Char

by Amare, Mercy

  Ugh. I don’t want winter clothes. I want flip flops, dresses, and bikinis. I throw in some of my favorite dresses and shoes. “Yeah, I really am going to need to clothes shop.” I smile at the thought of running up Dad’s credit card bill. “It’s New York, the fashion capitol of the world. I have look my best…”

  “I so know that smile,” Aaron says. “I have a feeling Robert is going to regret taking you back to New York.”

  “I bet I’ll be back here by Christmas at the latest.” Actually, I know I will be. I turn eighteen on September twenty second. It will be my decision then.

  Aaron shakes his head at me. “You are a mess, Char. But maybe it won’t be so bad. You will get to spend some time with your dad. And maybe you will make some friends there. You’ve lived in Cali your whole life. It might be interesting.”

  “Might I remind you that you’re the arm beside me in the photo? We were smoking together. It was your joint. And my dad is an ass. I don’t want to spend time with him.”

  “I’m glad nobody in my family is a celebrity.”

  “It wasn’t so bad until Candi started modeling. She’s so controversial.” I shake my head. “Seriously, she did that ad… I’d rather go naked than wear fur… And that night she came home and ate a burger. I watched those videos. I couldn’t eat meat for like a month.”

  “How does Candice eat burgers and have her body?”

  “When I say she ate a burger, I mean without buns. And she works out like five hours a day. Everyday. I’ve been working out with her some. She’s very hardcore. She works on everything. I was so sore the first time. I hurt in places I didn’t even know there were muscles. Of course, I am usually only there for two hours at the most.”

  “Yet you still look better than her.”

  “Yeah right. Candice is definitely the hottest of the three of us. Chloe is the beautiful one. She has the face of an angel. And I am the little sister that surfs, and smokes way too much weed.”

  “You just don’t see yourself clearly. And I know. Cause I’ve seen you topless. You have nice boobs.”

  I throw my flip-flop at Aaron. “Shut up. Any girl looks good naked to a teenage boy. All you see are boobs.”

  “That’s not true. I see you in your bikini all the time. And even right now, in your little dress… Hot.”

  “What do you know? You’re high all the time. Besides, you’re my best friend. You’re supposed to tell me nice stuff.”

  “I’m so serious!” Aaron smiles at me. “I’d totally tap that.”

  “Ugh.” I cover my ears. “Sex with you would be so weird.”

  “No. Sex with you would totally be hot, but it’d be awkward after.”

  I nod. “Yep. So let’s just never have this conversation again.”

  “Agreed.”

  I go back to my closet and look inside. I can’t look at Aaron right now. I’m trying not to cry over the fact that I’m leaving and he’s staying. “I’m going to miss you.”

  I feel arms go around me. I turn around and step into Aaron’s embrace. “I’m going to miss you too. Life without you won’t be the same.”

  “Can you fit into my suitcase?”

  Aaron smiles. “I wish. But it’s not goodbye forever. I’m totally going to fly to New York and spend Labor Day with you. And you’ll come here for your birthday. I’m sure you’ll get to come some on the weekends. And I promise I’ll try to come too.”

  “Aw, you’d fly for me?” I ask. Aaron despises flying.

  “Anything for you.”

  “I love you.”

  “Love you, too.” Aaron smacks my butt. “Now, get to packing.”

  8pm

  Virgin?

  Chloe takes me out for dinner since I am leaving in the morning. Candice couldn’t make it — shocker. But I’m glad I get to have a sister night with Chloe before I leave. Aside from Aaron, I am probably going to miss her the most.

  “I’ll come visit as much as I can,” Chloe promises. “The new season of Drama Queen is starting soon, so I’ll have to do some promotions in New York. I will make sure I have time to at least grab a bite to eat and catch up.”

  “Thanks. I am going to miss you.”

  “You too. But we can still text everyday, like we always do.”

