Chapter Five
1883 Words
The kiss was soft and slow, lasted only a few seconds but long enough for Charlotte to slightly part her lips and kiss him back.
“What the f**k do you think you’re doing?!”
At Jackson’s loud voice, they both pulled away, Charlotte suddenly flustered. With her gaze on the floor, she felt Wilson wrap his arms around her waist to pull her even closer.
“What do you mean?”
“Have you lost your mind?” Jackson barked, taking a step forward. “How dare you kiss my-”
“Oh, it’s you,” Wilson cut him off, mirroring his actions to take a step closer towards him. “He’s the crazy ex you talked about the other day, right babe? Right.”
“Crazy ex?” Jackson looked dumbfounded as he exchanged glances with both Charlotte and Wilson. “Wow, I can’t believe you, Charlotte. You now sleep around? How didn’t I notice you were such a w***e all along?”
“Don’t you dare insult me,” Charlotte surprisingly spoke up, shooting her ex-boyfriend a glare. “So what if I sleep around? We broke up already, remember? So you no longer have any right to tell me what to do or judge my life.”
“Charlotte-”
“You heard her,” Wilson cut him off again before he could utter any more words. “With that being said, Mr. Jackson, I’ll appreciate if you stay away from my girlfriend. It’s up to you to decide if that’s a threat or an advice. Just stay away from her.”
Not sparing him another glance, Wilson tightened his grip around Charlotte’s waist and whispered loud enough for Jackson to hear, “Let’s go, babe.”
With a slow awkward nod, Charlotte resumed walking, having Wilson take the lead. Both aware of Jackson’s gaze on them, they didn’t stop walking until they got to Wilson’s car.
“Do you want to get in?”
Still flustered from everything that was happening so fast, Charlotte nodded and had Wilson open the door to his car to have her get in.
“So,” Wilson finally spoke up after they both got into the car and sat for a couple of minutes in nothing but awkward silence. “How are you?”
“I’m fine,” Charlotte replied with an exhale. “About earlier- Um, I mean- you didn’t-”
She paused to take another deep exhale then looked out of the window. How could she explain what she had to say? It was crazy and she couldn’t decide what was crazier between the fact that they just met only a couple of days ago and had kissed already or the fact she didn’t mind and kissed him back.
“About earlier,” she resumed talking again. “I appreciate you trying to be nice but you shouldn’t have-”
“Kissed you?”
“What?” she almost stuttered as she briefly faced him only to look away immediately. “Yeah, that. You shouldn’t have done that. Why did you-”
“I had no choice,” she heard him reply. “Your ex was coming closer so fast and I couldn’t think of a better way to have him stay back. You said you wanted him out of your life, didn’t you? Well now he thinks you’re dating someone else so isn’t that good enough?”
She bit her lip. “Yeah, I did. But now-” she paused to take a deep exhale. There was no point tying to argue against it. It happened already and she was just going to have to put it behind her. “Forget it. Thanks.”
“It’s fine.”
“It’s crazy isn’t it?” she said then laughed lightly. “We literally just met and you seem to have only seen me at my lowest all through. I promise I’m not usually this pathetic. It’s just-”
“Breakups suck,” he nodded. “I understand.”
“Yeah,” she bit her lip again. “Thanks.”
“Well, what’s next?”
“Next?” she blinked. “Oh, right. I just keep on getting indebted to you, don’t I?”
“Well, that wasn’t what I meant,” he chuckled lightly. “I meant, what are we going to do now that your ex thinks we’re dating?”
“Oh,” Charlotte let out a nervous laughter. “Nothing has to be done, I guess. It’s not like we’re actually a thing so just let it be. I think we were able to scare him away by having him think I moved on so that’s enough.”
“Do you really think that’s going to be enough?”
“W-What do you mean?”
“I mean,” Wilson folded his arms. “The guy I just met didn’t seem like someone to back off that easily. What if he comes back? I don’t think he’s the type to back off just cause you have a new man.”
Charlotte swallowed and shut her eyes. He was right. If there was anything she was sure of after dating Jackson for years, it was how much of a creep he could be. He could become obsessive in the creepiest manner ever and though just the thought scared her, she didn’t want it being that obvious in front of him.
