"Aspen" I hear someone whisper before they tuck a strand of hair behind my ear

I attempt to open my eyes but immediately close them when I get blinded by a bright light.


When I successfully pry my eyes open I'm met with a sideways image of my mother. She's looking at me with a bright smile which causes me to scrunch my eyebrows together in confusion.

Why is she happier than normal?

And why do I feel very comfortable?


I look down and notice that there's a red knitted blanket laying across Charlotte and I's laps. Her arm is wrapped around my waist and tightly gripping my hip as my head lays comfortably on her shoulder.

When did I fall asleep?!


"Come on, we've arrived at the patch" my mom says with an encouraging smile which causes me to reach up and sleepily rub my eye

"How about we meet up with you when she wakes up a little more" Charlotte asks as she tilts her head to look at me and smiles

My mom nods before she hands Charlotte the car key and gets out of the car. She quickly closes her door before walking away from the car.

"If you wake up I'll buy you a hot chocolate" Charlotte says with an amused voice as I look up at her

"Promise?" I whisper as I look at her with hopeful eyes

She looks down at my face and smiles and she brings her hand up to caress my cheekbone.

"Promise" She says with a slight head nod which causes me to smile up at her

She kept her promise.

When we got out of the car she locked it and took us across the street to a small caf��.

La Pi��r.

She holds the door open for me which causes me to smile as I thank her and lead us inside.

"Where do you want to sit?" She asks as she stops beside me which causes our hands to lightly caress each other

My breath hitches as I feel a jolt of electricity go through my arm.

Charlotte freezes but she continues to look around for an empty table.

Did she not feel that too?!

"There's a booth over there" she says as she points to a red booth in the back of the store near the giant glass window

She leads me towards the booth before I sit across from her. She looks around before her eyes widen and she gets up immediately as if she's been burned which causes me to look at her in confusion.

What is her problem?!

"Are you okay?" I ask as I go to turn around and see who she's looking at but stop when she quickly grabs my elbow and pulls me up. She wraps her arm around my shoulder which causes me to give her another look of confusion.

"Don't look behind you, just pretend that we're a loving couple that came in for a quick drink" she says quickly and authoritatively

Her voice dropped an octave and her arm tightened around me protectively.

"Why can't I look behind me?" I ask as I go to turn around again but Charlotte quickly walks us towards the check-in counter

"Just trust me" she whispers with an emotionless voice

I nod as I notice how tense she is and that she seems more cautious than before. I lay my head on her shoulder as I wrap my arm around her hips.

"Hello, how may I take your order?" A middle aged woman asks from behind the counter

"Can we get two hot chocolates, please" I ask the woman with a smile

"Of course," she says before she quickly types in something and hands us a receipt

"But we didn't get to pay" I ask with confusion evident in my voice as I look at the smiling woman

"It's on the house, you're the nicest customers to walk in here today" she says with an appreciative smile

"I want to at least tip you" I say as I pull out eight dollars and place it in the tip jar

"That's not needed, but thank you" She says before I grab the receipt and nod

As Charlotte and I walk towards the counter I quickly sneak a glance behind me and notice that one guy is glaring daggers at Charlotte and I.

He look like he's in his thirties and has some grey hair here and there. He's dressed in all black with a scar from his hairline through his eyebrow.

When he notices me staring his glare quickly turns into a smirk which causes me to quickly turn around again.

Why did I look?!

"I told you not to look" Charlotte whispers raspily beside my ear

She doesn't sound mad but she does sound stressed.

"Sorry" I say as I bite my lip nervously

"Are you mad?" I ask as I look up at her and meet her bright green eyes. I continue to bite my lip nervously as she looks at me with an unreadable emotion. Her eyes flicker down towards my lip before she quickly blinks and looks into my eyes.

"No, but I need you to stay by my side the entire time we're here. Okay?" She asks which causes me to quickly nod

What did I just get myself into?!