Apov
It didn't take long for me to realize once Harper had stormed away from her brother, that she wasn't coming back.
Charlie deluded himself for a couple of hours until the cabins gathered for dinner and she did't turn up.
It had seemed to hit him then, that this wasn't their typical sort of fight. That hiding a prophecy about her from Harper for her entire life might be something she wouldn't be so quick to get over, if she ever did.
I had a feeling it might have put him in a temporary state of shock over the next few days as he wandered between activities, apparently stunned. It had never been this long that the twins had had an argument that they hadn't resolved. Usually because Harper eventually realized it was kind of a waste of her time to continue to stay mad, but she hadn't talked to Charlie since she'd left, and that was over a week ago at this point. She'd ignored his Iris messages and calls until his father eventually sent him a letter, telling Charlie to leave his sister alone while he and their mother talked to her.
It was at this point that he'd gone into a tail spin, convinced he was never going to talk to his sister again. It hadn't been pretty.
A part of me wanted to talk to him about it, but I just couldn't bring myself to. Not when I hadn't heard from Harper either, not that I'd really expected to. She was angry and I understood why, but still, I wanted to talk to her. If anything, just to apologize. I'd hated how things had ended the last time I'd seen her, and now the only updates were brief snippets of information I'd heard from Chiron as he talked to her or Olympus in his office. From what I could tell, Harper was really busy these days. She really had convinced them to leave James alone apparently, because his name was thrown around a lot too. Maybe that's why she seemed to constantly be at odds with the gods.
"So." Libby asked delicately and I looked up from the chart I'd been reading, to see she'd entered the infirmary for her shift. "How you doing?"
"Fine." I said with a shrug. "Some idiot brought nun chucks they didn't know how to use to the arena and knocked this poor kid out cold," I gestured to the boy in front of me. "But he should be ok once he wakes up."
"I didn't ask how he was doing." She said glancing at the boy. He was from Hephaestus cabin and couldn't have been older than eleven. "I asked how you were doing."
"And I answered you." I pointed out.
"No," she said crossing her arms over her chest and squinting at me, her expression shrewd. "You lied."
"That's still answering." I said but she continued to glare and I sighed.
"I'm fine Lib, really."
"Oh come on!" she said furiously and I was surprised to hear her voice jump up in volume to a point where she was almost shouting. "Your miserable Ash, everyone can see. You're not talking to Charlie, you're not talking to anyone actually. You're skipping activities and archery lessons in the arena."
"I cracked three ribs." I said indignantly.
I was sure James could have hurt me a lot worse than he had if he'd wanted to, but that didn't mean he didn't do a fair amount of damage when we'd run in to each other on the island. More than I thought he had at first.
"Yeah, and I've seen you teaching people with a broken arm, you love running archery lessons." She hesitated for a moment before saying. "You're not eating like the bottomless garbage can that we've learned to know and love any more either."
"Well I'm not playing basketball all the time anymore." I said with a shrug. "I don't need as much food."
"And you don't see why any of us might find that concerning?" she asked incredulously.
"Libby, I'm fine."
"You are not fine!"
This time she did shout and I looked at her, an eyebrow raised.
"Are you done?"
"No!" she said in frustration. "Ash, you never laugh anymore, you barely sleep. When you do you sleep late."
"Seven thirty is not late."
"It is for us!" she insisted. "You don't talk to your friends, you don't do anything. The only time I ever see you smile anymore is when you think or remember something about Harper, and she's not even anymore!"
"I'm aware of that Libby." I said quietly.
"If you're aware of it, don't you think it's time to move on?" she asked and while the question was obviously asked in some degree of frustration, there was also a hint of desperation to it. She looked upset. "I know you really liked her Ash, but this, this isn't like you. Whenever you and Jasmine called it off, you were never like this."
I didn't answer this because while I had a response, it was pointless, and it sounded awful.
The truth was, I'd liked Jasmine, but it was never anything close to what I'd felt for Harper. Even from the very start.
It was only realizing this once she was gone that made me realized how messed up that was. How unfair that had been to both of them, and how ridiculous it had been for me to just hope the situation would just fix itself. That the problem would just sort of go away…
I heard a knock on the door, and when we looked over to see who was standing at the door of the infirmary, I was immediately grateful that I'd kept my thoughts to myself.
Jasmine was standing at the infirmary door, looking a little embarrassed as she tucked her hair behind her ear, clearly having just heard what Libby had said.
Libby blushed.
"Oh." She said looking extremely awkward. "Hi, uh, Jasmine."
