Smile Like You Mean It (Charlotte Reynolds Book 1)

by Willow Hadley

  When I pull up in front of their house, I feel nauseous from how stupidly nervous I am. I pull out my phone and text Charlotte to let her know I’m here, and I slowly get out of the truck and walk up to the front door. I wish I could just wait outside, but that would make me look like such a fucking coward.

  Arthur answers the door a few seconds after I knock. “Hey, Elliot! Come on in. You know you don’t have to knock.”

  I smile gratefully and shrug. I normally would walk right in, but he obviously doesn’t know Sebastian’s mad at me. Not seeing Charlotte or Sebastian when I quickly scan the open living room and kitchen, I awkwardly shuffle my feet near the front door and smile over at Arthur.

  “So, whatcha got planned for tonight?” I sound like an idiot as usual.

  Arthur walks into the kitchen and opens the fridge, staring into it like he’s completely lost. “Nothing really. I guess I’ll have to figure out something to do for dinner. It’s sad that I’ve gotten so used to Charlotte’s cooking after such a short amount of time.”

  I honestly have no idea how Arthur and Sebastian survived as long as they did without cooking. But I just laugh. “Yeah, she’s pretty awesome.”

  I hear somebody upstairs and perk up, thinking it’s Charlotte. But Sebastian comes into the living room first and gives me an icy glare. He turns his head to make sure Arthur’s not looking at us, and flips me off as he falls back onto the couch. My stomach drops and all I can do is stare at him. I fucking hate that my best friend is so angry at me!

  I feel so guilty that I’m about a second away from inviting him to come out with us, but I’m distracted when Charlotte calls out to me from the staircase. “Sorry, Elliot. I was finishing my hair and didn’t see your text until just a second ago.”

  I look up and smile as soon as I see her. And just like every other time I’ve seen her, she looks so beautiful that it feels like I’ve been punched in the stomach. “It’s okay, gorgeous. You ready to go?”

  She nods, and Arthur shoots me a weird look and clears his throat. His eyes are still on me even though he’s speaking to her. “Just remember that your curfew is eleven, and you have an appointment with Dr. Collins tomorrow at ten. Okay?”

  Charlotte glances sideways at me and frowns at her uncle. It’s so hard to tell what she’s thinking unless she’s laughing or smiling, but I hope she’s not embarrassed about seeing a therapist, especially not in front of me. She nods at him in acknowledgment and says goodbye to him and Sebastian. Sebastian doesn’t look up from the TV, which really pisses me off. I get him being mad at me, but he doesn’t need to blow her off too.

  Arthur gives me another weird, slightly panicked look when Charlotte grabs my hand and starts pulling me out the front door. But he just says, “Be safe and have fun!”

  Once we’re outside, I walk around the side of the truck to open the passenger door for Charlotte. When I’m backing out of the driveway a couple of minutes later, Charlotte turns and grins mischievously at me.

  “Are you ready to finally hear what movie we’re seeing?”

  I bark out a laugh and shake my head at her. She’s been pretty smug the past couple of days about making me watch some supposedly ‘super girly movie’ but I didn’t see anything on Fandango that put me off too much. “Let’s hear it.”

  “So, I looked it up and there’s this old theater downtown that shows plays and old movies. Tonight, they’re showing Pride and Prejudice. The one with Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen!”

  My gut clenches. I completely forgot about that theater, even though I used to go there all the time with my mom and siblings when I was younger. I try not to think about them very often because it hurts too much.

  “Elliot? Are you okay?” Charlotte whispers, and places her hand delicately on my arm.

  I shake the stupid deer-in-headlights look off my face and turn to smile at her. “Sorry, gorgeous. I just can’t believe you managed to find something that girly for us to see. Guess I shouldn’t underestimate you, huh?”

  Charlotte gives me a long look and quietly says, “We don’t have to go to that theater if you don’t want to. It’s not a big deal, really.”

  The sick feeling I get whenever I think about my mom lessens, and I glance sideways to smile at the stunning girl beside me. I have no idea how she picked up on that and saw through my bullshit response, but I can’t even begin to tell her how much I appreciate it. I knew she and I were meant to be friends.

