Concupiscent

Remember when I said that things couldn't possibly get worse?

Well, they got worse.

As I was leaving second period I got surrounded by people who bombarded me with the same three questions.

Are you and Charlotte dating?

Are the rumors true?

Have you guys kissed yet?

I guess Kayden saw me internally freaking out because he pushed his way through the crowd and led Charlotte into the room.

When her eyes immediately spotted me they softened before she put a hard look on and elbowed her way through the crowd.

As she approaches me everyone suddenly goes quiet and watches us eagerly.

"Are you okay?" She asks softly as she examines me for any injuries

"Um,yeah" I say quietly since all I want to do is get out of this classroom

She wraps her arm around my shoulder which causes me to latch onto her waist as she pushes her way through the crowd.

"Move" Charlotte says with a hard tone which causes me to lightly pinch her side in a warning behavior.

When we make it into the hallway she grabs my hand, while interlocking our fingers, and quickly guides me down the hallway and out of the front doors.

"Where are we going?" I ask Charlotte but she doesn't respond

I try to take a look at her face only to see her eyebrow twitching.

I stop in my spot which causes her to stop walking as well, but she doesn't face me.

"Look at me" I say with a hard tone but she continues to look forward

"Look. At. Me." I say again which causes her to slowly turn around and meet my eyes

When our eyes meet my breath hitches. Her usually bright green eyes are now a darker green and there seems to be an untamable fire going on inside them.

Her usually full pink pouty lips are set in a tight line as her jaw ticks from annoyance.

I've never seen her like this.

I let go of her hand and gently caress her cheeks which causes her to tightly grip my hips.

We continue to stand there as we stare deep into each other's eyes.

I saw a lot of emotions go through her eyes before she took a deep breath in and closed her eyes. As she opens her eyes they're a little lighter then they were a couple of seconds ago.

As I'm about to ask her about that we hear a horn honk beside us which causes me to jump back as Charlotte wraps her arms tightly around my waist

I look in the direction that the honk came from only to see Carolina smirking at us from the drivers seat while Hayden glares at me.

What did I do?!

We walk towards the vehicle before sliding into the back seat.

"You know that you could've called me, or better yet, texted me" Charlotte say with an eye roll which causes Carolina to laugh

"I did, twice" she says which causes me to blush as Charlotte fishes out her phone from her pocket

"I guess you were too busy to notice" Hayden mutters bitterly from the front seat which causes Charlotte to glare at him

"What did you just say?" She asks which causes everyone in the car to freeze

"N-nothing" he stutters quickly

"That's what I thought" she said before she turned on her phone

-

"No way" I gasp as I look at the restaurant in front of us

Carello's.

Carolina parked in front of Mr. Carello's pizzeria which causes me to jump out of my seat.

He doesn't only sell pizza he also sells spaghetti with breadsticks, vegan specialties, and cheesecakes.

"I decided to take you here for lunch since I doubt you would want to sit in the cafeteria and be mobbed again" Charlotte says with a sad smile which causes my smile to widen

"Thank you so much" I say as I wrap my arms around her and pull her into a hug which causes her to wrap her arms around my waist

I suddenly feel a wave of want and need crash between my legs which causes me to jump away from her as I become flustered.

Oh god.

What is happening?!

"Are you okay?" Charlotte asks with concern evident in her voice

"Yeah, I'm just excited" I say shakily as I grab her hand and pull her out of the car.

As we're walking to the front door of the restaurant I clench my thighs together while biting my lip.

My jeans aren't helping this foreign feeling, if anything it's making it stronger.

"Aspen, are you sure you're alright?" Charlotte asks as she holds the door open for me

I peek up at her from in between my lashes only to see that she's looking at me with confusion written on her facial features.

"Totally" I say in a high pitched voice before I speed walk through the door and stop at the podium

Charlotte walks up beside me and looks for the lady who usually stands up here.

