SUMMER CHILD, emily prentiss

009

"𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐞-𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤"
•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•
ᴛʀɪɢɢᴇʀ ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢs: 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘴𝘵
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𝐚/𝐧: ᴛʜᴀɴᴋ ʏᴏᴜ ꜰᴏʀ ʏᴏᴜʀ sᴜᴘᴘᴏʀᴛ, ᴇᴀᴄʜ ᴀɴᴅ ᴇᴠᴇʀʏ ᴏɴᴇ ᴏꜰ ʏᴏᴜ <3

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It was the Saturday after Thanksgiving; the day Charlotte was supposed to go back to school. Emily had coordinated Charlotte's move-out with Residence Life at Carnegie Mellon and taken Monday off of work to drive to Pittsburgh.

They were going to drive up together and pack up her dorm room, and then hopefully get back in time for Emily to go back to work on Tuesday. It only takes about an hour on a plane to get from Virginia to Pennsylvania, but it's close to a 5-hour drive in a car, so they needed to leave around 5 a.m. to have enough time.

Charlotte was sitting on the floor in her room, her songwriting notebook in front of her and her guitar next to her. She had been pouring every emotion into her songwriting, and if she was being honest, it was super cathartic.

But then she realized, she hasn't told any of her friends that she's moving out of school in two days. And she hasn't told Riley. Oh my god, Riley.

She immediately finds her phone, navigating to Riley's contact.

"C'mon, pick up..." Charlotte mutters under her breath.

The ringing stops. "Hey Charlie, are you on your way back?"

Charlotte lets out a small breath. "Hey Ri, about that."

"Is everything okay?"

Charlotte hears the worry in her voice.

"Kind of. It's a long story, and I don't really want to tell you over the phone." Charlotte hopes Riley will agree with them talking in person.

"Okay, well first tell me whether you're coming back. You're scaring me."

"I'm sorry. I am coming back, but to pack up my stuff and move back home. My mom and I are driving up on Monday morning."

Charlotte doesn't hear any noise from the other line.

"Ri, are you still there?"

"Um, yeah. I'm still here. So, I guess I'll see you on Monday?"

Charlotte hears her sadness radiating through the phone.

"Riley, I'm so sorry. I'll explain everything."

"Yeah, whatever. I have to go."
And then a click, and the phone is silent.

If she only knew that she was the only thing keeping me from leaving, Charlotte thinks to herself.

Charlotte sinks back down on her floor, her back against the bed. She wishes that she could have both, Riley and moving home. But life doesn't work that way, especially not for Charlotte.

Riley was Charlotte's opposite. While Charlotte was the human version of a sunny day, Riley was a storm. Charlotte played enchanting music on the piano, meanwhile Riley blared My Chemical Romance so loud the room shook.

But they understood each other, before they understood what was happening between them. They didn't have to try, they just clicked.

Because of Riley, Charlotte added dark colors to her wardrobe and learned a Greta Van Fleet song on the electric guitar. Because of Charlotte, Riley started drinking chamomile tea, and she secretly enjoyed listening to Vivaldi's Four Seasons.