“Hey.”
Neither of us speaks another word. I keep stroking her hair as we continue to stare at each other.
Something inside my gut is telling me she’s not okay. My heart aches at the mere thought of her being anything but the confident, joyful woman she usually is.
Slowly, I move my hand until it’s resting on her cheek. She closes her eyes and leans into my touch.
Moving my thumb, I gently caress her cheekbone until she opens her eyes.
“Are you okay, baby?”
Charlie closes her eyes again briefly, inhaling a deep breath before opening them again.
She turns on her side and reaches out to cup my cheek. Our thumbs move in unison as I wait for her to answer.
“I’m okay. I just got a little freaked out earlier thinking about Connor.”
I figured as much. I just don’t understand why all of a sudden she’s the one who’s scared when I’m the one who was afraid to take the leap initially.
Wanting to comfort her as much as possible, I pull her into me and lay back so her head is resting on my chest.
Slowly stroking her back, I ask, “What exactly has you feeling uneasy? You were so sure of us before.”
Charlie’s fingers move over my chest hair, tracing imaginary shapes as she contemplates her next words.
“I think with Connor’s arrival looming I started to overthink things.”
“How so?”
Charlie pushes up and places both hands onto my sternum and rests her chin on top of them, looking me straight in the eyes.
“You know how you were afraid Connor would hate you if we got together and it would mess up your friendship?
I nod once and Charlie continues.
“Well, I’m starting to think he’s going to hateme.I’ve always been the little sister tagging along without an invitation. Honestly, I’ve been a third wheel to your friendship most of my life. What if he thinks I’m trying to get in between you two? What if he thinks I’m trying to take you away from him?”
Charlie’s words give me pause. I was unsure at first because I thought Connor would think I’m a creep for hooking up with his sister who happens to be seven years younger than me. Bro code and all of that. But I never once thought of how this might look from Charlie’s point of view.
Connor may not vocalize how much he loves his sister, but there’s no one who is more proud of her than he is. To this day he sends me highlight clips of her PWHL games. When her name was announced on the Olympic roster, he got choked up on the phone when he told me, as if I didn’t already have an alert on my computer when the roster was announced.
A smile stretches across my face and Charlie tilts her head.
“Why are you smiling like that? Is my discomfort amusing to you, Lucas?”
The use of my full first name has me throwing my head back and barking out a laugh.
When I look back down, Charlie is shooting daggers at me.
“No. Your discomfort does not bring me joy,Charlotte.”
Charlie slips one of her hands out from under her chin and slaps my chest. “That isnotmy name. Not when it comes to you.”
I lean down and give her a quick kiss on the forehead. “Sorry. It won’t happen again. But like I was saying… The reason I was smiling is because you have no idea how much your brother loves you.”
Charlie blows out a sound of disbelief. “Ha. Maybe because he has to. But he loves you way more than he loves me.”
Her words are laced in pain and it squeezes something inside my heart.
