Our Love (29 page)

"You're not going anywhere."

"Who is going to stop me? You?"

"You have no business going out there in your condition."

"Leave me alone, Chris."

"You need to calm down. I can't let you risk your life if you go out there looking for Charlie. In fact, why don't I go look for her to see if she's alright."

"No Chris. I need to look for her. I'm the one who hurt her, so I need to go look for her."

"Michael, I don't think it a good idea for her to see you right now. Just give it some time."

I looked at Chris and sighed.

"Fine, I won't go out there."

"Good. Now why don't I put on some coffee to sober you up?" Chris said as he was heading for the kitchen.

Bad move,
I thought while Chris had his back turned. I had to talk to Charlie. I had to explain to her what really happened. I walked toward the door and opened it.

"Sorry Chris," I said to myself as I walked out the door.

While I was at the door, I heard Ashley asking Chris where I was. While Chris was cussing me out, I had made it halfway down the parking lot, when I saw Charlie and Derrick on the grass. I noticed Charlie was crying in Derrick's arms while Derrick was comforting her like she was a lost child in search of her mother.

Figures he would go to the rescue,
I thought as I walked over to the two. When I got closer, I noticed the two were talking. I suddenly stop in my tracks and hid behind a tree to hear their conversation.

"I'm so sorry Derrick. If I didn't get in that fight with Theresa, and were facing charges, I wouldn't have transferred to Belmont, I would have never met Michael and we would have been together," Charlie said through hiccups.

I looked up at the sky with an angry expression on my face. So that's why she transferred to Belmont. She was facing criminal charges!

"Char, you have nothing to be sorry for. It's not your fault that Michael is a jerk. He hurt you in the worst way. You don't need any one like that in your life. And he sure as hell doesn't deserve you."

What a jackass!
I thought as I continued to look on.

"At least you don't have to tell him about us," Derrick said.

Charlie looked at him and nodded her head in agreement.

"I guess not. I just can't believe that he lied to me. But I'm not the one to talk. I've been lying to him too about us."

Derrick put his arm around Charlie and kissed her forehead.

"You don't have to worry about that anymore. Michael Collier is out of your life now. Now you can focus on other things. Like us."

Charlie looked at Derrick and sighed.

"Derrick, I don't know if I can. I really care for Michael. I'm going to need time to resolve all this."

"But you said..."

"Derrick, I just got a major blow tonight. I can't leave one relationship and pickup another. It's too soon."

As I was watching Charlie and Derrick, every part of my body wanted to go over to them and give them a piece of my mind. After all the crap Charlie gave me at the party about me lying to her, she was doing the same thing! She lied about why she transferred to Belmont and about her relationship with Derrick! I closed my eyes and started to take several deep breaths. I couldn't believe this was happening. I was completely and utterly in love with this girl, and she had feelings for someone else.

"I understand, Charlie. But just remember this, I will always be there for you and I will wait for you, because I love you and I'm not losing you ever again."

"Thank you," Charlie said as she put her head on Derrick's shoulder.

Derrick put a hand on Charlie's cheek as he leaned in close for a kiss. While I watched Charlie and Derrick kissing, my heart was slowly breaking in two. I slid down onto the grass as tears were flowing down my cheeks. I heard footsteps approaching. I looked up and saw Chris and Ashley coming towards me.

"What are you doing Michael?" Chris asked. He looked at me with a worried look.

Suddenly all the sadness I had in my heart was quickly turning to anger as I got up from the grass and went straight to Ashley.

"Did you know?"

Ashley looked at me with a confused look on her face.

"Know what? What's going on Michael?"

"Don't act dumb! Did you know about Charlie and Derrick?"

I must have struck a chord in Ashley because all of a sudden her face became white as a sheet.

She looked at me and nodded her head.

"Charlie was going to tell you before she found out about what you done."

I started to laugh at what Ashley said.

"After what I'd done? Nothing compares to what she's done to me," I said as I turned away from Ashley and Chris and headed towards Charlie and Derrick.

