Smile Like You Mean It (Charlotte Reynolds Book 1)

by Willow Hadley

  I’m happily surprised to see Elliot sitting with Remy at the table we’d taken over. They’re laughing quietly. It’s so easy to sneak up on them. I don’t try to make my presence known until I’m standing right beside the table.

  I raise one eyebrow and smirk at Elliot. “Stealing my seat, are you?”

  Elliot’s eyes light up and he grins wolfishly before reaching out to grab me around my waist. It surprises the hell out of me, and I’m too stunned to fight as he settles me on his lap.

  “There, now we’re sharing the seat, so I technically didn’t steal it.”

  I stare across the table at Remy with my mouth open in shock. Remy shakes his head and shrugs, but he’s smiling enough so that one of his dimples is showing.

  I furrow my eyebrows and turn my head so I can meet Elliot’s eyes. “Um, what are you doing?”

  Elliot sighs like he’s annoyed at having to explain himself. “I told you earlier this morning that we’re best friends.”

  I laugh in surprise. “What? No, you said we’re going to be best friends. And what does that have to do with me sitting in your lap?”

  He wraps his arms around my waist and rests his head on my shoulder so our faces are right next to each other. Surprisingly, it doesn’t feel that weird even though logically I know it is totally weird!

  “Yeah, but really we’re just best friends who don’t know each other yet. And I love to snuggle! It would be really weird if I snuggled with the other guys, so this is perfect!”

  Remy bursts out laughing and grins at Elliot. “Yeah, you’re definitely a moron.”

  I sigh in defeat, even though I’m honestly comfortable and more than happy to sit with him like this. “Where are Liam, Grayson, and Sebastian?”

  Elliot hums. “They’re still playing Mario Kart. I’ll deny this later, but they were really kicking my ass. I couldn’t take it anymore!”

  Remy and I laugh, and I curiously ask, “How much longer do you think they’ll play?”

  Remy shrugs and looks around the arcade. “Probably not much longer. It’s starting to get busier in here, so eventually someone will get pissed and kick them off so they can have a turn.”

  Elliot starts wiggling around and adjusting me on his lap. “Remy was smart to steal you away while we were distracted. I should have thought of that earlier so we could hang out by ourselves too.”

  He’s moving so much that I’m barely paying attention to what he’s saying. I’d have gotten down already if his arm wasn’t held so tightly around me. “You can put me down if I’m too heavy. It won’t hurt my feelings.”

  Elliot snorts and gives me an amused look. “You weigh practically nothing. I’m just trying to get my phone out of my pocket, but I was trying to figure out how to go about it without making it seem like I was trying to grab your ass.”

  I roll my eyes at him and giggle. He should have said something! It takes barely any effort for me to scoot sideways so he can grab his phone. Once I’m readjusted on his lap, he holds his phone up triumphantly and opens Snapchat.

  “We’re going to piss off Sebastian and take a bunch of selfies together!”

  Remy laughs and I stare at him before looking at Elliot through the phone screen. “Why would that piss him off?”

  Remy smirks and answers, “Because he’s a camera snob, and he hates it when we take pictures on our phones. And he’s taken so many pictures of us, it will totally offend him if we post any pictures we took ourselves. Especially with our phones.”

  I’m about to argue with them and say that’s mean, that maybe we shouldn’t be trying to irritate Sebastian. But then Elliot starts clicking the screen and different filters pop up. When the screen shows the two of us looking all sparkly with panda bear ears, I lose my resolve.

  “Ooh, what’s that?” I exclaim excitedly, and I’m totally already posing for the picture and wiggling my eyebrows.

  Elliot barks out a laugh. “Well, it certainly didn’t take much to convince you.”

  Remy’s laughing too, but I don’t care. “It’s so cute! Are there more like that?”

  Elliot nods, smiling at me through the camera on the phone. “Yeah, we’ll go through all of them if you want.”

  We spend the next few minutes taking a ton of pictures like that. Elliot is so goofy that it’s super easy to be silly with him, and I’m having a ton of fun. Remy laughs and teases us, but I don’t mind at all. In the middle of our mini photo shoot, Elliot’s phone starts ringing.

