Dedicated to LoveMeSomeGubble, my baby cousin (she's 16, omg), for her pun in this chapter and because she found my flash drive. Banner of Simon Nessman as Beckett Cartwright. 

---

Chapter 9: Anyone Can Have Lady Skills

"You're such a liar!"

"Yeah, I know," he chuckled. "But you're reaction was priceless. It was like 'Ohmygod, my crush loves me!'"

That was a cruel joke, Tyler Bradshaw. I'll get you back for that. "I do not have a crush on Luke."

"Judging from your facial expression, you do."

"I-I was just taken off guard, that's all."

"You're a bad liar, Summers."

I scoffed. "I could lie if I really wanted to."

"Okay, tell me that you hate me."

"What?"

"Tell me that you hate me," he repeated simply. "And then I'll believe you."

I said it in this really annoying nagging tone. "I hate you." The smile that crept onto my lips was unmistakable. "Okay, maybe I'm not a good liar, but you're still a jerk."

"Never said I wasn't."

"So what about you?"

"What about me?"

"You're not going to try any moves on me? Say any lame, cheesy pickup lines?"

"Nope, you'll fall for me eventually."

"Conceited?"

"Not at all-just honest."

***

It was an hour before Alec's game started, and I was at the batting cages. I almost wasn't allowed in, but Barker told them that I was with him. I figured that if I could hit the ball more often and actually practiced a little that it would earn points in Alec's book. It could never hurt to try, right?

"No, move your hand down a little bit," Barker instructed.

I did as he told me to. "Like this?"

"Perfect. Now just wait...and NOW!"

I swung with all my might and...missed. I let out a growl of frustration and slammed my head against the rubbery fence. "Why do I always miss!?"

I felt Barker's hand rest gently on my shoulder. "It's okay, you're just a beginner. Besides, you already got the guy, right?"

"Right," I mumbled.

"See? You must've did something right!" Barker said in high spirits.

Ha, yeah, like keep it in my pants. "I guess so. Are you going to his game?"

"Can't, I've got a date with my girl."

"You have a girlfriend?"

"Doubting my lady skills, Charlotte?"

I laughed. "Of course not, Mr. Charmer."

"Good, well I should probably get going. Nicole doesn't like it when I'm late. See you around?"

I smiled shyly. "Maybe."

Soon after Barker left, I took off to go to the game. I wanted to get there a little early-there was nothing worse than having no seat in the student section. I usually sat in the back, where the less school-spirited people sat. I wonder if Luke was going...

Oh crap! Luke! I totally forgot we had movie night tonight. I was going to have to postpone it until Sunday. I had a date with Beckett tomorrow. I'm such a bad best friend. I quickly scrolled through my contacts until his name appeared. It rang twice until he picked up.

"Where are you?" he accused.

"At the game..."

"I thought we were having a Spiderman marathon?"

"Could we possibly postpone that to Sunday?" I asked apologetically.

I heard him sigh in frustration. "That's like the third time in a row, Charlie."

I could tell he was disappointed in me for ditching him again. "I'm really sorry! I promise I'll make it up to you."

The other end was silent. I almost thought he hung up, but then he spoke. "Pinky promise?"

The corner of my lips turned upward and my heart swelled. He wasn't mad. "Promise!"

"All right, but next week, it's you and me, got it?"

"See you then, babe."

He exploded into fits of laughter. "Did you just call me 'babe'?"

"Umm...yes?"

"You're something else, Charles."

"Charles is a guy's name."

"So is Charlie."

"Is not!"

"Is to!"

"You're two. Why are we arguing over this?"

"You started it!"

"Did not! Wait, I'm not doing this. Especially over the phone."

"So come back home and we can do it face to face."

"Nice try, Luke. I got to go and cheer for my baseball player. Bye!"

He mumbled something, but I hung up without another thought. As Alec ran another homerun, I screamed so loud my voice hurt. So this is what high school felt like.

As soon as the game was over, Alec ran up to me and pulled my into a great big hug. He was sweaty, but I threw my arms around him anyway. "Congratulations!"

He shrugged. "It wasn't a big deal."

"You guys are going to playoffs!"

"We always go to the playoffs."

"But this year we're undefeated."

"But we-"

"Don't rain on my parade."

"Just as long as I'm invited."

I rolled my eyes and tugged him towards the exit. "I'm hungry, let's go celebrate!"

"Ah, right. We don't want to be late for our reservations."

I looked at him incredulously. "You made reservations somewhere?"

"McDonalds...but we get a booth!"

I gave him a doubtful expression. "You can't make reservations at McDonalds."

"Oh contraire, my darling. Do you know who I am?"

A very attractive, but delusional athlete? "Alec Jennings."

"Exactly!"

I pointed to the road ahead and leaned back in the passenger seat, making myself cozier. "Shut up and drive."

I followed Alec as he carried our tray of food around the fast-food restaurant. He sat down in the only available seating left-inside the play area, surrounded by sticky and loud children.

"Some reservations," I said pointedly, not really caring whether or not where we sat.

"Okay...so maybe McDonalds doesn't take reservations, but it's not like I knew that half the town was going to come in here."

I smiled weakly. "It's the after-win-hunger pains."

"Must be," I laughed.

After we finished eating, we fought the crowd hovering around the counter to get out. "You do realize we could've used the other door, right?" I mentioned.

"Yeah, but then I wouldn't have been able to hold your hand, now would I?" he smirked wickedly, holding up our intertwined hands.

