Touch | Lydia Martin

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴛᴇɴ

"You should become a motivational speaker."

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"Woah, woah! What's wrong? Arlo?" Derek asks as Charlotte walks through the door.

"Nothing." Charlotte mutters, about to run upstairs.

"No. Talk to me, Arlo." Derek tells her, getting up from the couch and walking over to lean on the stair railings.

"Honestly Derek, I'm fine. Just leave it." Charlotte sighs.

"Now, one thing I've learned with living with girls for all of my life, is when women say they're fine, they really aren't. Now talk to me." Derek tells her.

"Will you stop acting like you're my dad. Always trying to get me to open up and talk to you about everything, yes you may care more about me than him, but that still doesn't mean you have to take over." Charlotte snaps, leaving Derek to look at her with a shocked expression.

As soon as Charlotte calms down, she realises what she had just said, making her eyes go wide with guilt.

"I- I'm sorry. That wasn't-" Charlotte stammers, taking another look at Derek's shocked face before turning back around and walking up the stairs.

She quickly walks into her room, straight over to her bed before she sits against her headboard, her head leaning on her knees so she can rest them in her hair.

She can't see or speak to Derek right now, she doesn't want to say anything else that she'll regret to the person who's always stood by her side.

No matter how many times she would shout, scream and cry at him when she's in her rage episodes, she always regretted everything later on, which led to apologies and more crying.

Charlotte even lets him hug her when she apologises.

After a few minutes, she feels the bed dip next to her, Derek's scent instantly filling her nose, his chemo signals telling her that he is upset and guilty.

And that makes her chest full with even more regret.

"I'm sorry if I'm invading your space. I just want you to open up so you know that you aren't alone in this world." Derek tells her.

Tears fill Charlotte's eyes from behind her eyelids, which she closes tighter so they don't fall.

"What Peter did to you..." Derek trails, making Charlotte take a deep breath.

"It's still affecting you, even though it happened, what? Ten or eleven years ago. It's still affecting you so much that you're just shutting yourself off from everyone. You don't even let people hold your hand or hug you. And I know that I do that too, but I can handle it better. You're only fifteen, you shouldn't be going through anything alone." Derek tells her.

"You should become a motivational speaker." Charlotte comments in a quiet voice, making Derek chuckle at her.

He smiles down at her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her into a side hug, rubbing her arm up and down comfortingly.

Charlotte leans her head on his shoulder, letting one tear fall out of her eye before she makes the rest go away.

"I'm sorry for saying that." Charlotte sniffles, making Derek look down at her with a small smile.

"It's alright, Arlo. Your done worse." Derek chuckles, making Charlotte let out a light scoff.

"Wanna come and break into Scott's house with me?" Derek asks, making Charlotte furrow her eyebrows.