Guns and Flames (RDR2)

24 - Say it clearly

After Charlotte finished her story, John out of nowhere said...
"I adore you to the fullest, Charlotte. I do." -John said as he looked at her with a loving smile. Charlotte's eyes sparkled with joy as she looked at John.
"I, too, think the same of you..." -she said softly before pulling him into a hug. John was very much surprised but hugged her back.
"Is it okay if we just hug for a little while...?" -she added as she gently caressed John's back.
"Fine by me." -he whispered before closing his eyes and embracing the feeling.

Arthur was sitting by the fireplace when he looked around in hopes of finding John, and just a few seconds later, he saw him leave Charlotte's tent. He hesitated not a blink of an eye to rush to John and ask him what was he doing in there. As soon as John saw Arthur approaching, he said...
"I know I'm looking real suspicious right now, but just...let me explain." -he said before he cleared his throat.
"I'm all ears, my brother." -he said with a smug look on his face.

Then they walked over to an empty table and John explained the situation.
"Look at this distinguished gentleman, taking care of his lady! Honestly, I could never have pictured you hugging anyone. You're not the type to just do that out of nowhere." -Arthur laughed.
"Shh! I didn't quite...tell her that I love her yet." -John shushed Arthur.
"Oh? Why didn't you?" -he asked, surprised.
"I don't want to overwhelm her at a time like this, you know." -John explained thoughtfully.
"No no, you've got a point." -Arthur nodded. John friendlily smiled at Arthur as a reply.

After this conversation, Arthur stood up and went over to do some camp chores. As John was about to do the same, he saw Javier approaching him.
"Hey John, I want to talk with you for a minute. You not doing anything interesting right now, yeah?"
"Oh, hey Javier! Nah, I'm not doing anything at the moment. What do you want to talk about?" -he curiously asked.
"About...her." -Javier said as he looked away from John for a moment then back at him.

"Oh no, you poor fool, don't say you love her now when she doesn't love you back-"
John thought to himself the second Javier said 'her'.

"I just want to clear things up between me and you, okay? I...see how she looks at you when you're not looking, she is in love with you. Unfortunately, I wasn't as fast at noticing it when she did the very same to me. But you...you still have the chance that I don't, now." -he lengthily explained.
"Oh um, I expected a very different kind of conversation but...thank you for being honest about the situation." -John replied, rather shocked to hear Javier say the things he just did a second ago.
"Good luck with her." -he said before he patted John's shoulders and walked away from him.
"Javier..." -John whispered in a melancholic tone with a sorrowful expression on his face.

'I hate to see him sad because I liked the fella, on the other hand...it was entirely his fault for not noticing her sooner.'
John thought to himself as he was looking at Javier walking away, sulking in his sadness.

After some more minutes of thinking, John went to do some camp chores as well. For the rest of the day, all of them remained in camp to relax a bit.