Dishonoured 🌿 Book 2.5

For Goodness' Sake

The night sky—what Aidan could see of it through the windshield, anyway—was brilliant with stars. He shut off the engine and basked in the muffled silence that followed for a few moments. Without the drone of the fans, engine, and radio, his heartbeat was obnoxious in his ears. He took slow, measured breaths in an effort to steady it. There was nothing to be worked up about. He was just going up there to help out a friend. Not a big deal.

Except deep down, he knew that was hardly the case. He could feign ignorance all the wanted before, but after his talk with Sam, he knew better. No amount of pretending would make the slightest difference. As such, his nerves were all but impervious.

When he could put it off no longer, Aidan summoned his courage and got out. Charlotte, as promised, had left the outer door slightly open for him. As he pushed it in, muffled music drifted down the stairs—a punk song he didn't recognise with a feminine-sounding singer. He knocked on her door and listened as a steady swish of fabric on hardwood grew louder beyond it, like someone sliding across the floor.

"Hey." Charlotte beamed and backed up to let him in.

This time, her outfit was fairly reserved—fitted, high-waisted trousers over a simple long sleeved shirt, all black. Her makeup, on the other hand, was as eye-catching as ever. He tore his gaze away long enough to make it over the threshold and kick off his shoes.

"Hey, how was your day?"

"Fine, I got my presentation finished in time. I'm freaking wiped, though."

Aidan grinned. "Yeah, I heard you crashed at Sam's last night. How late were you up?"

"Four, I think?" Charlotte strolled into the kitchen, saying, "Want something to drink?"

Aidan asked for water and settled onto the couch, scanning the room. The coffee table was free of clutter, bearing only a large, lit scented candle, and her old laptop. Distant whistling, a semi-accurate impression of whatever was playing, drifted from the kitchen.

She returned with a glass of water and another of wine. A serene smile played on her plum-painted lips as she passed the former to him and folded herself into the spot to his right. As she put her feet up on the edge of the table, he noticed once again her plain pants. If he thought seeing her without makeup was unusual, this look was perhaps more-so.

"No studs or pins today?" he asked, gesturing to her in general with a half-grin.

She gave a light laugh, wine swirling gently in her curved glass. "They don't like that so much at work. I didn't see the point in changing when I got home if I'm just going to be changing again in a couple of hours."

"Makes sense. It's nice, by the way—your outfit. I'm just surprised." After a second, he cleared hi throat and pulled over her laptop. "So, did everything finish uploading?"

"Sometime this afternoon. What are you going to do next?"

As he turned the laptop a bit toward her, she put her feet on the floor and scooted forward to see better. Aidan began the tedious process of going through her program list line by line and uninstalling programs she either didn't use or had no idea the purpose of anymore. In the gaps between selections, Aidan asked about the music, and she offered trivia about the band in question with an eager smile. Most of her references went over his head, but it was nice to listen to her talk about something she enjoyed.

When that was done, Aidan loaded up a program to clean up useless and broken files, then sat back. There wasn't much else he could do just then. He had gotten so focused on choosing the scan settings he hadn't noticed the conversation taper off. Charlotte was cradling her glass in both hands, gazing at the fairy lights surrounding the window pane. They sparkled in her distant eyes.