Haven't Had Enough → Chenry

? Chapter Twelve

     "Charlotte?"

   The voice startled me, causing me to jump as I was jolted back into consciousness. "Yep! Yep, that's me."

   I rubbed my tired eyes before opening them. Lyah, who was standing at the threshold between the hallway and the kitchen, raised her eyebrows at me. "Right. Believe it or not, that was my guess."

   I rubbed my eyes some more, furiously trying to erase the images I had just been mulling over. In the meantime, Lyah grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl and slid onto the stool next to me. It was eerily quiet. Too quiet.

   I let my hands fall from my eyes and looked over at Lyah to see her giving me one of her looks. I groaned, knowing that trying to avoid the topic at hand was useless. I knew exactly what was on her mind, and she knew that I knew, too.

   "You know," I began, looking deeply at my nail beds before forcing myself to meet her eyes, "I was honestly hoping you forgot."

   "Forgot?" Lyah repeated incredulously, without missing a beat. Her eyebrows knitted together. "How the hell could I forget that you and Henry almost k—"

   "Shh!" I exclaimed, clapping my hand over her mouth. "Don't. Don't say it out loud. I'm not ready to hear it vocalized just yet."

     Lyah pulled my hand away from her face and held up her own in defense. "Alright, jeez. I won't say anything."

     "Thank you," I replied, releasing a deep breath. I relished in the silence and looked down at my hands again, fiddling with my fingers. I was honestly surprised that she let it go so easily.

     "I can't!" Lyah burst out suddenly, and my eyes screwed shut even though I knew I should've seen it coming. She clasped onto my forearm. "I'm sorry, but you know I want to talk about it, and I can't not talk about it because you almost kissed Henry!"

     "I know, okay!" I flinched for a moment at my own outburst before calming myself down. "I know what happened. I was there. But it was a mistake."

     Lyah shook her head. "What do you mean it was a mistake? How can you know it was a mistake if you never even kissed?"

     "He ran off." I paused, taking in the shocked silence that I knew was not far behind. "After you left. He just got up and took off."

     Lyah gave me a pained look. "Oh, Char."

     "Please don't act like you're sorry for me." I looked Lyah in the eye, silently pleading with her. "It's not like I cared either way. Clearly, it wasn't supposed to happen, or else it would've. So I'm just going to pretend it never did."

     "Are you sure?" She looked at me with eyebrows raised, teeming with disbelief. "It sounds like you're trying to convince yourself instead of me."

     "Look," I said as I stood up. "I can't do this right now. I have work. I have to go."

   I left Lyah there in the kitchen and quickly threw on something more presentable before taking off.

☽

   I walked in through Boehman's front doors with my head down, trying my best to avoid contact with anyone. As I had quickly learned on my walk down the street, every face that I saw instantly morphed into one with brown eyes and blond hair and – well, we all know how I felt about that.