  It’s a girl’s name. Victoria. My mind jumps to the conclusion that she’s his girlfriend or maybe a girl he likes, and I get super tense. If he has a girlfriend, why didn’t he tell me? And if that’s the case, I definitely shouldn’t be sitting in his lap like this.

  Elliot groans. “Sorry, it’s my stepmom.”

  I’m praying my face is blank so he can’t see how relieved I am. It shouldn’t matter, but I feel bad for feeling happy when I see Remy grimace.

  Elliot gives me an apologetic look and says, “Sorry, I’ve gotta step outside for a second to talk to her.”

  “Yeah, sure,” I say quietly as I hop off of his lap.

  He answers the phone and gives me a quick side hug before walking out of the arcade with an annoyed look on his face. I wait until he’s out of sight before turning to face Remy.

  He stands up and smiles. “Do you want to walk around now?”

  I nod and follow him closely, weaving in between all of the games. He was right when he said it’s getting busier. There are a lot more kids and teens in here now than when we first arrived. When somebody runs by us, Remy pulls me against him like he did earlier so I don’t get bumped into.

  Even when the area is clear, he keeps his arm around me and smiles. I still feel nervous having his artist eyes on me, but I definitely feel a lot closer to him after our conversation earlier. Before I start getting used to him, Elliot, or the other guys touching me like this, I need to ask...

  “Remy, um...”

  His hand on my shoulder tenses and he nervously asks, “Yeah? What’s wrong?”

  I fidget with my glasses until I manage to meet his eyes and mumble, “Do you have a girlfriend?”

  He stops walking and beams down at me, both dimples showing. It takes him a couple of seconds to answer, but he sounds so happy when he does. “No, I don’t. Do you have a boyfriend? Or did you have a boyfriend back in Durham?”

  “No!” I exclaim, more flustered than ever. When Remy chuckles, I grimace and figure I might as well get it all out of the way so I only have to be embarrassed once. “And the other guys?”

  Remy rubs my shoulder lightly and his smile turns more amused. “Nah, none of us have girlfriends or anything close to it.”

  I smile at him, even though I’m mortified at how clearly relieved I am. “Okay, um, good!”

  We pass by Mario Kart where Grayson, Sebastian, and Liam are still playing. There’s a group of kids a couple years younger than us standing by angrily, and Grayson looks like he’s arguing with them even though his eyes are still glued to the game.

  Remy laughs. “Yeah, they’re totally about to get kicked off.”

  “Should we stick around to watch?” I giggle.

  “Nah.” He pulls me away, still laughing. “They’ll find us in a few minutes.”

  We keep walking around and talking. There’s a bunch of different claw machines lined up against the wall towards the back of the arcade, and that’s where we end up while we’re waiting for the other guys to finish playing. You have to put actual money in them to play, unlike most of the other games here.

  Remy catches me looking and gives me a teasing smirk. “You want me to win a teddy bear for you?”

  I smirk back at him and tease, “I could totally win my own teddy bear if I wanted to.”

  “Yeah.” He leans his arm against the glass while my back is pressed against the machine. “You could, but what if I want to win one for you?”

  Okay, it definitely feels like he’s flirting with me n
ow. But even though he’s super cute and there are butterflies in my stomach, I don’t want to do something stupid and ruin anything before I’ve had a chance to make real friendships with these guys. Besides, I could be wrong and he might just be playing around with me the way the other guys have been.

  Before I can figure out how I should respond, Remy is yanked away from me and shoved roughly against the glass of the claw machine beside me. I’m so shocked that I can’t do anything except stare at him. His glasses are askew and his lip is bleeding.

  “Hey, psycho freak!”

  My gaze snaps over to the guy who’s holding Remy against the glass. He’s tall and muscular with short sandy blond hair and a cruel smirk on his face. There’s another guy next to him who’s on the shorter side and husky with broad shoulders and tawny brown hair. He’s standing there snickering.

  The blond speaks again, still shoving Remy. “I’m surprised they let you in here.”

  The brown-haired boy turns his head and sees me, and he grins broadly. “Well, well. Psycho freak found himself a girlfriend!”