I made a hmmphing nose, but made no move to untangle our hands. "You're tricky."

"You want to see how cliché we can get?"

"What do you mean?"

"Dance with me."

"Um...no. We're going to get hit."

He shrugged. "They'll see us."

"You're crazy!"

"That's what the doctor says!"

I moved towards the car, but he would budge, his feet planted firmly in the middle of the road. "Alec, you're going to die if you just stand there."

"One dance, and then we can go."

"NO! This is not a good idea. There's a reason that the people in the books and movies don't dance in drive-throughs!"

"It's because they're not as creative as us. Let's go dancing with the cars. Get it? Because these are cars?"

"Yeah, I get it." That was actually pretty clever. "But, how about we go dance over there?" I suggested, pointing to the tables sitting out in the front.

"Fine, go be stick in the mud and be safe."

I smiled happily and skipped over to the sidewalk. "Now we can dance!"

"Did you want me to sing, or did you want to?"

"You sing."

"All right, but fair warning, I'm not a good singer."

And when he started belting out the lyrics to 'So This Is Love' from Cinderella, I should've taken that warning seriously. It was a good thing he was cute and had a talent in baseball, because if he went on American Idol, Simon Cowell would laugh in his face.

We swayed side to side to his awfully tuned voice. "Okay, okay. You can stop singing."

"Told you!"

"Wait, you watched Cinderella?"

"My ex made me watch it."

Why did I feel a small pang of jealousy when he mentioned his ex? It's not like I had actual feelings for him...did I?

"All right buddy, you got your one dance. Now take me home."

"Why so eager to get to bed, honey? Did you want me to join you?"

I slapped his chest. "No, Mr. Mood Killer."

"Whoa, I didn't ruin the mood, you did!"

"Sure, blame the virgin."

He laughed. "It's funny because you're the last one."

"Shut up."

He walked me up to the door and gently kissed my hand. I locked the door and did a happy dance up the stairs. Who knew a single kiss could get me so worked up and happy? Certainly not me.

***

Beckett told me to meet him at his house around one, but since I had a fear of being late for things, I went a bit early. I don't know where we were going today, but I'm sure it was intellectual, but also very entertaining. Very Beckett.

I kept glancing at the clock, not wanting to be too late or too early. I guess I'd show up ten minutes to twelve. So I drove around the block several times, hoping that it wouldn't be too suspicious. Soon it was time, so I circled back onto Beckett's street. I excitedly bounced to the front door, my hand shaking as it pressed to ring it.

No one came to answer it, which I thought was a bit strange. Was my clock off? I tried once more, but still, no answer. I turned the doorknob, which opened easily. Would it be wrong to just go in? Yeah, I guess it would. I turned around and walked back to my car, hoping he would show his face soon.

I turned on the radio, Red by Taylor Swift coming on. I bobbed my head along to the music, enjoying her new poppy song. And then something caught my eye. I saw a tuft of curly brown hair sticking up from the rear window. It was obviously Beckett. Then I saw a flash of blonde. We weren't dating, but was he cheating on me?

I got out of the car and knocked on the window to his backseat. He quickly looked up and covered the face of his fling. I smiled sweetly and waved, like nothing was wrong. As Beckett went to open the car door, I caught a peek of his friend.

And I'm pretty sure this friend did not have lady parts.

I gasped and stared buggy eyed at Beckett, who pushed me towards the porch. "Beckett!" I hissed. "Was that a guy?"

"You're here early," he commented smoothly, completely disregarding my question.

"It's already noon! Now tell me, was that a guy?"

"Yes, he is of the male gender."

I tried not to let my jaw drop to the ground. "You're bi?"

"No, I'm gay," he said, quietly, slightly embarrassed. A tinge of red colored his cheeks.

Beckett Cartwright was gay. One of the members of the Top Four was gay. How was that even possible? How could a homosexual man possibly sleep with all those girls and just...I don't even know. So many thoughts raced through my head right now. But I only said one.

"How?"

"It's not something I can explain, Charlotte."

I shook my head. "You don't have to explain anything to me, but I just don't understand why you sleep with girls if you're not even into them."

"It's a cover up. If my parents ever found out...I don't know what I would do. And I don't know if Harvard would accept me or not. I just need to keep this on the DL. You think you can keep this a secret for me? I know it's asking for a lot, but will you?"

I sighed, but thought of this as an amazing opportunity. I could finally have a gay friend...but it's not like it would change anything, except for the number of guys trying to get into my pants. I already had Emma to go shopping with. And it's not like Beckett had good taste in clothes or anything. Actually, he wasn't very stereotypical at all.

"Yeah, I'll do it."

"Thanks Charlotte," he said, looking graciously at me. "This means a lot to me, more than you know."

I nodded. "And Beckett? When you're trying to pull this little stunt again, don't have him in the back seat of your car and invite a girl over, okay?"

He chuckled. "Okay, but we're cool?"

I'm glad this happened before I developed even stronger feelings for him. "We're cool."

Beckett was just one less guy I had to worry about. Now the others...not so sure how that would work out.

"Hey Beckett? Are the other guys, you know..."

"Gay? It's not a bad word, you know."

I giggled nervously. "Right..."

He shook his head. "Not that I know of, but if they are, they're mine, okay?"

"Yeah, you can have mine, and every other girl's, leftovers."

"Nah, I'm all right. They're not my type anyways."

"I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship, Beckett."