  Chloe and I text each other all the time. She’s pretty busy on the set of Drama Queen right now, but every time they take a break she texts me. Or when she’s in hair and make-up. She’s not at all like Candi. I’ll text her, and I’ll maybe get a response three days later. If I’m lucky.

  “So don’t tell Mom, but I sort of met a guy,” she says excitingly.

  Oh my God. Chloe never talks about guys. Like for the longest time I thought maybe she was a lesbian, because I’ve never really seen her have a boyfriend. Then I realized it’s not that. She’s just really picky when it comes to guys. “Who is he?”

  “His name is Phillip Davidson. He plays Spencer’s new boyfriend on Drama Queen.”

  Spencer is the part that Chloe plays. She always talks about fictional characters like they are real. I think it helps her to imagine that she’s playing a real person.

  “So you get to make out with him on set. Fun.”

  She smiles shyly. “We haven’t kissed yet. On screen or off. But we have a kiss scene coming up on Friday. I’m nervous.”

  “So have you went out on a date yet?” I ask.

  “Yes. We went out Sunday night. Just for dinner. But then afterward we spent hours talking on the phone. It was amazing,” she answers. “I am thinking I want to kiss him before our characters do. Like me. Chloe York. And not as Spencer.”

  “So why don’t you?”

  “Am I supposed to just walk up to him, and plant one on his lips? No way. I’m shy. You and Candi are way more outgoing than I am.”

  “Whatever. Don’t be a chicken. Just do it.”

  Her phone vibrates on the table, and her face lights up. It must be Phillip.

  She shows me the text.

  Phillip: I was just thinking about you.

  AWW! SO CUTE!

  I grab the phone from her hands, and ignore her protests.

  Chloe: Me too. And I was thinking about how I want to kiss you.

  I hand Chloe back her phone. After reading the texts she gives me a murderous glare. Until he phone goes off again. Then she lets out a little girly squeal.

  “Oh my God! He totally wants to kiss me too!” She says excitingly. I swear sometimes she acts like she’s sixteen even when she’s not on camera. Her phone vibrates again. “In fact he wants to kiss me right now. He wants to know where I am. Oh my God.”

  “So tell him!”

  She sends him a text, and gets a response a couple seconds later. “He’s like three blocks away. He is coming like right now, legit. He’s going to kiss me. Oh my God. What do I do?”

  “Kiss him back.” I give her a duh look. “You’ll be fine. I promise.”

  “I’ve never told you this before, but I’m kind of a virgin.”

  “WHAT?” No way my extremely hot twenty-four year old sister is a virgin. “NO WAY.”

  “Yes way. I’ve just never had a boyfriend before. And I didn’t want to do it with just anybody.”

  “Wow. I don’t know if this is really sweet, or really weird. You’re probably the only twenty four year old in Hollywood who hasn’t…”

  “God, I’m lame aren’t I…” She looks at me. “Do you and Landon have sex?”

  “Landon and I broke up. But yeah, we had sex. And I slept with another guy before him.”

  “Who?”

  “Just a friend.”

  “Aaron?”

  “NO WAY. I’d never sleep with Aaron. It was Matt. We slept together quite a few times before his family moved to San Francisco.” Matt was hot. We were good friends and we were both virgins. Mostly we slept together out of curiosity. But I’m glad we did, because if Landon would have been my first, I’d be mad.

  “Oh. Wow. That really does make me feel like a lo
ser. How old were you?”

  “Fifteen.” I bite my lip, because I know she is going to think fifteen is really young. “Like it was only a few months before I turned sixteen. Landon and I started dating like right after that.”

  Chloe looks up and her face lights up. I look to see what’s she’s looking at.

  Holy hotness.

  That must be Phillip. And he is freaking drop-dead sexy.

  He has brown hair. It’s curly. Like it kind of reminds me of Elijah Wood. He has a big goofy grin on his face when he sees Chloe. And I can tell that her feelings are obviously being returned.

  Aww… Young love.

