Charlotte woke up and reached her arm over for Angelo. She suddenly realized it was the morning, and a wave of anxiety waved over her as she thought about how she was going to explain to her grandmother that a boy had stayed the night there. Except, when she reached her hand over, Angelo was gone. She looked around. He didn’t have any clothes there either. She got out of bed and slipped on a bathrobe.
She walked towards her window and looked out. She had a view of the alley, though she couldn’t see the exact spot where the mugger approached her, since the garage blocked off that part. She could see the back of the houses on the other street and wondered which one Angelo might live in.
One of the reasons she hadn’t been down Angelo’s street was also because she wasn’t sure she was even allowed. The houses were so giant, and the yards were so perfectly landscaped that she thought it might be a private area. The giant houses there easily ran in the millions, so she wondered how Angelo might afford a place like that. Did Angelo live with his parents as well? She heard her grandmother moving in the kitchen downstairs and knew that it was time to get the day started.
She walked into the kitchen to see her grandmother standing there. Though Angelo had left, she was still a bit scared that her grandmother, April, might have known something was up.
“Good morning, sleepyhead, I thought we were going to head to the store at 9?” April said. Charlotte looked at the clock and realized it was 9:30. She wanted to tell her grandmother the rough night she had, but surely, she would make her file a police report, though Angelo had fought the guy off anyway. She thought about the gun he had taken as well and how that would certainly be something she would have to bring up to the police.
“I’m so sorry, Grandma. I had a late night and hard practice. I’m ready now, though!” Charlotte said.
Charlotte’s grandmother wasn’t allowed to drive anymore. She had been caught trying to drive down the opposite way on the highway and had her license taken away. Since then, it was much harder for her to get around. When Charlotte had gotten in trouble, her parents sent her to live with her grandmother to help her out over the summer.
They thought it would be a good and responsible experience for Charlotte, but in reality, it was just a boring one. She had to take her grandmother on awkward car rides and read pretty much everything on the label to her from every item she picked up.
After a two-hour long shopping trip, they finally made their way back to the car. When Charlotte turned it on, the song “Be My Baby,” by The Ronettes started playing. Charlotte thought about what the lyrics were saying and couldn’t help but think of Angelo. The song starts by saying, “The night we met, I knew I needed you so.” Charlotte knew that was true for her and Angelo. She had wanted to kiss him the entire time they were talking in the kitchen and was so excited when he asked if he could kiss her.
“Who you thinking about over there, child? I can tell you got someone on your mind!” her grandmother asked.
“What, me? No, no one. There isn’t anyone,” Charlotte lied. She didn’t want to have to explain the situation to her grandmother and wasn’t really interested in having a conversation about her love life either.
“Now, don’t lie to me. You have the exact same face your mother does when she’s lying. Who is he?” April asked.
Charlotte knew she couldn’t fool her grandmother and had to fess up, at least part of the truth. “I met him last night on my way home. He lives in the area. He was really sweet, and… I don’t know, just something about him made me, you know…” Charlotte trailed off. April knew what she had been talking about.
“Oh, honey! You better bring him over! I need to see who my grand baby is dating!” April yelled. Charlotte thought about how he had left without leaving his number, so she wasn’t so sure she would be seeing him again. They had a special night together, but was that all? She hadn’t slept with anyone that quickly before and was surprised at the way she acted. She had only been with one boy before that, her high school boyfriend, and they had ended things after she lost her scholarship.
The reason she had lost her scholarship and moved in with her grandmother over the summer was because of a dumb prank that had gone too far. Her and her friends wanted to pull the most memorable senior prank that no one in the history of the school would ever forget. Unfortunately for them, that meant breaking into the school and toilet papering the hallways.
She went with a group of people, and some of them went too far. A few of the students in on the prank had smashed the glass cases and spray-painted over portraits in the school’s library. She didn’t have any part in the vandalism, but because she was a part of the whole group, she received the same punishment.
She was in the top ten percent of her class and had an immaculate record, so she was spared any legal action that was taken against other students. She had still been expelled and was forced to complete her senior year at an online school. She managed to graduate with her high school diploma and ended up losing the dance scholarship because of the expulsion.
She still got accepted into other schools but none as good as the original. Her boyfriend broke up with her after the ordeal, and her parents kicked her out and sent her to live with her grandmother. Once the summer was up, she planned to get an apartment in New York City and eventually get into a different school for dance.
