𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚎 𝚋𝚎? {𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚒𝚎 𝙳𝚊𝚕𝚝𝚘𝚗}

'ʀᴜɪɴ,

"How could you do that?" I threw another dirty piece of clothing at Charlie, "You could've told me yourself! It's like you wanted to embarrass me."

"Della, come on," He picked up the lonely shirt under his bed that I had flung a moment ago. "We both know you never would've believed me."

"Because it's not true!"

"See?" He sighed, sitting down on his bed and pulling me alongside. "You refuse to see the truth even if it slaps you in the face."

"I do not," I smacked his chest. "You're being delusional. We both know you and Cameron don't get along, is this some elaborate plan to single him out again? Or are you so insecure that you won't let me choose my friends?"

"Careful now, I'm not trying to be mean here. I'm telling you what I know, what everyone knows." He let go of my hand. "God, you must be blind to not see it."

"Why do you think I was so obscenely jealous of him in the first place? Why did Neil grant you his permission?" Charlie continued with force. I had a feeling that he had buried these notions inside him for too long, and he was letting it all out now. "You're the most amazing person I know, Dels. You were kind to him even when he didn't deserve it – I don't blame the guy for falling, to be honest."

"You're lying."

My voice sounded broken. Desperate. Charlie realised then that my fight wasn't with him. I was fighting to keep the curtains drawn, to not see the truth.

It would break my heart to break his.

"He deserves to be loved, you know?" I felt a burn in my eyes, and I hid my face in Charlie's neck. "I'm so sorry. I wanted to be his friend, I truly did. Nobody deserves to be that lonely, and I'm sorry Charlie, but I'm still going to be his friend."

He kissed me with so much warmth that I was left feeling confused. He kept his fingers on my cheek, eyes full of emotion ranging from pity to admiration. I swallowed at the butterflies that had erupted in my belly just from that look.

"You never, ever have to apologise for doing what you want," He kissed my forehead, enunciating every word. "I'm always going to support you."

"But then why did you ambush me like that?"

He shrugged as if the answer was obvious. "You have a right to know."

"You give me headaches," I settled on his lap. My head rested on his thigh, while my body curved itself around him on the bed.

He laughed slowly and fell back on the bed. Now we were both lying down, entangled in each other. A few minutes passed in comfortable silence. I listened to his breathing and felt myself following the same pattern unconsciously. His hand stroked my hair absent-mindedly while he looked up at the ceiling.

I pushed myself up to his stomach and he turned his head low to meet my eyes, "I forgot about your reward."

His eyebrows shot up. I saw a glint of desire before it quickly gave way to hesitation.

"You don't have to–"

"Charlie, if you say that one more time, I'm not letting you touch me again."

He groaned, trailing his hand down from my hair to my face. He took my chin in his fingers and brought me up to meet him in a heated kiss.

"I just need you to feel safe with me," He spoke slowly, breathing unsteady.

"I've never felt more at ease, Lee," I assured him, kissing down his neck. The marks from the night before were starting to fade. "I want to make you feel the way you make me feel."