"If you can't get someone out of your mind, maybe they are supposed to be there. Remember, 'The mind can recognize what the heart is trying to deny.'" ~Unknown
Those big brown eyes of his were so damn irresistible.
If Charlotte could be absolutely sure about anything, it was the fact that the universe had it out for her. It was her own fault for being so soft.
She, Henry, and Jasper were pacing in the Man Cave. Well, actually, it was Charlotte doing the pacing, and Henry and Jasper were lounging on the couch, snacking noisily on chips and popcorn. In addition, Jasper was scarfing down a peanut butter and pickle sandwich, which looked completely unappetizing to Charlotte, considering that peanut butter and pickles didn't go well together in her book. Boys.
Charlotte occasionally glared at them, and the boys were pretty sure that she was giving them a verbal lashing in her mind. That didn't matter to them, unless Charlotte actually started ranting. That was their cue to run for the hills. You never messed with an angry Charlotte. Never.
Unless you had a death wish, of course.
She was more destructive than an army of the worst villains in the world. She could find your one weakness and twist it until you fell to your knees, pleading for mercy.
Long story short, don't make her cross.
Finally, Henry dared to speak. "Hey Char, want a chip? They're sour cream and onion, your favorite," he offered, dangling a chip from his fingers.
Her hand lashed out and sent the chip flying. Henry wrung his hand, staring incredulously at Charlotte. "What was that for?!"
"'Hey Char, want a chip?' unbelievable. Is that really all you care about?" Her voice was unusually high-pitched.
Her emotions came pouring out. Henry looked at her, then at Jasper, who shrugged. "Don't look at me. It was your idea."
Henry, who seemed to come to the realization that he was on his own, tried his best to console Charlotte. "Char, c'mon, I didn't mean anything by it. I was only trying to help," he said desperately.
Charlotte's next cutting remark was broken off by the tubes sliding down. Ray shot down, a look of urgency on his face.
Charlotte and Henry forgot about their argument immediately. Ray hurried to the monitors, as Charlotte began grilling him with rapid-fire questions.
"Well, what'd you call us for? What's the emergency? Is it another criminal? Who is it?" she asked.
"Woah, Charlotte, let the man speak," Jasper chided her.
"Can't talk now, there's a huge emergency. Robbery at the Swellview Bank." Ray closed the screens and beckoned Henry. "Let's go, kid."
Jasper watched the pair in fascination as they transformed.
"Wait," Charlotte called, as they took their positions under the tubes. She locked eyes with each of them in turn, Ray first, then Henry. "Please stay safe," she said meaningfully, her eyes lingering on Henry longer.
Ray appeared not to sense the electricity crackling between them. He said jokingly, "We're not going to get hurt intentionally, Charlotte. Don't be a worrywart."
Henry tore his eyes away from Charlotte's compelling ones, and forced a laugh. "Yeah, Charlotte, we'll be fine," he said reassuringly.
A rhyme popped into Henry's head. "C'mon Ray, we'll make the robber and his partner-in-crime don't steal even a dime."
"Nice!" Ray high-fived his sidekick in celebration, while Jasper applauded in the background. Charlotte rolled her eyes.
"Hello! There's still a robbery going on!" Charlotte waved her hands impatiently, alerting the duo.
"Right." Henry and Ray tapped their belts and shouted, "Up the tube!"
"Remember what I said!" Charlotte yelled after them as they shot upwards.
Schwoz wandered into the Man Cave at that moment. "What's up?" he asked cheerfully, "I was just catching up on 'The Bachelorette.'"
Men.
The Man Cave was unusually silent. Schwoz was humming a light tune to himself, meandering around the Man Cave aimlessly.
Jasper amused himself by trying to stump the Auto-Snacker, but it kept yielding a variety of odd food, such as mayo donuts and hot dog spaghetti.
Charlotte didn't have any means of keeping herself occupied, however, so she settled for watching reruns of "Walking Orange."
Her mind was elsewhere, though. She couldn't shake off the feeling that something was off. Her eyes were darting towards the tubes every so often, she was extremely jumpy, and she was more snappish than usual. She figured that she was probably worrying about nothing.
However, after an hour, the unease hadn't worn off yet. Ray and Henry were supposed to be back by now. A robbery shouldn't take a long time to foil.
Finally, the Swellview News logo flashed across the screen, and her heart pounded just a bit harder as she saw the camera focus on two newscasters, Mary Gaperman and Trent Overunder.
"Breaking news, folks. Earlier, we received distress calls from the Swellview Bank. The calls were about a criminal breaking into the bank. Luckily, Captain Man and Kid Danger arrived on scene. It appears that Captain Man has escaped from the bank unscathed, along with Kid Danger. Both are fine. Here's Evelyn with the details."
Jasper looked up, his interest piqued as Captain Man and Kid Danger appeared on the screen. Schwoz hurried to Charlotte's side.
Captain Man looked disgruntled, as did Evelyn. It was understandable, considering the history between the two.
Evelyn practically shoved the microphone into Kid Danger's face, completely ignoring Captain Man's presence.
"Thank you, Trent. I'm here live, standing outside Swellview Bank with Kid Danger," Evelyn reported smoothly, disregarding Captain Man. Said hero looked merely disdainful and did not deign to interject.
Jasper whistled lowly behind her. "Man, that's gotta hurt. Why is she so rude to him, anyway?"
"I'll explain later." Charlotte watched the screen intently.
