𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 | 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐨𝐧

𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚠𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚢-𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚎

I found Charlie in his dorm room, sulking. Knocking on the door, I could hear him grumbling something to himself. Eventually, I got up the courage to let myself in. He was sitting on his bed, head in his hands. He looked up when I walked in, quickly wiping the tears from his cheeks. "Get out of here, doll."

I didn't listen to him. Instead, I walked inside, sitting on his bed next to him. He watched me, unable to contradict. His hair was falling into his eyes that were clouded with envy. By moving his hair out of his face, I gained a sort of smile from him.

"You never listen." He chuckled, shaking his head. "God, I'm lucky."

"Charlie, you're an idiot." I finally spoke, running my thumb across his cheek.

"I know." He sniffed a response, causing me to laugh a little. "I know, I am." It was heartbreaking to see him this way. There had to be far more built up inside of him that made him react the way he did. "I'm really sorry.. I just..." He let out a sigh. "I don't trust Elliot."

I let my hand fall from his face, leaning in to him slightly. He looked to my lips and then to my eyes. "I appreciate you looking out for me."

"Mhm.." His eyes kept flickering back and forth, and it was easy to tell that he wanted to kiss me right then and there. He wasn't even hearing what I was saying.

"Stop that." I laughed, and he eventually looked back a grin placed perfectly on his face.

"Stop what?" He asked as if he was stupid. I didn't specify. "What? That I want to kiss you? Is that such a crime?"

I felt my body go stiff again. I wasn't sure why, but I always had this fear of intimacy, like I wasn't allowed for it. Charlie's eyes rolled at my behavior. "Charlie... seriously. This is weird."

"It's not, though, is it?" He continued on, leaning even closer into me. "It can be as quick or as slow as you like. You need to get over your fear, doll." He was practically leaning his forehead against mine.

I put my hand on his chest, pushing him back slightly. I could feel the tension between us. "I'm not ready now." I shook my head, too afraid.

"Then when will you be?" He asked a very valid question, and I went quiet. "You want it more special? I can do that for you. Maybe we could go to a park, have a picnic, and as the sun is going down..." He kissed my cheek. "Then we could kiss."

I laid my head on his shoulder because my face was heating up. He put an arm around me, rubbing my back. "Disgusting..." I grumbled, though secretly, that sounded perfect.

"Mhmm, sure. Disgusting." He couldn't help but laugh, planting a kiss on the side of my ear since that was the closest place he could get to. "So, you are going to Elliot's weird dinner cult?"

I laughed again, pulling away from Charlie to talk to him face to face. "You have no right to call it a cult Mr Dead Poets Society."

"Hey! That was not a cult! You were a part of it, too."

"I'm not saying I wasn't." I replied, giving him an all-knowing smile. "I'm going okay? It will be fun and fine. I promise you."

"Promise me with a kiss." Charlie blurted out quickly. I wasn't sure he even realized what he said until after he said it. "Sorry."

I leaned in, kissing him gently on the lips. When I pulled away, he had the most shocked expression on his face that I had ever seen. I began to laugh, hiding my burning face in my hands. "Carpe diem."

"Holy shit. I didn't think that would work!" He leaned in again, going to kiss me, but I stuck my hand back on his chest and held him back. "What are you doing?"

"I want that picnic, Dalton." I tried to look all serious, but I bet I was failing at it.

He smirked, his eyes turning slightly darker. "And that picnic you shall get, my love." His voice sounded eloquent, as if he were reciting poetry.

We heard a soft knock on the door and quickly gathered ourselves. In walked the personification of silver and gold, Elliot Wilshire. He smiled at us, keeping his eye on Charlie. "Sorry, didn't realize I was interrupting... something." He cleared his throat, looking straight at me.

"We were just talking." I half lied. We really were. I mean, I only kissed Charlie once, and it lasted a second. "Sorry I kind of infiltrated your space." I stood up, too close to Elliot in this small room.

I could feel it now. His presence was alarming in some sort of fantastical way. He leaned down slightly so that he could see me better. "You can stay. I don't mind. Clearly, Dalton doesn't mind either." His voice was leathery. It sounded as if it were a script written out of an old classic. "Honest."

Elliot's sickly sweet attitude was rubbing off on me the wrong way. Maybe it was because Charlie was poisoning the air with his glare he kept on the redheaded future millionaire. I sat back down, not wanting a fight to break out between the two.

"Good girl." I heard Elliot say under his breath. He then shifted to his desk, writing down various things. He was beautiful, but that beauty held something much deeper. I couldn't tell if it was evil or not.

"Don't say that." His words were gross, and I had to call him on that. Charlie took my hand in his, trying to reassure me. Or rather, he might have been reassuring himself. His anger felt magnetic.

"Hm?" Elliot looked at me, beaming. "Well, you are a good girl."

"That's disgusting, Elliot." I practically spat. "It's misogynistic."

"Oh, I'm sorry." He did sound sorry, but I couldn't tell if he actually was. His eyes held me fixed, but his mouth grew in this distorted understanding grin. "I really didn't mean that in that way. I apologize."

"It's okay." I didn't want to have a fight, so I accepted his apology. Maybe he really didn't realize how rude that little statement could be?

Charlie was grumbling something under his breath. Elliot heard, turning to look at us again. "Yes, Dalton?" He asked. He sounded so sincere, but it felt so evil!

Charlie went quiet, fiddling with the bed sheets under us. "When you go, you better treat her well." He finally spoke, staring holes into Elliot.

"Don't worry! It's just a dinner. My parents live only thirty minutes away, really, it's not that long of a drive or anything." Elliot tried to reassure me. Then, he glanced to be unexpectedly. "I looked forward to it."