Note: Okay everyone here's the update you've all been waiting for. Sorry it
took so long. Cryptic Ragdoll and terry-mary-curtis- thanks for reviewing
and letting me know you're enjoying the story. Banks99 - I'll forgive you
for calling me an evil person (lol) and although I will admit most of the
time I do cliff hangers on purpose the last one really was I was too tired
to write anymore. Hope you like the ending of this chapter better.
Banksiesbabe99 - Sorry you didn't like where I ended it. At least it kept
you anticipating more and I know you'll read the next update (lol). Thanks
for reviewing. Anne918 - I was starting to wonder what happen to you.
Thanks for catching up and keep on guessing, your guesses sometimes get me
thinking about things that I hadn't thought about before. Thanks. I'm glad
you liked the part where Gordon walked in on the reunion and the
conversation following. I wasn't too sure about that part when I wrote it.
I'm glad to hear that it wasn't all that bad. Crazy4nc128 -glad your still
enjoying the story and Happy New Year to you too. C-chan96 - Well here's
your update. After the wonderful review I guess I'll forgive you for
missing the update (lol). And you might think sleep is overrated but after
working from 11pm to 7:30 am I like my sleep, sorry!. Hope everyone enjoys
this chapter.
Charlie's POV:
I turned around to find Guy sitting on his bed. He looked at me expectantly waiting for an answer. I had already told him that I wanted to talk to him about something so I couldn't very easily back out now.
"Guy, are you and Connie over for good?" I asked deciding that if I was going to do it I might as well get right to the point.
"Yes we are. I'm enjoying the time I've been spending with Debbie and as you have probably noticed Connie seems to be dating a different guy every night," Guy said. I tried to judge the emotion behind the words but as far as I could tell it really wasn't bothering him that Connie was dating other guys.
"So you wouldn't care if someone else dated Connie even if that someone else was a friend?" I ventured.
"No, why should I?" Guy said with a shrug. Then he must have got to thinking about the question. "Wait a second, are you trying to ask me if I'm okay with you dating Connie?" he asked me after a slight pause.
"Yes," I told him simply. "I've had a crush on her for the past few years," I admitted to him, "but I never would have tried to steal her from you. I have too much respect for you and her to have done that," I added quickly hoping he wouldn't get bad at me.
"You don't need to ask my permission to go out with Connie," Guy said with a laugh. "If you want to date her go for it."
"You're sure?" I asked him. "I don't want to cause any problems between any of us." I told him.
"I'm positive. I told you, I'm enjoying spending time with Debbie. Connie and I weren't meant to be. Hopefully, we can still be friends but I don't want to go back out with her," Guy told me. "Besides, I'd rather have her dating you than some of the guys she has gone out with lately. I'm not sure where she is finding some of these guys. At least I know you'll treat her right. Was that last guy even human?" he asked me. I had to laugh. I had said the same thing to Connie about that guy the night before.
"You know I'm not sure," I told him. "I asked Connie the same thing last night and got a book thrown at me for my troubles."
I was just glad that he was cool with all of this and I hoped it would last. I hope that if Connie and I did start dating that he would still be cool with it. The next step was to talk to Connie about what had taken place last night. Did she feel the same way about me as I did about her?
Connie's POV:
"We could make Averman happy and pick this dress," I heard Julie say and I glanced over to see her holding up a very frilly, light pink dress. It would've looked good - if we wanted to be fairy princesses. It was a good thing I knew she was joking because if not I would've thought that she had completely lost all good taste.
"What do you want us to look like - cotton candy," Alex said from her spot at another dress rack. We had already spent and hour looking at dresses and we had yet to find one that all three of us could agree on. Okay, we couldn't find a dress that Julie and I could agree on. The cotton candy remark was the first comment of dislike for a dress that I had heard from Alex all afternoon. I don't know about the other two but I was starting to get frustrated. Still there was no way in the world you would ever see me in that pink dress that Julie was holding up.
I shook my head and turned back to the dresses in front of me. There had to be something we could all agree in. It seemed like pink and pastel colors were in though and I personally didn't care for them and I had known Julie long enough to know that they weren't exactly her colors either.
"Ohh, how about this one," I heard Julie cry out. I almost expected to turn around and see her holding up another pink dress. A sarcastic comment was even coming to mind but as I turned around I realized that she was serious this time. Julie was grinning as she stood holding up the dress in front of her. It was a long sleeved dress that was a deep jade. The only frill on the dress was a silver bow on the left hip. I thought it looked beautiful.
"I love it," I said walking over to Julie to get a better look at the dress. "What do you think Alex."
"It's fine with me, if the two of you both like it," she said. I couldn't help but wonder how she couldn't be in love with the dress. I looked at her questionly. "Really, if the two of you like the dress I'm cool with it," she told me. "I'm just not a big fan of dresses period."
