On My Way To Mr. Right

Chapter 32

“Charlotte? Is that you?” A deep voice startles us both. It had come from in front of us. But James’ lights were dimmed and so, I couldn’t see who it was.

“Who the hell is driving you at 1 am?!” He growls, approaching us. The car’s light shone on his face for a moment and I realize it was Alex, my brother.

He must have just gotten home from some college holiday party and fought through jetlag. He held an e-cigarette in his hand as he knocked on the truck’s window lightly.

“I went to James’ dance competition. He was just dropping me off,” I say as I immediately hop off the truck and assist Alex who was giving James a stinkeye, back into the house.

I didn’t even get a chance to turn around and wave him goodbye. As soon as my shoulders touched Alex’s heavy weight, I walked straight to the house. Here was a grown adult man being partially supported by his younger sister because he was too drunk to stand on his own. He wasn’t even walking straight. I wonder how the hell he went to the airport and drive home in his condition.

Then, my questions were instantly answered the moment I get inside the house. Cans of beer were scattered all over the floor. Alexander was drinking, which explains his drunken state. I leave him on the couch where he almost immediately dozes off. Maybe he was trying to rid the jetlag.

I wanted to go back out of the house to say goodbye to James properly but before I could open the door, I hear his truck drive off. I didn’t bother to chase after him. It was 1 am for God’s sake.

I run upstairs to my room to finally get some rest. I had developed this routine when I was younger where I would go wash my face off, clean my body, change clothes, etc., etc. I never outgrew those habits. Still, with exhausted sighs and droopy eyes, I managed to get myself in decent pajamas before going to bed.

But just before my eyes could shut for some much-needed relaxation, my phone rings.

Who could be calling at such an ungodly hour?

Called ID read Unknown.

I was even too tired to fear or feign a horrendous expression. I’m sure this must either be one of those ads, fake calls, or misdials. I ignore it the first time it rang, completely believing those ideas. But by the third time, my nerves had gotten more irate.

I pick it up, annoyed and angry, “What the hell could you be calling for at 1 am?!” I shout at whoever was on the other line.

There was no immediate response and I had thought of ending the call. But I could hear breathing on the other side and I don’t know if it was just in my head or this was a creeper call.

“It’s Rossalyn,” A voice finally answers me back, which caught me genuinely surprised. “I heard from James. I wanted to talk to you, make sure you know you can still talk to me about anything.”

There were too many words to say.

“Ross?!” Was the excited squeal that left my lips. “Is this you?”

“No one else could be calling you from Brazil, Lottie,” She retorts in a teasing voice that sounded so familiar and almost nostalgic.

She had left not 24 hours ago but I was already missing her magical presence.

“How-Wha-I?!” I was left scrambling for words to begin our conversation.

My mind was definitely awoken with this pleasant surprise. But I couldn’t say much about my verbal abilities.

“I just got off the phone with James. He told me he won the competition. He knew it was in the bag and you, losers, didn’t have an ounce of belief in him,” She says with a chuckle.

“You know never to take anything James says seriously.”

“How about the part where he took you on stage? Or how I’m currently watching a YouTube clip of you being handed with a rose and kissing him back on the cheek?”

Cheeky bastard.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Playing dumb is always the safest choice.

James and I haven’t even discussed things between us at length yet. If he told Ross anything about what happened in the very recent hour, he is so dead.

“Well, I’m sure you know something about James confessing to you, right? And how you confessed right back?”

“I’m gonna have to go, Ross. I have to sharpen my knives tonight to prepare them for skinning someone alive tomorrow.”

She laughs in the utter delight of my predicament. I sulk in my room, even though I knew she couldn’t see me.

“Why the hell would James tell you?!” I grunted.

“Maybe because I already knew?”

“What?” Well, I know she isn’t telepathic.

“He told me months ago he liked you, Lottie. I’m sorry but the cat’s out of the bag now.”

“What?!” I said in a straight voice.

“It’s no big deal. He said he had a crush on you, I told him to wait it out. You know he has wild impulses. Months later, here we are. So, I take it you haven’t discussed much since Alexander was a big jerk to the story.”

Hearing Rossalyn so caught up with our lives even halfway through the globe, I laugh. She asks me on the other end whatever was the matter with me, but I couldn’t answer. It takes me a while to compose myself.

“Where are you anyway? Have you reached Brazil yet? I can’t believe you’re on your way to some heavenly vacation but here you are talking to me on the phone about petty crushes.”

“Don’t try to sidetrack me out of this, young lady,” She says in a reprimanding tone which made me laugh harder. It was like I was talking to her directly in front of me and not thousands of miles away. “But, no, we’re not in Brazil yet. Our connecting flight to Brazil doesn’t leave for another hour. I’m currently stuck in the airport while my father talks with business associates on the phone.”

“That’s good,” I remark. “And to answer your question, no, we haven’t talked it out at all. We were going to. We were exactly in the middle of talking, then, Alex comes out of the blue. And yes, we did both get to say we liked each other. But that’s completely it. As for the rose and stage thing, James was a nut head. He had that plan to help him win.”

“Don’t forget he also planned on confessing on stage,” She shouted a little too eagerly.

“Don’t tell me it was your idea,” I frown, holding my palm to my face. She better not have told that i***t to create my single most horrible nightmare.

“When he told me he was sure of his feelings for you days ago, I kind of told him to confess in some grand gesture. I didn’t know he would take you on stage. I might have suggested it, though.”

“Ross!” I scream into the phone, bothered. “That scenario scared me. Probably for life.”

“Never mind that. James confessed,” She says in glee trying to force my gloomy mood out of the conversation. “So, what are you going to do about it?”

“Nothing,” I tell her, shrugging it off.

“What do you mean nothing?” She sounded exasperated. What did she want us to do? Get married and have a baby?

“Liking somebody doesn’t automatically translate into a commitment, Ross,” I shuffle in my bed, trying to find a comfortable spot. “Besides, he didn’t really ask the dreaded question yet. I don’t want to assume that he does want to ask. You know him. He’s notorious for talking to literally like hundreds of girls.”

“Well, you don’t know what I know, Lottie,” She remarks. Her voice still had a hint of glee. Did she honestly wait for months for this to happen? Even so, did she want us to get together?

“I don’t even know if I want to ask what you know. What do you think of the idea of me dating James?”

“I think it’s splendid. Now that you got time to develop feelings on your own, I think it’s fate to have you two together.” I roll my eyes at her.

Fate.

What a bunch of carp.

“You’re talking nonsense, Ross. I think you need to sleep it off.” I tell her as I glance at the time on the screen. It was already 2 am. How did time fly so fast?

I hear her yawn at the other end and I stifle a yawn, as well. School is not going to be easy in the morning.

“Maybe,” She answers. “But I think you should just trust your gut, Char. I’m not going to vouch or convince you to date him anymore. You judge him. After all, you see him more for what he is than me, or any of us.”