They ate in peace after that, for the most part, apart from Anni who was struggling with the emotional baggage of the whole damn restaurant.
Magnus noticed first that she was flinching and shaking her head a lot to clear her mind.
"Hey squidge, I think you should get to bed," he said quietly, trying not to draw too much attention to them.
She shrugged, Charli was holding her hand but talking to Mark and Dixi. She didn't want to down Charli's good mood.
"It's fine, she's happy. I can put up with it until she's ready to go," Anni replied.
Magnus raised an eyebrow, Anni usually used any excuse to leave social situations. Maybe Charli was a good influence on her in that regard, but he still didn't like the thought of Anni being in any discomfort or pain, and he knew the emotions of lots of people caused her pain some days.
After another half an hour Anni was really struggling with the pain in her head, Magnus urged her again to go to bed.
She shook her head, "I'm good," she said as a loud crash behind them caused Anni's hands to shoot up to her ears.
Charli jumped round to see her girlfriend holding her ears, screwing her eyes shut, "oh my god, Anni what's wrong?"
"Nothing, I'm good," Anni tried to smile at her but it physically hurts at this point and Charli's worry had tipped her over the edge.
"Come on, let's go to bed," Charli had been having a great night but right now she was worried about the toll this was taking on Anni and she wanted to get upstairs with her and make sure she was taken care of.
"You wanna stay tho, I'm good, just the noise screwed with me, that's all," she lied.
Charli raised an eyebrow at her, "this isn't going to work if you start lying to me."
Anni sighed, "okay, fine. You're right, I'm not coping with the amount of emotions I've felt tonight, I'm sorry."
Charli kissed her knuckles, "right let go to bed."
Charli bid goodnight to everyone, Dixi was all over Mark, he promised he'd keep her safe and walk her to her room later.
Mark looked concerned for his sister, "you need sleep man, you look terrible."
"Thanks, I feel it."
He laughed, "yeh, go to bed dude."
Anni rolled her eyes and nodded, "yeh, I'm going."
She got up and saluted Magnus as she went to leave, "wait for me."
Charli got up and came running behind her, "you could have stayed, and came up when you were ready."
Charli shook her head, "and miss out on lying on your chest tracing your tattoos? Absolutely not."
Anni did manage to smile at her this time, "if you're sure, I don't wanna drag you down cuz I have a very short social fuse."
Charli laughed, "you absolutely don't. I happen to love the fact you have a short social battery, it means I can use you as an excuse to leave places early."
Anni managed to laugh, despite feeling utterly shit.
They got back upstairs, Anni slumped down on the bed while Charli was taking off her jewellery, "by the way," Anni started, stretching out on the bed now her mind was quieter, "I didn't get a chance to tell you earlier, you look fucking stunning."
Charli gazed at her in the mirror, "really?”
"I mean you always do, but fuck, when you walked through the door I almost gave up on the plan to pick you up and take you back upstairs," she joked.
