Letting Go...

Chapter 11

"So what's up with Greg and Jackson?" Charlize asked a couple days after the whole situation had passed and things had settled down. This was the first time that she had confronted me about it despite having been curious since she'd noticed the tension. Then again there was almost never a moment for her to bring it up without Greg there.

Currently, I was at the diner where Charlize worked and she was on break. We were sitting in a booth at the back but near the kitchen so that Charlize could keep an eye on the clock. Her hair was pulled away from her face as she stared at me while I tried not to look at her.

"Nothing. What are you talking about?" It wasn't my story to tell and I didn't think that Greg would be too pleased with me just blurting it out without asking.

From my peripheral I could see Charlize raise a perfectly arched brow and- maybe it was just my eyes but- I thought I could see a grin on her lips. I quickly looked up and it was gone, her lips were pursed in consideration as her eyes analyzed me the way that they always seemed to do.

"Really?" She asked doubtfully, narrowing her eyes at me.

"Yes, really. Jeez, stop looking at me like that!"

If possible, her arched brow raised higher and a small smirk appeared on her face. She knew exactly what she was doing. "Like what?"

I growled causing for her eyes to widen in mock shock. "You know exactly how. You could be a freakin professional analysist with that look."

She gave me a bored look before bringing her hand to her face to look at her nails, the action showing more boredom than that on her face. "I think the word you meant to say was analyst but that's not really my cup of tea, although I do appreciate the compliment."

I rolled my eyes and she gave a small chuckle. Yeah, yeah, I was aware that she was rubbing off on me and that I was learning her mannerisms. How could I not when she did it all the time?

"But stop changing the subject and tell me what happened between Greg and that dipshit."

I sighed. "I can't."

She gave a small smile of victory before it morphed into a smirk. "So you admit that there's something there?"

Again, I couldn't help rolling my eyes. "You already knew that something happened, don't act surprised."

"Oh, I'm not. I just like the look of defeat on your face." I made a horrified face at her as she laughed and stood up, bracing her hands on the edge of the table between us. "I'm going to find out, Jules. One way or another. Greg and I may be at an awkward place right now but I have his back just like he's had mine. To do that I'm going to have to figure out what happened, with or without your help. Although it would be faster if you just told me." With that she stepped out of the booth and began helping the customers across the diner.

I giddily smiled at her nickname for me. Jules. She'd started calling me that two days ago having grown annoyed at my calling her Charlie. She thought that it would make me stop but I had fallen in love with it; we were growing closer.

As far as having Greg's back, I was glad that she wasn't holding anything against him even though he was still being a dick. She wasn't exaggerating when she said that they were in an awkward place. Awkward didn't even begin to cover it.

They were hardly speaking, though that was mostly on Greg's part. He was still angry with Charlize for bringing Serena to sit with us, and for calling us out for not doing anything about Jackson, and for starting a war with Jackson, and for making him feel emasculated when she took on Jackson without even flinching. He hadn't explicitly said that last one to me but it was obviously part of the reason.