"Hi." She said sounding just as uncomfortable as Libby seemed to feel. "I heard Ash's shift was over around this time." She continued before shifting her gaze to me.
I wasn't sure why, but I almost expected it to feel resentful, but it wasn't. It was sympathetic, and while I never thought after anything that had happened over the last two weeks I'd be agreeing to what she said next, when she asked.
"Can I talk to you for a minute?"
I found, that in that moment, there was no one that I wanted to talk to more than my ex-girlfriend.
Gods, just how messed up had my relationships gotten that for some reason, this felt like it was the right thing to do? Maybe Libby was right. Maybe this wasn't healthy.
"Sure." I said handing the chart to Libby who now looked like she wanted nothing more than to just disappear and I walked after Jasmine out of the room, neither of us saying a good bye.
"Sorry about that." I muttered as the door swung shut behind us. "Libby doesn't always think before she says stuff."
"No, it's fine." Jasmine said and while she'd smiled, I could see that it was a little forced. "She's your sister, it's normal for her to be worried about you." she hesitated for a moment before saying. "We all are."
"Jasmine, I'm ok."
"I know." She said with a humoring nod. "But you're not exactly good, are you Ash?"
I was about to answer automatically as we stepped out onto the porch, when I stopped, considering the question.
I'd been spending all this week reassuring people I was fine after Harper had left. That, unlike Charlie, I wasn't constantly on the edge of falling apart. But no one had ever thought to ask me like this before. And it seemed to take a lot of the pressure off, not having to reassure her I wasn't about to hop into the River Styx, but also, not having to act like I was happy about my current situation either.
The truth was I wasn't, and I didn't want to pretend I was either.
"Annie says you're having a tough time over the last few days." She said looking at me, concern in her eyes. She then grinned a little, but it was sarcastic in a sympathetic sort of way. "I wonder why."
I hadn't talked to Annie that much recently, primarily because she spent most of her time talking to Charlie these days, probably picking up whatever slack I'd left unable to be his usual person to lean on as his best friend.
Usually, whenever I couldn't talk to Charlie about something, I'd go looking for Harper, but she hadn't been back to camp. Even if she did come back, I wouldn't have even known where to start.
"We don't have to talk bout this Jas." I said shaking my head, wondering why on earth I'd thought this was a good idea.
Now it just felt incredibly awkward.
"You need to talk to someone Ash." She said determinedly and she reached into her pockets and pulled out what looked to be some sort of specialty caramel chocolate bar, with brightly colored packaging. "I found these at a convenience store near my dads house after the second time we broke up. Trust me, they work better for a broken heart than ice cream."
"I don't-"
"Stop lying Ashton." She said cutting me off and I was surprised to hear the forcefulness in her tone. "Look where it's gotten you." she gestured around us, almost flinging the chocolate bar off the porch before gesturing to me. "You lied to Harper, you lied to Charlie, and worst of all, you lied to yourself. Stop doing it."
She held out the chocolate bar again.
"It's ok to be upset." She continued her expression unusually sharp as she looked at me, and I felt it was safest just to take the candy rather than to argue. "But at least be honest about it."
Not knowing what else to do, I ripped open the packaging and took a bite out of the chocolate bar only to be momentarily shocked at how good it tasted. It was the perfect blend of warm, sweet, comforting flavor and I chewed for a second, stunned at how it started to effect my emotional state.
"Why does this make me feel better?" I asked her and she grinned.
"I told you." she said shrugging. "Better than ice cream."
She took a seat in one of the rocking chairs on the Big House's massive porch and after a second's hesitation, I did the same.
Jasmine produced a second chocolate bar and started eating it herself, and we sat in silence for a moment.
If asked this morning about this situation, I would have assumed it would have been uncomfortable and I would have avoided it at all costs, but it didn't. It felt strangely… nice. To sit with someone and not have to talk about what was bothering me, to not talk at all really. And for them to know that even if I wasn't currently happy, they didn't need to try to push me into feeling better. Not when I wasn't ready for it.
"Aaron says you've been skipping basketball."
"I really doubt Charlie wants to see me."
"I'm pretty sure your team would rather you play than him." She pointed out.
"That's not the point."
"And maybe it's you who doesn't want to see him." She said perceptively and I shrugged, not really knowing what to say to this.
It was probably true. I hadn't thought about it all that much. All I knew was at the moment, basketball didn't sound like a lot of fun right now. None of my usual activities did. I wasn't really sure what to replace them with.
