one night?

chapter 9

I made my way to the bathroom and saw Charles was there looking at himself in the center mirror.

"What's wrong, Charles?" I said meeting his reflection in the mirror from behind. He turned around to face me.

"What do you think is wrong? What is the fucking problem with you not letting me be?" He spat and made me take some steps back.

"Talk to me about it and maybe then I will let it go." I answered matching his anger.

"There's nothing to talk about."

"Yes there is and you know that. Open up to me Charles," My voice rose in volume slightly.

"Why do you push this so much? It's not your problem" Charles snapped at me and I just wanted to back down. But he needed to understand that he can't just close off on me.

"It's becoming my problem." I snapped back.

"Then get off of my back and let it be." He turned towards the mirror again. "It's not like we've known each other for a lifetime. We don't even know each other."

"That's because you won't open up." I turned him around back to me.

"Because-" He paused. " I can't do this. I don't want to deal with this right now."

"Fine" I crossed my arms. "You can't just shut me off whenever it's convenient for you."

"Let's just suck it up and talk about it later in the car ride." He said as he grasped my hand and guided me out of the bathroom back to the table.

"Everything okay?" Kika asked concerned.

"Yeah, just had to talk some sense into Charles." I smiled at them and Charles scoffed.

"Anyway, sorry mate. Didn't mean to bring you down." Pierre said looking down.

"Don't worry, it's all good. I just haven't had a good week." Charles said as he tried to smile and change his expression.

We talked some more, and got some rounds of drinks. After a while the bill came in two parts. I reached for it but Charles slapped my hand away.

"Let me pay." He demanded.

"You paid for dinner last time, let me take care of it." I argumented. "I'm not some helpless girl."

"I invited you here, I'm paying for us." He gave his card to the waiter.

"You guys are so cute" Kika commented.

"You should have heard us in the bathroom" Charles mumbled and I nudged him in the shoulder.

"He's just so caring" I gritted my teeth.

We said our goodbyes to Pierre and Kika. I exchanged numbers with her to keep in touch. Charles and I headed towards the car, and once inside we stayed silent for what seemed like an eternity. Charles started the car and my mind started to drift. I hadn't forgotten but I was waiting for him to bring it up. I knew he wasn't going to do it and I was desperate. I needed to know why. I didn't care about the p7 or the fact he seemed so mad back then. I just wanted to know why he couldn't just be honest.

"Charles." I said breaking the silence.

"What?" He replied harshly.

"Tell me why."

"You just go straight to the point, don't you?" He asked sarcastically.

"Sorry, I just don't-" I took a deep breath. "I don't want to just take everything at face value. I want to understand more."

"You want to understand? Fine." He breathed out and shifted his face towards me. "You want to know why I snapped at the restaurant? Why I was so mad? It's because I don't want to talk about it."