Charlotte's Tangled Web: L.B. Pavlov (11 page)

I always heard my mother’s voice during races as well, telling me how proud she was of me, and I think that was why I loved running so much. It felt like I was with my mom in a way. As I came down the final stretch, the crowd was screaming and cheering me on, and it always encouraged me to finish strong.

As soon as I came through the chute, I looked back and was surprised by how much of a lead I had. I was not expecting that. I was always prepared for someone to be right next to me, and I never fooled myself into believing that I was unbeatable. I came through the chute and right to Daniel, who was holding a Gatorade and wearing a grin.

“You are amazing,” he said bluntly.

I laughed and led him back to the final stretch of the course so that I could cheer on my teammates. Steph and Kathleen finished strong in seventh and tenth place, and Lexi and Sydney were not far behind, rounding out our top five. We definitely had a shot to win this meet, and I was thrilled. It was a great start to the season.

We had a big barbeque at my house that night, and the Hollingsworths came, along with Kathleen and Edward, Steph and her boyfriend Jacob, plus my family. It was lots of fun. We played football in the backyard and had a great night.

Everyone had gone home except Daniel. He and my brothers wanted to play some pool and ventured off to the game room. I helped Lenora clean the kitchen, and then I went to find my dad. I heard him on the phone in his office, and it sounded like he was having an intense conversation with someone.

When he saw me walk in, he immediately ended the phone call abruptly.

“Hey, Dad,” I said quietly.

“Hey, sweetie, how are you feeling? You ran a great race today. Your mom would have been proud,” he said with a bittersweet tone to his voice.

My dad had never seemed to get past his sadness over losing my mom. Through reading her journals over and over, I learned that my dad used to be an outgoing and funny guy. He was definitely more serious since Mom had passed, and he didn’t seem to enjoy life most of the time. I had asked him on many occasions if he would like to read her journals because I had hoped he could find some closure through them. He always declined. He said it would be too difficult.

“Is everything OK, Dad?” I asked, concerned. “That sounded like a serious phone call.”

“Everything is fine, sweetheart. Nothing for you to worry about, OK?” he said comfortingly.

“Sure, Dad. You know, um, if you ever wanted to start dating, it wouldn’t bother me at all,” I said cautiously.

My dad looked at me with utter surprise on his face. “Well, thanks, sweetie. I’m good. But I have noticed a change between you and Daniel,” he said, changing the subject.

I felt my face flush at the unexpected comment. “Oh, um, yes, Daniel and I are more than friends. I love him, Dad,” I said nervously, but I was also relieved to get it out there.

“I know, honey, but remember, boyfriends can be distracting, especially one that you are already unusually close to. Just be careful. We don’t need anything to take us off our course, you know?” he said firmly.

“Right, Dad. Nothing will take me off of ‘our course,’ so not to worry,” I retorted with a chill in my voice that even I hadn’t expected. It just would have been nice for my dad to be happy for me. For the first time in my life, I had everything that I had always wanted. But instead, Dad had to make it about running and staying “on course.” That annoyed me, and he could tell.

“Honey, I am happy for you, and you know I think of Daniel as one of my own sons. But, when it comes to dating my daughter, it changes things. Daniel has…” he paused and then continued, “lived quite a bit more than you have. I don’t want him to, um, how can I say this…” he paused again, “introduce you to things that you aren’t ready for.”

“What does that mean?” I snapped at him, angry now.

“Charlotte, you are young. Trust me on this. Love makes people do things without thinking about the consequences,” he said cautiously. “I have personal experience with this.”

“Dad, please be happy for me. This has nothing to do with my running, or my future, or Stanford. I am just happy right now. Can’t you be happy for me about something other than ‘staying on course’?” I said bitterly.

I could see that I had hurt him. I felt bad for that, but I needed him to understand my life wasn’t just about running and college.

“Charlotte, I’m sorry that you can’t understand this. I am happy for you. I just want you to have a bright future. You have to trust that I know what’s best for you sometimes better than you know yourself,” he said in a way that let me know he was done with this conversation.

“Good-night, Dad,” I said coldly and walked away.