She thought about all of this on her way home from the store. It was hard to not replay the situation over and over in her brain of the horrible things that ensued in the months after the stupid prank. She didn’t even want to be a part of it, but she gave in easily to the peer pressure of her friends. She was devastated at everything she lost, but instead of wallowing in her bed that summer, she planned on doing everything possible to make up for it all.
She didn’t have to pay rent, so she would be able to save money for when she moved in with her friends. She hoped getting a role in Jersey City’s summer production would also give her some great experience to take to the city as well. She also hoped that meeting Angelo might have been a good thing.
They finally made their way home, and Charlotte pulled into the garage just in time to get ready for practice. She didn’t have any days off, always bouncing around between taking care of her grandmother, dance practice, and work. She had the day off but that only meant from serving at the diner. As she carried groceries inside, the same tall and dark figure that had made its way into the alley from the night before emerged behind April’s car once again.
“Good morning, beautiful,” he told her, her grandmother out of earshot. “You left these on the street last night. I forgot and figured I’d bring them to you now,” he explained, holding out her dance shoes and water bottle. Charlotte wasn’t really sure how she had missed that and thought about how embarrassed she would have been if she showed up to practice without her shoes.
“Wow, you’ve saved my life again,” she told him.
“Charlotte, do you need any more help?” April called from the back porch.
“No, I’m coming! I better get back. I have to get ready for practice,” Charlotte told Angelo.
“Hi, Mrs. Jones!” Angelo said, waving to April. “Have a good practice.”
Angelo walked away, and Charlotte closed the garage door, walking into the house. Her grandmother was standing in the kitchen, looking especially agitated. It was easy to get her grandmother upset, but Charlotte was racking her brain trying to figure out what she had done wrong this time. Her grandmother was pretty strict, so there were really endless amounts of things that could make her upset.
Charlotte looked into the sink and thought about how she might be mad she hadn’t washed the tea cups from the night before. Perhaps she was just still mad that she had to wait later to go to the grocery store than Charlotte had originally promised. The only way Charlotte could find out why her grandmother might be upset was if she just asked. Luckily, she wouldn’t have to.
“Please don’t tell me that’s him,” April said, concerned.
“Who? Angelo? Why? What’s wrong with him?” Charlotte asked. Of course, it was him. There was no denying that Charlotte was already feeling something for Angelo by the way the two had looked at each other. Her grandmother might have been old and lost her senses every once in a while, but she could see love when she saw it.
“Angelo Luciano. Do you have any idea who that is, Charlotte?” April asked. Charlotte shook her head. “He’s the son of Pauly Luciano. You know, the mobster?” Though she was African-American, her grandmother still had a bit of a Jersey accent, making her story-telling seem like a scene in a movie.
“Grandma, you can’t believe everything you read in the papers. Angelo’s no mobster,” Charlotte explained. Her grandmother could be a little over-dramatic and old fashioned every once in a while, and Charlotte assumed this was one of those times.
“Hello! Charlotte, everyone knows that these guys don’t conduct their business all legally. Their family is in construction and were responsible for bringing up the value of most of the property in Jersey City in the last few decades. Sure, that’s a wealthy industry, but his father was a billionaire when he was murdered,” April explained.
“A billionaire?” Charlotte asked.
“Yeah, we’re talking multi-billions. You can’t tell me he earned all that knocking a few pieces of lumber together. I see people going in and out of their houses all the time. When he was murdered, his three boys split his wealth, each getting richer than their father on top of the insurance money they also got. Now, they’re running things around the neighborhood, with Angelo at the top of all three,” April explained. Charlotte couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“These guys, they may seem sweet, but you never know who’s going to whack you when you have your back turned,” April said. Charlotte wanted to laugh at how ridiculous sounding she was, but she did have a point. The mugger seemed pretty scared once he realized who Angelo was, and Angelo did seem pretty young to be living in such a large house. She worried about the man she had just spent last night with.
“Charlotte, as long as you’re living under my roof, you are not to see that man. Do you understand me? I don’t want you speaking to him again.” April explained. Charlotte swallowed hard and nodded her head, not sure she would be able to make it the rest of the summer at her grandma’s if she couldn’t kiss Angelo once again.