"Ok, there's a lot of wallowing going on over there." She said raising an eyebrow at me. "And that's coming from me."
"You don't seem like the self-pitying type Jas." I observed and she rolled her eyes.
"I have a three-part song playlist called 'boys suck' that's full of nothing but eighties power ballads. Three parts Ashton. I know wallowing when I see it."
"Something tells me that might be my fault." I said glancing at her a little guiltily.
"Yeah, well, you're paying for it now aren't you?" she asked and for the first time, her tone was a bit cool.
I didn't really know what to say to this other than to start apologizing and admit she was right, but almost as if she knew what was on my mind, she shook her head.
"I didn't come here to make you feel worse Ash. I really didn't. I know you're sorry." She said waving the statement away. "You've only said it five thousand times after every break up."
"Doesn't make it not true." I said quietly.
"Yeah well, out of the two of us, I think you're the one who's doing the suffering. Even if it's not about our relationship."
She sighed and seemed to think for a moment in which neither of us spoke. Eventually, however, she asked.
"Do you know why I said no, when you asked me out again at the start of the summer?"
I hadn't known, she hadn't really given me much of an answer. It had bothered me at first, but now that I was finally getting some details on the subject, I just found it vaguely interesting.
"No." I admitted after a pause. "Why?"
"Because I realized, when I was packing, I'd gone and bought an entire box of these," she held up what was left of her chocolate bar. "To prepare for the summer, just in case."
She frowned for a moment before she continued.
"And after I realized that, I realized that ever since I found this stupid brand. I packed some every time I went to camp, because I knew every time you spent more than a few minutes alone with her, you would always start to get confused. You weren't that good at hiding it." she said looking at me. "I know Charlie's sort of a genius when it comes to school and all that, but he's also really dumb when it comes to people. I don't know how Annie puts up with it. How he didn't see it, I'll never know. Then again, I'm a daughter of Aphrodite who dated a guy who was clearly in love with another girl so what do I know."
She sighed.
Her tone wasn't bitter, but it was clear she didn't like this topic. I felt terrible for talking about it with her, but once the flood gates had opened. They didn't seem to be able to shut.
"I think he did know." I said quietly. "On some level. I think he just hoped that I'd never stop pretending I didn't. That he wouldn't have to face the problem if I never forced him to."
"Because he didn't want to lose his sister?" she asked frowning.
"No." I said a realization hitting me for the first time. What my mother had said about Charlie being afraid of losing me, what the vision in the water had been trying to tell me, only, I was realizing far too late what all of it had meant. "He didn't want to lose his best friend."
Looking back, it had been so obvious. Why Charlie had tolerated how much time I spent with his sister. Why, every time he'd caught me almost flirting with her, he hadn't yelled at me. He'd ignored it, or played it off like a joke. Why after getting away with so much more than any other guy ever had around Harper when he was nearby, he'd never said anything. Never pushed me until I'd already left camp with Harper.
Deep down, Charlie had always assumed I would choose his sister over him.
And it was only after I screwed everything up with her that I realized, that he was probably right. That I should have chosen Harper. Charlie was my best friend, I'd always thought I needed the twins more than they needed me, but maybe that had been an unfair assumption. As well as the assumption, that no matter what, Harper would always be around like she always had been. That Charlie was the relationship I had to be careful with.
But even my mother had seen it. Straight up told me that Harper wouldn't wait around for me forever, and that Charlie wouldn't want to lose his best friend.
I'd chosen not to rock the boat in my friendship with Charlie, hoping one day he might calm down, and that everything with Harper might eventually work itself out. But I'd chosen wrong.
"Have I always been this stupid Jas?" I asked quietly, putting my head in my hands and rubbing my face in frustration.
Gods, even James had called me out on my complete inability to face reality with the twins, and like an idiot, I'd just ignored him.
"About relationships?" she asked, her tone thoughtful. "Yeah kind of. It's sort of weird because normally you're a pretty smart guy."
I looked at her.
"Was I just the worst boyfriend ever?"
This startled a brief, reluctant laugh out of her.
"No." she said shaking her head. "You were actually pretty great. Thoughtful gifts, really polite. Even my dad liked you when you visited me during that tournament you had back home. And he hates everyone I bring home to meet him."
She shook her head.
"You did everything right." She said with a shrug. "You just, loved someone else."
"How do I fix this?" I asked her uncertainly.
"With Harper?"
"With everyone." I said copying her gesture from earlier, as if pointing to the world at large. "You, Harper, Charlie, just… everyone."
