The Bad Boy Next Room (Charlie and Taylor)

"Good morning, Charlie!" A young man said. He was smiling excessively as he stared at Charlie.

Charlie rubbed her eyes, making sure she saw it correctly. She was still sleepy on a Sunday morning, but the scent of food awoke her.

"Good morning, Charlie," Taylor said from behind the young man, setting a plate full of meat on the table with a smile. "This is my brother, Tristan West."

Surprisingly, Tristan was the younger student Charlie had seen a few days before when she bumped into Taylor at the College of Engineering. Like Taylor, he had blond hair, but his frame was more petite and shorter. Unlike the last time, he wore spectacles that day.

"You're Tristan?" Charlie asked before chuckling.

When Tristan nodded, Charlie asked, "So, when Taylor said that we have met, he meant we met at the College of Engineering a few days ago."

"No," Tristan said. "The first time we met was two years ago. I wasn't a student yet at Luxford University, but I had come to watch my brother play. It was the finals game between The Wall Street Warriors and Atomic Heat."

"We have met?" Charlie was stunned. She couldn't remember any encounter with Tristan!

"Wh - when? How?" Charlie asked.

Tristan took a seat. He grinned at Charlie and reminded her, "I kinda made your previous boyfriend angry because I grabbed his phone, and you stepped in to help me."

Charlie racked her brains, and then she remembered. "Ooh! It was you!"

### FLASHBACK: TWO YEARS AGO ###

It was the finals, and The Wall Street Warriors lost to The Atomic Heat. Luke was seething. He wasn't the basketball team's captain yet, but he was supposed to be the new star player, yet Taylor West easily outshone him.

Luke exited the locker room while Charlie was still leaving the bleachers. She noticed a boy, around fourteen or fifteen years old, suddenly approaching Luke and praising his iPhone 14 Pro Max.

From where Charlie was, she noticed the boy was overly excited about the phone. He also invaded Luke's personal space by grabbing the phone without permission.noveldrama

"What the hell? Who are you?" Luke scolded.

When Charlie reached Luke, he got his phone back, but the boy kept saying, "Can you go to the settings? I wanna check the display refresh rate. It's 120Hz, right? Did you know Apple uses ProMotion for that?"

"Can you cut it out!" Luke yelled. "I don't know you!"

"Luke!" Charlie called. "Calm down. He is just a boy."

At that time, Luke was still frustrated with the game. Then came the boy, who suddenly grabbed his phone. Needless to say, Luke was annoyed.

"Oh. My bad," the boy said apologetically.

"Are you into phones?" Charlie asked, and the boy nodded. "That's great, but taking someone else's phone is not nice."

"I'm sorry," the boy said. He scratched his head and explained, "I forget that sometimes. I like phones and computers. I like music too, fike playing the piano and the guitar, but I'm more into gadgets and computers."

Charlie chuckled and said, "I like your enthusiasm."

"I'm sorry. My boyfriend is upset because his team lost the game, but he did not mean to get mad." Charlie turned to Luke, saying, "Right?"

"I think he means no harm, Luke," Charlie insisted.

"Okay." Luke sighed. He turned to the young boy and said, "I'm sorry for getting upset, but don't go getting someone else's phone. You might get in trouble with others."

"Yeah, I'll remind myself that again," the young boy answered, smiling and looking at the floor. "Thanks."

When he looked back up to Charlie, the boy said, "Nice to meet you! You are a nice and pretty lady."

"Thank you. We have to go now. Bye," Charlie said. Then, the rest of the Wall Street Warriors came out of the locker room. They all left. Charlie never remembered meeting the boy again on campus.

### END OF FLASHBACK ###

Back to the present.

"Now that I think about it, it really was you!" Charlie said. "Without glasses."

"Yeah," Tristan said, smiling brightly. "I remember you ever since, but you forgot about me the next time we saw each other. That's okay. It was dark when we first met, and we never really became friends."

"What he meant was you did not have any formal introductions," Taylor said while putting the plates on the table.

"You mean we have met again on campus?" Charlie asked.

"Twice, and once at the boulevard. I never forget a face I like," Tristan said

innocently. "But." He looked down, saying, "You forgot me."

"I'm sorry. I really am, but I won't forget you now," Charlie's eyes gleamed as she claimed. "We are going to be friends!"