  I grab her hand and thread my fingers through hers. “No, we can go. I was being stupid before, but that theater’s actually pretty cool. I should have known it would be the sort of place you’d like. There’s this really cool 1950s diner down the street from there, if you wanna get something to eat first.”

  She squeezes my hand and hesitantly asks, “Are you sure?”

  I know she won’t question me or push me to talk about it, even if I tell her I really don’t want to go. I squeeze her hand back and grin. “Of course. We still get to hold hands during the movie, right?”

  Chapter Twenty

  Elliot continues to tease and flirt until we reach downtown and find a parking space. I’m just glad he’s being his usual self because he seemed pretty upset when he first picked me up. I really hope he’s not still feeling badly and trying to cover it up.

  On the sidewalk, Elliot takes my hand, and I pretend the action doesn’t give me a fluttery feeling in my stomach. He’s always touchy and affectionate. Most of the guys are. I should be getting used to it.

  “We have to walk past the diner on our way to the theater, so we’ll stop there first. What time does the movie start?”

  It starts at seven-thirty. Elliot gives me one of his wolfish grins and drops my hand, instead choosing to wrap his arm around my shoulders. “Good, we’ve got plenty of time then!”

  Since I’m wearing wedges, I’m only a few inches shorter than him, and it feels nice. I need to figure out something to say before I start thinking too hard about just how nice it feels. “What did you do after you left the gym?”

  Elliot smiles down at me. “Nothing really. My step-mom gave me about a million chores to do. Most of them were stupid and made-up. She needed an excuse to mess with me, and that’s always the easiest way to go about it. She fucking loves to tell my dad that I’m disrespecting her by not helping out around the house, earning my share or whatever.”

  “What? That’s horrible!” I furrow my eyebrows and shake my head angrily. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t worry about it, gorgeous.” Elliot squeezes my shoulder and kisses the top of my head. Despite all the hand holding and flirting, it catches me off guard and I feel myself blushing. Elliot continues on, totally casual. “What about you? Was Sebastian a dick to you pretty much all day?”

  Now I feel guilty on top of being flustered. “I really didn’t talk to him much, honestly. As soon as I got home, I took a shower and fell asleep. I got up just in time to start getting ready for tonight, but I think he’s still pretty upset.”

  “Yeah, that’s my fault. I should have told him and the guys I’d asked you to hang out. I feel like such an asshole.”

  I tilt my head back to frown at him. “No, you’re not. Don’t be ridiculous! Sebastian’s being obnoxious about the whole thing, and it’s not fair. He and I get to hang out every night without you guys.”

  Elliot shrugs while still holding onto me. “Seb has a short temper. When he’s jealous or mad, it’s hard for him to think rationally. It’s still my fault. I knew he’d be like that, and I should have told him. Me and the guys, well, we really do tell each other everything.”

  There’s yet another reason to never ever let myself fall for any of these guys. If Sebastian is this mad about me hanging out with Elliot, I can’t even imagine how he’d react if this was a real date. If I ever came between them or ruined their friendship, I would never forgive myself.

  I lean against Elliot and smile up at him. “I know you guys will make up. But seriously, let’s talk about som
ething happy!”

  “Deal.” He chuckles.

  I’ve been paying more attention to him than to our surroundings, so I don’t realize we’re at the diner until Elliot stops and pulls the door open for me.

  Inside the diner, it’s loud and slightly chaotic. Elliot rubs my shoulder consolingly when I tense up and leads us over to the hostess stand where he asks for a booth. While the hostess leads us to our table, I take a good look around. It really does look like a diner straight out of the 1950s! The floors are black and white checkered, the tables are chrome and the seats are bright red vinyl, and there’s a jukebox in the corner playing an old Elvis Presley song.

  As I slide into our booth, I notice that there are quite a few kids our age in here right now. I feel nervous at the idea of meeting any more people I might go to school with, and I’m glad our table is near the back and not too close to any of theirs.