"Hello, how may I help you?" The lady asks as she walks up in front of us

"Reservation for Wilder" Charlotte says in a polite tone

Wow, if only she was this polite to everyone else.

"Ah yes, right over her" She says with a bright smile as she leads us to a booth that stares out at the beach.

As Charlotte and I sit down across from each other the lady places a menu in front of the both of us before she walks away.

I cross my right leg over my left to try and dull the throbbing.

Why won't this feeling go away?!

I try to even my erratic breathing by taking a deep breath in before releasing it.

"Aspen?" I hear a familiar voice call which causes me to smile as I look up to meet his eyes

"Mr. Carello" I greet in a excited voice as I stand up and give him a hug. I pull away and look at Charlotte only to see her looking at us with a smile.

"Come on, Charlotte. Don't be a stranger" Mr. Carello says which causes Charlotte to laugh as she stands up and hugs him.

"How have my two favorite costumers been?" He asks with a smile so wide that his eyes are almost closed

"You know how school keeps us busy" Charlotte says as we sit down in our seats

"Back in my day we didn't get that much homework. In fact I thought school was easy" he says with a thoughtful expression which causes me to roll my eyes

Wish I could relate.

"Anyway, What would you lovely ladies like to drink?" He asks as he takes out a notepad and pen from his apron

I look at my menu quickly before responding.

"I'll have a sprite, please" I say with a smile as I put my menu down

I look at Charlotte only to see her looking at me with an amused glint in her eyes which causes me to blush as I look down at my menu.

"Iced tea, please" Charlotte says

"Great, I'll be back with your drink orders" he says before walking away

I look up at Charlotte and see her gazing out the window at the waves crashing against the sand.

It's very relaxing.

"We should go over there before we go back to school" I say which causes her to smile as she nods

"Definitely" She says before we're left in a comfortable silence.

La Piér Beach.

The only beach in our small town.

Everyone and their family has most likely been to La Piér once in their life.

I haven't been there since I was six.

No, nothing traumatic has happened that made me stay away.

Okay fine, I almost drowned so I'm afraid to go into deep levels of water.

"Hey, we don't have to go if you don't want to" Charlotte says in a sincere tone as she grabs my hand which causes me to turn towards her and smile

"I want to" I say as she searches my face for a lie

"Here are your drinks" a girl says as she sets our beverages down in front of us

I turn towards her only to see that she's gazing at me with a seductive look. She leans her hand on the table which causes her breasts to fall out of her white button up shirt.

"What would you like to eat?" She asks in a raspy voice as she twirls a strand of my hair around her finger. I glance at Charlotte and see that she's glaring at the waitress as she's gripping the table in anger.

Oh, wow.

Okay, this is actually happening.

What the heck do I do?!

"Um, I'll have a small cheese pizza" I say which causes the waitress to smirk

"Just a small?" She asks teasingly as she trails her finger down my arm which causes Charlotte to clear her throat with an annoyed look

If only looks could kill.

"I would like to order" Charlotte says emotionlessly which causes the waitress to roll her eyes as she turns towards Charlotte with a fake smile

"What would you like?" The waitress asks with annoyance clear in her tone

"I would like it if you wouldn't flirt with her" Charlotte says before she raises her eyebrow challengingly

Oh god.

This isn't going to end well.

"Why? Does it bother you?" The waitress asks with a glare as she stands up

"If you would like to keep your job I suggest that you stop flirting with her and get us a new waiter" Charlotte says as her hand balls into a fist

Oh, this really isn't going to end well.

"Why? Are you jealous?" The waitress asks with a smirk which causes Charlotte to laugh sarcastically

"Jealous? Of you?" She asks with an eyebrow raise which causes the waitress to shift uncomfortably in her spot

"Charlotte, Stop it" I say sternly since I don't want her to do something that she'll regret later

"What is there to be jealous of?" Charlotte asks with a smirk which causes the waitress to smirk back at her

"The fact that I'm not Thunder," The waitress says which causes Charlotte's smirk to instantly fall as she glares at the waitress

"You know, the well known ga-" she doesn't get the chance to finish her sentence since Charlotte attacks her to the ground

The guests and I watch horrified as Charlotte continuously pummels the waitress' face until there's blood running down it.

