Courtney was running her hand along Charlie’s arm, staring up at him seductively. My grip tightened on my cup, my hand almost shaking from rage. What the heck was wrong with her? I slammed both cups down on the table nearest me and stormed off toward the golf courses. I must have been loud enough for Charlie to hear because he was calling after me a second later. I didn’t bother to look.
“Madison!” His footsteps were fast and getting closer and closer. Even if he hadn’t been an athlete, it was no surprise that he could run faster in his shoes than I could in heels. “Madison, wait!”
I was tempted to keep going and just ignore him, but I had to admit that would be a little petty. Not to mention, it would take him no time to catch up to me anyway. I sighed and crossed my arms, but stopped and waited for him to circle me so we were standing face to face.
“Why do you want me to wait?” I asked bitingly. “I thought you were busy talking to Courtney.”
Charlie’s eyebrows pulled together in a frown. “You know that I would always rather talk to you than Courtney.”
“I don’t know about that,” I muttered. I kicked my foot lightly against the ground, mostly just to distract myself from the conversation I didn’t want to have right now. “You seemed to be enjoying yourself over there.”
“Courtney came out of nowhere the second you left and started talking to me. What was I supposed to do, push her away?”
I was tempted to snap that yes he was, just to get a reaction out of him, but I knew that he was right. Charlie wasn’t that kind of boy. But the mental image of her standing that close tohim made me feel like I had a fire in my chest. Everything that Courtney did infuriated me, but this was so much worse than anything else I’d ever seen her do.
“I’m never going to like her being around,” I said. “Knowing that you two…”
“Dated for a week?” Charlie asked. “You do know we’ve been broken up for longer than we were ever together, right?”
“It doesn’t matter!” My sharp voice cut through the air. “I don’t care how long it’s been or what did or didn’t happen. I hate her.”
“Well, luckily, she won’t be near us at all once we go to school.”
I didn’t know where Courtney went to university, but the certainty in his voice told me that it wasn’t the same school as us, and I guess that had to be enough for me. I rubbed a hand over my face, suddenly exhausted.
“Are you okay?” Charlie asked.
“Yeah, I just…” I shook my head. Charlie wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close. I breathed in deeply as I hugged him back, the scent of his cologne reminding me of that day in the closet. I hadn’t noticed how familiar it was that day, but now, I would recognize it anywhere.
Charlie smirked at me as he pulled away, and I just frowned in response. What about this did he find so amusing?
“What?” I asked.
“You were jealous,” he said simply.
“Was not.”
“Come on; you know it’s true.” He poked at my cheek, and I pulled away, even though I couldn’t keep the grin off my face. “Hey.”
The sudden seriousness in his voice made me look back at him immediately.
“I wanted to talk to you about something… I know we said this was only going to be for the summer.” Charlie said. My heart stopped at the words, fearing for what came next. Fearing that he was going to be saying what I’d dreaded all summer, but equally afraid to imagine that it could be anything else.
“Don’t,” I said, unable to stop myself. “Whatever you’re about to say, don’t. Not now.”
“Not even if it’s good?”
“You think ending this is good?” My voice cracked on the last couple of words. Had what we’d been doing all summer meant nothing to him? Did he really care that little about me?
“Who says I want to end it?”
“But—” I shook my head. “You—you said?—”
“I know what I said. But honestly… I don’t think I can let you go.”
What did that mean? It couldn’t mean what I thought it did, right? He couldn’t possibly be saying that he wanted to be with me for longer than just the summer. Was he joking?
“Don’t mess with me like this, Charlie Owen,” I shook my head and stepped back, anger washing through me like a wave. “Don’t prank me. Because I... we... You think Courtney is good at revenge? You haven’t seen anything yet.”
