Chapter 67: Chapter 67

To Charlee's surprise, Hector addressed Walter first. “Walter, I think I’ve been in love with Charlee since the night of the speed tournament. I tried to fight it. I really did.” Charlee, whose weak heart was already swelling, stared at him, trying not to give in so easily. He turned back to her now. “I felt so guilty about the shit my friends had done to Walter in high school I just couldn’t justify going after the girl he was so infatuated with.”

“Dude,” Walter said, squirming in his seat.

“It’s okay, man.” Hector assured him. “She already knows, but only because I had to tell her.” Feeling the need to, Charlee smiled at Walter, and he glanced away quickly, obviously embarrassed. “Anyway,” Hector continued, his attention back on Charlee now. “That’s why the texts between Drew and me started. Your friend really does have a sixth sense. She was right about me, and she was also right about Danny.”

The smile completely vanished as Charlee stared at him, confused now. “She came to 5th Street the day after the keg party.” He smiled a little crooked. “She called me an asshole. She said she knew I had feelings for you but was under the impression that I just didn’t want to commit to one girl.” Now he turned to Walter and explained the whole Operation-get-Nat-and-Walt-together scheme.

“You and Drew planned that?” Charlee asked, surprised it never occurred to her that her scheming friend had had a hand in that.

“Yeah,” Hector winced. “But that’s a good thing, right, Walt? Things turned out beautifully.”

Walter smiled, nodding, so Hector turned back to Charlee and explained the texts. “She was offering to text me a list of your favorite things, but it didn’t feel right to continue being sneaky when I didn’t have to anymore. But there was never anything inappropriate about our texts. I can show you them, and you could read them all from the very first to the very last.”

Relief sunk in, and she could already tell her heart would be willing to overlook his past mistakes about not standing up for Walter. Walter seemed to be okay with it, and Hector did make a great effort to make it up to him and do right by Walter by staying away from Charlee for so long. She could certainly attest to that. He did try to keep things between them from happening for too long. Sadly, it didn’t change the fact that Drew had still betrayed her in such a horrific way.

“Are we good?” Hector asked, looking very worried still. “I think I covered it all, but tell me if you need anything else clarified.”

She stood up now, anxious to hug him and so incredibly happy that at least he hadn’t betrayed her. Immediately his arms were around her, and even though they’d just spend the entire weekend together, it felt as if she hadn’t been in his arms in so long. He kissed her softly, and after the kisses they’d shared all weekend, she got the distinct feeling he was holding back, but she didn’t blame him. They were standing in Walter’s room, and he was sitting there watching them.

“But now I have a question for you,” he said as he pulled away. The worried expression was back. “Did you go see Danny when we were in Maryland?”

“No.” She shook her head immediately but braced herself to tell him the truth. “That letter I said was from Gwen,” she paused, waiting for him to nod. “That was from him. Gwen ran into him last week, and she mentioned I’d be in town and was hoping to get together with me. So the night before, he brought it to her and asked her to give it to me. She brought it to our lunch, and the only reason I didn’t tell you it was from him was because, at the time, I wasn’t planning on even reading it, so I didn’t think it mattered.”

Charlee paused once again because the emotion of knowing what Drew had done overwhelmed her again. Before she could continue, he pulled her to him again and kissed her head. “I know that had to be a blow, babe.”

She shook her head. “I didn’t even believe it at first. I thought for sure Danny was lying, and then she admitted it.” Charlee glanced away, wiping the away the tears that had once again begun.

“Charlee, please don’t be mad at me, okay?”

Not liking the sound of that, her brows furrowed, and she stared at him. “What?”

“Drew is outside.” She pulled away from him. “Listen to me, baby,” he said, reaching for her and holding her to him. “She explained it to me, and trust me, I felt ready to spit when she first told me about what she’d done too. But after hearing her explain why, I think, maybe, you’ll understand.”

She shook her head. “There’s nothing that could excuse what she did.”

Hector bobbed his head from side to side. “Well, maybe not, but I think you should at least hear her out. If I really didn’t think you’d understand, I would’ve told her to go to hell instead of where she could find you. But it’s up to you.”

