Break Free

Five Months Before

"Why do you have so many boxes?" Abby wiped sweat off of her forehead as she walked out of Nick's new house.

"I don't have too many boxes. They're just too heavy for you." Nick walked past her on his way into his house carrying two boxes.

Abby huffed and made her way to the large truck that was halfway empty. Still a lot of work to be done.

"The longer you look at them, the more they don't go anywhere." Maya and Sarah joined Abby at the truck grabbing two more boxes.

"Why couldn't he get his other friends to help him move in?" Abby whimpered as she carried in a small box behind the other two girls.

"He said this would be fun and he'd pay for our pizza after." Sarah dropped her box on the living room floor. She wasn't enthusiastic about helping out. She hadn't spoken to Nick since she confessed her love to him about a month ago.

"You're staying for pizza?" Maya had convinced Sarah to come but didn't expect her to stay longer than necessary.

"Sorry I'm late!" Charlie called as she entered through the front door.

Sarah rolled her eyes. "I'm not anymore."

"Hey!" Nick met her in the kitchen and gave her a quick hug. They hadn't seen each other in two weeks.

"My flight was delayed and my phone died, but I got here as quick as I could." Charlie explained her lateness. She had been in Georgia visiting family.

"Don't worry about it. There's only a little bit more to go." Nick smiled and they met everyone else in the living room.

"Can we take a break yet?" Abby rubbed her hands together.

"Will you stop whining?" Maya frowned at Abby.

"I'm just wondering..." Abby looked out of the window. "Benjamin!" She smiled widely and ran outside to join him in the driveway.

"Did you invite him?" Charlie asked Nick.

"No." Nick shook his head.

"Great." Maya glared through the window.

Right before Charlie had left for the airport, there was a miniature going away party. It was really just an excuse for Abby and Maya to cook a new recipe for the holidays.

Sarah had been avoiding Nick the whole night and it was becoming increasingly obvious to everyone else.

Benjamin, who was still kind of new to the group, approached Charlie to see what was going on.

"I'm not sure. He keeps trying to talk to her but she isn't paying him any attention." Charlie had been standing outside watching the sunset.

"That's weird. I thought you guys were all really close." Benjamin shifted on his feet so that he was standing slightly closer to Charlie.

Sarah was about to come downstairs, but when she looked outside of the window she stopped to see what was going on.

She noticed Benjamin getting closer to Charlie, and all Charlie did was giggle and smile at whatever Benjamin was saying.

Nick opened the front door and called to Charlie saying he needed her for something. As she walked away from Benjamin, Sarah noticed that he stared at her as she walked away. It was weird, but she brushed it off.

At least, she did until she saw him pull a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and light one.

She had told everyone else he was a smoker and now they didn't feel too fond of having him around. Maya's older brother had lung cancer from smoking so she was particularly uncomfortable.

Using Benjamin's arrival to her benefit, Sarah stated that she was going to go home. "I've got to get up early tomorrow anyways."

"I haven't seen you in two weeks! You better be awake when I get home." Charlie winked at Sarah. She had missed her friends and was sad that Sarah wasn't going to be here.

Sarah nodded and waved goodbye to Maya. She ignored Nick when he said goodbye and she also ignored Abby while she swapped spit with Benjamin.

"Why is she still mad at me?" Nick threw his hands up. He was fed up with being ignored. He hadn't done anything wrong.

"She confessed her love and then you moved out." Maya said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"She told you she loved you?!" Charlie punched Nick in the shoulder. "You didn't tell me!"

"Nobody told you." Maya laughed. She was surprised they'd kept it from her for so long.

"I could have done something. I could have helped." Charlie crossed her arms and glared at her friends.

"Sarah didn't want you to know." Maya walked out before she had to elaborate to Charlie and tried to get Abby's attention.

"What? Why?" Charlie turned to Nick. He wasn't good at keeping secrets from her.

"She thinks we're in love." Nick looked down as he tried to hold in his laughter.

"Oh no. God no. I have to go talk to her." Charlie laughed with Nick at the thought of them being in love. Weird.

"Help me finish moving in first?" Nick placed his hands on Charlie's shoulders to hold her attention.

"If you insist." Charlie and Nick went outside to find Maya and Abby in a heated argument about work ethic.

Charlie was glad to be back.

A/N: So how do y'all like the time shifts? I thought it was cool. Don't forget to vote and comment!