It had been a few weeks since escaping the lion's den. Literally and figuratively. And all Henry wanted to do was forget about Charlotte. But that was almost impossible because his best friend was always around. He hadn't noticed how intertwined their lives were until he wanted to escape her. They walked to school together, they had classes together, they ate lunch together, they worked together, they walked home together.

But it was never a problem until it was. Now it was a BIG problem. Henry wanted some time alone to process his emotions and decide if what he was starting to feel was genuine. They say absence makes the heart grow fonder right? Well he needed some absence and quick. Because all of this time around Charlotte was not helping his confused heart. Every interaction seemed forced and weird. Or maybe it was all in his head, he couldn't tell. It was as if the whole world had been flipped on its axis but he was the only one that felt upside down. Everyone else was just living their life the same way they had been but to Henry it was like everything had changed.

As a last-ditch effort to get time away from Charlotte and some much need help with classes, he signed up for peer tutoring in every subject available. Being constantly distracted by his beautiful friend unsurprisingly meant that Henry wasn't exactly thriving when it came to school. Tutoring would give him two hours alone everyday, well alone with the tutor, before he had to go to Junk N' Stuff.

He had talked to Ray and told him that his grades were slipping and that he was going to start staying after school for help. At first the older man blew him off, saying that "School was for suckers" and to report to work as normal. That was until Henry explained that if he failed any classes his parents would make him quit. Ray's tune switched immediately and he agreed to the change in routine.

On the first day of tutoring he was at his locker putting his books into his backpack when Charlotte and Jasper came up to him. They usually walked to work together.

"Hey dude, ready to go?" Jasper asked.

"Actually… I'm staying behind today." Henry replied.

"Why?" Charlotte asks.

"Peer assistance" Henry says.

"That's cool Hen. We'll just catch you tomorrow then" Jasper responds.

"Actually…I have tutoring after school every day from now on" said Henry.

A confused look crosses Charlotte's pretty face. "Why didn't you just ask me to tutor you? You know I have the highest GPA in our grade."

Henry starts stammering nervously. Of course he would have asked Charlotte under normal circumstances. But these were not those and he couldn't just say, 'I think I have massive crush on you but I'm not 100% sure so I'm trying to get away from you for a second.' Yeah that would go over great. Not.

"B-because I didn't think you would want to. I learn kind of slowly and it can be annoying. I didn't want to bother you" Henry replied.

"We all process in our own ways Hen" said Jasper while placing a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder and squeezing lightly.

"And I would never judge you for how your mind works. Plus I already know how you absorb information Henry, we've studied together for years. You're mostly an auditory processor with emphasis on personal repetition for understanding" Charlotte countered.

Having no other reason to give besides the fact that he was running away from his feelings for her, Henry glances at his Wiz Watch and exclaims "Would you look at the time? I'm about to be tardy for tutoring. See you guys later!"

Looking at each other confused, Charlotte and Jasper decided to shrug off their friend's weird behavior and made their way to work.

A few more weeks had passed with this new schedule. While the tutoring after school had succeeded in separating Henry from Charlotte for a short time everyday, it hadn't separated Henry from his thoughts about her. But instead of confronting his feelings head on, Henry suppressed them.

He attributed these newfound emotions to hormones. He didn't want to date his bestie, he just finally noticed how gorgeous she was. With her flawless skin, expressive chocolate eyes and plump, kissable lips Charlotte was definitely a beauty. Yeah that was it, it was only puberty playing tricks on him. Even though he had gone through puberty years ago, Henry reasoned that he must be having a second round. That happened, right?

Truly, he was just afraid to throw another wrench into their friendship after navigating the recent dream fiasco. They had both agreed that their subconsciouses were whack and that they didn't like each other that way. So what was Henry doing liking her that way?

Each time he interacted with Charlotte, his heart rate increased and his palms started sweating. Whenever she touched him, goosebumps erupted on his arms and his mouth went dry. Henry couldn't control his body's reaction to her presence and it was starting to get on his nerves. However, Henry was getting better at ACTING as if everything was normal.

One day at lunch it was just Henry and Charlotte at their table. Jasper had started a club for him and his fellow "Bucketeers" that met during lunch on Fridays which today was. They had already eaten and discarded their trash a few minutes prior.

Charlotte was telling Henry about the upcoming dance and what kind of dress she was thinking about designing for the occasion. Henry started to zone out when she went off on a tangent about patterns and fabrics. He was staring intensely at her moving lips when he noticed an approaching figure behind her.