"Connie, Julie do both of you like that dress?" Mrs. Conway asked us, stepping in. I think she was as tired of being here as we were and just wanted the selection process over with. I took another look at the dress Julie was holding and nodded my head. Julie was doing likewise. The two of us finally liked the same dress.
Mrs. Conway's friend then started taking our measurements so that she could get the dresses made up. That took another half-hour. By that time I was starving. I couldn't wait to get back to Eden Hall so we could have dinner.
"Do you girls want to go out for pizza for dinner?" Mrs. Conway asked as she said good-bye to her friend and walked over to of.
"Yeah sure," all three of said quickly.
The four of us walked over to the nearby pizza parlor for dinner. After ordering Mrs. Conway and Julie disappeared into the bathroom leaving me alone at the table with Alex. I still wasn't comfortable being around Alex. I couldn't get past the fact that she use to be a Hawk although all of the others had seemed to. I didn't like the idea of the two of us being alone even for a few minutes together. What if I said something I shouldn't? Not only was Alex dating Adam but she was Charlie's sister and Mrs. Conway's daughter. I didn't want any of them mad at me just because Alex and I couldn't get along.
I looked down at the table and started fiddling around with my napkin. I figured the safest thing for me to do was to simply not say anything. Alex wasn't going to let me do that though.
"Is it something I said or did?" she asked me out of the blue.
"What?" I said, looking up at her, not quite sure what she was getting at.
"I just get the feeling that you don't like me," Alex told me. "So I was wondering have I said or did something to upset you. Are you upset that you didn't make the roller hockey team?"
"No, its not that," I said quickly. I had been upset about that at first but I finally realized that it hadn't been anything personal against me. Scooter and Alex couldn't have everyone on the team and I hadn't been good enough to make the team. I knew I wasn't the best hockey player and everyone on the team had deserved to make the team. I was okay with being an alternate now.
"Then what is it?" she asked me. "Look I don't expect us to be best friends but we have friends in common now. It would be nice if we could both hang out with them without things being awkward." I had to admit that she had a point.
"I guess I just don't feel comfortable around you," I said quietly. I had almost said that I didn't trust her but I caught myself just in time.
"Because I use to be a Hawk?" Alex asked me. I nodded. "Connie that was a long time ago. Things are different now. I know it was awful the way my old teammates use to treat you guys and maybe I should've done something to stop it but can you honestly say that you remember me ever being in on any of the stuff they did." She paused probably waiting to see if I would say anything. I didn't because again she had a valid point. "All I'm asking for is a chance. Take the time to get to know me before you judge me."
I thought about her words. What she was asking wasn't unreasonable. "Okay," I finally said. "Hi, I'm Connie Morreau nice to meet you," I said smiling and holding out my hand to her.
"Hi Connie, I'm Alex Conway," Alex replied with a smile taking my hand. "So what's going on between you and Charlie?" Alex asked as the waitress sat all of our drinks down on the table.
"What do you mean?" I asked. Had somebody seen the kiss he gave me and if they had who was it and how did Alex find out. On the other hand maybe Charlie had been telling people he had kissed me. If he had I was going to kill him.
"Well it just seemed like there was something going on between the two of you Sunday night when the four of were out. Like maybe you like him as more than just a friend."
"Is it that obvious?" I asked realizing that she didn't know anything about the kiss and no one had told her anything.
"Not really," Alex told me. "I just happen to know a little bit about that look, I mean look how long it took Adam and I to get together."
I let out a sigh of relief. I still wasn't completely sure how I felt about Charlie but I definitely didn't want people talking about us being a couple. At least not before we figured things out ourselves.
"If I tell you something will you promise not to say anything to anyone - not even Adam?" I asked her.
"Of course," Alex said taking a sip of her soda.
"After dinner on Sunday when Charlie and I were walking back to the dorms, Charlie kissed me."
"What!" she said surprised. "I can't believe he actually kissed you. What happened after he kissed you?"
" I made the excuse I had homework to do and disappeared inside."
"Do you like Charlie?" Alex asked me.
"Yeah, I guess I do," I admitted after thinking about it for a moment. "But he's friends with Guy and I don't want to cause problems between them."
"Don't take this wrong but I think Guy is over you. He seems pretty happy with Debbie."
"I know. And I'm happy for him. We always seemed to fighting lately anyways but still it might be awkward if Charlie and I start dating."
"If you like Charlie than I think you should go for. I mean he must like you - he kissed you."
"He's a good kisser too," I said with a smile.
"Okay, that's more information than I needed to know," she told me with a laugh.
"Okay did I miss something," Julie said returning to the table. She took her seat next to me and looked from me to Alex waiting for one of us to say something.
