Charlotte's Tangled Web: L.B. Pavlov (9 page)

I reached over and tucked her hair behind her ear. She stared at me with her worried eyes, and she was biting her lip. Before I could think to tell her to stop biting her lip, I leaned over and I kissed her.

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chapter
5

the truth

I could feel his lips on mine. He pulled away to look at me, and I was frozen.

“Charlotte? Are you OK?” he asked nervously.

I looked up at him. “Why did you kiss me? Was it because you feel bad for me about what happened?” I asked firmly.

“No. I kissed you because I wanted to kiss you,” he answered confidently.

“When did you decide that you wanted to kiss me?” I pressed while staring him right in the eyes.

I certainly didn’t want a sympathy kiss—not even from Daniel.

“Are you asking me when the first time that I wanted to kiss you was?” He seemed surprised by the question.

“Yes, I am,” I said, certain of my question. I was not going to allow him to kiss me because he felt sorry for me.

“The very first time?” he asked again nervously.

“Yes,” I said, unwavering.

“Well, the very first time that I ever wanted to kiss you was twelve years ago, if you want me to be honest,” he said, more self-assured now.

“What are you talking about?” I was irritated that he was making a joke out of this.

“You know, when Chandler Hoboken threw sand in your face. You were sitting in the sandbox, and you had sand all over your head. You started to cry. I punched the prick. And I remember looking over at you, and you had a little bun in your hair with a pink ribbon tied around the bun. You were wearing a little white dress, which was now covered in a shitload of sand. And I remember that I wanted to kiss you on the cheek to make you smile again. But that damn Mrs. Barnacle grabbed me by the arm and wrenched me out of there and down to the principal’s office. But yes, that was the first time that I wanted to kiss you,” he said, as if this should come as no surprise to me at all.

I was stunned, and finally I said, “We were in kindergarten,” in a quiet voice.

“Yes,” he said in a voice that told me he was aware of the time frame.

“Daniel, I guess I’m asking for a more recent example, and it must be a time when we weren’t five years old,” I said, more interested now, although I was completely moved that he remembered what I was wearing and so many details about that day. I just remembered having a mouthful of sand and crying. Daniel was full of surprises. I waited for him to try to get himself out of this.

“Hmmmm…how recent are we talking about?” he asked, flashing his very charming smile.

“Um, fifteen years old or older please,” I said, certain that I would stump him.

He did not hesitate for one second. “OK then, your fifteenth birthday. We decided to give you that surprise party. Your dad took you shopping, and Lenora, Jack, Eric, James, and I all decorated your house. We had pink balloons everywhere and a big pink cake. We had invited all of your friends, your grandparents, my family; everyone was there. When you walked through the door, and I remember it clearly, you were wearing jeans and a gray, long-sleeved sweater with a pink scarf wrapped around your neck, and your hair was pulled back in a ponytail. Everyone yelled, ‘Surprise!’ and you looked so stunned. Your face lit up, and you looked right at me with the sweetest look I had ever seen. And I wanted to kiss you right there, in front of everyone,” he said as if it had just happened yesterday.

I could feel my eyes welling up with tears, and a lump formed in my throat. I was absolutely stunned by his recollection of events, but still not completely satisfied with the realness. I pressed on. “Daniel, when was the most recent time that you wanted to kiss me?” I asked quietly and cautiously.

“The most recent before right now?” he asked, making sure he understood what I was asking.

“Yes,” I said anxiously.

“At the football game,” he said without a second thought.

“Which football game?” I continued.

“Tonight’s football game, Charlotte,” he said, just like that.

“When we saw each other before the game or when we saw each other after the game?” I said nervously.

“Both times I wanted to kiss you,” he said, looking right into my eyes.

“Me too,” I said quietly.

I looked back at Daniel. His eyes were wild with excitement. I felt my heart racing. He grabbed my hand to say something, but I had heard enough. I lifted his hand up and out of the way so I could jump into his lap. I pressed my lips to his. I could feel his quickly beating heart pressed up against mine. His lips were warm and soft. It was better than any kiss I could ever have imagined. We stopped for a minute, both of us panting, and he pulled me back to look at me.

“Are you comfortable? I’m not hurting you, am I?” he asked in a concerned voice, looking at my eyes to make sure that I was OK.

I was pressed between Daniel’s muscular chest and the steering wheel of his truck, and I was more comfortable than I had ever been in my entire life. I smiled, caressed his beautiful face with my hands, and started to kiss him again. If this was a dream, I hoped that I would never wake up. Daniel and I continued kissing for what seemed to be hours, but I had absolutely no concept of time. His lips were smooth and gentle, and I could feel his warm breath against me. His hands were soft, and he stroked my hair and my face. My hands were tangled in his hair and moving up and around his strong muscular shoulders. Our breathing was fast and frantic.

Daniel pulled me back and started chuckling under his breath, trying to calm his breathing, and said in a very raspy voice, “Charlotte, let me take you inside. You can’t be comfortable with a steering wheel in your back. I don’t want to hurt you.”

My lips felt like they were swollen from all the activity, which made me giggle inside. I wondered if everyone’s first kiss was this perfect. “I’m completely comfortable, Daniel. And I don’t want to stop kissing you.” I could feel my face flush as the words came out of my mouth, but I didn’t care. I didn’t want to stop. And if I could tell anyone what I wanted, it was Daniel.

He laughed out loud and put his hand under my chin to lift my eyes to his. “I don’t want to stop kissing you either, but let’s get out of the truck. I want you to be more comfortable. And, Charlotte, this may not be my first kiss, but this is by far the best kiss I’ve ever had,” he said, smiling at me.