"Michael, come back!" Ashley yelled as I was getting closer to the two.

I could feel Chris running after me, but I didn't care. I had to get to the bottom of this once and for all.

As I finally got up to the two, Charlie looked and quickly released herself from Derrick.

"Why stop now. It no point trying to hide your relationship," I said.

"Let me explain Michael."

"Now the situation is reversed. Just a moment ago, I was saying the same thing. But wait, you didn't let me explain myself. So why should I give you the same benefit?"

"Michael, I'm sorry about this. I was going to tell you about Derrick, but..."

"But what, you didn't have the heart to tell me? Or because you thought you could have your cake and eat it too. Which one is it?"

Charlie looked at me with her puppy dog eyes, which I thought was real cute at first, but now, it was really annoying.

"Don't pull that crap on me. You know damn well this was going to happen."

"Why don't you leave her alone Michael. She doesn't need this after what you've done," Derrick said.

"Stay the hell out of this, Marberry. Nobody asked you to speak."

"I think I need to step in," Derrick said as he came up to my face.

"Get out of my face punk," I said as I push Derrick away from me.

"Stop it you two," Charlie said as she came between me and Derrick.

"Let me talk to Michael alone," she said as she was looking at Derrick.

Derrick shook his head.

"I'm not leaving you alone with him."

"Please Derrick, leave us alone."

Derrick looked at Charlie and sighed.

"Fine, but I'll be keeping an eye on you," he said while looking at me.

I stuck out my middle finger at Derrick as he walked over to the tree where I was standing at before.

Charlie looked at me as she started to cry again.

"I'm so sorry Michael. I didn't want you to find out this way."

"How did you want me to find out Charlie? When were you going to tell me that you still had feelings for your ex?"

"I didn't know how to tell you."

"You could have been honest with me Charlie! That how you could have told me."

"Oh, like you were with me? When were you going to tell me that you slept with Eva? Or that you had a child with Brandy? When were you going to possibly tell me all that?"

"We both had secrets, but I never lied to you about my feelings for you. I love you with all my heart and soul. You the one I always wanted to be with. But you, you didn't want to be with me. You wanted to be with Marberry."

"That's not true. I never lied about my feelings for you. I always loved you."

"So what are you saying? You had feelings for me and Derrick?"

"Yes, I did," Charlie said silently.

"That's not possible Charlie. You can't be in love with two people!"

"I didn't believe that either, but it can happen. I know because it happened to me. Michael, you are a great person with a great heart. That's one of the reasons why I fell in love with you."

"Save it Charlie. I don't want to hear your lies anymore. It all makes sense now as to why you didn't admit that you loved me...you still had feelings for Marberry. Did you sleep with him too?"

"No Michael, I didn't. You're the only person I slept with."

"Why should I believe you? You lied to me about your feelings for your ex and then you lied about why you transferred to Belmont."

Charlie looked at me in total shock.

"How, how did you find out about that?" she stammered.

"I was listening to your conversation with Derrick. Why didn't you want me to know about that Charlie? Were you ashamed about it?"

"No I wasn't. I didn't think it was a big deal about my transfer. I figured it was no one business."

"Not even me! I was supposed to be your boyfriend!" I yelled.

Charlie looked at me as she broke down into tears. I rolled my eyes at Charlie and her behavior.

"After all the shit I got from you about Eva and Brandy, how in the hell are you going to stand here and act like you're the victim? You were doing just as much dirt as I was and more."

"I know I haven't been the perfect angel, but at least I didn't sleep with your best friend. At least I didn't go around pretending that I was just friends with someone, knowing good well that there was more there. At least I didn't have children with anyone and fail to mention it to the person that I loved."

"You're right, you didn't do those things. But at least I was true to myself and my feelings. At least I didn't lie about being in love with someone knowing good well that there was someone else in the picture. At least I didn't do that," I said.

Charlie looked at me with pitiful eyes.