  When Elliot sits down right beside me and scoots extra close, I start giggling. I don’t even know why I’m surprised. Elliot’s always doing really cute, cheesy things like this. He throws his arm over the back of our booth behind me and gives me a wide grin.

  “So, something happy...” He hums obnoxiously for a second like he’s contemplating something serious for a moment. “What’s your favorite color?”

  I giggle again because he’s being so stupid and sounds so serious. “It’s red. What’s yours?”

  Elliot leans closer and stares deeply into my eyes. His mouth slowly quirks up on one side and he says, “Green, obviously.”

  “You’re such a dork.” I laugh and roll my eyes.

  We’re almost finished eating when our waitress comes over to bring us the check. Elliot and I have been talking pretty much non-stop, and I’ve barely stopped laughing the entire time I’ve been with him. Our waitress barely gets a word out before Elliot snatches the bill from her hand and waves it in front of my face, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively at me.

  I wait until the waitress walks away and raise an eyebrow at Elliot. “Is that supposed to be some secret signal that I should have picked up on?”

  Instead of being embarrassed by his behavior, Elliot grins and nods exuberantly. “Yeah, it means that I’m paying for our dinner.”

  I frown and lean away from him. “No, you’re not. We’re splitting it. I already double checked with Arthur that it was okay to use my debit card for tonight.”

  Elliot furrows his eyebrows like he’s confused. “But I’m the guy...”

  He looks so adorable that I can’t help but burst into giggles. “So what?” I’m about to remind him that this isn’t even a date, but the words stick in my mouth.

  Elliot keeps frowning, but seemingly shrugs it off and smiles as he reaches up to tug on a strand of my hair. He opens his mouth—to say something silly or flirty, I’m sure—but he’s cut off when two guys slide into our booth right across from us.

  I stare at them in shock, wiping the expression from my face without even thinking about it. Elliot raises his eyebrows at them like he’s dumbfounded, but he coughs and gives them both a small smile. I take notice that while it’s not necessarily a fake smile, it’s definitely not his real smile.

  “Hey, guys, what are you doing here?”

  The two guys are close to our age, and it’s clear Elliot knows them. They’re pretty broad and muscular, and they’re wearing identical grins on their faces as they glance back and forth between me and Elliot.

  “We’re here with a few of the guys from the team.” The first boy to speak has dark skin and eyes, and an incredibly deep voice.

  The other boy nods vaguely towards the other end of the diner and continues to smile at me. He has crazy-messy brown hair, brown eyes, and almost as many freckles on his face as Liam does. “Who are you? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you at school before.”

  I’m so relieved when Elliot intervenes and answers for me. “This is Charlotte. She just moved here a couple of weeks ago.” He turns to meet my eyes, and smiles more affectionately. “This is Zack and Ethan. They’re on the football team with me.”

  Zack, the freckled boy, smiles even wider when I meet his eyes. “Hey, nice to meet you!”

  Elliot leans closer and whispers quietly in my ear. “These two are pretty much the only guys I like on the team.”

  I decide that if Elliot likes them, I’ll try to make an effort to talk. So, I give the guys a small smile and quietly say, “Nice to meet you too.”

  Zack looks like he’s about a second away from shaking in excitement. “Where’d you move from, and why’d you move here? Do you like it so far? How’d you meet Elliot?”

  Ethan snorts and roughly elbows Zack in the side. “Holy shit, chill, dude! You’re going to freak her out.”

  Zack rolls his eyes and smirks. “She’s hanging out with Elliot. I’m sure she’s fine!”

  A giggle escapes from my mouth, and Elliot gives me a mock glare as he wraps his arm more tightly around me. “Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?”

  I smirk at Zack and then flutter my eyelashes innocently at Elliot. “Nothing, nothing at all.”

  The guys laugh, and Elliot answers Zack’s questions for me, which I definitely don’t mind. “Sebastian’s step-dad is Charlotte’s uncle, and she moved here to live with him. So, me and the guys met her together.”

  Ethan smiles genuinely and says, “That’s cool. I really hope you end up liking it around here.” He turns his head and does a double take when something catches his eye, and he stands up and walks towards a girl who’s headed over to our table. He picks her up around her waist and comes back over to our booth where he sits down with her in his lap, even though she’s squealing girlishly the entire time.

