Thank you, Charlie! At least it wasn’t just me who thought the idea was totally bonkers.
Theo: If the bf hates you, he’ll hate you more if you’re holding her hand bc it means you’re not going away anytime soon. VERY threatening to his territory.
I rolled my eyes, feeling that claustrophobia again at the thought of me and/or my mom being Scott’s “territory.”
Charlie: Okay—that would definitely make the guy lose his shit. BUT. Odds are good he’ll just say no to me going.
Scott would say that.
Nekesa: Bailey and I were going to drive out after work tomorrow and meet them. So basically he won’t know you’re coming until you get there, and he can’t say no if you’re already in Colorado.
Was I—Bailey, who doesn’t let others cut in line—ballsy enough to just show up with him? Could I be? Did I want to be?
Charlie: That will definitely add to the tension, holy shit.
And that’s when I chimed in with: DEFINITELY. HOLY SHIT.
Theo: Bailey’s here!
Charlie: Even though it’s HOLY SHIT, I’ll do it if you want me to, Bay.
I squeaked in disbelief—or anxiousness or nervousness—because this idea felt like something that might actually happen.
And I wasn’t sure if I wanted it to or not.
Nekesa: DO ITTTTT I’m dying to hear what happens.
I texted: You’d seriously give up a few days of break? And pretend to be my boyfriend???
Seemed like a really big ask.
Theo: He’d pretend to loooooove you.
“Shut up, Theo,” I muttered to no one in the darkness.
Nekesa: You’re such an idiot. ;)
Charlie: I’d be in Colorado—that’s a big old HELL YES from me.
My phone started ringing—Charlie—and I answered with, “But he’ll probably be a dick to you the whole time.”
“I can handle it,” Charlie said, his voice gravelly like he’d been sleeping before the call.
“Hmmm.” I seriously didn’t know what to do. On paper, what Nekesa/Charlie/Theo were proposing could potentially help my Scott dilemma and make the weekend fun(ish). But there were so many other things to worry about.
My mom’s and Scott’s reaction when Charlie got there—that was an explosion of unhappiness guaranteed to happen. Traveling with Charlie for eight hours; been there, done that, and it wasn’t remotely enjoyable.
And—the biggie—pretending to date Charlie.
Our friendship was safe because it was labeled as only that. Friends. Hell, he labeled it not even that; he labeled us as just coworkers.
So what would happen when we played relationship for a weekend? It might be fine and just return to normal when we got home, but what if it didn’t? What if we crossed a line that we couldn’t come back from?
“Bay, if you don’t want me to, that’s totally fine.”
I didn’t know what I wanted. Taking Charlie sounded like fun and I didn’t want to go alone, but the thought of it set off screechingly loud alarm bells.
“Um,” I said, opening my nightstand drawer and digging for the coral nail polish while I tried to decide. “Well, for starters, I’m just afraid you’re saying yes to be nice.”
“Do I ever do that?” he asked dryly.
I smiled in spite of my nerves because that was a loaded question. He didn’t do things just to be nice, but he was also surprisingly thoughtful sometimes.
A walking contradiction, Charlie Sampson. “Well, no.”
“I think it sounds like a blast,” he said, “but if you’d rather not, it’s totally cool.”
I thought about the weekend, staying in a condo with just my mom and Scott, and I said, “I really want you to go, but I wonder if I should ask—”
“Nope,” Charlie said, cutting me off. “You do whatever you want about the weekend, but if you ask them, they will for sure say no. If we pull up in Breck, though, with you in my car, they can’t really send me back.”
There it was again—the ginormously ballsy move that I wasn’t sure I could pull off. I closed the drawer and flopped back onto my pillows. “That is positively diabolical.”
“Thank you.”
“And terrifying,” I added. “I know you’re Charlie, but doesn’t the thought of just showing up make you nervous?”
I expected him to say no, but he didn’t.
“Of course,” he said matter-of-factly. “But I also know that they’re not going to want to throw away their mountain retreat, so they’ll decide to deal with it for the sake of preserving the weekend that Scott has already paid for.”
He’s right. His confidence bolstered mine, so much so that I heard myself say, “Okay, so maybe we should do this.”
Did I just squeal?
Holy shit, I couldn’t believe we were going to do this.
“Atta girl.”
“Shut it.” I felt mildly relieved that I’d made the decision, but immediately my brain switched into planning mode.
“Wait—what about your mom? Do we need to ask her if it’s cool for you to run off for a few days?”
“Nah.” He cleared his throat and said, “She trusts me.”
“For multiple days? Out of town?” I asked, shocked. “That’s a whole lot of trust for a kid in high school.”
“One of those divorce things,” he said, sounding tired on the other end of the phone. “She’s so busy with the boyfriend and my younger sister that anytime I’m not in her hair, I think she breathes a sigh of relief.”
“Bullshit,” I said, feeling a bit of a gut punch for him in that moment. Whether it was true or not, it made me sad that he felt like his mom didn’t want him around. “I’m sure that’s not true.”
His voice was quieter than usual, a tinge more serious, when he said, “You’d be surprised.”
I didn’t know Charlie’s mom, so I tried to assume this was just what she was like and not a sweeping generalization of single parents.
But I’d be lying if I said that a tiny part of me heard his words and didn’t think, What if that eventually happens with my mom and me?
“It doesn’t matter, though,” he said, his voice louder and more stereotypically Charlie. “Know why?”
I rolled onto my side and asked, “Why?”
“Cuz I’m going to the mountains tomorrow.”
“Have you been before?” I liked the excitement in his voice. He sounded like he was genuinely looking forward to the road trip, and it sparked something in me.
I felt a little excited.
“Not in Colorado, but in Alaska,” he said.
“Duh,” I replied, picturing the White Mountains. “I forgot your cousins live there.”
“Duh, indeed,” he agreed. “I miss the mountains. Don’t you?”
“Yeah, I do,” I said, but I didn’t let myself think about home anymore. I’d spent so many hours closing my eyes and picturing my old house, and the only thing it ever did was make me sad.
It was better to forget. I asked him, “Do you ski?”
“No.”
“Do you want to try?” I asked.
“No.”
“I’m so happy to hear that!” Nekesa had been all about the skiing, but I just wanted to walk around the mountains and drink coffee at charming little shops. There might’ve been a time when I wanted to learn, but not while Scott was offering to teach me. “I don’t want to either.”
“Because of your clumsiness?”