What You're Missing

"It's clean," Jasper reassured his curly-haired best friend as he watched her wipe down the counter for the umpteenth time that night. Charlotte rolled her eyes in response.

"I missed a spot," she retorted defensively, spraying the disinfectant repeatedly onto another area of the counter.

It had been twenty-four hours since Henry had broken up with her, and Charlotte's reactions to coping included (but were not limited to) lashing out on Jasper, completing all of her school assignments (some months in advance), and picking up extra shifts at the Swell Café. Despite all the attempts at forgetting about him, the memory of his brown eyes, strong arms and soft lips would not leave her thoughts.

And it was driving her crazy.

It was now a few minutes past midnight, peeking into Sunday morning. Charlotte and Jasper were the only ones in the Swell Café, the time of closing being an hour ago. Though being advised to leave from both Jasper and Liz, her coworker, Charlotte remained in the shop, deciding that she could clean up a bit more. Jasper, being her best friend and considering her time of need, felt obligated to stay with her in case she ended up cleaning until opening time the next morning.

"Charlotte," Jasper deadpanned. "It's Sunday." She pretended to look down at her wrist where a nonexistent watch was wrapped around.

"Huh, you're right," she responded. "You should head home." Jasper rolled his eyes.

"You should, too," he said, standing up from the coffee table he was leaned against before.

"I'm not done working," she pointed. "Stacy said I can leave when I think everything's set for tomorrow, and frankly, I don't." Jasper groaned.

"Everything is perfect, Char," he exasperated. "Please, can we just go home?"

"I said you can leave!" Charlotte gestured aggressively towards the door. "No one's asking you to stay. There's the door." She resumed wiping the counter, a little more violently than before. Jasper scoffed, slightly hurt. He was used to it at this point though, after she'd lashed out on him at least seven times earlier that day. He crossed his arms across his chest before approaching her behind the counter.

"Just let me finish, okay?" Charlotte said, her voice softer. "You can go home if you want."

"I'm not leaving you." Jasper laid a hand over hers, stopping her from continuing on her cleaning spiral. Charlotte looked at their hands, and Jasper felt his heart start to throb in his chest. He slipped his hand away before she could get the wrong idea, and Charlotte went back to cleaning the counter. 

"Char, listen to me," Jasper pressed. She continued to ignore him.

"You don't need him, okay?" Charlotte took in a sharp breath when he said this, ceasing movement momentarily. She sighed briefly before going around the counter to clean the tables again.

"I didn't say anything about him," she spoke in reply. "So why are you bringing him up?"

"Because that's obviously why you're still here at work cleaning tables and not home in bed sleeping," Jasper responded matter-of-factly.

"No, I'm cleaning because I want this place clean," she defended. "Henry's got nothing to do with it." Jasper raised his eyebrows.

"Or are you here cleaning because it's a distraction from thinking about him like you would if you were at home trying to sleep?" Charlotte furrowed her eyebrows in annoyance, crossing her arms in front of her chest.