Chapter 5: Fluttering feelings

The whole bar was filled with excitement, everyone danced to the rhythm of the song 'I want it that way'. Carl came to the stage, picking up another mic, continued singing and gradually moved to another song in harmony with the tempo that was set in the hall.

Charles dropped the mic, reaching out to Jessie, dragged her to a corner, he needed some privacy away from people's eyes. Jessie was still excited about the whole performance and kept on giggling like she was drunk.

"You are enjoying yourself, right?", He said lifting a brow inquisitively.

"Sure, I am", Jessie replied with a voice sounding really enthused, "why did you do that?"

"Do what?", Charles responded playing dumb to the whole thing.

"The asking for a dance part", in Jessie's head, he literally swept her off her feet. Why was there such a person that was breaking her walls, she thought to herself. It was a good thing but she didn't want it, luckily or maybe unfortunately she was the person doing the whole loving thing, she found it hard to control her emotions and also she had gone through a lot of emotional and mental stress, she didn't want to add anymore to her life.

"I felt I should just spice up the moment. Besides, I need a gossip flying about me."

Jessie's wide smile fell, she understood that he was gorgeous and almost every girl's pick, he really didn't have to inflate her, maybe she was overthinking things by imagining that she had a chance with him. Forcing a fake smile,

"Ohhh.....I get", she said in concordance.

Noticing she was trying so hard to not look sad, he tried to lighten the atmosphere,

"I was just joking. I really wanted to have the dance with you and you look great excited", he beamed. Jessie's face colored with embarrassment and she said genuinely concurring, "I think everyone looks great when excited".

Suddenly, silence fell between them like the instance where the earth was covered in pitch darkness. They had a moment, like four minutes of staring at nothing at all. It usually happened with the guy staring into the girl's eyes, few seconds after, he would lean closer to her, giving her a kiss and other things happen, etcetera etcetera.

Theirs was a little bit different, instead of the usual routine, Charles gave a nervous laugh, "Birds fluttering around....., I'll swim in memories unmade. What was it again?"

Immediately, Jessie's face turned pale in shock. He had seen her write-up but how? Yes, when she read it while he played truth or dare, her memory threw the answer right at her instantly. She had no idea what to answer, she didn't expect him to see the write up soon.

"That, the one in my phone you mean, right?", She asked as if she had another copy of that write up in a different place other than her phone.

"Yes. Or you have some other copies?", He inquired genuinely like he was sincerely trying to take a peek into her life.

"Lol, no. The...the write up, I penned it down one of the moments I was bored", she stuttered.

"Interesting, I think you are good, I did not really catch the words but it was nice", as if remembering something, "You wrote it with someone on your mind? A boyfriend?", he asked.

"No, I wrote it on a leisure basis and not with anyone on my mind", she replied with certainty but her eyes said otherwise.

Not wanting to seem intrusive, Charles decided to let go of the question and gave a really friendly smile.

"So are you in a relationship?", He inquired.

Jessie's heart heaved with emotions, was he asking these questions because he was finally noticing her, she wondered. "Urmm...not really, I've not been in any for some time now".

"That means you have been in some before? Interesting", he replied like he was stating out things instead of asking a question.

"Not really some, just two I think".

"You think?", Charles gave a sarcastic laugh, "weren't you the person in the relationship? how is it that you have lost count?"

Realizing she sounded crazy, "No, I mean I have been in two relationships", she corrected herself.

Charles found her intriguing and he enjoyed the way she was fidgeting from his questions. He was definitely going to break her walls, he thought to himself.

"So what happened, why did everything end?", he asked with a tone that screamed mockery, "they left you or you couldn't handle the stress?"

She pouted her lips with eyes glaring fire and brimstone, "I gues they were too boring for my personality", she chimed in.

"Boring, what an irony", he said in his head with a grin still spread across his face, "Mmm...".

"What's your body count?", he quizzed, his questions gradually made her nervous and he enjoyed it, to him, it was easier to get what you want while they were vulnerable.

"Seven", she divulged which kind of caught him off. Regaining his composure, "seven for a girl with just two relationship experience and still feeling so nervous around me. You didn't tell me you had this side, or you are just lying to me", he scoffed.

Her face flustered, what did he mean when he said she was nervous around him or was he just trying to imply something else. Holding a strand of her hair falling off from the bun, "enough about my life, how about yours?", She probed.

"How about what exactly?", he asked with his brows slightly creased in confusion.

"Your life", she replied.

He still kept a confused face like he had no idea what she was talking about.

"I mean your relationship life", she added.

"I know, what exactly about my relationship life?", he inquired. Anger was already forming on her face, certainly he knew what they were talking about, he just wanted to stress her. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves, so she doesn't act crazy in annoyance.

"Okay, let's start with this, are you in a relationship?"

"Do you forget so fast, I said it earlier", he replied. She had this distorted look on her face, like when did you say it please.

Understanding her facial language, "during the truth or dare ", he said supporting his previous statement.

Her face drew into an oooh as she remembered the exact words he said, "My love life....hmmm, well I find love quite uninteresting. I don't get why I have to be committed because of some certain emotions. So, I really don't have a love life", she mimicked in ridicule.

"What? I actually find it uninteresting", he said.

"Then what about the blonde hair girl you were with earlier", she said dryly like she was really not concerned about it.

"Oh, Rebecca....I said it, someone was watching me"

"Don't flatter yourself", she replied sniffily.

"I'm not, you should be chilling at times", he told her, "and about Rebecca, yes I'm involved with her but it's nothing".

She forcefully swallowed the emotions that heaped inside of her. She was happy that it was nothing, but did he have to be involved with her at all, "cool", she voiced out.

"Cool? Just cool", he said with little thrill in his voice.

"Yeah, was I supposed to say something else", she said wondering if she did anything wrong. She did not always get the privilege to talk to him this long, so Jessie was trying to not do or say anything stupid.

"No, forgive my behavior", he said, "you don't want to know how many people I have been involved with sexually?"

At this point, Jessie was really confused. She did not want to know so that she doesn't feel jealousy or anger for people she knew little of, but she wanted to behave like it was a very random thing and no novice. "Tell me", Charles heard her ask.

"You really do not want to know. What if I say it's about thirty or more. I really can't remember", he said while the corner of his lips twitched in amusement. She did not want to tell him the exact number of her body count and if he was correct, she had no body count. So how did she expect him to tell her his, he wondered with a smirk on his face.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

If you are reading this, I'm glad you made it to this point and I really appreciate you for that. Please as you read, leave a nice review, rate the book and share with your friends also. Thank you