"Not really," I told her. For some reason I wasn't ready to tell Julie about Charlie kissing me. At least not right now. I wanted to get thing straightened out for myself first.
Mrs. Conway came back shortly after Julie and the pizza came not to long after that. The four of us talked about wedding plans while we ate our pizza. Most of us Ducks had been waiting for Mrs. Conway and Coach Bombay to get together for years. It was kind of exciting that it was finally happening.
After dinner we drove back to the Conway's and then Alex drove the three of us back to Eden Hall. I wanted to get back not because I wasn't enjoying my afternoon out with the girls but I wanted to find Charlie. It was time we discussed what had happened Sunday night and stopped avoiding each other.
Charlie's POV:
I turned around to find Guy sitting on his bed. He looked at me expectantly waiting for an answer. I had already told him that I wanted to talk to him about something so I couldn't very easily back out now.
"Guy, are you and Connie over for good?" I asked deciding that if I was going to do it I might as well get right to the point.
"Yes we are. I'm enjoying the time I've been spending with Debbie and as you have probably noticed Connie seems to be dating a different guy every night," Guy said. I tried to judge the emotion behind the words but as far as I could tell it really wasn't bothering him that Connie was dating other guys.
"So you wouldn't care if someone else dated Connie even if that someone else was a friend?" I ventured.
"No, why should I?" Guy said with a shrug. Then he must have got to thinking about the question. "Wait a second, are you trying to ask me if I'm okay with you dating Connie?" he asked me after a slight pause.
"Yes," I told him simply. "I've had a crush on her for the past few years," I admitted to him, "but I never would have tried to steal her from you. I have too much respect for you and her to have done that," I added quickly hoping he wouldn't get bad at me.
"You don't need to ask my permission to go out with Connie," Guy said with a laugh. "If you want to date her go for it."
"You're sure?" I asked him. "I don't want to cause any problems between any of us." I told him.
"I'm positive. I told you, I'm enjoying spending time with Debbie. Connie and I weren't meant to be. Hopefully, we can still be friends but I don't want to go back out with her," Guy told me. "Besides, I'd rather have her dating you than some of the guys she has gone out with lately. I'm not sure where she is finding some of these guys. At least I know you'll treat her right. Was that last guy even human?" he asked me. I had to laugh. I had said the same thing to Connie about that guy the night before.
"You know I'm not sure," I told him. "I asked Connie the same thing last night and got a book thrown at me for my troubles."
I was just glad that he was cool with all of this and I hoped it would last. I hope that if Connie and I did start dating that he would still be cool with it. The next step was to talk to Connie about what had taken place last night. Did she feel the same way about me as I did about her?
Connie's POV:
"We could make Averman happy and pick this dress," I heard Julie say and I glanced over to see her holding up a very frilly, light pink dress. It would've looked good - if we wanted to be fairy princesses. It was a good thing I knew she was joking because if not I would've thought that she had completely lost all good taste.
"What do you want us to look like - cotton candy," Alex said from her spot at another dress rack. We had already spent and hour looking at dresses and we had yet to find one that all three of us could agree on. Okay, we couldn't find a dress that Julie and I could agree on. The cotton candy remark was the first comment of dislike for a dress that I had heard from Alex all afternoon. I don't know about the other two but I was starting to get frustrated. Still there was no way in the world you would ever see me in that pink dress that Julie was holding up.
I shook my head and turned back to the dresses in front of me. There had to be something we could all agree in. It seemed like pink and pastel colors were in though and I personally didn't care for them and I had known Julie long enough to know that they weren't exactly her colors either.
"Ohh, how about this one," I heard Julie cry out. I almost expected to turn around and see her holding up another pink dress. A sarcastic comment was even coming to mind but as I turned around I realized that she was serious this time. Julie was grinning as she stood holding up the dress in front of her. It was a long sleeved dress that was a deep jade. The only frill on the dress was a silver bow on the left hip. I thought it looked beautiful.
"I love it," I said walking over to Julie to get a better look at the dress. "What do you think Alex."
"It's fine with me, if the two of you both like it," she said. I couldn't help but wonder how she couldn't be in love with the dress. I looked at her questionly. "Really, if the two of you like the dress I'm cool with it," she told me. "I'm just not a big fan of dresses period."
"Connie, Julie do both of you like that dress?" Mrs. Conway asked us, stepping in. I think she was as tired of being here as we were and just wanted the selection process over with. I took another look at the dress Julie was holding and nodded my head. Julie was doing likewise. The two of us finally liked the same dress.
Mrs. Conway's friend then started taking our measurements so that she could get the dresses made up. That took another half-hour. By that time I was starving. I couldn't wait to get back to Eden Hall so we could have dinner.
"Do you girls want to go out for pizza for dinner?" Mrs. Conway asked as she said good-bye to her friend and walked over to of.