"You don't need to fix things with me Ashton." She said shaking her head. "I never wanted you to suffer, and even if I did, I think you're suffering enough at the moment. Don't worry about Charlie, he might be a bit of a jerk for a while but he'll get over it. He misses you, and he misses his sister. Annie says he's been making a lot of progress. He'll figure himself out."
"And Harper?" I asked hesitantly.
For the first time in a long while, Jasmine really did look at me as if I were an idiot.
"Ashton." She said in a voice that asked 'are you kidding me?' "You've spent years pestering Harper, a daughter of Athena, and a terrifyingly intelligent demigod who I've seen jump in front of an attacking Gorgon, with a nickname comparing her to a baby deer." She looked at me as if I were insane. "I know I don't know her very well, but what I do know is that Harper Davis would not tolerate that from someone unless she really liked them."
She shook her head.
"Just give her some space." She said eventually. "When she's ready to talk, she'll let you know."
I nodded, figuring this was actually pretty good advice, then suddenly remembered where it was coming from.
"Why are you helping me with this?" I asked her confused.
I'd figure for a daughter of Aphrodite especially, talking to your ex-boyfriend and giving him advice about his relationship with someone else was about the last thing any girl would want to do.
"What can I say?" she sighed her tone a bit wistful. "I guess I can't help myself. I'm hardwired to love love."
"Well," I said a little awkwardly. "Thanks for the advice. You didn't have to be so nice to me."
I probably didn't deserve it from her.
"Just don't waste it." she said getting her feet and brushing off her camp shirt, looking for stray bits of candy. "And when or if you do get that second chance. Don't screw it up." She looked down at me. "Believe it or not Ashton, I don't hate you. In fact, I don't even dislike you. I want you to be happy."
"You do?"
She nodded.
"Breaking up sucks." She said with a shrug. "But being broken up with over a girl your ex doesn't even end up dating. That's worse. If she ends up being the one though." She shrugged again and looked away from me. "Well, at least it wasn't an end to all of this for nothing."
"Jas." I said horrified. "You don't really think I feel that way, do you? That our relationship was nothing?"
"No." she said. "But one day I hope to. And who knows, maybe one day I'll find a guy I like, that likes me just as much in return."
"You're not going to have a problem with that." I assured her. "Just throw at rock in any direction. You'll find about fifty guys who are willing to be that person. You can take your pick."
"Well, it's nice to know I have options." She said and while she sounded amused, I could tell that it wasn't as funny to her as she was pretending it was.
I could tell by now she wanted to start walking away, but as she started to turn, I said.
"Thanks, Jas."
She hesitated before looking back at me.
"I'm sure I'm kind of the last person you want to talk to about any of this. I'm sorry I've been such an idiot. It wasn't fair to you."
She didn't answer for a moment, but eventually she looked away and shrugged.
"Well, it's not like you didn't pay for it. But you're welcome." She glanced at me before continuing with. "But Charlie is never allowed to dump my sister, you got that?" she asked pointing a finger at me in an accusatory manor. "Even if you have to tie him to a chair until he remembers that she's the best thing that ever happened to him."
I laughed at this and was a little relieved to see that she too, smiled.
"Charlie knows that Jas." I said, still grinning at this mental image and she nodded.
"Good." She said sounding satisfied. "Don't let him forget it."
She turned, as if about to walk away again, before she hesitated and looked over her shoulder.
"You shouldn't forget it either. Girls aren't going to wait around for you forever, Ash. Not me and definitely not Harper. Remember that going forward."
The look she'd given me had been significant as she said this, but suddenly, her expression changed as if she'd suddenly remembered something.
"Oh, and Aaron wanted me to tell you. Stop being a dumbass and come back to the basketball court. He says he and Charlie needs your help." She grinned a little. "They haven't won a game without you."
"Alright." I said quietly.
"I'll see you around Ash."
"See ya Jas."
She walked away and I watched her go, feeling an odd mix of emotions running through me, but realizing for the first time in several days, feeling all of these things was sort of… good.
I'd been wandering around camp lately in a sort of dulled out haze lately, still in shock Harper was gone and not even able to talk to Charlie about it. How many times over the last few days had I'd been about to laugh, turning to tell one or both of them something I was thinking, only to remember they weren't there.
It had been unbelievably selfless of Jasmine to come and talk to me, and I didn't know if it was because I was finally talking to someone about what had happened, or the fact that she was a daughter of Aphrodite, but after speaking to her, I felt as if something within me had unlocked.
