A la Carte

Chapter 21

Charlotte had been avoiding Dimitri, which was much harder than she expected it to be. Currently, she was hiding in the break room as Perry explained to Dimitri that Charlotte had taken the afternoon off and was currently not there.

"Thank you," she said to Perry, who came into the break room to tell her he had left. Perry just raised an eyebrow.

"Why are you avoiding the man that looks like Adonis?"

"It's complicated," Charlotte said, only to get a look from Perry, which had her telling her the entire story of what had happened between her and Dimitri.

"He seems like a nice guy," Perry said, her face said it all.

"He is, it's just..."

"You're scared shitless." Perry told her, taking the words out of her mouth.

"Yeah..."

"Well, honey, speak to the guy, tell him how you feel about everything, I have a feeling this one will understand," Perry said confidently, giving her friend a quick hug and then heading out the break room, leaving Charlotte alone with her thoughts.

The rest of the day dragged on and by the time Charlotte was signing out to head home, she'd forgotten that she was avoiding Dimitri, only to round the corner and exactly like the previous evening he was waiting for her.

"Dimitri..." She stopped, just staring at him in shock.

"I thought you took the day off from work?" He questioned a good-natured smile on his face.

"Umm..."

"C'mon Charlotte, I know you better than that," he said with a chuckle," if you wanted space and time all you had to do was ask?" His expression had saddened for a fleeting moment, quickly changing to the smirk he had perfected.

"It's not that..." Charlotte started only to be interrupted by a shout.

"Charlotte!" She whirled around, to find her brother jogging up to her, dressed in his usual business attire, she felt Dimitri before she saw him, when he had moved to stand directly behind her, the heat of his body a comforting presence and his hand on her waist tugging her into him gently.

"Ben, what are you doing here?" Again. Charlotte questioned. But her dearest older brother had decided now was the time to size up the man, that was standing next to her.

"Benjamin, this is Dimitri, Dimitri this is Benjamin, my older brother," she introduced, emphasizing the last bit. Only none of that helped when Dimitri stepped away from her and flung a punch at Benjamin, catching him off guard, Dimitri's fist smashed into his face.

"Dimitri!" She yelled, quickly moving to stand between them. Dimitri just shrugged, an impassive mask on his face, he looked unperturbed at the fact that he had just punched her brother, her brother who was currently groaning and clutching his bloody nose.

"What the fuck was that for man?" Her brother seethed as he took his handkerchief out and held it to his nose.

"For not standing up for your sister all those years ago," Dimitri answered calmly. His words hit her brother like a bucket of ice water, he stilled and glanced at Charlotte before looking at Dimitri again.

"You didn't have to punch him!" Charlotte said, a quiet anger entering her tone of voice.

"No he's right, I deserved that punch." Benjamin said. It was then Charlotte and Dimitri's turn to look surprised.

"I could have defended you, helped you even, but I never did and I regret that every single day Char, I'm sorry I never did anything," he said, although it was a little hard to take him seriously when he held a bloody handkerchief to his face.

"I made peace with it a long time ago Ben," she said softly, as Dimitri handed Ben his handkerchief, which Ben gladly took.

"You didn't really," Ben said to her, and the sad part was that he was sort of right, even though she may have forgiven him for not doing anything, she wouldn't forget it and she definitely could not stop wondering what it would have been like if he had. Ben had caught the look on her face and his expression saddened.

"What are you doing here?" She questioned again, a tiredness seeping into her bones.

"I came to tell you that Dad has found out where you are," my blood went cold, "he had a fight with mom and she brought you up as an example of how much of an asshole he is, she phoned me in a state," Benjamin continued, his shoulders slumping slightly.

"Mom sent you?"

"Yeah, she didn't want you to get the shock of your life if he pitched up," 

If.

"He's actually coming?" She asked shocked. Benjamin shrugged.

"Really it depends how angry he is at you for leaving," He said, Charlotte gave a snort and started laughing.

"Dad never wanted me anyway, I don't expect to see him anytime soon," She said coldly, " thanks for warning me, put some ice on your nose when you get home, " She told her brother and then turned and opened the door to Dimitri's car as the two men shook hands with one another and Dimitri apologized for hitting him that hard, her brother only chuckled. 

The car drive was silent and Charlotte was thankful that Dimitri didn't strike up a conversation with her as her thoughts ran rampant.

"Thank you, Dimitri," Charlotte said, he gave her a quizzical look, "for just being you and having my back when I needed it over the past few months." She clarified, he gave her a small smile, his green eyes twinkling as he said, "Well I wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else, so you're welcome,"

She smiled and leaned up to give him a kiss on the cheek, leaving him in the hallway as she opened her door.

"Charlotte?" She stopped at his voice and turned to face him again.

"What?" She said a smile dancing on her lips.

"You're such a tease," he said with a wry chuckle and then with a wink he strode down the hall to his apartment. 

"You too Dimitri, you too."