Chapter 25

"Marry?" Charlie sputtered. "Uh, I wouldn't go that far, Mum," he said.

"Charlie," Molly gently chided. "You're not getting any younger, you know."

"I know," he said, "but I'm sure I can have a long-term relationship without the dreaded 'M' word."

"I don't know, Charlie, this one looks like she won't wait forever," she pointed out. They watched as talked with Joanna and Maile and Kimo. Her eyes were alive and she laughed easily. Kimo was trying to get her to dance again, but she politely shook her head.

"I bought her a townhome," he said, still looking at her.

"What?" Molly asked.

"A flat. She was living with her parents and they were controlling her every move, so I bought a townhome and gave it to her."

"Hmm," Molly said, "that's a pretty big commitment."

He nodded. "I know." He sighed heavily.

"You better go rescue her," Molly said, pointing. Jack and Kekoa had joined Kimo.

"Shit," Charlie said. He led his mother back to their places.

He walked over to her very casually. "It looks like you need rescuing," he said, taking her hand.

"Hi Charlie," she beamed at him. "How'd it go with your mother?"

"I'll tell you later. Dance with me," he said, holding out his hand.

"Excuse me, gentlemen," she said standing up. She took his hand and he pulled her into his arms.

He held her close; sighing she snuggled tightly into his arms. "Charlie," Gretchen said.

His eyes were closed, blissfully content. "Hmm?"

"Can I tell you something without you freaking out?" she asked.

"Not when you ask me like that." He opened his eyes.

"Okay, then."

"No, go ahead," he said. "You know you can tell me anything."

"Are you sure?"

He nodded. He began nuzzling her neck and tracing his tongue along the curve of her ear.

"I'm afraid, Charlie."

He looked at her earnestly. "Afraid? Afraid of what?" He brought their laced fingers up to his face and kissed her fingers.

"I'm afraid of how I feel about you."

Charlie felt something go straight to his heart. He cleared his throat. "How do you feel about me?"

"I' m afraid to tell you," she said. Shaking her head, she grinned. "Never mind, I'm having too good of a time to get all deep and philosophical on you."

"That doesn't sound good. Let's go somewhere quiet and we can talk."

She nodded and let him lead her out to the grounds of the Quidditch pitch. It was dark and they sat on the ground. The lights from the luau were just enough lighting so they could see each other.

He sat looking at her, his hands in his lap. She was chewing on a fingernail nervously.

"I am extremely grateful for your help," she began.

"Grateful?" This was not the way Charlie pictured the conversation going.

She nodded.

"Okay," he said.

"And everything you've done for me and my family."

"Uh huh."

"You're not making this easy, Charlie," she said.

He steeled himself. "Just tell me what you want to tell me. I'm a big boy, I can handle it."

She looked at him, then put her head back down, looking at her hands in her lap. She was wringing her hands. "Charlie," she said taking a deep breath, "it may be too soon or inappropriate, or whatever, but the truth is, I'm afraid I'm in love with you." She exhaled loudly.

He didn't say anything. He just sat looking at her.

"Oh, I knew this was a bad idea," she said struggling to get up. He reached out and grabbed her hand. "Please let me go," she begged.

He shook his head. "No, I don't think so."

She was crying now; too embarrassed to look at him. She was struggling to get away from him, "Let me go," she repeated loudly.

Kekoa was making his way back to the luau area, when he heard her. He ran toward the Quidditch pitch and saw Gretchen struggling to get away from Charlie. He was holding on to her, trying to stand up.

"Brah, you better let her go," Kekoa said in a threatening tone.

"Piss off," Charlie said, irritated that he was interfering. "This is none of your business."

"Do you need help, Gretchen?" Kekoa asked her.

"I just want to get out of here," she said, crying. Charlie let go of her and Kekoa stepped in and took her hand.

"Fuck!" Charlie said loudly. "Do not walk away from me, Gretchen. We have to talk about this."

"Not now, Charlie," she said.

"Okay, you go back to the cottage with my mum and dad."

Kekoa shook his head. "You don't need to go back there, I'll protect you."

"She doesn't need protecting," Charlie said. "You don't know what's going on and it's none of your business."

"Was he hurting you?" he asked.

Both of them yelled, "No!"

"No," she repeated. "Charlie wouldn't hurt me. I want to go back to the cottage now. It's all right. I'll be fine."

"I'll take you back," Kekoa said putting her arm protectively around Gretchen.

"The hell you will," Charlie said taking at step toward them. Both Charlie and Kekoa had their wands out before the other blinked.

Gretchen touched Charlie's arm. "Please don't," she said.

By this time, they had drawn a crowd, but no one knew what was going on. Joanna looked at Gretchen, who looked stricken, and wrapped her arm around her shoulder. "Are you all right?" she whispered.

Gretchen nodded. "I need to get out of here," she said quietly.

"We'll take you where ever you want to go." Joanna looked at Charlie, who nodded.

More than anything, Gretchen was embarrassed. She was embarrassed that Charlie failed to respond; she was humiliated that she had drawn attention to herself. All she wanted to do was disappear into a tiny little ball.

"Would you take me back to the cottage?" she asked.

Joanna nodded. "Okay."

Within a matter of minutes, Joanna and Jordan took Gretchen to the cottage. Gretchen figured Charlie return soon with his parents and she just didn't know what to say to him and she wasn't ready to face him just yet. She knew it was terribly wrong to tell him how she felt about him. Charlie Weasley was not the romantic type; he'd been kind to her and she was sure he liked her, but love wasn't something he fell into. He was more likely to fall into bed, not love.

Why couldn't I have kept my big mouth shut? Now I'm going to lose him. Maybe I should tell him, 'just kidding!' Well, shit, she thought.

She was going to pack and leave the next morning. There was no point in dragging it out any further.

"You stupid cow," she said aloud, throwing her shawl on the bed.

"You're right, I am," Charlie said. Gretchen jumped. She smiled shyly. "You scared me."

Charlie rushed into their bedroom and closed the door. "I thought; I was afraid that you had left," he said.

"I know I should have. Don't worry, I'll be gone tomorrow."

"Gretchen," he said, taking a step closer to her. "I need to tell you something."

"Charlie, don't. It's all right. I'm fine. I should have never said anything. "

"No," he reached for her hand. "I'm glad you did. I should have said something, but I didn't know what to say." He led her to bed and they both sat down. "No, that's not true; I know what I wanted to say, I just couldn't say it."

"And you don't have to, Charlie."

"I never thought that I was the kind of man who wanted to settle down with one woman. I'm a horrible boyfriend; I think only of myself, and I've never been faithful to one woman. But the truth is, I'm afraid, too."

She looked at him.

"I'm afraid," he shook his head, "I know I'm going to do something stupid and drive you away. I'm in love with you, too, but I'm going to fuck it up."

'