The Unexpected

Chapter 7 - Exposed

A/N: Thank you all for your understanding on missing last weeks chapter. Here is the long awaited confrontation and exposure of the secret. All feedback welcome. Edits at: ventu.nursery on TikTok.

The tension hung around the quad as Mia's eyes flickered between them all, before settling on Charlotte again, her eyes scanning her up and down as if she was a famous artwork.

"So sweetheart, did you miss me?" Mia said her words laced with a flirtatious undertone.

Charlotte's eyes flickered as she had been in her own world, debating whether Mia showing up was a gift or a hinderance to the nagging issue that she desperately wanted to be solved. "Not that I'm not happy to see you, but what are you doing here? I wasn't expecting to see you until tomorrow!" She exclaimed, nervous on what was going to happen next.

Mia grinned at how her plan of deception had managed to come together exactly how she wanted it to. "I wanted to surprise you, plus I don't think either of us could have waited another day to see each other." Her bold voice seemed to echo in the carpark.

Charlotte blushed at the reply, her mind replaying the many facetime calls where things had become a little hot and heavy that she wasn't even sure if it would even pass the 18 + age rating. She cleared her throat trying to gain some composure aware that others were around her. "Well, that's correct, anyway... you know Reece, this is his girlfriend and manager of the nursery, Marjorie." Her arm gestured between the pair.

Reece nodded at her slightly before looking sheepishly. "Mia, nice to see you back." Marjorie on the other hand looked like she had won the lottery. "Mia! I have heard so much about you! I am glad to finally meet the person who had managed to get Charlotte out of her single era!" she exclaimed seeming to be bouncing on the spot like Tigger from Winnie the Pooh.

"Marjorie.... How nice to meet the woman who managed to steal Reece away from coming back to me all the time, I was starting to get worried that I would have to move countries to just avoid him." Mia said in a teasingly tone.

Charlotte and Reece looked at each other with eyes as wide as dinner plates, as they seem to both desperately want to find a way out of this conversation, or to pull another ruse on Marjorie like this was all just some big prank.

"Steal him away? Wow you must have been really close friends when you were younger!" Marjorie strained her usual chirpiness in her voice, trying to convince herself more then anyone.

Mia chuckled and directed her attention away from Marjorie to Reece. "Tut tut, Reecey, have you been telling your new squeeze some fibs." She wagged her finger at him as if he himself was a child of the nursery being told off. She then turned her attention back to Marjorie who now had her mouth agape and seemed to have steam coming out her ears. "Me and Reecey here used to date." Mia said in a matter-of-fact tone.

Marjorie seemed to have come to a boil, her face had become as red as a changing stop light, her fists started to clench as if she was ready to fight for her life. She turned onto her heels and met Reece's gaze who was looking very sorry for himself. "You. Why did you not tell me about HER!" Marjorie's words seemed to be spitting with fire on every syllable.

Reece who was normally the cool, calm and collected one, seemed to at least break through some of the protective walls he had built up as he let a single tear roll down his face. "Marjorie, I have been meaning to tell you for a while... I just didn't know how to bring it up, the truth is I love you and I didn't want anything to come in the way of that... I was scared I was going to lose you..." He ended the sentence with a sniffle and almost instantly wiped his nose and eyes with his jumper.

As quickly as the fire had built up in Marjorie it seemed to be extinguished just as quick by her own tears joining Reece's. She took a moment before flinging her arms around Reece and giving him a passionate kiss. Charlotte and Mia looked at each other like they were an unnecessary set of training wheels on a bike, and slowly backed away from the couple to Mia's awaiting mustang, that Mia promptly unlocked as a mean of escape from the fire that Marjorie had previously become.

Just as they were about to slyly make their way into their respective seats Marjorie finally pulled away from Reece shooting them both a look. "You've escaped this time ladies, but I do want a run down on Monday on what's going to happened between you tonight Charlotte!" She said in a knowing tone before flashing Charlotte a cheeky grin.

Charlotte's cheeks burnt with warmth, she hadn't thought about that next step with Mia, sure the late-night facetime calls had been one of those filled with passion and a shared desire with Mia to want to take things further, however, actually have to do THAT with another female was something she had yet to find confidence in. She did wonder to herself if that would be the thing that would scare Mia away. She quickly nodded her head at Marjorie before sheepishly slipping into the passenger seat and abruptly closing the car door shut.

Mia seemed to be completely oblivious to how the situation had affected Charlotte. She was too amused in the fact she had actually managed to get Reece to say I love you to someone for the first time. "Oh, I'm sure she will Marjorie, and I think she will be asking the same question back to you, as well." Her voice cutting through the night leaving the car park filled with tension. She nodded her head as she watched both Marjorie and Reece beaming at each other with new love glazing their eyes, before she slipped effortlessly into the driver's seat, she shut the door and faced Charlotte.

Mia reached over and squeezed Charlotte's knee leaving a patch of goose bumps in her wake. "Let's go sweetheart... I have a surprise for you." Her words filled with mystery and intensity. Charlotte just sat there paralysed by both the interaction that had just happened and the growing warmth that was forming inside her. The pair put on their seatbelts before leaving both Reece and Marjorie in a cloud of their love and exhaust fumes as they made forth for a night that neither of them would forget.