  And once again, I’m reminded that my heart recently got shredded.

  Love sucks.

  “Hey,” Phillip says, taking a seat by Chloe.

  “Hey. This is my little sister, Charlotte,” she says to him.

  “She looks so much like you.”

  I smile. Because most people tell me Candice and I could be twins. But hardly anybody tells me I look like Chloe. “I should… uh… vacate the table.”

  “No, don’t run off. We should get desert,” Phillip says.

  “Char is leaving for New York tomorrow. She’s moving in with Dad for a little bit,” she tells him. “Tonight is our goodbye dinner.”

  “I don’t mean to intrude…”

  “It’s no intrusion,” I tell him. “I had to meet the guy my big sis is crushing on before I go. You have to get my approval.”

  Chloe gives me a look that says shut the hell up.

  Ha. Doesn’t she know it’s my job as her little sister to torture her?

  “Well, I hope I gain your approval. How am I doing so far?” he asks.

  I think about it for a second. “Well you didn’t tell me that I look like Candice, so that gives you brownie points. Oh. And you are staying for desert. Which is like my favorite part of the meal. So yeah, I’d say you’re doing good so far.”

  “So you’re the sister who surfs right? And Candice is the model?”

  I nod. “Correct.”

  “And let me guess. You are the one who sent that text…”

  I try hard not to smile. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “Well, I’ve known Chloe for two weeks now, but I already know her well enough to know that she did not send this text,” he says.

  “Fine. I sent it. But she totally wants you to kiss her. I just did what she was too scared to do. Right Chloe?”

  Chloe’s face turns a light shade of pink. “Well… I… yeah…”

  “See.” I smile. “Now I’m leaving. You two can have dessert without me. You totally have my approval.”

  I give Chloe a side hug, and then leave them. I’m smiling the whole way out to my Jeep.

  Later that night, I get a text from Chloe.

  Chloe: He kissed me. And it was AMAZING. Best. Kiss. Ever. Thank you.

  I smile. And then cry. I’m going to miss my big sister.

  TUESDAY, JULY 30

  6am

  Beauty & brains.

  Dad wakes me up at five in the morning to leave for the airport. When I complain about how early it is, he tells me that it’s nine in New York and that I should just get used to it. Ugh. Time zones suck.

  Aaron spent the night last night. When Dad came into my room, I was cuddling with him in bed. That pissed Dad off. He said I was too young to have guys sleep over. He’s been talking to me about boundaries the whole way to the airport.

  “Dad, Aaron is just a friend. I’ve never had sex with him. He sleeps over all the time. He’s my best friend,” I tell him for the second time. Not that I expect him to believe me this time either.

  “It’s just not appropriate for you to have guys staying the night.”

  I roll my eyes. “It isn’t me you should worry about. It’s Candi.”

  “Candice is a grown woman,” he says.

  “You do know she’s the September centerfold for Playboy, right?”

  He doesn’t say anything, but I can tell by the look on his face that he didn’t know. He looks over at me. “I should have taken you three girls with me when I left for New York. And it is a decision that I will always regret. I hope that you turn out better than Candice.”

  Seriously?

  “At least Chloe didn’t turn out too bad,” he says. “Of course, I was around for most of her childhood. She has always been a good girl. Do you watch her show Drama Queen?”

  “Yep. It’s lame, but I watch it for Chloe. She’s a really good actress,” I say. “Mom thinks I would be a good actress. She keeps trying to pressure me into trying out for different roles.”

  “You’ve got beauty and brains. What could be better than that? Don’t listen to your mom. She obviously wasn’t smart enough to go to college. She had to use her looks to get by in life.”

  This makes me laugh. “You married the woman. And had three kids with her.”

  “I was young. And I obviously paid dearly for that mistake.”

