23 Yes and no

Not a great cupid move!

They looked at me, their faces red and then at each other and suddenly jumped aside violently. Raven almost bumped into his car door and I was laughing my heart out.

"Enough," Sandi glared at me but I was too busy enjoying the sight in front of me.

"Okay, okay enough, now let's get back to where we were. So you promised us and you can't back off now." I said to Raven while getting in his car.

"Alright," he gave a small reply and didn't start his car. We were sitting there watching him to start.

"Charlotte was our friend," he started and I gasped to add some dramatic effect but Sandi slapped my back and my lips were zipped.

"We had same classes together so she usually sat with us in far corner of the class. Slowly we started getting attached."

"And they fell in love?" I added my thoughts.

"Yes and no," he replied.

"What do you mean?" I was confused. 

"Yes Xavier fell in love with her but not like that. She was the first girl with whom he started talking and opening up. They were like siblings," he paused and looked at us.

I couldn't believe my ears.

"I know it sounds strange but we all longed for a sister because none of us had one. We loved her but we kept our friendship a secret from our families because her father you know isn't at good terms with Xavier's father. I just don't get it how Alex knows about this and actually what he knows is totally wrong." He said non stop. 

"He saw Xavier dropping her off the night she passed away." Sandi added.

"That night..." his eyes showed hurt and his voice came out a little hoarse.

I placed my hand on his shoulder trying to sooth him down.

"She was working for her father all that time." he said with pain evident in his eyes.

I was speechless. Working for her father, what does that mean? I never thought that the story would take such a turn honestly. I was expecting him to tell us that Xavier didn't break up with her or something like that.

"A few days before her death Xavier got some unknown calls and messages from some person who claimed that he knows something we don't. We tracked him down and beat him up to tell us the truth. He showed us some cctv footage of her talking to her dad about Xavier and their next plan. We were furious ofcourse and confronted her. You know what, she didn't deny it." he looked at us, his face cold and emotionless.

"I remember she had some cards in her hands that day which she made for us but we never took them." A tear escaped his eyes. His tone reflected regret.

"She said she didn't want to continue after getting to know us but she was afraid that her father would punish her. He was harassing her. Xavier believed her because the date on the footage showed it was months ago." He was looking into space while I and Sandi were sitting silent, unable to speak. That was really too much to soak in.

"What happened that night?" I was afraid of his answer.

"We saw her drinking at a bar and Xavier dragged her from there. He was still angry at her for not telling him the truth. He assured her that he will protect her from her psycho father. I don't know what argument they had afterwards because they left without us and next day we learned that she..." he choked and Sandi started patting his back.

"It's okay you don't have to say next, we know." I told him my voice barely above a whisper.

I wanted to cry for Charlotte and Xavier and Alex. I never met her but I felt a strong sympathy and love towards her. She didn't deserve it. What kind of father harasses his own daughter? I thought about Alex and how he would react when he would learn this.

"Xavier locked himself in his room for days. He never talked to any other girl again except..." he stopped and looked at me and I felt an urge to kick my own ass.

"You know Bells why I wanted so bad to be friends with you? Because you reminded me of her the moment I saw you." he said and I was shocked.

Alex said those same words.

"Do I look like her?" I questioned him.

"No, it's just that you have the same long hair and your body language matches hers sometimes." he answered looking at my hair.

"Oh," I felt really guilty ignoring him now. 

We never know what kind of tragedies and pains happy looking faces are hiding behind them.

"Now who will talk to Alex?" Sandi said with a worried expression that soon matched mine and Raven's.

"Not me," Raven rolled his eyes while Sandi and I looked at eachother.

"Xavier will," Sandi spoke suddenly.

"Are you out of your mind?" I laughed at her joke or maybe which I thought was a joke.

"She is right." Raven added and I wanted to hit my head with the window.

"My time here is up. I can't stand your stupidity anymore." I sighed dramatically, throwing my head back on the seat and closing my eyes.

A weight was lifted off my chest but another one was hovering over my heart. I was so rude to Xavier without knowing anything about him.

"We will arrange a get together. You guys will bring Hayden and I will bring Xavier." Raven said. I don't understand why he was suddenly so eager or maybe I know the reason.

I will not say her name.

"Yeah and we will tie them up to stop them from breaking each other's necks." I said sarcastically. I seriously didn't think that will work.

"Good idea! So this is our new plan." Sandi was practically jumping from excitement.

Are they even serious? I was still lying on the back seat with my eyes closed not wanting to argue with them anymore when Raven's next words froze me.

"Yeah but first I have a mission to take him to the doctor. He was having some weird 'my body is on fire' issues yesterday." He said something after that but I didn't listen.

My eyes shot open and I saw Sandi's expression mirrored mine.

"What issues?" Sandi questioned him.

"I don't know. He called us yesterday night and told us that he was feeling like his body was burning so we immediately rushed to his house. He didn't have a temperature so we made him take a shower with cold water. He felt better but I think he needs to..." He carried on his blabbering while mine and Sandi's eyes met once again.

I said the exact same thing to Sandi yesterday night!

But I had a temperature unlike him!

How is this even possible?

A coincidence maybe?