After my shock wears off I quickly jump up and attempt to separate Charlotte from the waitress.

I suddenly hear Carolina and Mr. Carello approaching us which causes me to look up as they stare at the waitress in horror.

Carolina helps me pull Charlotte off the waitress as Mr. Carello helps the waitress up.

"You can't hide forever," the waitress gasps out before she coughs

"When your true identity is revealed, I'll be the one laughing while you're sitting behind a jail cell" She says before slowly walking towards the employee bathroom

Charlotte tries to struggle and get out of Carolina's grip as she watches the retreating waitress.

"Both of you are hereby banned from my restaurants" Mr. Carello angrily yells at us

"Please leave the premises immediately or you'll be escorted out" He says before walking after his employee.

I quickly walk out of the restaurant without turning around or speaking. My brain was going into overdrive.

What the hell was that about?!

And what was that waitress going to say before Charlotte attacked her?

As I walk out of the restaurant I walk down the sidewalk towards the beach.

I hear people calling out my name but I ignore them as I dive further into my thoughts.

Is Charlotte living a double life?

Who is this 'Thunder' girl?!

Am I best friends with a dangerous person?!

"Aspen" I hear someone say annoyed as they grab my shoulder and turn me around

I'm met with Charlotte's annoyed facial features and wild green eyes.

She's annoyed?!

I'm the one that should be annoyed!

"I don't really want to talk to you right now" I say with an eye roll as I turn around and step onto the sand

I try to focus on the sound of the waves crashing against each other but get interrupted by Charlotte's voice.

"You're mad" She states in an emotionless voice

"Wow, you're catching on fast" I say sarcastically as I continue my walk on the sand

"Look, I'm sorry for what happened in there" she says with the same emotionless voice which causes me to laugh

Does she actually think that I'm that stupid?!

"No, you're not" I say as I shake my head and turn around to face her

She's looking at me with soft eyes but her face is still tense which gives her a dangerous look.

"If you were sorry you would mean it" I say which causes her jaw to tick in annoyance

"If you were sorry you wouldn't have even laid a hand on her" I say with an emotionless voice which causes her to ball her hands into fists at her sides

"I don't believe you" I say which causes her knuckles to turn white from how hard she's balling them

"You can not just beat someone up because you don't like what they say" I say as tears of anger fall out of my eyes

Ugh, now I look like an emotional child.

"But she didn't know what she was talking about" Charlotte says as she tries to touch me but I step away from her

I see a flash of sadness and regret appear in her eyes.

"That doesn't make it right" I choke out as more tears start to fall down my face

No, it can't be true.

There's no way.

She can't be a dangerous person.

I've known her for years, there's no way.

But the way she beat that woman's face for saying one sentence about 'Thunder' says otherwise.

"Shh Shh" She says as she pulls me into her

"Let go of me" I say as try to pull her arms off of me only to have her arms tighten around me

She's holding me so tight that I wouldn't be able to slip out even if I tried.

I eventually stop trying to pry her arms off of me and just cry into her shirt as my knees collapse. She wraps her arm under my knees and lifts me up bridal style before she leads us back towards the sidewalk.

"It can't be true" I choke out but she continues to look forward as if I'm not even talking to her

"You're not a dangerous person" I say in a convincing voice which causes Charlotte to slightly tense as she continues to walk

"Are you trying to convince yourself or me?" Charlotte asks in an emotionless voice

"I don't know anymore" I whisper out as she stops walking. She places me down and I immediately climb into the car which causes Carolina to give me a confused look before she glares at Charlotte.

Hayden smirks at me before he hands me a tissue box.

"I guess some people aren't who they say they are" he says which causes me to give him a look of confusion

"What do you mean?" I ask but all he does it laugh before whispering out

"All secrets will be revealed soon"