On Becoming A Star (Bucky Barnes)

Chapter 2

The thing about Los Angeles is that the sun is always up, even when it's autumn. Sometimes it's a little too hot outside, but most of the time, Charlotte doesn't say no to a good tan skin. Standing in front of the Beachwood's café blue door, she was a little early for her rendez-vous. Of course her outfit changed, switching her pants for a long skirt, but if there's one thing that won't ever change and that was making her stand out in a crowded place was her burning orange hair. She was a natural blonde but when she first dyed it ginger, she instantly fell in love with this hair colour.

Walking in, she looked around to notice the Bucky guy was not here yet so she took a seat at a table and began re-reading her favourite book for the billionth time this year. She could not say she was a reader, but she loved her emotional support things. Emotional support water bottle, books, albums, movies, one-direction-band-that-ended-years-ago. It was all about nostalgia and how she felt when she once read, saw or heard something or someone. Charlie was someone who didn't really like growing up. Finding comfort in childhood and naiveness. Maybe that was the reason why she likes children so much. They're pure, they don't fake feelings, they're smart yet still very naive. Maybe that was the reason why even though she loved partying for her birthday, but she hated the fact that it meant being a year older. It's like magic was leaving her body every day she would grow up.

    "So you came." A deep, rough voice stopped her from her reading, making her look up just to see the dark-haired man she talked to a little earlier. A small smile was lighting up her face.

    "So I came." She finally answered, staring at him sitting down in front of her. He sighed, frowning. "Is there a problem ?"

    "Absolutely not, what would you like to order ?"

    "I think I'm gonna go with a ricotta avocado toast and a cappuccino."

    "A cappuccino this late ?"

    "Do you expect me to go to bed at 9 ?"

    "Of course not." He smirks. A waitress takes their order and leaves just to come back a few minutes later to give them what they took. "So, why did you come ?"

    "Because you invited me ?" Her eyes squint, taking a sip of her warm beverage. "Why did you invite me ?"

    "Because... I don't know." Unsatisfying. "What happened to you ?"

    "What ?"

    "For you to be in that group. What happened ?" Oh. He begins eating his plate while she stops eating hers to answer.

    "My mom... got diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer two years ago." He nods. "We went through the whole process together, shaving both of our heads to show her support. I came with her to all of her appointments, radiation, chemo, surgeries... you know. But eventually I kind of lost a part of myself doing all of this. I became her nurse more than I was her daughter."

    "Does she not have a husband ?"

    "My dad sucks." Her shoulders raise up, as if it was a normal thing to have -or to not have- : an absent father. Bucky stares at her so deep she could've died. "So I became quite depressed and needed support. Our favourite nurse told us about this group and... there we are."

    "Isn't it ironic ?" She raises an eyebrow at him and begins eating again. "That she's the one who's sick but you're the one who needs support." She chuckles, this sentence felt bittersweet. Was he judging her ? "I feel like... you know, our support people may think a little too much about themselves sometimes."

    "I've done nothing but think about her all the time; you don't get to say that to me."

    "Yeah but who's at the emotional support group now ? A little egocentric, you don't think ?"