  In the divorce, Mom got basically everything. The beach house, half his pay check for five years, and child support on top of that. It sucked for him, but Mom enjoyed every check she got. I bet she’s pissed that she won’t be getting anymore checks from Dad. Not that she needs it. She gets ten percent of everything Chloe and Candi brings in. She’s definitely not hurting for money.

  When we get to the airport, we get into my dad’s private jet. It’s nice. No lines. No security check point. We walk from the limo to the plane, and take off. It’s kind of awesome. It’s not my first time in a private jet, but it’s still nice.

  “Tomorrow we are going to enroll you in school,” Dad says as the plane takes off. “East Wood Prep School is a very great school. It’s late enrollment, but they are willing to make an exception for me. I handled the headmistress’ divorce last spring. She got the penthouse, and their beach home. She was happy to let you in.”

  My dad is an awesome lawyer. He always wins.

  “A prep school?” I ask. “I don’t know how I feel about going to a private school in New York City. I’ve seen Gossip Girl.” Though I have always had a crush on Chuck Bass.

  “It’s nothing like on television. It’s a very nice school, and the kids are well behaved.”

  My father is obviously delusional. Well behaved teenagers? There is no such thing. “Whatever you say.”

  “Plus, it will help you get into a good college.”

  It’s then that I realize that maybe living with Dad won’t be such a bad thing. Sure, I will miss all my friends, and I will miss surfing… but at least now I won’t have to go back to school and see Landon. Plus, my dad actually supports what I want. He isn’t trying to pressure me into being anything but myself, and that is kind of nice.

  Well… Except the whole pot thing. But what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.

  When I go home to visit all my friends, I can pick and choose who I want to see. I can just spend the whole weekend with Aaron surfing, and smoking. It will be awesome.

  4pm

  Enough.

  When we land in New York, there is a limo waiting for us. Of course.

  Dad introduces me to the driver. Daniel Martin. He is my new driver, which seems weird. I’m here because I was caught smoking weed, and he is giving me a limo and a driver. It’s excessive, but at the same time, it’s kind of awesome.

  I will miss my Jeep.

  As we drive through New York City, I look out the window. I’ve been in this city quite a few times, but I always forget how huge it is. I’ve always felt claustrophobic before, but this time it feels different. Maybe it won’t be so bad. Maybe this is what I need.

  Ugh. What am I saying. It will be bad.

  I decide to pull out my phone and text Aaron. I already miss him.

  Me: I’m here. This is so weird. I should be on the beach. Riding the waves with you.

  Aaron: It’s not the same without you :(

  Me: I’ll try to come home for my birthday. Maybe per
manently? ;)

  Aaron: That’s forever away. I don’t think I can go that long. I think I’m going to fly to NY and kidnap you.

  Me: Please do.

  Aaron: I’ll come visit for Labor Day.

  Me: Awesome. I’m counting down the days.

  Aaron: Doesn’t your dad have a house in the Hamptons?

  Me: Yep. And you and I are going to be hitting the waves. Though the waves in Cali are better. Super lame.

  Aaron: I’ve got to go. Kim and me are going to hit the waves.

  Me: Have I been replaced?

  Aaron: NEVER! Nobody will ever replace my Char ;) Love you!

  Me: Love you too!

  “Who are you texting?” my dad asks.

  I roll my eyes. Mom never asked who I was texting. “Not that it’s any of your business, but I’m texting my best friend. Aaron.”

  “Maybe you’ll make some new friends here,” he says. “Tomorrow we are going to go meet with your new headmistress. She’s going to go over your class schedule with you.”

  “Goody.” Sarcasm is heavy in my voice.

  My life officially sucks.

  My dad lives on the Upper East Side in a penthouse. It’s close to Central Park, which is nice. At least there is some green in New York. I plan on spending a lot of time there.

  The limo comes to a stop in front of the building that I know as my dad’s penthouse. A doorman comes and opens the door for me. After helping me out, he grabs my bags from the back.

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss York. Mr. York, good to have you back.” He bows to us like we’re freaking royalty.