? Idk we didn't see each other for a while but met again last night

Piper: Give me pros give me cons

Me: Pro- he's hot, he's nice, he actually seems to give a shit about my life

I hesitate again, glancing out the window and then turning back to my phone.

Me: Con- he's kinda shady

Piper: Details????

Me: I'll explain later. Pick me up from work?

Piper: I will be there ON TIME and you are going to feed me the YUMMIEST gossip

I shake my head. There's no way she'll be on time.

Work is even more hellish than usual. I have several large tables, one of them including four young children who like to throw food. I am more than relieved when my shift finally ends. Despite her assurances, Piper is not on time to pick me up. But on the bright side, she is only a mere five minutes late. Perhaps a new record.

"Spill," she urges as soon as my butt hits Beatrix's seat.

"He has this alarm," I tell her, jumping straight into the thick of it. "He has this alarm he sets and when it goes off he says he needs to leave."

"An alarm?"

"That's weird right?"

"Kind of weird," she agrees. "Maybe he's married or something. He has to be home before his wife."

"I think he's our age." I shake my head. "I don't think it's that."

We lapse into a thoughtful silence.

"A curfew?" Piper guesses. "Maybe he's on probation."

"Maybe, but the times were different each time we hung out."

Piper hums. "Is there anything else sketchy about him?"

"I don't think so..."

"Tell me more," she says, bouncing in her seat. "Tell me everything."

"He has good vibes and he's a little funny. He's kind of dorky, he wears boxers with lame patterns on them. He's allergic to corn but he says he eats a ton of it anyway."

"Does he have a death wish?"

"He says he's not that allergic, he just swells up and gets a rash or something."

"Of course you're into a crazy guy," she says, shaking her head. "I always knew it would come to this."

"Shut up." I flick her arm. "He's a twin, he says his brother is like his best friend."

"You said he's super hot?"

"Yeah."

"Hook me up with the brother." She sends me a sly smile. "We should totally date hot twins."

I feel my stomach sink.

"I'm not really sure it'll get to that," I tell her, deflating a little.

"What do you mean?"

"I asked for his number and he was like, why don't you give me yours? I think he was blowing me off."

"Maybe not." She nudges me with her elbow. "He could have his reasons. Or maybe he doesn't know his number by heart."

I shrug. "He promised he'd text me today."

"Did he?"

I take a moment to think and realize I haven't checked my phone since this morning. I pull it out of my pocket and, lo and behold, I have a new message from an unknown number. I open the message and read it out loud for Piper.

"He said, 'Hey it's CJ'."

"Well there you go," she says, a smug tone in her voice. "He texted you."

"He did," I agree, staring at the message. I navigate to my contacts and add his number.

"I'm team CJ," she says decisively. "I'm gonna ignore the alarm thing because this is the first boy you've liked in the entire time I've known you." She glances at me. "I think this could be good for you."

I nod, agreeing with her. The logical side of me is listing off all the ways this could go wrong. He could actually turn out to be shady, he could be an asshole, a weirdo. But for once I ignore my logical side, I just go with my gut. My gut is telling me CJ is a good guy. I just hope this won't come back to bite me. 

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Author's Note: Are you team CJ? Let me know what you thought of the chapter with a vote or a comment :)