  Remy’s not reacting. He’s gone deathly still, but his icy eyes are murderous. I can feel anger bubbling up inside of me. I don’t know what the fuck these guys think they’re doing, but I’m pretty sure I’m about to freak out.

  The blond’s eyes land on me, and I’m careful to keep my expression blank. He smirks, letting his gaze run over my body, before stepping closer and leaning over me against the machine. “Hey, you’re actually not too bad looking. Maybe if you lost the glasses. What do you say you ditch psycho over here and hang out with me instead?” He brings his hand up and caresses my cheek with his thumb. “I’m sure I can show you a good time.”

  Remy growls and shoves him away from me. “Don’t fucking touch her.”

  The blond’s eyes gleam with satisfaction. That’s the reaction he was hoping for, I’m sure. I slowly clench my fist, letting my anger build up more and more. The blond shoves Remy into the claw machine again and the other guy holds him there.

  I wait until the blond guy steps in front of me again with a smirk still on his face. I let him tilt my chin up and brush his disgusting finger over my bottom lip. I’m trying to wait for the perfect moment to hit him, but it’s like my vision goes red and I just react.

  I punch him in the face, hearing a satisfying crunching noise that makes me think I might have broken his nose. Before he has time to react or bring a hand up to his face, I punch him in the stomach hard enough that he falls to his knees.

  He whimpers and looks up at me, one hand over his nose trying to stop the blood flow. He screeches, “What the fuck!?”

  He uses one of his hands to brace himself against the floor, so I walk a few feet forward and step on his fingers with one of my wedges. I make sure to dig my foot in hard enough that he can’t pull away, even when he cries out and starts struggling.

  Leaning down so that he can hear me clearly, I keep my voice quiet and cold. “You will never fucking touch me or my friends again.”

  His face goes paler than he was before and he stares up at me with true fear in his eyes. I’m so focused on him that I don’t notice his friend coming over to push me away until Remy shoves him back and snarls.

  “Don’t even think about fucking touching her, you piece of shit.”

  Remy’s arm wraps around my waist, and he pulls me back several feet, holding me against his chest. The brown-haired guy helps his friend up, shaking his head at me with complete shock on his face.

  “You psycho fucking bitch!”

  I keep my face blank, not giving away any of my emotions. The two guys start making their way out of the arcade, only looking back at us once. It takes a few seconds for me to notice Liam, Sebastian, Grayson, and Elliot standing off to the side with horrified expressions on their faces.

  Sebastian steps in front of me, frantically looking back and forth between me and Remy while he waves his hand next to my face. He hisses, “What the fuck happened?”

  Liam looks around. There aren’t any other onlookers and we’re tucked back in the corner away from most of the activity of the arcade. “Ask questions later. We need to leave before management finds out and we get banned.”

  Now that the moment is over, dread is pooling in my stomach. God, I really am a psycho bitch. It’s not even the first time I’ve been called that. What is wrong with me? I know those guys were messing with Remy, but, oh my god, I shouldn’t have done that. I can feel myself starting to panic. I didn’t even last a full week with Arthur! What is he going to say? What is Anne going to say when she realizes she’ll have to find somewhere else for me to go again?

  Remy gently pushes me towards the other guys and starts digging in his pocket. “I need to win her a teddy bear first.”

  Grayson puts his arm around me and pulls me close to his side. Sebastian stares at Remy like he’s grown three heads and says, “Are you serious? We don’t have time for that shit right now!”

  Remy snarls at him, his eyes more intense than ever. “I said I’m winning her a fucking teddy bear first, alright?”

  Nobody says a word. It’s extremely quiet and tense as we watch Remy stuff a dollar into the machine and play. It only takes him a minute before he bends down and pulls a stuffed toy out of the prize slot. He hands it to me, and I grab it from him without looking at it. I’m trying to hold myself together even though I am seriously freaking out right now.

  Elliot breaks the silence and grins at the toy in my hands. “Hate to break it to you, Remy, but that’s not a bear. It’s a lion.”

  Grayson laughs and rubs his hand over my shoulder. “Dude, I can’t believe you got it on your first try!”