Suddenly choked up, Charlee wanted nothing more than there to be a good reason for what Drew did, not just so she could forgive her, but so that her heart wouldn’t hurt so much. It literally ached, mourning the loss of her best friend.

Visions of Drew on her knees, sobbing on her front lawn came to her now. If that wasn’t genuine regret, she didn’t know what was. She nodded and followed Hector outside. Drew stood across the street, leaning against her car. She straightened out when she saw Charlee.

“I’ll wait here to give you your privacy if you want, but if you prefer, I can go with you too,” Hector said, squeezing her hand. “Up to you.”

She smiled, feeling a little shaky already but decided she needed to do this alone. “I’ll be okay by myself.”

Drew started toward her when she saw Charlee coming to her, and they met at the curb. Drew’s face was a mess, and Charlee hated that she already felt like hugging her. For a moment, she didn’t even care why Drew had done it. She could see it in her friend’s sorrowful eyes she regretted it immensely, and that’s all that mattered.

“They had a picture of me,” Drew began her voice so broken it choked Charlee up instantly, and she brought her hand to her mouth in an effort to not break down too. “The one I’d sent of my breasts to that asshole Greg I’d gone out with. Apparently, he’d forwarded to someone who was threatening to go viral with it. When you turned Danny down the first time, he came to me to confess about the party and asking you to it, but only because he knew you’d say no. He didn’t want to do it. They were pressuring him. They told him to ask me to try and convince you, and if I didn’t, the picture would go viral.”

Charlee nodded. She understood why Drew felt she had to. It made total sense. She’d be applying for college the very next year. That could’ve ruined her.

“I told them to fuck themselves and I didn’t give a shit about the picture.” She shrugged. “There were more scandalous things out there than a girl flashing her boobs. I’d live. Danny was really happy. He thought for sure I’d agree to convince you.”

Charlee stared at her confused now. “But you did.”

Drew nodded. “He went back and told them what I’d said, and few days later, he came to me again.” She scrunched her face up and looked away. “You remember what was going on around that time with my mom and my brother’s coach, right? My dad was already so devastated.” She shook her head. “Well, my idiot mother and that fucking coach taped themselves having sex. Someone got a hold of that too, and they were threatening put a like-mother-like-daughter video together, alternating my stupid tit’s picture with her video and going viral with that. They sent me a snippet of the disgusting video, and there was no way I could let my dad to see it or be publicly humiliated that way.

“Danny assured me that it was an inside-joke thing and that you would never even know it. He said all the girls at these parties never knew about it, and they kept it on the down low so the next year when it happened again no one would know. It’s the only reason I agreed to do it.” Her face suddenly crumbled again. “I wanted to die when they did what they did on Facebook,” she cried. “I swear I wanted to kill all of them. I went to Danny’s house and physically attacked him, but he swore to me he didn’t know they were going to do that. I didn’t believe him, until there was this huge brawl at school, and I found out it was Danny and his closest friends against some of the bigger assholes behind the whole Facebook thing. It really divided the whole,” she lifted her fingers to do an air quote, “popular crowd at school after that. I wanted to tell you so many times, but I just couldn’t. You were so devastated. I was terrified you wouldn’t understand. And earlier when you confronted me about it, I couldn’t tell you because my dad was there. I just—”

Charlee hugged her, and Drew cried openly now against her shoulder. She’d heard enough. As hurt as she’d been just hours ago, she now felt for Drew and all she must’ve been going through herself that entire last year. “I love you, Drew, and I understand why you did it now.”

Drew squeezed her tight. “Please tell me you’re not going back home.”

Charlee smiled, feeling an enormous and complete relief come over her now. For several horrifying hours there, she really believed she’d lost her best friend and her first love all at once.

“No, I’m not going home. Are you kidding? And give up our new beginning? Not a chance.”

They both glanced back at Hector, who stood at Walter’s stairs. His muscles were bulging a little through his tight t-shirt, and he was smiling at them now. “You’d be nuts to walk away from that hot thing too. He really is a dream, Charlee, and not just because of his looks. He truly cares about you.”

Charlee mouthed the word, “I love you,” and Hector mouthed them back.

“He is,” Charlee sighed deeply, feeling completely drained but more content than she ever had in her life. “He really is.”