TASTE OF HIS OWN MEDICINE. michael afton

CHAPTER TEN ||

chapter ten

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a very important
meeting with henry
emily.

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"god i'm so glad it's the weekend."

you let out a sigh of relief, gently rocking your feet back and forth on the ground to get a little movement out of the swing you were sitting on, charlie humming in agreement on the swing next to you.

it was a nice saturday afternoon and charlie had been nice enough to offer a tour around town for you. you two had spent majority of the morning together, walking all around town, stopping at some of charlie's favourite places, before opting to take a rest at a park.

the park was surprisingly empty for a weekend afternoon, especially for a clear day like this, so you and charlie had occupied the swing set for a while at this point, just swaying back and forth softly as the two of you talked.

"so how do you like it here?" charlie asked, looking over at you while giving herself a small push, you just shrugged at the question, "it's not as big as i expected it to be, but i like small towns more than big cities, they feel cozier for some reason." you answered, moving your legs to continue your soft swinging.

"i get that, but if i'm being honest when you've lived here for your whole life it gets boring." charlie sighed, looking down at her feet, "that's exactly how i felt about the place i moved from. while it's definitely bigger than here, i felt like i had seen and done everything there, so it got boring." you sympathised with charlie's statement.

"at least you had more things to do there. do you know how many arcade games i've mastered over the years because that's all i could do here?" charlie shuddered, thinking back to the countless hours she had spent hunched over the buttons of the arcade machines.

"i can only imagine." you said, chuckling as you watched charlie's face contort as she cringed, "i do not recommend spending hours a day playing those stupid things. the back pain is not worth it." charlie exclaimed, another shiver running down her spine.

you continued to laugh at the girl's complaints and disgusted expressions before charlie spoke up once again, "anyways, enough about the horrors of playing arcade games for hours, what prompted your family to move here?" charlie asked, using her feet to stop her swinging.

you just shrugged, "we didn't really have a reason honestly. my mom was getting kind of tired living in the city and wanted to live somewhere more peaceful." you said, also stopping your swinging.

"do you miss your old city?" charlie continued the questions, tilting her head a little. you sighed, slumping your shoulders and looking down at your feet, "honestly yeah. well not so much the city itself, but all my friends i made there. leaving them behind was pretty hard." you said, dragging the tips of your shoes back and forth on the ground.

"oh my god i hadn't even thought of that, that would have been so hard to do." charlie sympathised, reaching a hand over to gently rub your back. you smiled weakly up at the girl next you you, "it's fine, i have their numbers to call if i ever get the chance to." you said, beginning to softly push yourself back and forth on the swing again.

"would you ever go back to visit them?" charlie asked, removing her hand from your back and grabbing ahold of the chain of the swing again, "if i could drive i absolutely would, but until then i can't." you sighed, looking back down at your feet.