"I understand that right now we're both upset over what happened. If we can talk about this tomorrow or next week...."

"There's nothing to talk about! What done is done. There is nothing that can change that. And to think that the people around us were the ones trying to break us up, I never thought it would be us doing the damage to ourselves."

After I said my last comment, I wanted to turn around and walk away from Charlie and everything that has occurred tonight. But for some reason, I couldn't leave her. I couldn't walk away from everything that had happened between us through the past few months. I wanted to go back to the day we first met, the night we first kissed, the night we made love. I wanted to look at Charlie's beautiful smile, feel her soft lips on mine. But as I looked at Charlie now, all I could think about was the misdeeds she'd done and the kiss I saw between her and Derrick. I knew what I did was wrong, but even if I didn't sleep with Eva or were involved with Brandy, it didn't change the fact that Charlie still had feelings for her ex-boyfriend.

Derrick walked back over to us in an impatient trance.

"You finished?" he asked Charlie.

I looked at the two and suddenly all my anger came back inside of me.

"I have nothing more to say to Charlie. Now why don't you two get off my property?" I said.

I turned around and started to walk away. While Charlie was yelling out my name, I pretended like I didn't hear her. No matter how much I loved Charlie, I couldn't forgive her for what she did to me. I didn't ever want to hear the name Charlie Perry, let alone see her ever again.

29. Charlie

After the disastrous night at Michael's, all I wanted to do was go home and locked myself in my room for the rest of my life. And that's what I did. For the weekend anyway. I didn't answer anyone's phone calls or go downstairs to eat. All I wanted to do was lay in my bed and sulk. Just the look on Michael's face when he confronted Derrick and me was painful enough, but the words he lashed out at me only made me sick to my stomach. What he did to me was terrible. He slept with my best friend and was involved with someone I became close with and had a child with her, but to be honest, I had to agree with Michael about my mistakes.

Although he had done all those things to me, nothing could compare to what I did to him. I hurt him in the worst way possible. I gave my heart to someone else. As I lay in my bed, I looked out at the window and sighed. Everything was perfect between Michael and me. We were happy. But Michael was right. With our lies and betrayal, we were the ones who broke up our relationship.

As my alarm clock started to go off, I realized that I couldn't stay in my room forever. I had to face reality. No matter if I wanted to or not. After a few extra minutes of staying in the shower and carefully getting dressed, I dragged myself downstairs as if it was my last day on earth. My mom was in the kitchen with a cup of coffee when I finally walked in. She looked at me with a surprised look on her face.

"I see you finally came back to the real world."

I smiled weakly as I sat down on a bar stool near the breakfast nook.

"I guess I had to come out of my room eventually," I said as I grabbed myself a piece of toast.

My mom nodded her head in agreement. She came over to me and gave me a hug. Just the warm touch from my mom made my eyes swell up with tears.

"Aw honey, I hate to see you like this."

"I'm trying to be strong, but it hurts so bad."

"I know you're hurting baby."

As I pulled apart from my mom, I looked at the piece of toast I just grabbed and realized I'd lost my appetite.

"Mom, I don't know if I can go to school today. I don't know if I can face anyone right now. Half the school was at that party Friday, and I'm very sure everyone found out about Derrick and me. How am I going to walk down the halls without someone pointing their fingers at me saying she's the one who broke Michael's heart?"

"What about what Michael did to you? He slept with your best friend Charlie. In my opinion, this happened for a reason. This was a wakeup call for you to realize that you're better off without him."

"Of course you would say that. You never liked him in the first place. What Michael did was wrong, but I had to realize that we weren't together at the time. That's how everyone's going to see it. The whole student body at Belmont believes that Michael Collier is a living legend. They figure he can do no wrong, no matter how much he screws up. As for me, everyone is going to look at me as the girl who transferred to Belmont with a criminal record and a secret relationship."

"Charlie, when have you ever cared about what people thought about you? You always had a positive attitude about any situation, no matter if it was good or bad. Why all of the sudden are you giving up on things?"