29 I’m rooting for you
1735 Words
“Lina!”
Charlie shouted out as his less than sober companion stumbled through the empty streets of New York. He had an inkling of what was going on, but it was only now that he had realized what it really was.
“Lina- Lina slow down!” he shouted, as he saw that she was about to cross the street.
He caught up just in time, as he grabbed a hold of her wrist.
“C-Charlie?”
“Yeah… Who’d you think?” he said, pausing in between gasps for air, with his hands on his knees. “What’s up? You just up and left,” he said, as he straightened himself, finally gathering the air in his lungs.
“O-oh. I’m fine don’t worry! I just thought that I would go back to school… I’m kinda tipsy and I want to sleep!”
“Even completely inebriated, you’re still insisting on hiding what you really feel, huh?” Charlie said as he pushed the button on the crosswalk signal.
Though the streets were completely clear, he thought that he would give her an excuse to stop for a moment. Noticing this, she obliged him the seconds of waiting for the green man to start walking on the other signal.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Charlie.”
“Yeah… right. Look I’m not looking to try and rub whatever it is you’re feeling in your face. But you know that just running from it won’t do anything...”
Lina gritted her teeth, still attempting to hide the feeling she had inside. The feeling that caused her to leave the restaurant in the first place. She leaned on the crosswalk signal due to the pounding all the liquor she had was doing to her head. On top of that, she had Charlie, who seemed to be insistent on keeping her company.
“Alright Lina, let me walk you back, then I’ll meet up with ‘em again,” Charlie said, finally letting her deviate from the topic.
“Y-you really don’t have to,” she replied.
“Don’t worry. I’m sure Max would be worried about you too if you left alone,”
Bullseye. The instant she heard that name, it was as if her heart started to melt. On the inside, her heart was a nuclear power plant on the verge of a meltdown. Whatever the case, she did everything she could to suppress it. She could never allow herself to look weak. Now when Max was always the picture of strength and confidence. That was what she thought. So the two walked the lonely hallways of the school, barely lit by the lamps that were equipped with bulbs that were just a little too dim.
Within moments, they found themselves at the front of the school dorms. Charlie was about to lead her inside when he was stopped by something that gripped his sleeve. He felt her fingers yank at the soft fabric of his shirt. She was trembling. He turned back to look at her.
“Finally ready to talk, Lina?”
“Y-yeah.”
It was really obvious now if it wasn’t before. Her face twisted in a way that would make the heartache from your run of the mill break up look trivial. Her cheeks were glistening due to the tears that streaked down the side of her face. Everything that she wanted to say, was laid bare on the very expression that she made. The way she looked at Charlie now, made it very clear to him; and at the very center of it all was Max.
“Let’s sit down?”
She wiped her face with her sleeves and nodded.
“Mhmm...”
The two of them sat on the benches just outside of the main dormitory, completely hidden in the dark of the night. Charlie didn’t say anything. All he did was sit next to her and wait for the story that, at this point, might break his own heart. It was all because of how she sounded, he thought. He did not think too hard though, as he wanted to focus on Lina.
“You know… Max is the only one to know about this...”
She pulled up her sleeves and revealed to him the scars that Max had seen a few weeks prior. His eyes widened for a moment, but when he looked up at her, he tried to smile acceptingly.
“Surprised?” she asked.
“Kinda. But I wouldn’t know anything about that kind of stuff… so I don’t think I should speak,” Charlie replied in as warm a tone that he was capable of giving.
“That’s ok…” she replied, trying to return a smile. “At a point in my life, I think I gave up on being able to do what I really want to do. What can an artist really do in this day and age right? So I tried to adapt. When I heard that this computer thing was going to be the future of art, I jumped for it right away. I begged my dad to get one for me, as well as a pen tablet. And it was fun! I was able to adapt and create art. Art that would be relevant to landing me a good job.”
She sighed heavily, trying to keep herself from breaking down in the process. Even then, Charlie remained quiet.
