HEAL

26 -- THE TALK

Larry followed Charlie into her room, as she closed the door behind them.  He looked around him, remembering the times he'd been here before.  It wasn't an overly girly room, no frills and flounces, that wasn't Charlie's style, but it was modern, calm and serene, with dim lighting, and soothing, neutral colours. It seemed such a juxtaposition to her personality.  Larry looked at Charlie's bed, smiling.  They had never had sex there, but their meetings here, in her room, had gotten more than a little heated at times.  

Charlie had thought, at those times, that Larry's behaviour was because he was a gentleman, which, towards Charlie, he always was.  And how she wished that, sometimes, he wasn't.  They would kiss, and touch each other, and caress each other's skin, gaze into each other's eyes, all of that, all of it getting heated and intense.  Larry would grind his still fully clothed hard on into Charlie every single time they got there, but, once a certain point was reached, Larry put a stop to their fun and games.  As Charlie palmed Larry's erection through his jeans as he writhed on top of her, she would pull at his waistband frustratedly, as Larry's hand wandered further south.  Larry would pull at Charlie's clothes, pushing her skirt up to her waist, stroking her thigh as his hand moved towards her crotch.  He would then sigh deeply, his whole body language changing, Charlie knowing what would happen next, as it always did.  He would withdraw his hands from her, hugging her to him, whispering in her ear.  He gave her many ..... excuses.  He wasn't ready, she wasn't ready, her parents were in the house, it didn't feel quite right yet, he didn't want their first time together to be hurried, he didn't want either of them to feel guilty about it.  Charlie had taken these .... reasons, as Larry being chivalrous, as just being the sweetie that he was.

Now she knew different.  She knew he wanted her, and she wanted him, God, she wanted him.  It was all she could do sometimes, when he stopped them from going any further, to keep herself from getting annoyed, even angry at him.  She was as frustrated as fuck.  Him ?  Not so much.  He would reach that certain point, every time, and just stop, followed by one of his reasons.  Now she knew it was because of Laurent.  She didn't know the why's, the how's, or the wherefore's, but she knew it was because Larry didn't want to be unfaithful, in any sense of the word, to his brother.  And for the hot blooded, lust consumed man he used to be, that obviously took some doing.  Some serious self control.  That his love for Laurent overtook the primal, animal urge to fuck someone.  She realised now, and probably as she did then but would never admit it, that Larry's love for Laurent was everything, and always would be.  

Charlie tilted the bottle of wine in Larry's direction, as he nodded his answer.  She poured a small glass each, handing one to Larry as he pulled an armchair over to the bed, asking which Charlie would prefer, the chair or her bed.  She scooted back on her bed, leaning against the headboard, as Larry tried to get comfortable in the chair.  Nothing about this was comfortable.

"Cheers"  Charlie raised her glass to Larry.  "Not gonna toast.  Nothing to congratulate or celebrate tonight" she said flatly.  She didn't mean to, but she looked so sad, and she was.  Sadness filled the room, thick in the space between them, and Larry's face reflected the same emotion.  She told herself she was going to try to be as upbeat as she could, happy even, knowing how this talk, this discussion would end.  But being here, opposite this gorgeous, lovely man who she thought loved her, thought had wanted her as his wife, she couldn't pretend anymore.  Sitting opposite her, Larry felt even worse, watching her face carefully.

"I'm so sorry, Ch ...."

"Don't be.  Please, don't be.  You can't help how you feel, neither of us can.  And I genuinely want us both to be honest, Larry.  We owe that to one another, don't ya think ?  Shame we couldn't have done that a couple of weeks ago, but, hey .... "  She couldn't help the bitterness in her tone, sounding as if she were laying the blame, any blame, all the blame firmly on Larry's doorstep.  She felt she had been used, that she had been Larry's scapegoat, his "Plan B".  And she was, absolutely.  She was Larry's cover, his "beard".  If he was married to her, no one would think twice about him being in another relationship, with another woman, another man, and especially not with with his twin.  What she hadn't known, was that Larry had an agenda of his own.  To get back at Laurent, to teach him a lesson, to prove a point.  That point being,   --  cry wolf one too many times, Laurent, and no one will come to rescue you anymore, especially not Larry.  Tell Larry you love him, you love him, you love him.  Then when Larry offers himself to you, unconditionally, and on a silver platter at that, you run away screaming, hell no.