For the first time in days, I felt a strange sort of hope.
Maybe Jasmine was right. Maybe things would eventually work out, if I kept moving forward and learned from my mistakes. But nothing would change if I kept hiding.
I stood from the rocking chair and stretched, looking around to see several boys making their way to the basketball courts, Aaron talking to my brother Zach.
He seemed to realize someone was watching him however, because he hesitated, looked over his shoulder and his gaze met mine.
A basketball was at his hip and he raised an eyebrow, holding up the ball, the question clear.
'You coming?'
I nodded and jogged towards the group, somewhat realieved when they accepted me without question, my friends allowing me to pick up right where I'd left of, as if no time had passed and nothing had happened.
I hadn't expected it. But I had to admit it was sort of nice, even if I knew that when we reached the court, Harper wouldn't be there.
There was a familiar face however. One I didn't expect.
James was standing at the side of the court, arms crossed over his chest, a massive broad sword strapped to his back. I was impressed to see he either didn't care that the entire crowd of campers there seemed to be staring at him, or was doing an incredible job at pretending he didn't.
By his expression, you would have thought he didn't notice them, and without the pretense of charm he'd always had here, he looked like a totally different person. Much more like the demigod I'd seen on the island than his many months staying at camp.
"What are you doing here?"
Charlie was glaring at James, looking as if he just seen him kick a puppy or steal ice cream from a little kid.
By now, the entire camp had heard of at least some of the things James had done, but also that, miraculously, Olympus had chosen to overlook it. Though I was pretty sure none of them really were sure as to why.
James didn't respond, but he did turn, slowly, to look at Charlie. He didn't look irritated or even upset, but his expression plainly told me that he knew he could have crushed Charlie without effort, but also knew it wasn't worth his time.
It did make me think that James hadn't been lying when he'd said he hadn't been a fan of camp drama however, because he didn't start any.
He simply ignored Charlie's provocation and turned to me.
"I have something for you."
He reached over his shoulder and I saw about thirty weapons come out at once. I was amused to see that Aaron, who didn't have any weapons with him at the moment, looked ready to throw the basketball.
"Relax." James said, and he finally did look annoyed.
He'd put his hands up over his head in the universal symbol of surrender, though I wondered if anyone here really thought he was in any danger, including James himself.
He certainly didn't seem to think so, and the few reports that I'd heard from Chiron about James and his situation, led me to think James had been pulling his punches on the island. That I'd only seen a faction of what he was capable of.
I wasn't sure what to think of this, but he didn't seem to come here looking for a fight.
Instead, he reached over his shoulder again and the group seemed to collectively hold their breath until he pulled out what looked like an ordinary spiral notebook. It was a little bent and I assumed, having nowhere else to put it, he'd tucked it in the sheath with his sword.
He tossed it to me and I caught it automatically. The moment I had, James started to walk away.
Confused, I looked at the notebook only recognize a series of numbers scrawled across the cover in a familiar, handwriting.
2. 4. 2. 4.
This was from Harper…
I quickly opened the book to see two words written in bold letters.
DON'T. FAIL.
I leafed through the pages only to see it was completely filled with meticulous diagrams and line after line of notes, clearly meant to help me study for my chemistry final. She'd even written practice questions in the back with an answer key…
"That's it?" Charlie shouted furiously, glowering after James.
James ignored him and made his way to the Big House no doubt to pass a message to Chiron for Harper, and Charlie made an indignant noise.
"Let me see that." He said snatching the book out of my hands and flipping it open to one of the front pages, only for a flash of irritation to cross his features. "What the hell?"
Each of the pages had suddenly gone blank apart from the same, single message.
BUTT OUT CHARLIE.
I couldn't help but grin a little at this. It looked as if James wasn't the only one dealing with strange abilities, but despite this, it was clear that Harper hadn't really changed.
It was good to know.
He made another irritated noise, but held the notebook out for me to take, avoiding my gaze and saying.
"Here."
I took it, watching as the bullet points and chemical formulas materialized back onto place, feeling my heart rate increase as they did.
Gods, what was this girl doing to me? It was not normal to feel so much over a study guide.
I smiled a little, glancing at one of the diagrams reading one of the footnotes. She'd even gone as far to use basketball analogies…
Leave it to Harper to help me with school, even when she wasn't talking to me.
"So are we going to play or what?"
Everyone looked towards the end of the court towards Chase who was looking irritated.
"Because you've all been staring here like idiots and if not I'm going to go do something else."