For heavens sake, they just met. She barely knew what type of person he was and vice versa. He could be a serial killer, or a freak or even worse, just like her ex.
“It’s fine,” she finally replied him. “There’s nothing to be worried about. I’ll be fine.”
“No.”
Arching an eyebrow, she watched him unfold his arms to lean towards her. “Excuse me?”
“This won’t do,” he said, leaning even closer to shorten the distance between them. “Just date me.”
“What?” Charlotte was sure she stuttered. With a gulp, she looked up at Wilson who was staring intently at her. For the first time, she noticed his dark eyes that seemed to light up as he stared. His matching dark hair was professionally styled, few strands falling to his face as he leaned closer.
“Handsome, am I not?”
“What?!” Charlotte blurted out, immediately leaning backwards to create distance between them. “What?”
“You seem to love that word a lot,” he raised his shoulders then returned to comfortably sit in his seat. “So what do you think? I think you’ve checked me out enough so well, do you want to date me?”
Pressing her lips together, Charlotte turned to look at him. His lips were slightly pursed, a little smile on his face as he obviously anticipated her reply. “D-date you? Why would I-”
“I’m not asking you to marry me here,” he said with a light chuckle. “Or to meet my parents. I’m just asking you to date me. Oh, right. I didn’t explain myself well enough.”
“Yeah?”
“Fake date me,” he continued. “I mean, just pretend to be my girlfriend for a while.”
Was he even listening to himself? “W-Why?”
“To get away from your ex,” he replied. “He obviously would be back for you and unless you’re able to prove to him that you truly have a new boyfriend, he wouldn’t let you go. He already thinks we’re together so we can just as well keep the act on for a bit longer.”
Confused, she knitted her eyebrows. The words came out so smoothly out of his mouth but for some reason, she still couldn’t bring herself to make much sense out of them.
“That’s just crazy.”
“Maybe a little bit,” he agreed. “But in the long run, it’s going to be worth it. No offense but your ex really seems like a huge jerk. And you want to be free from him, right? So well, here’s your chance.”
On a second thought, it all suddenly made sense. It would be easier to keep Jackson out of her life if she actually had a believable new boyfriend.
“But,” she shook her head. “I don’t understand. Why are you doing this? I mean, why do you even care? We just met and you barely know me. You have nothing to gain from helping me so why?”
He let out a deep exhale before replying. “Well, you’re right. I do not know you and yet I want to help you.”
“Then why?”
“I have two reasons.”
“And there are?”
“I’ll tell you the first one when you accept to be my girlfriend,” he said with a smirk. “For the second one, it’s cause I absolutely hate guys like your ex. So that’s that. You in?”
Blinking continuously, she broke eye contact between them. They had just met and though she knew how stupid it sounded but he seemed sincere. She also had nothing to lose and so desperately needed Jackson out of her life.
“You do realize you’re indebted towards me, right?” Wilson spoke up, pulling her out of her thoughts. “Firstly, you stained my shirt then made me lose over a million dollars and then I helped you out of your uncomfortable situation with him. With all of these, you really shouldn’t be contemplating on my offer.”
Stunned, she asked. “Is this how you want me to make it up to you? By accepting to be your fake girlfriend?”
“Let’s be real here,” he folded his arms. “You have nothing to lose. Literally nothing. I mean, let’s face it. Girls would kill to be in your shoes right now. I’m the perfect boyfriend. Rich, handsome, smart, funny, is a good cook- seriously, the list could go on.”
She managed to laugh for the first time in a while. “Narcissistic much?”
“Is that a yes from you?”
“No, it’s not,” she laughed again. “I don’t know. It’s all happening so fast. I literally just got out of a relationship. I’m not sure I want to get into another so easily. Fake or not.”
“Fine,” Wilson replied after a short-lived silence. “I’ll try to understand you. You deserve to take a break.”
“Thanks?”
“My offer isn’t off the table though,” he continued. “Take your time to think about it. I’ll be back later for a response.”
“What?”
“How’s tomorrow?” he asked. “Or the day after? Would that be enough time for you to have made up your mind? Three days?”
“Um-”
“I’ll give you a week then,” he nodded. “A week should definitely be enough for you to make up your mind.”
“I-”
“See you in one week then,” he ended the conversation with a smile. “Till then.”
- Writer
