Unsettling

II

Henry Hart squeezed his eyes shut tightly as the sun shone against them. He finally relented to the star and blinked his eyes open, yawning and rubbing his tired eyes. He looked around a little confused before the events of last night finally came back to him. He looked down at the girl who slept in his arms soundly and he couldn't help the smile that came to his lips. It felt so nice seeing her like this and not in hysterics like last night. When he saw her name pop up on his phone at 2 am, he knew something was wrong. And when he heard how sad and downtrodden her voice was, he knew he had to see her and help her. Charlotte was a tough girl but it was often to her detriment. She always guarded herself and refused to let people know when she was hurting. It made her weak in her eyes and if anything, she could not be weak.

He remembered when they were seven years old and Mitch Bilsky pushed her and she hit her head on the side of the sandbox during recess. Any other girl, even a boy, would cry and go running to the nurse. But Charlotte Page just stood up, threw some sand in Mitch's face, and tackled him to the ground. She slammed her little fists against his face until a teacher finally pulled her off of him and took her back inside the classroom. He remembered when they were having a picnic with their families in the park and Henry was attacked by a rabid killer bee (okay, maybe it was just a regular little bumblebee, but it was definitely picking on him!) and Charlotte just grabbed it without flinching and carefully placed it on a flower. That was just who she was, she was brave and unrelenting.

So, for ten year old Henry Hart, seeing his best friend trembling in fear was unbelievable. The two of them were having a sleepover at Charlotte's house. Everything was fine until Charlotte's mother came home and began fighting with her dad. The fighting quickly escalated to loud swearing, hitting, and items breaking. Henry looked at his friend and was shocked to see that she was crying, very quietly, but he could see her tears. She was also shaking and when he tried to ask if she was okay, she just crawled underneath her bed and cried louder. It was then he found out about her under the bed trick and how it helped her to calm down when her parents fought like that. And it was then he found out that the unbreakable Charlotte Page was in fact very breakable.

Henry finally pulled himself out of his memories and grabbed his phone from his pocket to check the time. 7:18 am. Shit. He had to get out of there before her father came in and saw him there. Mr. Page was a nice and friendly guy, but he was also the father of a beautiful teenage daughter and anyone knew he wouldn't enjoy seeing a teenage boy in her bed, even if he was her childhood best friend. Plus, it was morning, Charlotte was pressed up against him just right, he had on gray sweatpants, and he was a cisgender boy. Yeah, I gotta get out of here.

"Char..." he whispered and caressed her arm gently. He leaned in and gently brushed his nose against her neck. Somehow she still smelled really nice first thing in the morning. Warm Vanilla Sugar. He recognized the scent of her favorite body wash, it was one he often bought for her because she used it so much. It was a smell that became quintessentially Charlotte in his mind.

"Char, I've gotta go..." he mumbled against her skin. He felt her shift slightly and let out a sleepy groan, her hands gripping his and keeping them around her.

"Stay," she mumbled and he smiled a little.

"Your dad will come in and skin me alive. I've gotta go," he told her despite wanting to stay as well. He leaned his head back a little as she turned around in his arms until she was facing him. Her arms wrapped around his neck and she nuzzled his jaw gently. She was so cuddly and affectionate when she was tired, Henry always loved that side of her.

"Okay," she relented with a sigh, "Bye."

"See you later, Char," he whispered before pulling away from her reluctantly. He carefully climbed out of the bed and pulled the blankets over her shoulder as she gave him a small smile. He leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss to her cheek and paused when she reached up and cupped his cheek gently.