"So, Kid Danger, what were those robbers after?" Evelyn asked the teenage hero.
Kid Danger cleared his throat before responding, "The usual, of course. Money. That's what most of the robbers want."
Kid Danger was no stranger to the spotlight, therefore he shouldn't have been as anxious as he was.
Evelyn took no notice of Kid Danger's obvious agitation, asking him for more information. Kid Danger answered as patiently as he could, but it was plain to a person with eyes that he was apprehensive.
Captain Man had disappeared. It seemed that he wanted to get away from Evelyn; the tension was too much for him to handle.
Finally, much to Charlotte's relief, Evelyn turned away and said the concluding words. The camera switched back to the newscasters.
"Well?" prompted Jasper irritatingly the moment the weatherman came on.
Charlotte sighed, and she reluctantly told Jasper the story of Evelyn and Ray's complicated relationship. When she finished, Jasper was looking slightly amused and more or less put out.
Schwoz, whose ears had perked up at the chance to listen to another one of Ray's failed relationships, immediately put in smugly, "Well, at least I have a good record with texting women."
"I couldn't do that. All the girls I've dated are psychopaths," Jasper muttered gloomily.
Charlotte gave him a comforting pat on the back. "Well, look at Henry. His girlfriends have either ditched him for a TV show, or been hauled off to jail."
"Jail? I didn't know that," Jasper said curiously.
"You tell him, Schwoz," Charlotte said heavily. For some reason, hearing about Henry's ex-girlfriends irked her more than usual.
Luckily, she didn't have to listen for long. About ten minutes after the interview, the tubes slid down and Henry and Ray landed.
"Ah, home sweet home," Ray said leisurely as he strolled into the Man Cave, still decked out in his Captain Man suit.
Henry followed him; he looked more exhausted than he did on TV. He immediately made eye contact with Charlotte, giving her a weary nod in acknowledgement.
A fleeting thought crossed her mind. He's safe. With me.
Charlotte shook herself. Where had that come from?
Meanwhile, while she was berating herself for that thought, Henry and Ray had popped gumballs into their mouths and transformed back into their normal selves. Jasper flitted around them, awestruck.
Ray shook out his shoulders and flopped down on the couch. Henry went over to the Auto-Snacker.
"Pepperoni pizza," he requested.
"Pepperoni pizza," the machine echoed, and a massive steaming hot pizza topped with gooey mozzarella and sizzling pepperoni appeared inside.
"Mmm," moaned Ray hungrily. Charlotte had to admit that the pizza looked delicious.
The quintet (Henry, Ray, Charlotte, Jasper, and Schwoz) dug in ravenously. They ended up having to order another one, as the first one wasn't large enough. They drank gallons of Dr. Pepper and Pepsi, and Ray and Schwoz, as usual, had a debate over which soda was better. This debate, unsurprisingly, grew heated, and Charlotte and Henry had to pull them apart.
A half hour of eating scrumptious pizza and guzzling soda later, the five of them were sprawled out in various positions on the couch.
Ray burped loudly, and the guys groaned, while Charlotte wrinkled her nose. It didn't bother her that she was the only girl among the five. The only thing that mattered was that she was the mature one of the group. Even Schwoz and Ray, who were full-grown adults.
The aura swirling around the group brought a serene atmosphere. Everyone was content and satisfied, and Charlotte looked fondly at her friends. Her eyes stayed on Henry for the longest, for reasons unknown to her. She wouldn't trade any of them for the world.
A sudden warmth enveloped her as Henry opened his eyes and caught her staring. He half-smiled, his eyes fluttering, and Charlotte felt her heart go the same way.
"Something wrong, Char?" he asked drowsily.
"Nothing," she replied quickly, turning the other way so he wouldn't see her smiling from ear-to-ear.
Piper was upset. Over her phone. This was a daily occurrence in the Hart household, so it bothered nobody when she went on a tirade. However, it became a problem when she began to take out her frustration on household objects. Smashed plates, broken cups, and bowled over furniture normally came out of this. It usually took more than one person to physically restrain Piper, and another one to gently speak to her and stabilize her.
So when the Harts were one person short, they had to improvise. Henry was often away at work, so his parents had double duty. This was the case today.
However, Piper wasn't upset over WiFi, social media, or anything of the kind. Her phone had disappeared and she was furious.
Her mom found her phone charging in Henry's room, since her charger was snapped and they had sent for a new one. Everyone relaxed.
The silence did not last. Shortly after, an ear-splitting scream shattered the silence, and was cut off abruptly. Something swooped in through the youngest Hart child's window, gagged her, scooped her into its arms, and scuttled out.
An evil cackle filled the street as Mr. and Mrs. Hart, unable to do anything, watched helplessly from the window as a figure sprinted down the street, carrying their daughter in its arms.
Oh. My. Gosh. A cliffhanger. What's going to happen?
Okay, so I never thought I would be doing this before. This story came on the spur of the moment, so it was completely unplanned. I've been obsessed with love songs recently, so one day, when I was listening to a song of Colbie Calliat's, Fallin' for You, the quote at the beginning of the story popped into my head. And out of that quote came this whole story. It's amazing how one sentence can inspire a whole story, right?
So, as for the sequel of Regrets, I lied, and I am so sorry. The thing is, that story didn't do too well, so I've been reconsidering. I'm still on the fence on whether or not the sequel should be posted. I'm still leaning towards the posting side.
Sorry about the lengthy monologue. I guess I will end it here.
Peace and pie,
~AJ
