CAPTURED MY HEART, BODY & SOUL [1]

50 : ONE LAST GOODBYE

        It felt awkward, just like Charlie had predicted.

"You should go," she wasn't looking at him as she pulled the sheet around her, standing from the bed and going to the dresser to get some clothes, since even if she wanted to put that black dress back on, it was on the floor of the kitchen.

"Charlie-"

"I don't want you here when Lily comes home." She could hear him getting dressed behind her, and like she expected, he was wearing his pants when she turned around. The rest of his clothes were somewhere between the kitchen and the bedroom.

"Please, can we talk?" He sighed, not approaching her, but she could tell that he wanted to. "I want to make things right between us."

"There is no making things right between us." She knew it was stupid, since they just had sex, but she refused to drop the sheet until she had herself covered, even if his eyes remained on her face. "This doesn't change anything, Elijah."

His eyes were sad. "I wish it would."

"You're following Klaus to wherever he is, right?" She fully turned to face him, at least grateful she was able to put on her fleece pants and a sweater since she wasn't wearing anything underneath. He opened his mouth to respond, but she was quick to continue. "And don't tell me where it is, because I don't want to know. Elijah, you made a decision that affected both of us, again. You keep breaking my trust and I'm done with it. I'm done letting myself get hurt, because I told myself I wouldn't do it again, not after Mason-"

"I am not Mason Lockwood." He argued sternly, disliking the comparison. "I understand I have made many mistakes, you have every reason to not trust me, but you we are supposed to be together."

"You did not just say that." Charlie snapped, folding her arms across her chest. "Not after you walked away and then almost immediately jumped into bed with Katherine!"

"Charlie-"

"No, I get trying to move on, Elijah. Trust me, I tried too, but you started dating her. You loved her!"

"Not like I love you! I was trying to force it into something I thought I wanted-"

"Oh yeah, because now you've changed your mind? Again."

He shook his head. "I just know I love you, Charlie. I want to make amends, and I know I need to do right by Niklaus as well."

"If you think I don't know that then you don't know me at all, Elijah." She cried, trying to pretend as if her eyes weren't stinging, threatening to fill with tears. "I get it, needing to be there for him and I've been a bitch by making you choose. I won't do that again. That's not what this is about. Not anymore. Don't get me wrong, the last thing I want is to have Klaus in my life, but you hurt me. I can't just wait around, wondering if you're going to do it again."

Elijah moved closer, just enough for her to notice. "I won't."

"You say that now. You might change your mind tomorrow, and decide that I deserve better, just like you did before. I love you, but I don't want to love you. I want to be happy. So I'm asking you to let me go, because I don't know how to do that when you're going back and forth the way you are."

He seemed as if he wanted to argue, but instead there was a moment of silence before he nodded regrettably. "If that is what you truly want."

It wasn't. Charlie wasn't stupid enough to believe she might not hate herself for this later, but she also couldn't keep doing it, knowing the outcome would just be the same. She would remain heartbroken one way or another, but at least this way, she wouldn't get whiplash from the expected shock. Her confession about Klaus surprised even her though. She had added his devotion to Klaus to the list of reasons of why they wouldn't work, but really, it was just a tiny thing...if it had been anyone else. Klaus had found his soulmate, he apparently had a kid on the way, so he had his own life moving forward, and for a single sliver of a second, she let herself imagine that with his own love and life, he might actually not act the way he did around her. Maybe. But that would never erase the fact that as much as she loved this man, she didn't trust him. And she was so tired of surrounding herself with people that went behind her back. She was done.