His eyes were smoldering, and he looked sexy with his hair all tousled on his head. He was beautiful. He jumped out the truck and came around to open my door. He lifted me out of the truck, which caught me off guard, and I gasped. As he slid me down his body to put my feet on the ground, our lips met once again. We stood in his driveway kissing for a few minutes, and then he took me by my hand and led me to his front porch.

He sat on his mom’s swing and pulled me onto his lap. He looked into my eyes and grabbed hold of my hand. “Are you sure this is OK?” he said, with concern in his eyes.

How could he wonder if this was OK? “Daniel, it’s so much better than OK. It’s perfect. You’re perfect. And I’ve never been happier.” I tangled my hands into his hair and pulled him close to me until our lips met again.

I could never tire of this, I thought, and our lips came together again. We kissed for a long time. Once we were both panting and our kissing was growing more frantic and desperate, Daniel pulled me back again and looked at me. “Charlotte, let me walk you home now. I don’t want your lips to hurt tomorrow,” he laughed.

He lifted me up and grasped hold of my hand. Our fingers intertwined. I stopped him and looked at him. “Is it bad that I don’t want to stop kissing you?” I asked shyly and looked at the ground.

He lifted my chin up again to meet his gaze. “Charlotte, you’re not the only one that doesn’t want to stop. But if we don’t stop now, I am afraid that I won’t be able to stop if we continue. And just think, now we get to kiss each other every day, so we have something to look forward to.” He chuckled.

He walked me to my front door. I did not want to say good-night. He looked at me with his seductive, green eyes and said, “Stop biting your lip.” He leaned over and very gently freed my bottom lip with his teeth, and then he pulled my lips to his again. “You’re killing me, Charlotte Ford,” he said as he pulled away and opened my door.

We stared at each other for a few moments, just smiling, and we agreed to meet in the morning for our usual run. I closed the door.

I walked up to my room and fell on my bed. This was the most amazing day of my life. My cell phone vibrated a few minutes later, and I pulled it out of my purse. It was a text from Daniel:
Thank you for the best night of my life. How am I possibly going to be able to run next to you tomorrow without kissing you? Stop biting your lip. Save that for me. See you in the morning.

I quickly responded:
This was the best night of my life too. I am certain that I will not be able to run next to you without kissing you. But I will be happy just to be next to you again. I didn’t want to say good-night. Thank you for being the mature one. This must be a first. Ha ha. See you in the morning. Xxxxxx
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I woke up early, and it took me a moment to realize that what had happened last night was real and not a dream. I got dressed for my run and went outside. Charlotte wasn’t there yet, so I crossed the street and walked inside. Lenora was singing along to her music and cleaning.

“She must have overslept. She must be tired. I know how much you enjoy waking her up so get going,” she laughed, pointing me toward the stairs.

I knocked lightly on her bedroom door and she didn’t respond, so I opened the door. There she was, asleep on her white fluffy cloud. She truly looked like an angel. I walked to the side of her bed and sat down. I could watch her sleep all day. I couldn’t help but stare at her full, pink lips, and the thought of them pressed against mine made my heart race. I thought back to the night before and all that had happened.

I wondered if I should have told her that I loved her before I kissed her. I thought about how I was about to say it to her when she jumped into my lap, and the memory made me laugh. Her eyes suddenly opened.

“Daniel?” she said in a quiet voice. “Did I oversleep? What time is it?” she said anxiously.

“It’s seven thirty, we have plenty of time, don’t worry about it,” I said calmly.

“How long have you been here?” she asked sweetly.

“A few minutes. I like watching you sleep,” I said softly and smiled at her.

She started to bite her lip, and I leaned down and released it with my teeth and then traced the outline of her bottom lip with my tongue. She responded by pressing into a kiss.

She quickly pulled back and covered her mouth with both hands, realizing that she hadn’t brushed her teeth. She sprung out of bed and ran into her bathroom. She yelled from the bathroom, “Sorry about that!”

I shouted back, “I didn’t notice.”

She came out of the bathroom dressed in her running clothes, and she had pulled her long, brown hair into a ponytail. She walked briskly over to me, grabbed my face, and gave me a long, passionate kiss.

She pulled away and said, “Now I have minty, fresh breath, just in case you were wondering,” and she laughed as she led me down the stairs.

“How far are we running?” I inquired. Running next to Charlotte was not going to be easy.

“Ten-miler today—if you can keep up,” she giggled.

We took off on our run, and we talked about what had happened the night before with Blane. She laughed about how absolutely crazy the night was.

“Blane texted me four times by the way,” she said, annoyed.

“Oh, did he?” I responded suspiciously.

“He wanted to know where I had gone, if I could forgive him, and if we could talk today,” she said in an angry voice.

“What did you say?” I asked cautiously.

“I am not responding, Daniel. I don’t have anything to say to him, and the only boy I want to text is running next to me.” She smiled, and our breathing was calming down as we approached mile three.

We then talked about her upcoming season and Katrina George. Katrina George would most likely be Charlotte’s biggest competition, just as she had been for the past three years. They were both seniors this year and had been competing against one another for the state title since they were freshman. Katrina was number one in her region, and Charlotte was number one in our region. The two would not face off until the state meet. Katrina was a big talker. She liked to do as many interviews as possible, and she liked to say how she was going to end Charlotte’s reign as state champ. She made promises every year but had yet to fulfill them. Charlotte didn’t look forward to racing her because Katrina played it out in the press as if they were enemies, but in all actuality they barely knew one another. Katrina was also well-known for playing dirty, cutting corners, and doing whatever it took to win. She just hadn’t succeeded with Charlotte, and it made her dislike Charlotte all the more.