Rooftops and Invitations ❤️

Chapter 7

Charlotte is upset that Steve stormed out of her party. He disappeared and she didn't see him all the next day. She knocks on Bucky's open door the night after the party. "Have you seen Steve?"

He looks up from his bed where he was reading. "I'm sorry doll. I haven't."

She sits next to him on his bed as he sits up. She didn't know what she had done to make Steve dislike her so much, even if Bucky said that wasn't the case. Bucky gently rubs her back until she stands back up. "I'll be on the roof, if you see him. Yeah?"

Bucky looked up at her, he could see she was hurting. He hated seeing it, because he meant what he said before, she was his friend.

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Steve doesn't find Charlotte in her room as he returns to the compound. He passes by Bucky's room and sees his door open. "Have you seen Charlotte?"

Bucky stands up and closes the door behind his friend. "She's on the roof Steve. Please don't go up there if you're just going to hurt her again."

Steve looks in Bucky's eyes and sees he was worried, but not about him, about Charlotte. "Hurt her again? What does that mean?"

Bucky laughs, but he is annoyed. "I don't know, moving on to Sharon without giving her a chance? Parading Sharon at her birthday party? Storming out of her party? Need I go on?"

"I didn't move on to Sharon, there was never anything between Charlotte and me. She had made that clear. I didn't know she felt the same about me until last night."

Now Bucky was angry; he closed the distance between him and his oldest friend. "Nothing between you? And what about the kiss? The flirting? She has been practically throwing herself at you." Bucky gives up and sits back on his bed. "Don't go up there if you're going to hurt her. She loves you, Steve. Please." And with that he goes back to reading dismissing Steve.

Steve walks quietly onto the roof, hearing music as he approaches Charlotte.

Broken this fragile thing now
And I can't, I can't pick up the pieces
And I've thrown my words all around
But I can't, I can't give you a reason

I feel so broken up
And I give up
I just want to tell you so you know

Here I go
Scream my lungs out
Try to get to you
You are my only one
I let go
There's just no one that gets me like you do
You are my only, my only one

Charlotte stops playing, knowing Steve was behind her. "What do you want Steve?"

He waits until he is in front of her to say anything. "I, I wanted to apologize."

Charlotte sets the guitar down and stands up, annoyed. "Apologize for what Steve?" She approaches him as he continues to back up as she moves closer until he is against the parapet of the roof.

He reaches his hand up and gently brushes some hair out of her eyes that were red from crying. "For leaving your party before giving you your present." He hands her a small box.

"I don't want it, Steve." She turns and starts to walk away from him, but he grabs her hand.

"Charlie, please. I'm sorry."

She turns back and looks him in the eyes. She sees he was being sincere. "Yeah, I'm sorry too Steve. Maybe you should go back to your girlfriend." She pulls away from him and walks away. She hears Steve behind her asking her to stop. But the tears are already coming, she can't face him like this. She runs with her guitar back to her room and slams the door. Bucky hears her run past his room and stands in the doorway and sees Steve chasing after her. He stands in front of him, deciding if he should let Steve go after Charlotte. He looks in Steve's eyes and sees he is trying to fix things, so he hesitantly moves to the side.

Steve stands in front of Charlotte's door, working up the courage to knock. He finally decides not to and just walk in, "Charlotte." He shuts the door behind him. He sees she was crying when he walked in and sets his present for her down on her desk.

Charlotte looks up at Steve, just wanting him to leave her alone. "Steve. Please." She doesn't finish as he closes the distance between their bodies, he pulls her body closely against his as his lips find hers. Charlotte's body reacts before anything else. She throws her arms around Steve's neck as he lifts her firmly around the waist and kisses her and she moans. Steve finally sets Charlotte back down, both out of breath. No one is running away this time. Charlotte breaks the silence, "Sharon."

Steve laughs, "If you would have let me finish on the roof, I would have told you I broke up with her last night. That's why I left your party; I knew I was wasting time with her when it was you, I really wanted."

Charlotte hangs her head down. "I thought maybe you didn't like my song."

He wraps his arms around her waist again. "I love listening to you play and sing. Always. I'm sorry, for everything."

She breaks away and sits on her bed. "I thought you hated me. You go out of your way to avoid me; especially after I kissed you."

Steve kneels in front of her so she can look face to face with him. He places his hands on the bed on either side of her. "I never hated you. Not once. I still remember seeing you in Fury's office before I knew who you were." He tucks some hair behind her hair, "Those bright green eyes."

"I didn't think you saw me." She blushes and looks away, but he pulls her face back to his.

"Of course I did. I'm sorry for how I acted. I was mad because I don't like not being in control. I didn't like that Tony and Fury got say in who was on my team. On top of that, I was attracted to you. I just didn't know how to act. I'm sorry."

"But I kissed you, and you never brought it up. You never acted on it. I felt so stupid; how could I ever think Steve Rogers would ever want me." She looks down.

"You said you wanted to forget about it, but I didn't. I assure you of that. I was disappointed that you said you wanted to forget it. But I didn't want to push it. You're right, I should have done something." He places his hands gently on either side of his face, "but I want you Charlotte. I have for a long time." Steve kisses her again, moving his hands to the small of her back as she put her hands in his hair, pulling him to her.

She pulls away, "you said you had a present for me?"

Steve laughs and gets up to grab her present and hands it to her. He kneels back down in front of her as she opens it.

Charlotte opens the small box Steve hands her, inside is a necklace with a heart pendant with her initials engraved on it, CMS. She looks back up at Steve, "it's beautiful Steve!" She stands up motioning for him to put it on for her. She holds her hair up off her neck.

Steve grabs the necklace gently out of the box and clasps it around Charlotte's neck. As he finishes, he kisses her shoulder softly. She turns around and Steve hesitates for a minute. "I should go to bed. We can talk more tomorrow."

Charlotte grabs his hand as he starts to turn. "Stay? Please?"

He turns to face her, "I don't know if I should."

She pulls him to her bed, "We can just sleep."

Steve nods his head as he removes his jeans, undressing to just his underwear and a t-shirt. He wanted nothing else than to hold her all night. He climbs into bed and waits for her to turn off the lights and she undresses to the same as him, panties and t-shirt. Charlotte climbs into bed next to Steve, and he wraps his arms around her.