Chapter 13:
Cristina felt her heart pound in her ears, the squeezing of her chest and the fluttering of her stomach. She had to do it tonight. She had to tell Laura the truth, Cristina knew it was inevitable. She knew she couldn't keep this up forever without someone finding out, Cristina sighed heavily as she felt the tears well up in her eyes, she knew tonight would change everything.
The knock on the door interrupted Cristina's thoughts as she took a calming breath and walked over to the door, she looked to see who it was and breathed a sigh of relief as she opened the door. "Hey," she said quietly as she looked down at the floor.
"Hey, how you holding up?" Charlie gently asked as closed the door behind him.
"I-I'm okay, I guess," Cristina said softly as she looked up to meet Charlie's gaze. She let the tears fall as she wrapped her arms around Charlie's waist and pulled him close.
"Shhh, it's okay," Charlie whispered as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and placed his chin on the top of her head.
"H-how c-could I let this happen?" Cristina mumbled into Charlie's shoulder. "How could I betray my best friend like that Charlie? "How did I turn in to such a-slut!"
Charlie pulled away from Cristina and said firmly, " You are not a slut Cristina! You just made a mistake, that's all. Nobody's perfect, we all made stupid decisions at one point or another."
"Charlie you're so good to me," Cristina said as she wiped at her tears. "You don't deserve a crappy friend like me, you've been nothing but sweet since we've met and I've treated you so bad-"
"Hey--don't ever put yourself down like that," Charlie said as he pulled her into him once more. "You're a good person, Cristina. You have the biggest heart of anyone I know and you have the prettiest smile of any girl I've seen, I just want to see you smile again. Even if it's not for me," Charlie said softly.
Cristina pulled away and looked up at Charlie, she lifted her hand and ran in down the side of his face softly, her finger running over his bottom lip. Charlie breathed in as he noticed Cristina slowly closing in the gap between them and before he knew it he was also moving closer. Cristina's breathing became uneven as she felt Charlie's lips ever slightly touch hers before their lips met in a fiery of passion. Charlie moved his hands and cupped her face as he pulled her into him more, making the kiss deeper. He felt like his heart was about to beat out of his chest as Cristina ran her hands down his shoulders, her touch sending sparks throughout his body.
A million thoughts ran through Cristina's mind, she knew this was wrong. She couldn't do this to Charlie, she couldn't bear the thought of ever hurting him like she's done to the other people she's cared so much about. As much as she didn't want to, she had to pull away. She had to protect Charlie from herself.
"Charlie," Cristina whispered said as she broke the kiss. "We can't do this," she said regretfully. She looked up at Charlie and the look in his eyes was enough to kill her, she closed her eyes as she stepped away from him.
"Cristina, I think I l-"
"No," Cristina interrupted softly as she opened her eyes and looked at Charlie, "no you're not Charlie-you think you do, but you really don't."
"Cristina I know how I feel and what I feel for you is real," Charlie said hurtfully.
"I'm not good for you Charlie," Cristina said sadly as she grabbed his hands. "You deserve a girl that loves you with every fiber of them, a girl that will be there for you and support you through everything, that would never hurt you, and that just knows who she is and isn't afraid to give you her whole heart." Cristina took a deep breath and continued with, "I'm not that girl Charlie, maybe one day I can be, but not right now. I'm sorry."
Charlie stood there for a minute or two, before slowly nodding. "Yeah, I guess you're right," he said. Charlie sighed and slowly headed to the door, he turned to Cristina and said, "Were still friends, right?"
Cristina smiled and walked over to Charlie, "Of course-were always going to be friends." Charlie smiled and leaned down to kiss Cristina on the cheek, "Just remember that everything will be okay, no matter what happens, things will work out for the best," he whispered in her ear before opening the door and slipping out.
Cristina smiled slightly as she leaned against the closed door, maybe Charlie was right, she thought. Whatever happens, happens. With that in mind, Cristina took a deep breath, it was time. Cristina opened the door and as she did John was standing there, his eyes puffy and red.
"What are you doing here?!" Cristina said angrily, she went to shut the door in his face but John held his hand out and pushed it open. Cristina closed her eyes and rubbed her temples as she heard John walk into the door. "I have nothing to say to you John!" Cristina said as she started to head towards the door.
"Well, that's too bad because I have something to say to you!" John said in a growling voice. Cristina froze in her spot as she slowly turned around to face him, she had never seen John act this way, so angry, so...hurt.
"What do you want from me?" Cristina whispered as she closed her eyes so John couldn't read her. She felt John move in closer to her and soon she felt him grab her hand, "I don't know how to say this," John started softly. "But I'm going to try." He sighed and pulled Cristina into his arms, Cristina felt a shiver go down her spine as she felt his other hand travel down the side of her face.
"Ever since the moment I met you, there always something about you that I couldn't put into words. As much as this sounds cliche, everytime you walked into a room it was like this light was around you and you could always brighten up people when life got them down. At first, I respected that about you, but then as time went by, I grew to love that about you. I grew to love you." Cristina felt the tears well up in her eyes but she refused to let them fall, John sighed and stepped away from Cristina, turning his back towards her.
"By the time I admitted to myself that I had feelings for you, you were with that guyJake and I knew I didn't have a chance. I mean you were the kind of girl that only came into my dreams andwouldn't look twice at someone like me, and as much as it hurt me, I learned to deal with that. And when you introduced me to Laura, it almost killed me on how much you two were alike. So when I found out that she liked me, I figured that maybe, just maybe, this was an opportunity for me to finally get over you and move on with my life. And I did, I grew to love Laura and I was happy with what we had, but there always a part of my heart that belonged to you and I knew that no matter how long I was with Laura, I could never love her as much as I love you," John finished as he finally turned around to face Cristina once more.
"These past few months of being with you has been like a dream come true to me, " John stated. "And I know that I've fucked my relationships with both you and Laura and I have no one to blame but myself, and as much as it hurts me and as much as I love you Cristina, We both have to face fact that the dream is over and it's time to come back to reality."
Cristina opened her eyes and met John's eyes, she saw how much hurt he was going through at that moment and how much he has to hide his feelings. Cristina forced a small smile and walked over to John and grabbed his hand, "Thank-you," she whispered through her tears.
"For what?" John asked confused.
"For being the John that I met and have grown to love for the past few years," Cristina said as she leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. John smiled slightly before turning serious, "Are we going to tell her together?" John whispered.
"It's the best thing to do," Cristina said as she went to turn around but John held onto her arm, "can I have one last kiss?" he asked sadly. Cristina breathed in sharply as she felt John pulled her close to him. He ran his hand down her soft face, for the last time, he slowly leaned into her and soon Cristina felt his lips touch hers. The familiar spark was felt by both of them as she pulled John closer to her, a part of her not wanting this moment to end but the other part of her reminding her that this was nothing more than a good-bye kiss and that nothing was going to be the same after this.
"Oh my God!"
Cristina heard a familiar voice whisper, it at that moment her eyes widened in pure fear and shock, John didn't close the door when he came in. She quickly broke the kiss and turned to the door.
"No," Laura whispered as she clasped a hand over her mouth and the tears immediately started falling. It was then she did the only thing she could think of, she ran.
There, she caught 'em red-handed...Happy now?! lol I'm j/p but the next few chapters won't be pretty at all. What will happen, exactly? Well, review and I just might tell ya!
