Afternoon Adventures (Charlie)

[Charlotte Greene]

Ahh.. Playing in a creek. Splashing around and being cool and giggling like mad and all the while holding the hands of someone that you truly cared about, enjoyed the company of.. Aw, who was she kidding dancing around it? Charlie loved Connor. She might not have been completely aware of it or how real it was to her, but she did. She'd been head-over-heels for him since the first time she'd fallen asleep leaning against him when they'd been studying after their first impromptu date the night they'd met in the gym. He'd done so much for her without having to really do anything at all, and then he'd literally done a lot for her on top of it.

But yes.. Creek, laughing, dancing around in the beautiful, picturesque clearing under the wonderful blue sky with the scent of nature carried on the perfect light breeze.. Charlie was happy enough that one might be able to confuse her for someone who wasn't smart enough to know the real world was going on around her, but that wasn't the case. In truth, Charlie was dancing around and splashing and eventually collapsing back on the grass right next to her world.

It had been a perfect day up to, including, and since she'd fallen off of Sona earlier. Connor was reluctantly enjoying the heck out of himself and her childish, silly antics, Sona seemed happy to be included, birds were singing.. It was a Disney movie moment, only better because it was real.. And as Charlie caught her breath after having been giggling for what may have been half an hour straight, Connor half-rolled so he could face her. His expression seemed a bit serious.. and Charlie imagined that this was the face Connor might look at his daughter with one day. The face that said he loved the crap out of her and didn't want to do anything ever wrong or to ever upset her... and then the look changed to one that was reserved for only Charlie.. and his cheeks started to pick up a bit of color... then more and more color.. and Charlie's grin faded the tiniest bit because she was paying super close attention.. Whatever Connor wanted to say must have been important...

As he stared into her eyes she stared right back, and at the conclusion of his question, Connor would see Charlie's eyes go just a bit wider for a moment as her features replaced a grin with a look of surprise... but it only lasted a moment and Charlie's eyes seemed to be more lidded than they'd been before.. her grin coming back as more of a smirk.. and she scooted carefully closer and closer to the boy until their faces were mere inches apart.

"Connor, I think I might actually be upset with you if you didn't." Assuming he came ninety percent of the way, Charlie would gladly come the other ten in typical movie fashion.. eyes fading closed in the last instant before lips touched.. the moment powerful enough to simply smack away any awkwardness that may have existed any other time.. sweet, soft sigh escaping her nose with the tiniest of vibrations from an inaudible sound of pleasure and happiness... all that stuff. As long as Connor didn't panic and screw it up. If he did.. well.. Charlie would have to do all the work.. likely after pushing him over and straddling him. Because she flat-out refused to be upset with Connor. Not after such an amazing day.

[Connor Anderson]

Connor had been... slower on the uptake of his feelings. When he’d first met Charlie, he’d only been trying to be nice and genuinely help her. Asking her to dinner had started as a friendly thing, but it had naturally changed to something... more. Since then, study dates ending with cuddles and Charlie napping, movies, and other things along the same lines had been commonplace. But what they were doing now was somehow more... intimate. Connor was finally letting her into his world. And he intended to share all of it with her. Not just his horse or the pretty places he and Sona had discovered together. Right now it was just them in the world, and he was happy to say that he liked it.

Charlie made him different, somehow. More at ease, more spontaneous, less responsible at times, even. Already he knew that upon graduation, he would not be going home the same person he left as. But that didn’t bother him as much as he once thought it would. He was happy. And that was all Charlie’s doing. His friends helped, his job helped, but Charlie was the biggest catalyst of all.

Connor didn’t know what in his brain had short circuited to cause this, but he couldn’t say it was awful. Different from what he’d originally planned to say, but not at all bad. They had lots of time, he silently told himself. Once his brain had settled back into normal territory, rather that the love-puppy mode it seemed stuck in at the moment.

At first he was concerned that he’d offended Charlie, with her eyes widening like that. Was it too soon? Did she only want to be friends? He was second guessing himself now, but that quickly resolved when Charlie settled back into a smile. Relaxing at her reply, Connor wormed his way closer, matching her expression as best he could. He’d never really kissed much of anyone before, excluding the few times girls had kissed his cheek, and when he’d kissed some of the foals back home. This was so new and... not as scary as he’d anticipated.

“I wouldn’t want you upset, then,” he said in a soft drawl before closing the distance between them and kissing her softly. It felt like butterflies were breeding and exploding inside him, but he didn’t care. Charlie was soft and warm and tasted so good and... no wonder people liked kissing.