Heart to Hart - a Chenry Fanfic

2.4

Henry

The rest of their morning was normal, or at least as normal as you can expect.

Henry lent Charlotte one of his shirts to put on, seeing that she didn't have any other clothes with her.

He waited in his room for her as she changed in the bathroom. When she came out, his heart began to beat faster. There was something about seeing her wear his clothes that was exciting to him.

They went downstairs for breakfast, where Charlotte ate two full bowls of cereal.

"Dude, were you hungry or something?" He asked her, laughing to himself.

"Shut up" she punched his arm. "Do you think there was a buffet in that room? No. I haven't eaten since yesterday morning."

Henry held up his hands in surrender, and then poured her another bowl.

"That's better." She said, throwing a cheerio at him.

They ate together, alone until Henry's mom joined them.

"Hi Charlotte, I didn't see you at all last night. How did you sleep?" She asked.

Charlotte looked over at Henry.

"I'm sorry, we were studying." She said, following the cover story Henry had told her. "And I slept really well, thanks."

"Good" his mom smiled, "it's always good to have you over."

Henry smiled at his mom, who took a sip from her coffee mug.

"What do you two plan on doing today?" She asked them.

"I'm going to take her home soon." Henry said first, "Charlotte has some things to do today, so she can't stay much longer."

"Oh well that's too bad, I was going to see if maybe you wanted to come for dinner with us tonight. It's the end of the month, and we would love for you to join us." His mother said.

For as long as he could remember, Henry's family had the random tradition of going for dinner on the last Saturday of every month. They usually went alone, just the four of them, but the past few months his parents had invited Charlotte.

"You sure that's okay?" Char asked her, "I don't want to invade family time."

"Charlotte, Hun, you're practically family. It would feel weird not to have you there."

Charlotte looked at him, and smiled. "I would love to go."

"Then we will pick you up around 6." His mother said, gathering the dirty dishes and taking them to the sink.

Charlotte pulled out her phone, and checked her messages.

"Mom texted, wants to know when I will be home." She looked at him.

"Now if you're ready." He said.

Charlotte nodded at him, standing up from the table.

"I will see you tonight Mrs. Hart." She called after his mother.

"Thanks for coming Charlotte" his mother smiled, wiping her hands on a towel.

Henry followed her out the front door of his house, and down the driveway. It was only a few short minutes of a walk, and he wanted to savour them.

"You're feeling okay then?" He asked her, his hands in the pockets of his jeans.

Charlotte hesitated.

"Yea" she finally said. Henry looked over at her.

"Char, I don't want you to keep anything to yourself. You need to talk to me about this."

"I will" she said, stopping as they approached her house. She turned to him, and took his hand. "Just not yet, okay?"

He looked down at her hand, fingers laced with his. Her skin was cold against his.

He had never held her hand that way before, each tiny space between her fingers a home for his to rest. He ran his thumb against the back of her hand.

"Okay" he said to her, his heart unsure how to react. Why was he getting so flustered?

"I'll see you later?" She asked him.

He looked into her eyes. He hadn't realized how close they were standing, their faces only inches apart. When had she grown so beautiful?

"See you later" he said to her.

She pulled her hand away from his, and laced her arms around his neck. He pulled her body against his, his hand holding the back of her head as he hugged her.

"Thank you Henry" she whispered into his ear. A shiver crept down his spine with every word.

He opened his mouth to reply, but she had already turned from him, and was walking into her house.

He had never held her so tightly, so intimately before. Yet still his entire body craved more.

As he watched her disappear behind the door, he realized, he couldn't shelter his heart anymore.

He was in love and he had to tell her.
She needed to know.