by L B Pavlov
“I love this picture,” I said, staring at it.
“So do I,” he said softly. “There’s one more thing under the frame,” he added.
I looked down and saw a CD case. It had a label on the cover that read: Charlotte’s Web—Audio by: Daniel Hollingsworth. “If you’re at school and you need to have me read to you, you can just put on your headset,” he said sweetly.
I couldn’t believe it. He had recorded himself reading the entire book. It was the nicest thing anyone had ever done for me, and it must have taken him hours. I gave him a huge hug.
“Thank you, Daniel, I can’t believe you did this. I love this so much!” I exclaimed, my eyes watering from the sentiment. He was very proud of himself, I could tell. Daniel loved to give surprises, and this was a good one. I hopped in his lap and hugged him some more. He hugged me back and then scooted me back on the bed, reaching over to grab one more present.
“There’s one more, you’re not done yet,” he said, chuckling.
The next gift was a smaller box. I opened it to reveal a pink satin, square box. When I lifted the lid, what was inside took my breath away. It was the most beautiful charm bracelet that I had ever seen. It was a gorgeous silver, looped bracelet with several charms dangling from it. I pulled it out of the box to examine it. The first charm I saw was a little spiderweb that was covered in teeny tiny rhinestones. Amazed, I asked, “How did you find this one?”
“I had it made. I designed each charm just for you,” he said proudly.
I had one hand on my heart, as if to calm myself, as I examined each charm. There was a little pink, diamond heart, a silver running shoe, a red “S” covered in small red rhinestones to represent Stanford, a green leprechaun to represent Notre Dame, a pink, rhinestone “C,” which I loved, and a silver “D,” which I was staring at.
“I didn’t want to rhinestone my initial. I hope that’s OK,” he laughed.
“I love it, it’s perfect,” I said, my voice cracking.
The next charm was a tiny evergreen tree with tiny green rhinestones on it. “That’s our tree that I have climbed a whole lot lately,” he explained.
I loved this bracelet so much. I gave him a huge hug, and then I fell back on my bed and stared at each charm again, taking in all the detail and the thought.
“I love you,” I said softly.
“I love you, too,” he said back.
That was by far the best Christmas I had ever had.
Christmas break felt too short. When school started back up, Charlotte resumed training with her team, and then the weeks really flew by. I missed running with her, but her training had increased so much that I had been riding my bike next to her a lot the last few weeks before she rejoined her team. I couldn’t run sixty-five miles a week. That was way out of my league, and I didn’t like her running alone.
I kept busy by attending all of Charlotte’s track meets. She seemed to be getting better every week. She really had a gift, and people in the stands would watch, flabbergasted, as she continued to go undefeated all season once again. I spent a lot of time watching the races with her dad, and my parents came to watch her often as well. When her brothers came home to see her race, it was the best.
James and I had decided to room together when I got to school in the fall, and I was very glad that I wouldn’t have to have a roommate whom I didn’t know. All of Charlotte’s brothers were guys that I considered close friends, so I was always happy when they were home.
I had also gotten to know Edward and Jacob during track season while they were out supporting their girlfriends as well. They were good guys, and we planned to go to prom as a big group. I knew that Sean and Gomez would like them because they were cool guys.
Katrina George was not getting much press coverage anymore. I thought that it was much more peaceful for Charlotte to not have the big build-up for the state meet. Katrina was not running great times this season, so I thought she had learned it may not be a good plan to promise things you can’t deliver, and besides, I didn’t think Charlotte was giving her a lot of thought.
I was happy that Charlotte had put her worries to rest about taking the next step in our relationship. I hated that Blane had made her feel insecure about that for a little while. I would have loved to get a minute alone with that guy. He had been prosecuted as an adult, and he was given a lot of community service hours and counseling. It turned out that it was not Blane’s first sexual assault offense, so he was on house arrest as well. I was glad that we never had to see him again, and I heard that his family was going to take him back to California as soon as the courts approved an out-of-state move.
I really always wanted to do the right thing by Charlotte, and I never wanted her to feel pressured about sex. I loved her, and I was willing to wait as long as she needed me to. But waiting was definitely challenging for both of us, and maintaining restraint was a constant battle for us both. I knew she wasn’t ready, though, and she did too, so one of us always came to our senses.
Her track season was going by quickly. I was so glad that the weather was warming up, and everyone was ready for spring. I was also looking forward to taking Charlotte to prom. Getting her to find a dress would be a whole other issue. She was actually talking about what kind of dress she wanted to find, so that was a good sign. Hopefully Kathleen and Steph could help her feel more comfortable about finding something special.
I was spending more time with Sean, Gomez, and a bunch of other friends lately too. Charlotte had practice every day, so we would go play pool or football at the park, or we would just hang out until I had to pick her up. Sean and Gomez were going out of state for college, so I would probably only see them when they came home for school breaks. I would miss those guys for sure, but that was nothing compared to how I was feeling about being separated from Charlotte.