"Yeah sure," all three of said quickly.
The four of us walked over to the nearby pizza parlor for dinner. After ordering Mrs. Conway and Julie disappeared into the bathroom leaving me alone at the table with Alex. I still wasn't comfortable being around Alex. I couldn't get past the fact that she use to be a Hawk although all of the others had seemed to. I didn't like the idea of the two of us being alone even for a few minutes together. What if I said something I shouldn't? Not only was Alex dating Adam but she was Charlie's sister and Mrs. Conway's daughter. I didn't want any of them mad at me just because Alex and I couldn't get along.
I looked down at the table and started fiddling around with my napkin. I figured the safest thing for me to do was to simply not say anything. Alex wasn't going to let me do that though.
"Is it something I said or did?" she asked me out of the blue.
"What?" I said, looking up at her, not quite sure what she was getting at.
"I just get the feeling that you don't like me," Alex told me. "So I was wondering have I said or did something to upset you. Are you upset that you didn't make the roller hockey team?"
"No, its not that," I said quickly. I had been upset about that at first but I finally realized that it hadn't been anything personal against me. Scooter and Alex couldn't have everyone on the team and I hadn't been good enough to make the team. I knew I wasn't the best hockey player and everyone on the team had deserved to make the team. I was okay with being an alternate now.
"Then what is it?" she asked me. "Look I don't expect us to be best friends but we have friends in common now. It would be nice if we could both hang out with them without things being awkward." I had to admit that she had a point.
"I guess I just don't feel comfortable around you," I said quietly. I had almost said that I didn't trust her but I caught myself just in time.
"Because I use to be a Hawk?" Alex asked me. I nodded. "Connie that was a long time ago. Things are different now. I know it was awful the way my old teammates use to treat you guys and maybe I should've done something to stop it but can you honestly say that you remember me ever being in on any of the stuff they did." She paused probably waiting to see if I would say anything. I didn't because again she had a valid point. "All I'm asking for is a chance. Take the time to get to know me before you judge me."
I thought about her words. What she was asking wasn't unreasonable. "Okay," I finally said. "Hi, I'm Connie Morreau nice to meet you," I said smiling and holding out my hand to her.
"Hi Connie, I'm Alex Conway," Alex replied with a smile taking my hand. "So what's going on between you and Charlie?" Alex asked as the waitress sat all of our drinks down on the table.
"What do you mean?" I asked. Had somebody seen the kiss he gave me and if they had who was it and how did Alex find out. On the other hand maybe Charlie had been telling people he had kissed me. If he had I was going to kill him.
"Well it just seemed like there was something going on between the two of you Sunday night when the four of were out. Like maybe you like him as more than just a friend."
"Is it that obvious?" I asked realizing that she didn't know anything about the kiss and no one had told her anything.
"Not really," Alex told me. "I just happen to know a little bit about that look, I mean look how long it took Adam and I to get together."
I let out a sigh of relief. I still wasn't completely sure how I felt about Charlie but I definitely didn't want people talking about us being a couple. At least not before we figured things out ourselves.
"If I tell you something will you promise not to say anything to anyone - not even Adam?" I asked her.
"Of course," Alex said taking a sip of her soda.
"After dinner on Sunday when Charlie and I were walking back to the dorms, Charlie kissed me."
"What!" she said surprised. "I can't believe he actually kissed you. What happened after he kissed you?"
" I made the excuse I had homework to do and disappeared inside."
"Do you like Charlie?" Alex asked me.
"Yeah, I guess I do," I admitted after thinking about it for a moment. "But he's friends with Guy and I don't want to cause problems between them."
"Don't take this wrong but I think Guy is over you. He seems pretty happy with Debbie."
"I know. And I'm happy for him. We always seemed to fighting lately anyways but still it might be awkward if Charlie and I start dating."
"If you like Charlie than I think you should go for. I mean he must like you - he kissed you."
"He's a good kisser too," I said with a smile.
"Okay, that's more information than I needed to know," she told me with a laugh.
"Okay did I miss something," Julie said returning to the table. She took her seat next to me and looked from me to Alex waiting for one of us to say something.
"Not really," I told her. For some reason I wasn't ready to tell Julie about Charlie kissing me. At least not right now. I wanted to get thing straightened out for myself first.
Mrs. Conway came back shortly after Julie and the pizza came not to long after that. The four of us talked about wedding plans while we ate our pizza. Most of us Ducks had been waiting for Mrs. Conway and Coach Bombay to get together for years. It was kind of exciting that it was finally happening.
After dinner we drove back to the Conway's and then Alex drove the three of us back to Eden Hall. I wanted to get back not because I wasn't enjoying my afternoon out with the girls but I wanted to find Charlie. It was time we discussed what had happened Sunday night and stopped avoiding each other.