forfearlessflairbanks warning(s): angst thanks for requesting, I'm so sorry it's a little short but I hope you still enjoy reading!
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"I don't understand why you can't just be happy for me," Charlotte shook her head with a shrug. "I just don't." The incoming headache was going to be a bad one; she knew it.
The migraines the Carolina native had been suffering for the last couple of nights were good enough examples to look back on of the suffering she was going to endure for the next few hours until the sun rose again and she had no more time to find a way to sleep.
Sasha sat beside her and behind the wheel, staring straight ahead with little to no emotions on her face - a sight so unfamiliar it seemed to bring goosebumps onto Charlotte's skin. "I never said I wasn't happy for you. I am, congratulations you're the champion. That's great."
Charlotte stared at her for a moment, remembering all those nights they had spent together, staring at the stars and holding onto dwindling hope that someday, they were gonna make it big. Those shared promises about having each others' backs through thick and thin, through storms and lightning strikes. Her blue eyes narrowed, frustration bubbling in her chest - Sasha wouldn't even look at her. "That's great? You're lying, and this isn't fair. You're putting so much space and distance between us for what?"
"For my dreams, Ashley!" Sasha's eyes finally met with hers, and Charlotte could see it now, clear as day; the emotion she was so used to seeing in the mirror. The way it burned in the brown of her eyes, desaturating them with its force: jealousy. "My dreams."
She could see the distance grow between them now. "So, I'm not in these dreams."
"That's not what I said. Or what I meant."
The uncertainty in her voice was the last indication Charlotte needed to take the taunting step; the fading and vanishing of their feelings was too hard for Charlotte to sit around and watch anymore. It had been a long time coming, probably, and everything leading up to this moment had been sheer luck. Their debuts together, their career-making moments by each others' sides, all the good and all the bad they had survived. Everything had to come to an end.
"I'll see you around."
"No come on, please." The sound of the car door opening was joined by the sound of her voice, doing the same thing Charlotte hoped she wouldn't do: asking her to stay. "Don't- at least let me drop you off. Fuck." Sasha then settled, as if realising that nothing else was for the better: this was the end. "This sucks."
They weren't Charlotte and Sasha in that moment; they were Ashley and Mercedes, back underneath the stars of the night sky they were so accustomed to admiring but this time, there was no more admiration, especially not as Charlotte stared down the empty sidewalks when the car door slammed shut and the familiar image of a lover turned stranger.