As the reality grew closer, I dreaded it more and more. She was very anxious about it, and she suddenly seemed less excited about Stanford. I knew that Stanford had been the plan for her since she was a little girl, but she was nervous, which was understandable. She had never been away from home, and I think the idea of going alone was overwhelming for her. I tried not to talk about it too much, and I tried to just make the best of the time we had together right now.
When I pulled up to pick her up from track practice, I watched her run her cool down with her team. She was smiling and laughing. I thought back to a week ago, April 17, which was my birthday. Charlotte had been very mysterious about a big surprise she had in store for me.
She had taken me out to the lake. It was a Sunday afternoon, and she had convinced her dad’s partner to let her borrow his boat. I don’t think it took a lot of convincing. He had offered it to all of the Ford kids several times, but Jack Sr. had never allowed anyone to use it until then. He refused to let her take it out alone with me, so his partner enlisted the boat’s caretaker to drive us around all afternoon. That way we could water ski and go tubing behind the boat.
Charlotte had packed a huge picnic basket, and Lenora had baked all sorts of desserts to bring along. It was one of the best days that I had ever had. We were out on the lake until 10:00 p.m., when Jack Sr. called to say it was time to head home. It was a great birthday!
A bunch of guys on my team had taken me out the night before to celebrate my birthday, and Sean had a big poker game at his house after. Girls were not included in our guys’ night, but Charlotte was happy that I was celebrating with my friends. She liked them all a lot, and they all thought I was a lucky guy to have such a cool girlfriend. I think she was exhausted from all of her races and training and was happy to have a night to catch up on sleep. I was finally eighteen, and time was moving too fast for me.
“Hey there!” she called, walking up to the truck.
I jumped out of the truck to open her door, and she fell into my arms and gave me a big hug. “Hey, beautiful!” I said, giving her a big kiss. “How was practice?”
“It was great! We are running some tough rep
eats these next two weeks, and then we start winding down. I can’t believe we only have four more weeks until state,” she said excitedly.
“Have you decided what you’re going to run in state yet?” I asked. She ran different events from week to week but usually didn’t run all four events in the big meets.
“Well, Coach Miroballi feels like this is my year. He wants me to go for it. We are talking about doing all four events in state this year,” she said cautiously.
“Do you think that’s too much?” I asked, concerned.
“Not really. I mean, I’d like to run good times, and of course I would like to finish out my senior year getting first in my events, but it will definitely be a big challenge if I run four events. But the way it’s spread out over two days, I think it may be possible,” she said hesitantly.
“Well, if anyone can do it, it’s you!” I said, squeezing her leg, and she squealed.
“Thanks, we’ll see. We have time to decide. I will do whatever Coach Miroballi wants me to do. I trust him one hundred percent.”
“What will Katrina run?” I asked.
“Most likely the sixteen-hundred-meter and thirty-two-hundred-meter with me. Her times aren’t great so far this season, but there are still four weeks left, so I’ll have to see what she does. I don’t think she’ll do the eight-hundred-meter with me, or the four times eight-hundred-meter relay that I’m for sure doing. She isn’t much of a relay girl!” she said, laughing.
“Why doesn’t she do the relays?” I asked, curious.
“Katrina wouldn’t use her energy when it’s not for herself individually, but it’s actually my favorite event. You’re counting on three other girls, and you’re trying your best to win together. It’s much more rewarding, actually,” she said, beaming.
“Katrina and Blane would have made a nice pair,” I said, laughing.
She laughed with me as we pulled in the driveway.
“So, have you thought about prom dresses, Miss Ford? You only have three weeks till the dance, and you’re not getting out of this,” I said, smiling at her.
“I’m going with Kathleen and Steph this weekend, and I wouldn’t dream of getting out of spending a night with you,” she said with a flirtatious and tempting smile that always caused my heart to race.
I leaned over and kissed her. Before I knew it, she was in my lap, kissing me back. We were both panting as our tongues had found one another, and her hands were tangled in my hair. My hands were traveling down her back. My cell phone rang, and we both jumped. We stared at each other and laughed, realizing that it was still light outside and anyone could be watching us.
The problem that Charlotte and I were having was that a simple kiss was turning into a heated, panting, wandering hands, make-out session within seconds now. It was becoming more and more difficult to turn things off when we were together, and we were desperately trying to keep things from progressing. Too say it was challenging would be an understatement.
She jumped off my lap. “Sorry, I don’t know how that happened. You are becoming more difficult for me to resist every day,” she said shyly.
“Well then, I’d stop biting that lip right now if you want me to resist you as well,” I said, leaning over her and gently tugging her bottom lip with my teeth to release it. She moaned as I reached over her to open her door.
“I think we need to get out of this truck now, we have an audience,” I said, laughing.
She sat up and looked through the windshield to see four little neighborhood boys gawking at us.
“Oh. My. Gosh. This is so embarrassing,” she said, and we both laughed.
chapter 10
the petite bosom
Prom dress shopping would be challenging, but being with Kathleen and Steph made it tons more fun. I was going to miss them so much next year. We had already made plans for them to visit me in California next year. They were both going to Indiana State University, and I was so envious that they would get to be together. But we were close, and we would stay close. I would come home for every vacation if it were possible.