I went and joined Daniel and my brothers in the game room. They were all playing pool and laughing. Jack teased me as I entered the room, “Is Dad giving you a hard time about having a boyfriend, Charlie?”

Daniel playfully grabbed him from behind to make him stop harassing me, and they laughed and wrestled around.

Eric felt the need to jump in now. “Little Charlie and little, well, um, big Daniel, how cute.” Everyone started laughing with the exception of me.

I plopped down on the couch and ignored them. They continued playing pool, and Daniel came over to sit with me. He could tell that something was wrong. “Is your dad upset that we are together?” he asked concerned.

“I wouldn’t say he is upset. He is worried that it will affect my future and Stanford, who knows what,” I said rolling my eyes.

“Well, he loves you, Charlotte. I can understand that.” He winked at me.

“He said that you have lived more than me, as if you were going to corrupt me or something crazy and judgmental,” I said angrily.

I saw him wince, and he put his hand on my shoulder. “Charlotte, your dad is right. I am not the virtuous person that you are.” He smiled sincerely and continued, “I have, um, been with more girls than I want to say, and I’m certainly far from perfect. I have been drunk, and I have been stupid. I have done things that I wish I could take back now that I’m with you. But I can’t. But I am trying to be the person that you deserve me to be now. But I understand his concerns. I will just have to prove him wrong,” he said, his eyes blazing into mine.

“Daniel, no one is perfect. I know you’ve done things that I haven’t, but that doesn’t make you a bad person. We weren’t dating then. You are everything that I want, now and forever. Exactly as you are,” I said quietly so that only he could hear, and our hands intertwined.

My cell phone vibrated right at that moment. I looked down and saw it was the ever-annoying Blane. Daniel looked down at my phone too. I could see his face twitch when he saw whom it was from. I had told him that Blane had texted me a few times, but I didn’t tell him every time because I knew it bothered him.

“Why does he keep texting you? What the hell does he want?” he said angrily.

“I don’t know. I have never responded, and I haven’t spoken to him since the party,” I said, puzzled.

“What’s the matter over here?” James asked as he plopped down next to me on the couch. “Are we having a lovers quarrel?” he said, laughing.

“Some douche bag that won’t quit texting your sister,” Daniel said, annoyed.

“Maybe it’s time that you get involved, Daniel, and have a little chat with him.” Jack said seriously.

“Oh, trust me, I want to bust his face open, but your sister made me promise I would stay away from him. I am trying to be respectful,” he said, and he and Jack burst out laughing.

“Daniel is trying to be respectful! You are a changed man!” Jack exclaimed, and they laughed some more.

“Blane is on the football team. Daniel is the captain of his team, and he doesn’t need to waste his time or get in trouble over some idiot,” I said defensively.

“Oh no, his name is Blane?” Eric shouted. “I prefer douche bag to Blane.” We all laughed at that.

“Can we please stop talking about this?” I pleaded.

They went back to playing pool, but I could tell Daniel was concerned about both my dad and now Blane.

The next few weeks were busy, and the days passed quickly. Daniel had led his team to an undefeated season so far, and it looked like they would be going to state and had a shot at the state title. The Notre Dame coach had come to several games to watch Daniel, and they had already verbally offered Daniel a four-year, full-ride scholarship. He would sign at the end of the season.

I was so proud of him. I loved to watch him play. He became sexier each day. I loved spending every free minute with him, holding hands, kissing, talking, and laughing.

He had managed to stay away from Blane, with the exception of telling Blane to quit texting me. He claimed it was a direct conversation and that there was no argument involved, but for some reason I had a hard time believing that. They had to see each other at practice, but Blane sat the bench most of the time, so they didn’t have to interact a ton.

Blane continued to text me a few times, and I just deleted them. I didn’t want to upset Daniel by telling him about the texts. Daniel did not need to waste his time worrying about this. I knew that I could handle it.

I was racing a lot and continued to have a great season as well. I was so happy that my team was doing well also. We had only lost to two teams all season, and we had a shot to make it to state as a team.