"Yeah." Charlie said shaking his head and moving to the usual spots where captain stood to pick their teams. "Ash?"
It was like the air around the court froze as everyone, including Charlie, realized what he'd said. The question was automatic, Charlie always picked me first when choosing teams, but though everyone waited for the explosion, he didn't take it back.
He glanced at me uneasily, as if he wasn't sure what I would say. Like he thought after everything he'd said, I might refuse to play on his team.
"Sure." I said shrugging taking my usual place next to him.
"Finally." Chase said putting an exaggeration on the word before going on to pick one of his brothers for his team.
"Guess we're in the same boat right now." Charlie said quietly as the teams separated and set up for the game. "I don't think Harper's even been this pissed before. At either of us."
"I keep hearing she'll get over it."
"You think?" he asked uncertainly, and I could hear an edge of anxiety in the question.
"I'm not sure." I admitted glancing at the note book before setting in down by the water bottles collected on the side of the court, not too far from where Harper herself normally sat. The numbers were still there. "But I think she will."
"How old to you think we're likely to be when that happens?" he asked with a sigh. "Eighty? Eighty-five?"
I laughed at this, but by his expression I had a feeling Charlie was only partly joking.
He really was worried his sister was never going to talk to him again.
"Eighty-six at the latest." I assured him and he sighed.
"I know we're joking, but I wouldn't put it past her."
"She'll get over it." I assured him realizing the words I said next, were ones he'd said on the day we'd all met. "She always does."
Harper might get angry, but at her core, she was a pretty forgiving person. It was only now that she was having a difficult time doing it, that I realized how much Charlie and I had taken that for granted.
"Yeah." He said quietly.
"Will you two get a move on!" Chase shouted. "I'm getting old over here!"
Charlie shot him a rude gesture, but it seemed automatic as if his heart wasn't in it and his mind was somewhere else.
"I'm glad you're here." He said eventually. "We've been losing pretty bad. Chase is getting insufferable." He grinned slightly. "Someone needs to shut him up."
The grin faded pretty quickly however.
"Ash, about everything I said-"
"Don't." I said shrugging. "Charlie, you don't have to apologize. Neither of us really have the moral high ground here."
"No really," he shook his head. "I was being stupid you're my best friend and I-"
"I kissed Harper." I said cutting him off, knowing I'd have to admit it at some point. "More than once."
That shut him up.
His eyes went wider for a moment, clearly in surprise and it was that point that I remember that I was in the middle of camp, surrounded by all of my friends, in front of what felt like the entire population of known demigods in the world.
'Gods, when did I get so stupid?' I thought trying valiantly not to notice the whispers that were starting, or see the smirks that were being shot my way.
I was never going to live this down, was I?
Charlie didn't speak for almost a full minute, clearly trying to process this information and I waited for the explosion half convinced this was going to turn into an all-out demigod brawl on the basketball court when, eventually, he made an irritated noise and looked away.
His expression was clearly annoyed, but when he spoke, his voice was measured.
"You're right. I don't really feel like apologizing anymore."
He glanced back at me, his eyes narrowed slightly and while his tone was a little resentful, he didn't exactly sound angry.
"I take it you're planning on doing it again, aren't you?"
This was not what I'd expected him to ask, or how I expected him to act. He just seemed sort of… defeated. As if there was nothing he could do about everything that happened, and was rapidly starting to accept it.
I guess Jasmine had been right. Maybe Annie really had been helping him.
I hadn't been prepared for this, and the first thing I thought sort of just came out.
"If she lets me."
His expression changed at this response and it looked as if he almost laughed.
"If she lets you." he said his expression almost thoughtful.
And then he grinned.
"You'd better hope you're still attractive when we're in our eighties."
Completely confused, I watched as he took his place in the center position, and looked at Aaron who shrugged, apparently as dumbfounded by this reaction as I was, but turned to watch the tip off as finally, both teams were all in position.
I didn't know if Charlie actually thought Harper would stay mad until we were too old to remember why she was angry, but the fact that he hadn't started yelling again had to be a good sign.
It wasn't until he'd gotten trapped in a corner of the court however, and passed the ball to me that I figured that Charlie really was starting to be ok with everything that had happened. Even if he hadn't totally moved passed it. And when I took a step back, outside the three point line and took my shot, it occurred to me as the ball dropped through the hoop that the tentative hope I'd been feeling earlier had gotten stronger. It was so strong in fact, that deep down, in the end I really did think things were going to turn out alright.
It just make take a little while to get there .