“OK, Charlie, we are all three leaving with a dress today, got it?” Steph said, laughing.
“I know you two will find one easily because everything looks so good on both of you,” I said, “but I will look like a twelve-year-old playing dress-up in these gowns,” I lamented, shrugging my shoulders.
Steph was a beautiful girl, and she oozed sex appeal. She had shoulder-length, blonde hair that was always styled or slicked back off her gorgeous face. She had bright, blue eyes and great cheekbones. Steph was the most stylish dresser that I knew. Fashion was her hobby, and she always looked amazing. She also had a figure that filled clothes out perfectly.
Kathleen was an absolute classic beauty. She also had gorgeous, big, blue eyes set against beautiful, porcelain skin topped off with long, wavy, auburn hair. Kathleen looked amazing in anything she put on as well. I was jealous of how she looked in clothing, especially when we were prom dress shopping. They both had perfect figures for every gown they put on, and I was drowning in everything I tried on. I did not have a lot “upstairs,” but the sales lady liked to call that “a petite bosom,” which made Kathleen and Steph fall over laughing.
“Great,” I laughed, “do you have any gowns for petite bosoms?”
Steph found a sexy, black, fitted gown with spaghetti straps. It clung to her shape all the way down to the floor, and it had black rhinestones across her “non-petite bosom.” I wondered what it must be like to look that good in a dress like that. She had found her dress quickly and announced, “This is it. This is exactly what I want. Fave will love it!” she crowed proudly.
We all laughed and agreed that she had found the right dress. Kathleen and I continued to search while Steph gave us a thumbs up or a thumbs down. Kathleen found a beautiful, sapphire-blue, satin gown. It sat off the shoulders and had a fitted bodice with a full, floor-length skirt. She looked like a regal princess. I got teary-eyed just looking at her in that gown. Steph squealed with excitement, and Kathleen turned to look at me. “Charlie, do you like it?” she asked, smiling encouragingly at me.
I gazing at my gorgeous friend and said, “You have never looked more beautiful. Edward is going to be speechless.,”
“That’s what I wanted to hear. I’m done,” she announced, satisfied.
I was about to try on one more dress that was clearly going to be “wearing me” when I saw a dress out of the corner of my eye that made me gasp out loud. Steph and Kathleen turned to see what had caught my eye as I rushed over.
“What are these?” I asked the sales lady.
I was holding one hand over my chest to keep the dress I was currently wearing on my body.
“Oh, those are vintage gowns, honey. They are one of a kind, but they only come in whatever size you see them in,” she said nervously, obviously assuming that they wouldn’t fit my misfit body, “and you are going to pay quite a bit more for them because we pay full price for them. They aren’t replicated,” she added.
“We understand,” Kathleen snapped at her, obviously annoyed by her constantly pointing out that nothing was going to fit me.
“Which one do you like?” Steph asked eagerly.
I pulled it off the rack. It was an off-white, strapless gown. It was satin and form-fitted down to the hips, where it met an overlay of tulle to create a full, princess-style bottom. It was breathtaking. Even Steph and Kathleen were impressed, and at the exact same time they both said, “That is SO you,” and we all laughed.
“May I try this one on?” I inquired.
My pulse quickened. I had never gotten this excited over clothes before, but that dress was so feminine and so beautiful. It was exactly what I wanted. Oh, please, please let this fit, I pleaded. I slipped into it, and there it was: a perfect, beautiful potato sack. I felt tears filling my eyes. I loved this dress so much, and it was everything that I wanted.
I was so disappointed. Steph whipped the curtain open and said, “
Ooooohhhhhh, nooooo! It’s too big, Charlie. I’m sorry.” She turned and said, “Excuse me! Are you certain you can’t get this in a smaller size somewhere? She needs this dress!” Steph demanded.
I wiped my eyes and reminded myself that this was just a dress, and it wasn’t that tragic. I was obviously just frustrated, and I was sick of shopping.
“No, honey, but let me take her measurements because that way we can call around and get some gowns in her size brought in,” she said eagerly.
I stood in my bra and panties while she proceeded to measure every part of my body.
“My, you sure are a petite little thing, honey, but you’re well-proportioned. You just need a smaller size, and that’s not such a bad thing,” she said sweetly, noticing how disappointed I was over the dreamy gown that didn’t fit.
“Thank you,” I said softly.
“Let me make some calls and get your number, and I will see what I can get in here by next weekend for you to come try on. They won’t be vintage though because I can’t order those in specific sizes, but I will find you some good choices. Does that sound OK, sweetie?” she finished with a kind smile.
“OK, thank you,” I said quietly.
I gave her my phone number and got dressed. I was done trying on gowns for today. Steph and Kathleen were excited about their dresses, but they felt bad that I hadn’t found one. I was thrilled for them that they had found such beautiful dresses, and they would both look amazing.
“It’s not that big of a deal. Maybe Daniel will let me skip the dance now,” I laughed.
“No way!” they both exclaimed.
“Let’s go get some lunch, and maybe we can fill out that petite bosom of yours with some Mexican food,” Steph said, and we all burst out laughing.