Katrina George had done a big interview with the
Indiana Review Journal
in which she stated, “Charlotte Ford is a ‘has been.’ She has all this hype behind her with nothing to back it up. She doesn’t run with the fierceness that I do, and she better be ready to lose her title come November.”

Daniel and my dad were furious, but I just sort of laughed it off. This wasn’t the first time she had tried to intimidate me. She was running similar times to mine, and she wanted to win. I knew that beating Katrina would be no easy task. When I was asked by the
Review Journal
to respond to Katrina’s comments, I simply said, “Katrina is a great runner, and I wish her well.”

Coach Miroballi said I handled it with class, but I don’t think either Dad or Daniel was happy with my response. However, I was not about to have a public fight that got played out in the press. That was what Katrina wanted me to do.

The coach from Stanford would be flying out to the Indiana state meet to watch me race. He had come to the state meet my junior year too, and we had a verbal agreement that I would attend Stanford in the fall after graduation. I wouldn’t sign with them until the season had ended. I had other coaches that had come to see me race this year, but my dad wouldn’t consider any other schools that were interested in recruiting me. I was more than aware that Stanford was an awesome school. Stanford had an incredible distance coach and very impressive cross-country and track teams—not to mention the education that I would receive. My mother had attended Stanford, and in every way it was amazing to be receiving a full-ride scholarship from them. I was thrilled that they wanted me. It just bothered me that I didn’t seem to have a choice in the matter.

Daniel and I had made an agreement regarding the homecoming dance. Daniel had wanted to take me because I had never gone to a school dance. I was dreading it. I didn’t like dress shopping, I didn’t know how to dance, and I had never felt that I had missed out on anything by not attending. We had agreed to compromise: I would go to the senior prom with him, and he would drop the homecoming topic. Daniel had attended every school dance with different girls every time. He said he didn’t particularly like dances either, but he wouldn’t let me miss out on any high school experiences. He also said that if he were going to prom with me, he would certainly have a great time.

My birthday was quickly approaching, and Daniel was beyond excited to celebrate it. He had always loved to surprise me, and I always looked forward to what he would do. He always did something pink: pink flowers, pink gift wrap, a pink cake. Daniel thought it was funny that pink had stayed my favorite color ever since I was a little girl.

All that he had told me so far was that he would be cooking me dinner at his house. I loved this idea because that meant I didn’t have to get overly dressed up. It was October twelfth, and I wasn’t necessarily excited that it was my birthday, but I was excited about how special Daniel would make it for me.

I walked out front, and he was standing next to the truck with the passenger door open. “Your chariot awaits, birthday girl!” he said, smiling.

Oh my goodness, he was so gorgeous. It was progressively becoming more difficult for me to be in his presence without touching him.

He grabbed me and gave me a giant hug. “Happy birthday, Charlotte!”

He looked me in the eyes and pulled my lips to his. He kissed me so passionately that I felt my knees go weak, and he supported me with both of his hands. He started to laugh as he pulled me away gently to look at me. “I hope I make you weak in the knees many times today, birthday girl,” he said tenderly.

He popped me into the truck, reached over to buckle me in, planted a gentle kiss on my lips, and shut the door. When I looked around the truck, my jaw dropped. The back seat of the truck was filled with pink balloons. I started giggling at the sight.

He jumped in and said, “I have a lot more in store for you today!”

Daniel had a way of making me feel like the most important person in the world. The day zoomed by. A single pink rose was waiting for me on my desk in all four of my classes. Daniel was the most romantic boyfriend in the world. Everyone smiled when they would see the rose, and I blushed when they looked at me. What did I possibly do to deserve Daniel, I thought to myself.

Unfortunately, I had one class with Blane today. He came over to my desk while Steph and I were talking and interrupted us. “Happy birthday, Miss Charlie,” he said with his cheesy smile.

Steph turned and glared at him. I was as cold as I was capable of being and simply said, “Thank you,” with no expression at all.

“Will you be going to the game on Friday night to see if we make it to state?” he inquired.

“Of course she will. Her boyfriend is the quarterback,” Steph snapped at him angrily.