I'm Not Charlotte Lucas(61)

Fernando: Oh, okay. Cool.

Could the earth just open up and swallow me whole, now? Fernando just asked me out. I could feel his gaze warming my back, but I couldn’t turn around. At least he was off work in four minutes. I could postpone an awkward conversation for another time when the sting of rejection wasn’t as fresh.

I’m sorry, but what kind of guy asked a girl out over text when he was sitting in the same room?

Liam’s handsome, square jaw and piercing blue eyes came to mind, the serious expression he’d worn when he persuaded me to go out with him Friday night. I didn’t even know what he had in mind for the date, but I didn’t care. I was just looking forward to seeing him again. I was like a lovesick teenager, and I could hardly focus on anything for longer than a few minutes without my brain veering into Liam territory.

Not that I minded. It was a pleasant place to spend my daydreaming hours.

“Bye, Todd,” Fernando called.

Todd lifted a hand before returning his attention to his computer, his gaze flicking toward the teller counter a few times as his scowl deepened. Yep. Something had most definitely happened between him and Marissa.

Would it be better to wait until tomorrow morning or rip the bandage off now and give Fernando a soft wave so he would know that things were good between us? Well, too late. The door shut behind him, and I wasn’t too sad to lose the chance to talk.

Marissa started waving discreetly at me, and I sent a quick email out for everyone to review the schedule before closing out my computer screen and letting myself behind the teller counter.

I took the high, rolling chair beside Marissa’s counter and waited for her to help the man who had just walked in. The door closed behind him, and she scooted closer on her chair.

“I need your help.”

Oh, great. “I just sent out the schedule, Marissa. I can’t really change it now.”

“No, not that.” She swatted the idea away with a flap of her hand. “It’s the career fair at Bellmead High this weekend.” Leaning in, she lowered her voice. “I was supposed to go with Todd, but there’s no way that’s happening now, and I can’t be obvious about it.”

“Because no one knows about you two.”

“Except you,” she said. “Please, Charlie? Please go to the stupid career fair with Todd?”

“Marissa, I can’t. I have plans Friday night.”

She wrinkled her nose, flicking her long, curly blonde hair over her shoulder. “With Fernando? I knew I should have texted you about it first.”

“What? No. With—wait, why did you think I was going out with Fernando?”

“Because he’s super into you. He mentioned something earlier about wanting to ask you out.”

Well, a heads-up would have been nice.

Marissa pulled a piece of gum from her drawer and popped it in her mouth. Todd hated when we chewed gum. He thought it was unprofessional. She was no doubt chewing it now just to irritate him.

She offered me a piece, but I shook my head. “How long have you known about Fernando?”

“For months,” she said as though it wasn’t a big deal at all. “He finally got the nerve up today to ask you out, I guess. So you turned him down?”

“Yeah, I’m dating someone right now. Kind of.”

“Kind of?” She raised a sculpted eyebrow.

I wasn’t about to reveal the depths of my insecurities here, but it was still hard to call Liam my boyfriend. I was afraid it was still a dream, that he would wake up any moment and realize how plain and boring I really was. I wasn’t blind to his admiration. Any woman would appreciate being admired by Liam. But I needed to guard myself. Our brand-new relationship hadn’t been tested on other people yet. We hadn’t even left the house.

The door opened to let in another customer, and I got up to leave Marissa at the counter.

“Please?” she called, her desperate puppy-dog eyes doing me in.

“Fine.” I shot the customer a smile before heading toward my own desk. I passed Todd on the way and said, “I’m doing the career fair with you Friday.”

His nose wrinkled, and he flashed a frown toward Marissa. “Good riddance.”

Well, this was certainly going to make things at work interesting.





Chapter Twenty-Four


The parking lot at the high school was only half full by the time I pulled in on Friday afternoon. This was exactly not how I wanted to spend my Friday night, but Liam had been super understanding, accepting my profuse apologies and pathetic begging to allow him to let me make it up to him. Canceling at all made me feel like a skeezeball. Andy much? I knew what it was like to be on the other end of these situations time and again, and it felt horrible.

So now Liam and I had plans. I was going to let him know when I was done here, because he still wanted to take me out. I mean, I’d offered moving the date to Saturday, but he didn’t want to wait. I really hit the jackpot with this guy. It begged the question: was it too good to be true?

But no. I wouldn’t let myself go down the path of most destruction again. My low self-esteem had ruined far too many things in my lifetime, and walking the halls of my old high school really wasn’t helping. In fact, that’s probably where the current wave of insecurity stemmed from in the first place, having to be back here today.