A guy that Henry hadn't seen before walked up to Charlotte quietly and placed both his hands over her eyes. She jumped in surprise at the sudden contact, then the stranger leaned down and spoke into her ear.

"Guess who?" He questioned in a deep timbre.

"Clark Kent?" Charlotte responded with a giggle, obviously recognizing their voice.

"You wish sweetheart" the guy said and sat next to Charlotte.

The dude was tall but not taller than him, Henry noted. He had black hair and brown eyes. He looked similar to Taylor Lautner from Twilight. But not as handsome. He proceeded to wrap his arm around Charlotte's waist causally.

Watching this whole interaction with wide eyes, raised brows and a pit forming in his stomach, Henry struggled to reign in his jealousy. Who does this guy think he is? And why is he touching my Charlotte?

"Who are you?" Henry asks the mystery man with a little more malice in his tone than necessary.

"Oh! Henry, this is my friend Jacob. Jacob, Henry." Charlotte said easily.

"Sup man." Jacob addresses Henry with a head nod and barely a glance in his direction before looking back down at Charlotte.

"So are you still coming over tonight?" Jacob inquires.

"Yeah I'll be over right after sch-"

"So how did you two meet?" Henry interrupts her statement loudly.

"We have chemistry together" Char explained.

"That we do" Jacob said with a smirk.

Charlotte giggles again and slaps his arm. "You're so dumb" she tells him.

"Only for you" he replies in a soft tone of voice while staring her in the eyes.

What is happening?! Henry questions himself. He did not like whatever this display was AT ALL. And what was with all the giggling? Charlotte does NOT giggle.

She clears her throat and finally breaks their intense eye contact. "Like I was trying to say earlier, I'll come over again before work today."

Again? How many times had she been over?

"Cool, can't wait. Text me" Jacob responds while standing up from the lunch table. He smirked at Henry before sauntering away.

Henry glares at Jacob's retreating back before turning back to his friend.

Charlotte sighs and bites her lip to hold back a smile.

"What was that?" Henry asks impatiently.

"Hm? What was what?"

"The whole exchange. The giggling, the touching, the eye contact? Do you like this guy?"

"I'm not sure yet. He's attractive and smart but right now it's just harmless flirting. Why?"

"Uh…no reason. I hadn't heard anything about him then suddenly he's all in your face."

"I thought I did tell you about him? Oh you know what? I told Jasper. Yeah, when we were walking to work the other day. Guess I just forgot to mention it to you."

"Huh. So why do you need to go to this guy's house? Multiple times?" Henry asked.

"We had an experiment in class and we've been working on the lab report together."

"Interesting. When do you think that'll be done?"

"Probably tonight? Why does it matter?"

"Just curious."

"Oooookkkk" Charlotte says while giving her friend a puzzled look.

The bell signaling the end of lunch rang and both teens stood up.

"I have Chemistry now so I'll catch up with you later" Charlotte said, turning in the direction of her next class.

Henry grabbed her hand before she could walk away. Tingles radiated through his palm from the simple touch. He pulled her gently to him before hugging her tightly. It took Charlotte a second but then she returned the affection. A feeling of contentment washed over Henry as he held her in his arms for a few seconds longer than normal. "See you at work Char" Henry whispered to her, lips brushing the shell of ear with every word.

A small shiver ran through Charlotte at the contact. Since they were still hugging, Henry felt this and pulled back to look at her. His hands were now wrapped around her hips instead of her waist. Henry's thumbs involuntarily started rubbing small circles on the exposed sliver of skin where her shirt had ridden up. This caused Charlotte to shiver lightly again.

"Are you cold?" Henry questioned.

Stepping out of his arms Charlotte shook her head "No I'm fine, don't worry about it".

But her tall friend was already shrugging out of his jacket and placing it on her shoulders. He adjusted the front and smiled satisfied. "There. Now you'll be covered if you get cold later. I better get going, my English course is on the other side of campus."

"Alright, see ya." Charlotte responded.

"You look good in my clothes Page" Henry stated while scanning her body up and down slowly. Before she could respond, he threw up a quick wave and walked away.

As he was making his way to class Henry wondered how that Jacob dude was going to respond to Char wearing his jacket. He'll definitely recognize that it's mine since he just saw me wearing it. That'll show him not to mess with my girl. Henry realized that if he didn't make a move soon, he could loose Charlotte to that Teen Wolf reject. It was time to accept that he liked her as way more than a friend.

Game on.