“But then I landed an internship position in one of the most prolific advertising agencies in America. I was happy. And so was my family. But slowly I realized that the thing that made me love doing this kind of thing in the first place, was slowly being taken away from me. Being able to create. You know?”
“Yeah, I do. If someone told me that I would be forced to follow orders and no longer innovate… It wouldn’t be the same.”
Lina smiled slightly, appreciating the sympathy.
“I knew if anyone would understand, it would’ve been you,” she replied. “So I lost myself. I went to self-harm as a means to feel something in a place where I’d been conditioned to be a robot. I really tried… I really did, you know? That’s why I wear long sleeves all the time. And Max. Max...”
She started to choke up on the tears. She thought the worst of her episode was over, but sadly it had only just begun. The tears began to run down her cheeks again; this time showing no signs of slowing down. Even then, she forced herself to talk.
“Max was the first one to tell me that I didn’t have to be bound like that. He was the first one to tell me that he believed me. All my family would tell me was that I was just making a scene and that it was just all in my head. But he believed me. And he told me that I could be something big, while not having to sacrifice any of what I loved to do… I don’t know when it happened… When these feelings started. But when I saw him that day, when he stopped me from cutting myself, he looked like an angel. Like he would be the one to make all of this pain go away… you know?”
“Like your hero?”
“Yeah...”
They both sat quietly for the moment, just appreciating the heart to heart. Lina was just relieved that she had a friend to spill her heart out to. She heard a ring come from her phone, so she checked it. It turns out that Max had texted her asking if she was ok. Lina looked sadly at her phone, knowing that Max might have been too far out of reach. Charlie caught onto this quickly and made up an excuse to have her go back to the dorm.
“Hey! I think I gotta head back to the bar. Those three might blow up the place if I’m not there. You know how Trae is!” he said, trying to give her the best smile that he could.
“Mhmm! Yeah totally! I get it! You can go ahead Charlie,” she said, smiling back.
“Alright, then I’d better go-” he said, turning to walk, only to be stopped again by Lina grabbing onto her sleeves.
“Charlie?”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you for staying with me… I’ll be better in the morning. Just tell them I got sick.”
Charlie gritted his teeth, wondering what this feeling was. He chose to ignore it.
“Whatever happens Lina, I’m rooting for you. Got that?”
When he looked up at her and saw a radiant smile coming from the girl who moments prior was a sobbing mess. Even if her eyes were puffy and slightly red, he couldn’t help but get caught off guard with how beautiful she looked in the moment. That smile. He made sure to keep it in his memory bank.
“Thanks… I’ll see you tomorrow then,” she said, as she turned around to walk back into the dorm.
He kept him on her until she was out of sight at the turn of the hallway. Instantly, he felt a pang in his chest; one that he had never experienced before.
“s**t… If this is what I think it is, I’d rather not have it.”
----------
Jasper had been keeping an eye on the students as they walked back to their school. He listened well to whatever he could pick up from their conversations. He made sure to walk slightly out of the vision of the three remaining students. Suddenly, the fourth one who had disappeared with the other girl, rejoined them.
“Charlie?!” Trae shouted loud enough to wake the dead. “Where’ve ya’ been maaaaaan! I haven’t seen ya’ in… yuuuurrssss”
“Come on Trae, I was only gone for a while. I walked Lina back.”
Jasper wrote down two more names onto his small notepad. Charlie. And Lina. He smiled in satisfaction, as he walked in the other direction. He turned on his microphone again, to be greeted by a screeching yell made by his less than amusing associate, Emily Banner.
“Where the f**k have you been?!”
“Shut up for a second and listen,” Jasper said.
“This better be good you asshole,” Emily said impatiently from the other end of the line.
“We need to do some digging on the students Lina and Charlie.”
She was silent for a moment, surprised that she was not greeted with any condescending remarks.
“Fine… Get your ass back here, now!”
The end transmission noise blared in Jasper’s ear as he pulled his earpiece out, wincing slightly.
“Yes ma’am...” he said in a mocking tone.
He put his notepad back into his pocket and got ready for another night of digging for dirt. It would only be a matter of time before they executed their plan once again.
- Writer
