this love • gracie abrams

006 lose yourself

CHAPTER SIX
lose yourself
•

CHARLOTTE jolted awake, sitting right up in bed and glancing around the huge bedroom. she was stripped to her bra and underwear and was covered by a thick red duvet and red silky sheets beneath her. slowly, she came back to her memories and realized she was at maitreyi's. she saw her laying awake and scrolling on her phone, glancing up at charlotte.

"hey?" maitreyi rasped out.

"hey," charlotte quietly replied.

she was suddenly conscious of how most of her body was in full display, wrapping her arms self-consciously around herself, "um... where are my—"

"clothes are by the desk on the chair there," maitreyi replied, eyes still glued to her screen.

charlotte slowly nodded. she remembers getting into bed last night, thank god, but still she just had to double check "last night did we..."

"fuck? no, no we didn't," maitreyi laughed. she finally took her eyes off her phone and rolled onto her side and propping her jaw on her hand to look up at charlotte, "mainly just made out for a while, grabbing and shit."

charlotte blankly stared at the wall. sure, last night the stuff they did together was amazing since it got her mind off things, but now she felt... dirty? even though she's not with gracie, she felt guilt brewing in the pit of her stomach and had the urge to shower maitreyi's touch off of her. in the moment, she loved that maitreyi showed she appreciated having charlotte because it felt like she was worth something again and not just a stray dog you slam the door on. the best part was that being in her arms was a diversion from her pain of the breakup and she got to let out the pent up rage she had for gracie ignoring what happened all over the internet.

but now that she was sober and maitreyi was more occupied with her phone, she practically hated sitting with herself and her thoughts and feelings. over the past few days of just drinking it away, she forgot what it felt like to be with those things and it made her sick. already, she felt a lump forming in her throat over her anxious, regretful, and heartbroken mind.

"i'm gonna go home," charlotte said.

"what? c'mon, we can go get breakfast or something on me."

"no i— i wanna go home. sorry," she quickly replied, leaning over to grab her phone and purse.

"fine, whatever," maitreyi grumbled. "i'll see you saturday, char."

charlotte froze, mid getting out of bed. her teeth clamped down on her tongue as metallic swirled on her taste buds, her stomach tying in knots and her blood rushing her cold. immediately, she threw on her clothes and dashed out the bedroom without looking back at her or saying anything. she rushed around the house until she found the front door and when she felt the cold breeze and saw the driveway, she realized she didn't have her fucking car. what's worse is she has no idea how to get to her house from here.

"fuck me," she sighed, running her hand through her hair. she hesitantly looked back at the door before rolling her eyes and trudging right back inside and up the stairs to maitreyi's room.

"wow, back for more already?" she chuckled from the bed.

"realized my cars at home," she said, swaying and staring at the floor with her hands folded behind her back.

"shit, yeah," maitreyi laughed. she then reached over for her keys in her side table, "i'll drive ya."

"can't you just give me this street name and i call a lift?" charlotte anxiously asked.