On the drive home, Uncle Ray gave me a sideways look. “So… you asking her out, or are you just planning to blink for the rest of your life?”
“She’s just a friend,” I said.
He snorted. “Sure, she is!”
“I asked because I wanted to be there with you.”
***
Graduation came fast after that.
Charlotte left for the city with her widowed mother and brother to chase modeling. I left town for college overseas, rebuilt my body, built my confidence, and eventually built a tech company that made me wealthier than the 17-year-old version of me could’ve imagined.
From the outside, it looked like a clean success story. Inside, something never quite settled.
I dated. Some relationships lasted months. One lasted nearly two years.
My uncle once asked me why none of them stuck.
I joked and said I was too married to work.
