Becoming Better

Chapter 4 - A Date

Charlie was freaking out. Her panic attack was so loud that her mom came into her room with one of the pills her new psychiatrist prescribed her. She gave it to Charlie, who took it, but continued to hyperventilate. Her mom sat on her bed for a little while, until her sobbing subsided. She gave Charlie a hug, and then left her alone.

A couple minutes after her mom left, her sister Courtney popped her head in. She was a few years older than Charlie, but she still lived at home.

"Hey, how are you doing?" she asked.

"I don't know," Charlie said truthfully. The pill had calmed down the physical symptoms of her panic attack, but her feelings were still there. It was almost worse, in a way. A storm was still raging inside her, but she was too tired to move.

Courtney came in and sat down on the edge of her bed. "What's going on?"

Charlie stared at the ceiling. "I don't know. A lot of things. I thought maybe Cassius would have called me by now, and he hasn't. Also, I went to a party a couple days ago and gave some boy my number. Now he wants to hang out, but the idea of hanging out with him makes me want to throw up."

"Why?" Courtney asked.

"Because he's not Cassius," she answered.

Courtney tilted her head. "But you must have liked him if you gave him your number?"

Charlie shrugged. "It seemed like a good idea at the time. I had several beers."

"Mmm," Courtney nodded. "Since when do you drink beer?"

"Since I'm a normal 17-year-old," Charlie snapped.

Courtney was sober. It was her longest stretch of sobriety in her whole life. She had just over a year under her belt. Charlie was proud of her, but she wasn't going to let Courtney make her feel weird for drinking. Just because Courtney had addiction issues, that didn't mean she did.

"Ok, fine." Courtney backed off slightly. "Just remember that addiction runs in our family."

"I know." Charlie rolled her eyes.

Charlie and Courtney's parents were both sober and in a program while they were growing up. Their dad was still sober, kind of. He didn't really go to meetings and he was definitely a workaholic. However, their mom had been taking a lot of pain pills ever since she had surgery a couple years ago. Her relapse was something that everyone in the family was aware of, but no one talked about.

"So what's up with this new guy? What's his name?" Courtney tried to lighten the mood.

"Wyatt," Charlie said. "He's really handsome. He wants to go mini-golfing tomorrow."

"You should go!" Courtney grabbed her leg and shook it lightly.

Charlie took a deep breath. "Going on a date is the last thing I want to do right now."

"Then make it a group thing. Call Taylor, or Alex, or whoever! Tell Wyatt to bring some friends too," Courtney suggested. "It's better than just lying here."

Charlie took Courtney's advice and texted Wyatt back. She told him she would be more comfortable hanging out in a group. To her relief, he had no problem with it. He told her Aiden and Jesse would love to hang out with Alex and Jessica again. Charlie texted the girls, and made the plan with Wyatt to meet at the mini golf course at 6.

The next day, Charlie picked up the girls so they could arrive together. Alex and Jessica were super excited to see the guys again. Alex had curled her blond hair into big waves, and Jessica had put on dramatic makeup to enhance her green eyes. Charlie understood why the girls went the extra mile to look pretty. It was fun to be hanging out with boys that didn't go to Saint Peters. They were all about to be Seniors, so the only other new people they were going to meet this year would be Freshman. Not a lot of dating potential there.

Wyatt, Aiden and Jesse were already there when they arrived. They were playing a shooting game in arcade, but when the girls walked in, they immediately dropped it and came over to say hello. Charlie noticed it seemed like Jesse had a thing for Alex, and Aiden was into Jessica. She was glad, because the girls felt the same way about them. It would have been really awkward if both were into the same guy, or vice versa.

They paid for a round of mini golf and headed out to the course. The theme of the first hole was "Alice in Wonderland." They all laughed at each other's attempts to sink the ball into the hole. The guys goofed around and made the girls giggle by competing with one another as if this was a high stakes game. It was pretty funny to watch them pretend to measure the wind with their fingers and lay on the ground to line up their shots.

Charlie somehow lost her ball at the "Jungle Book" themed hole. She thought she had sunk it in the right tube, but apparently there was a trap door in that one, and it spit her ball out somewhere in the bushes. She walked over there and rustled through the plants with her short golf club, but couldn't find her ball anywhere. Wyatt came over to help her.

"Man, they're not messing around on this course!" Wyatt said, coming up empty handed as well.

"I know, I thought kids were supposed to be able to play this thing," Charlie agreed.

Wyatt walked over to her, no longer looking for her golf ball. Charlie stopped searching when he put his hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him, slightly surprised.

And that was the moment he leaned down and kissed her.

***How do you think Charlie's going to react to Wyatt kissing her? Is it too soon?