𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 | 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐨𝐧

𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚠𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚢-𝚜𝚒𝚡

Charlie and I were alone as we waited for the others in our makeshift study group. I opened up my notebook, jotting ideas for my argumentative essay. Charlie peered over, envious.

"God," he sighed. "I wish I had that, no ideation I get to do fucking calculus." He groaned. "And stats, trig."

I giggled at him, feeling his pain. "Why?" I looked over at his large textbook. It must've weighed a ton.

"My parents want me to be a banker, so that's what I'm gonna be." He sighed, staring longingly at my textbook. "I have sold my soul to my parents in return for tuition."

"But it's your life, not theirs." I pointed out as if he hadn't ever seen that before. It was strange to see Charlie have a change of heart. Usually, he pushed away his parents. "My parents are paying for most of mine, and in return, I'll become a nurse."

"Then why are you taking mostly liberal arts classes?" He asked, not catching on.

"Because I lied, Charlie." I felt some pride in that, though I probably shouldn't have. It was hard to explain the look Charlie gave me. It was somewhere between disbelief and absolutely impressed. "I'm an english major, doll." I tossed his pet name back at him with a smug smile on my face.

He let out a laugh. "Wow, I didn't know I rubbed off on you so much." He was now acting cocky, and I had almost regretted telling him my little secret.

"Oh, it wasn't you." I winked, though it totally was. He taught me to take control of my life because, well, it was mine.

I noticed Meeks approaching us. When he saw Charlie, his eyes got wider. "Where have you been?" He asked, going over to sit next to him. Instead of answering, Charlie brought him in a short but sweet hug.

"Here." Charlie replied smugly, not wanting to get into the actual reason he was so radio silent from us all. "So we have Pittsie and Todd here, right?" Meeks nodded, unable to contain the smile on his face from seeing his friend. "God, you look like I just handed you a million dollars." Charlie laughed, causing Meeks to stumble over his words.

"Well, I uh, I.. we, I haven't seen you in a long while. That's all." Meeks replied sheepishly, finally looking back to Charlie. Still, smiling all the same.

"Ok, but where's Knox?"

"Oxford." Meeks responded solemnly.

"Fucking Oxford?" Charlie laughed in disbelief. "No way he got into fucking Oxford, that knucklehead."

"Yeah, he did. I know, I'm surprised, too. I guess they wanted more romantic, sort of stalker-esque Americans around." Meeks teased, though Knox wasn't there to rebuttal. He would, too, becoming a lawyer and all.

Charlie decided to hypothesis, leaning in on the Knox hate train. Well, it was hate out of love. They missed him. "Probably chasing after some British girls." Charlie paused, changing his voice into a more poetic monotone. "O! How their accents excite thine." This made Meeks laugh.

I quickly looked up from my textbook, blushing. "You're disgusting!" I threw a balled up piece of paper at him. Although, I laughed along as well.

"What accents?" Rhonda appeared out of nowhere. "British girls? Yeah, they are nice, aren't they?" She blew smoke into Charlie's face. "But you have got to calm down, sir."

Charlie began coughing and laughing at the same time. "Are you Rhonda?" He inquired, holding out his hand to her. "I'm Charlie Dalton."

"I know, bozo." She teased, shaking his hand very daintily. "I've heard so much about you." She glanced over to me. I pretended not to hear, writing random notes in my journal.