Somewhere in the Middle

Chapter 1

Charlie 15 Years Old

"Charlie, you better get your ass moving! We're going to be late!" My mom hollered from downstairs.

Her voice echoed through the halls of our house. That's how loud she was yelling when I got out of the shower.

"Mom, I just got out of the shower! Give me 10 minutes." I yelled back, trying to hold my groan.

We're supposed to be attending some musical in the local theater together with our neighbors. We were actually invited because my best friend was one of the lead roles.

"Charlie, are you done? Come on dude, we're gonna be late" I heard my best friend enter my room.

I was looking through my closet, deciding what to wear. My mom said that I have to at least look a bit decent, so I went with my Polo shirt and trousers. Never beating the classics, they said.

"Just putting on some clothes, hold on." I gruffly said to her.

I heard her chuckle "I'm so excited. and nervous. Fuck — you think I'll do well?"

Yep, instead of going over her lines, or practicing, she went here — to my house to get the pep talk she needed. Not that I won't give her one — it's just that I think she doesn't need it because she'll nail this.

She was actually really good. I've seen her rehearse countless of times. And I've been hearing her belt ridiculously high notes ever since we were kids.

You see, a few years back, I was trying to mind my own business when she came crashing my solitude marathon in our backyard.

At first I thought that she would leave me alone after I rudely asked her to 'get the hell out of my face', but nope – she actually took it as a challenge and continued to annoy me, until I relent and became friends with her.

After that, we became inseparable. She never stopped coming over and bugging me every chance she gets. She practically lived in our house every summer and would just go back to her place when her mom demanded her to.

"You'll do great, Ari. You've been practicing for months — you got this." I gave her some encouragement as I put my shirt on over my sportsbra and boxers, hollering back at her from my closet.

I heard some shuffling outside and just thought that she was rumaging through my drawers. To my surprise my closet door busted open revealing a very flusterred and anxious Ariana in front of me.

It happened so quickly I forgot to cover my lower region. She was about to say something, until her eyes dropped down to where my crotch was.

Fuck.

At fifteen, my hormones were fucking raging and as much as possible, I wanted Ariana to not be subjected to that.

"Dude!" I yelled before covering myself up

Ariana remained rooted on the spot, but after a few seconds, just shrugged and nonchalantly stepped into the walk in closet.

If she wasn't my best friend and if I wasn't terrified to ruin our friendship — I swear to god...

There were times when I was at my limit and I almost fucked things up. Good thing though... I was able to hold myself back and think clearly.

I didn't want to loose my best friend. She was actually one of the best part of moving here to Florida. She made everything bearable.

"What? It's not like I haven't seen your dick before! Don't get shy, just keep moving." She said as she stood there leaving me no option but to pull my trousers up and tuck my shirt in.