Remember This✔

Chapter Twenty-Four

Charlie wakes up just after six and begrudgingly takes a shower before slowly getting ready for another draining day at school. He decides to check in on his sister before heading downstairs and he's surprised to find that she's already awake. Jaz sits at her writing desk with her head down.

"What are you doing?" Charlie asks her as he enters her bedroom.

"Homework," Jaz says. "I forgot."

"That's not like you." Charlie walks around her and sits down in a chair at the end of her desk. She won't even look at him. "I'm taking you to school today, remember? So you don't need to rush."

"I want mum to take me."

"Mum's at court today, she had to leave early." Charlie leans back and rubs his stubble. "Is this about Sunday? Are you mad at me?"

"No," she mumbles.

"Jaz."

Jaz drops her pencil and lifts her head. "It was supposed to be our day but she ruined it. You're always with her, you don't care about us anymore."

"That's not true," Charlie says. "I know that I'm not home as much as you want me to be but you'll understand when you're older."

"Don't patronize me," Jaz hisses.

Charlie widens his eyes and clears his throat. "When did you learn that?"

"I know lots of words. I'm not a kid."

He half-smiles. "You're right, you're definitely not a kid anymore."

"Aubrey hates me," she whispers.

"Aubrey does not hate you. If you want to know the truth, I think she's intimidated by you."

Jaz narrows her eyes a tad. "What does that mean?"

"Ah, so you don't know all the words. It means she sees you as competition because she knows that you're my number one girl and she can't ever change that."

Jaz smiles. "Really?"

"Really. Now come here and give your brother a hug." Charlie opens his arms and Jaz jumps out of the chair. She squeezes her arms around him and then retreats back to her chair with a brighter expression. "What do you want for breakfast?"

"Anything but porridge." Jaz grimaces and Charlie laughs. Their mother makes her porridge every morning and it's only on weekends that she's allowed something with more flavour.

"I'll see if we've got that," Charlie says. "You good here?"

"Yeah, I'm nearly finished. I'll be down in thirty."

Charlie leaves and walks downstairs. He puts his phone on the table as he makes himself a coffee and he wonders if he imagined last night. He definitely didn't, she rang him. He doesn't know what he's doing anymore, his mind is tearing into two and he can't keep up with it. He hasn't spoken to Aubrey since yesterday morning and he's been ignoring her texts and calls. Getting Camilla to spy on him is the last straw and it's extreme even for Aubrey.

As much as they argue and pretend to despise each other, they always had trust. He had never doubted that until now. He wonders what she'd say if she knew where he was yesterday, if she knew just how right she might be about him. The truth is, he was thinking about Molly up until the moment she called him. She's interesting, she has experiences very few people on the planet will have and despite being broken she has the greatest sense of humour. They're just friends and he knows they will never be more than that but it's hard for him to remember what his life was like before all of this happened. Was it easier? Yes. But was he happier?