  “Oh my god, you’re such an idiot! I just came over to ask why you were taking so long!” The girl is ridiculously pretty with long red hair down to her waist, faint freckles across her nose, perfectly shaped brows, and brown eyes. She looks weirdly familiar for some reason, but there’s no way I could have met her before.

  Ethan has the biggest, dumbest boy-grin on his face now. “Charlotte, this is my girlfriend Olivia.”

  Elliot barks out a laugh, and I’m pleasantly surprised to see his usual wolfish smile form on his lips. “Aw, Queen Livvy! I didn’t know it was official! You guys are so cute together!”

  Olivia glares darkly at Elliot, and I realize why she looks so familiar to me. I gasp without thinking and grin at her like a lunatic. “You’re Liam’s twin sister!”

  Olivia blinks and raises her eyebrows like she’s noticing me for the first time. “You know Liam?”

  Zack laughs lightly, but he doesn’t sound nearly as happy or lively as he did before. I can’t help thinking that he almost looks a little sad, but he’s obviously trying to hide it. “Charlotte just moved here, and she’s made friends with Elliot’s and Liam’s group of misfits.”

  He doesn’t say it in a mean way, but it still makes me bristle. Elliot laughs, clearly not offended. “Yep, she’s our new best friend! It’s been fucking awesome.”

  Olivia leans back against Ethan, succumbing to sitting in his lap. She smiles excitedly at me and says, “That’s cute! What are you guys doing after this?”

  “We’re going to see Pride and Prejudice at that theater down the street from here.” To his credit, Elliot doesn’t sound embarrassed in the slightest.

  Ethan and Zack crack up, and Olivia raises her eyebrows again almost comically. Zack makes a show of wiping fake tears of laughter from his eyes and shakes his head at Elliot. “You are so fucking whipped already, dude! What the fuck!”

  Elliot shrugs and looks down at me with an adorable smile on his face. I give him a sly smirk in return and tell the others, “It’s his punishment for throwing me into the pool the other day and ruining my dress.”

  This causes them to laugh even more. Olivia’s eyes light up and she gives me an absolutely wicked smile. “Ooh, I definitely like you. That is hilarious!”

  Elliot chuckles. “It’s not really a
punishment when I get to spend time with the most gorgeous girl in the universe.”

  I can’t explain why exactly, but it’s different for Elliot to flirt with me like this in front of these people rather than just in front of the guys or when the two of us are alone. I can’t decide if I’m embarrassed or flattered, but I’m pretty sure I’m blushing, and there are definitely butterflies in my stomach.

  The moment is broken when Zack groans and rests his elbows on the table. “Damn. Looks like our fun is about to be ruined because Tim and Mike can’t mind their own business.”

  Ethan laughs and squints his eyes in amusement. “Dude, we came over here to spy on Elliot because we can’t mind our own business either.”

  Zack shrugs. “Yeah, but we’ve never seen Elliot out with a girl before. I was curious!”

  Olivia sighs and brushes her hair over her shoulder. “Charlotte, why are all men such idiots?”

  Normally, I’d agree with her sentiment wholeheartedly, but I’m having a hard time paying attention to my new acquaintances. I say a silent prayer that Zack is talking about a different Mike and Tim, but it’s no use. When I turn my head, I recognize the two assholes from the arcade.

  Mike glares at me as soon as they reach our table. I’m satisfied to see that there are still faint bruises under both his eyes and his nose is slightly crooked. “Not fucking Psycho Freak anymore, huh? Moved on to Spencer here already?” He turns his gaze to Elliot with a cruel smirk on his face. “Or is she fucking both of you now?”

  Elliot tenses up and squeezes my shoulder tightly. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a murderous look on his face before. I’m about to quietly suggest we just leave now. I really don’t care that this asshole is calling me names or talking shit about me, but I don’t want to get into another fight. Our night has been going so well up until now.

  Olivia slams her hands down onto the table and glares at Mike in outrage. “Excuse me? You can’t talk to her like that!”