Scream at the drunken moon

Chapter 8

I dash after Charlie and hear her sobbing through the door.
"Charlie, open up for me darling" I say.
"I'll be out in a minute" she says, her voice full of emotion. I'm not leaving this spot until she does. I lean against the wall and wait and after a few minutes I hear the door unlocking and she steps out, her face red and blotchy. I pull her to me and wrap my arms around her, holding her against my chest as she holds on to me for dear life.
"I miss them so much" she whispers after a few seconds. I know exactly who she means and I gently squeeze her as she snuggles against me. She steps back, takes a deep breath and takes my hand in hers before leading me back to the lounge. The girls look at her questioningly but she smiles as best she can to reassure them. My mom is nowhere to be seen but my sister points towards the kitchen. I let go of Charlie's hand for now, knowing the girls will look after her and head towards the kitchen, expecting a mouthful of abuse off my mom.
"How much did all of this cost you?" are her first words as she points at the food Charlie and I prepared earlier.
"Getting caterers in - really?"
"Charlie did nearly all of this herself" I say, defending my fiancée. It has such a nice ring to it.
My mom just glares at the plates of food.
"I could have done better if you'd have asked me" she mutters.
I can't win.
"We didn't want to put you out" I say, knowing Charlie has done an amazing job getting all this prepared today.
"Are you really serious about marrying her? You barely know her" is the next thing to come out of my moms mouth.
"I know her well enough to know I want to spend the rest of my life with her mom. It's not like we only just met. We did date for almost a year last time."
My moms head shoots up at this. She didn't know how long we had been together.
"You can't base a marriage on sex" she hisses, determined to put me off.
"It's based on us loving each other. Which we do."
She shakes her head. I don't know why she's so bitter about Charlie.
"Why do you dislike her so much? What did she do to make you this way?" I ask.
"I met her once and the next thing you and her are having sex in my house. How do you think I felt hearing that? It was incredibly selfish of you both."
"Mom, we had been together months at that point. She was never a one night stand and neither was I. Maybe we shouldn't have done that in your house, for which I apologised endless times, but we were adults in a loving relationship and I never stopped loving her. From what her mom told me when we were there, she never stopped loving me either. Her mom begged her to come back here to me but Charlie refused to leave her mom while she was ill. How can that be selfish? She put her moms welfare before her own happiness. It was a complete coincidence that we came back into each other's lives and I'm not letting her go again."
My mom doesn't look impressed but doesn't say anything else either. I walk back into the lounge to find Charlie sitting on the sofa. She's gone pale and looks wiped out. I knew this was going to be too much for her to do. I sit next to her and take her hand in mine. She looks at me and gives me a tired smile.
"I'm fine. Enjoy yourself" she whispers.
I squeeze her hand and give her a gentle kiss before jumping up and grabbing my sister to make her dance with me on the makeshift dance floor that has appeared while I was in the kitchen. The guys have pushed the furniture back as much as they could and got the sound system going. The guys are dancing with their girlfriends, my mom is talking to our friend and photographer, Adam and Charlie is sitting there, holding her drink of diet coke. I want her to dance with me but she's in no fit state to stand. She smiles at me as she sees me looking over but I can see the pain in her eyes.
The song finishes and I make my way back over to her.
"Do you want me to bring the food through?" I whisper. She nods and goes to stand.
"I'll get the guys to help me. You stay there" I say before I kiss her again. She looks ready to cry so I pull her to me.
"Don't you cry missy."
"I feel useless" she whispers.
"You have shopped, cooked and worked your bum off. You're allowed to be spoiled now" I whisper back. She kisses me then shoos me to fetch the food.
"Already running around after her" my mom says as I pass her. I pretend I didn't hear as I start carrying plates through.