  Elliot chuckles. “Yeah, it would have been pretty embarrassing if we all had to sit here for like a half hour while you spent all your money and we waited for you to win Charlotte a stuffed animal.”

  Sebastian sighs in frustration and waves his hands around animatedly. “Please shut the fuck up! Let’s just go!”

  We don’t waste any time. I’m so thankful Grayson’s arm is still around me, because I can focus my energy on trying not to cry instead of figuring out where the exit is. As soon as we’re outside and have walked down the street bit, Sebastian comes up on my other side and gently grabs my hand.

  “Are you alright?” His eyes run over my hand worriedly. There’s blood on my knuckles, but it’s not mine. I can’t believe how concerned Sebastian sounds, and when he meets my eyes I nearly burst into tears. “Your hand was just starting to heal from your bruises before.”

  Oh my god, he’s worried about my hand? I let out a hysterical giggle, and it quickly turns into a sob. I put my hand up to shield my face and turn away from the guys. I don’t want them to see me cry!

  Someone strokes their hand over my hair. I’m not sure if it’s Grayson or Sebastian, or maybe one of the other boys. But Grayson’s arm is still around me, and it honestly makes me feel worse because I totally don’t deserve to be comforted right now.

  Grayson speaks softly, making me think he’s the one touching my hair. “Charlotte, it’s alright. Those guys are huge assholes. I saw them start the fight, and they’re always fucking with us at school. You have nothing to feel bad about!”

  I take a few seconds to try and compose myself, but my voice still comes out so quiet, I’ll be surprised if he can even hear me.

  “Arthur’s going to make me leave now. I didn’t even make it through the week. He’s going to send me back, I just know it...”

  The hand on the back of my head goes still, and Grayson’s arm around me tenses up. “What? That’s not true. No way is that going to happen!” When the other guys freak out and ask him what I said, Grayson exclaims, “She thinks Arthur’s going to send her away or some shit!”

  Elliot’s suddenly right in my face, smiling softly. “Aw, Charlotte, this is seriously not a big deal at all! Arthur won’t even find out about it. And if he does, trust me, he’s dealt with a lot worse shit from us.”


  Sebastian nods, his eyes still frantic and worried. “Yeah, I can’t even tell you how many fights I’ve been in! Arthur’s had to bail me out of jail before, for fuck’s sake.”

  Grayson laughs. “He’s dealt with every one of us after getting into a fight or doing something stupid. Every time, he just sighs in disappointment and rub his temples.” He deepens his voice, like he’s mocking Arthur now. “Not again, you guys...”

  Elliot grabs my elbow since I’m still holding my stuffed animal and Sebastian’s holding my other hand. “Even if Arthur finds out, we’ve totally got your back and nothing bad is going to happen, I swear to god! Seriously, it’s incredibly unlikely those guys are going to say anything. They’re on the football team with me, unfortunately, and they’re huge pussies. There’s no way in hell Mike’s ever going to admit he got his ass kicked by a girl, especially one as tiny and cute as you are. And Tim does whatever Mike says, so he won’t say anything either.”

  I can feel myself slowly calming down and I let out a long breath. I want to believe them so badly. There’s really nothing I can do, except wait to see if something will happen. But even if Arthur does find out and gets mad at me, I’m so grateful that the guys are being this sweet and that they’re so willing to defend me. When I look up at Liam, he gives me a warm smile. Remy’s standing about a foot away from the rest of us, and he’s frowning angrily.

  As soon as our eyes meet, he sighs. “It’s my fault. You wouldn’t have even been in that situation if it weren’t for me.”

  “What?” I squeak, shocked that he would blame himself for this at all.

  Grayson sighs and rubs his hand on my shoulder lightly as he starts pulling me down the street. “Dude, don’t be ridiculous. Let’s go get Charlotte some ice cream before we leave downtown.”

  Nobody argues as the other guys follow closely behind us. Liam curiously asks, “Okay, but what the hell happened exactly? Grayson found you guys first, but the rest of us didn’t walk up until right before Charlotte punched Mike.”

  Elliot tugs on a strand of my hair and grins when I turn around to look at him. “Which was pretty fucking hot, by the way.”