the other side of us | ✓

2.14 | want you on my tongue

Charlotte eyed Mason curiously as he refolded the blankets on the couch and put them away in the chest under the window.

What did he mean he couldn't go into the kitchen? Did she even know him well enough now to ask him about it?

"Mason?"

He looked up from what he was doing. "What's up?"

She chickened out. "Never mind."

He resumed his folding, smiling softly to himself. Charlotte tried again.

"Um, Mason?"

"Hmm?" He didn't look up this time.

"What's wrong with the kitchen?"

Mason stilled, the blanket that he was holding going limp in his hands.

"What do you mean?"

Charlotte could hear the strain in his voice.

"You said you couldn't go in the kitchen. I was just wondering why."

She could see the debate in his eyes. He wasn't sure if he should tell her or not.

"You don't have to tell me," Charlotte said softly. "I was just curious."

She twisted her hair into a bun on top of her head and brushed away the loose strands that fell back into place.

"No," Mason said slowly. "It's okay."

He crossed the room and sat next to her on the couch.

"After my mom died," Mason began, taking a breath. "I didn't make the best choices, and I fell in with a bad crowd." He smiled bitterly at the memory. "I ended up in jail a couple times –"

"You ended up in jail?" Charlotte asked, incredulous. Mason shot her a look. "Sorry."

"I ended up in jail," He continued. "For being drunk and disorderly."

Charlotte felt her own eyes widen but motioned for him to keep talking. Mason had been drinking?

"There was an officer who always ended up lecturing me before I was released. He told me I had a problem, and I didn't want to believe him. I thought that I was fine, I could stop anytime I wanted. But everything was just so much. Tara and my mom were gone, and I was all alone. And then I woke up at Adam's place, and I realized that maybe he was right. I was turning into my dad, and I didn't like that."

"Adam? Your roommate?"

"He's my sponsor." Mason explained. Oh.

"You're in AA?"

In answer to her question, Mason reached into the front pocket of his jeans and pulled out a metal circle. It was about the size of an Oreo, and Charlotte looked at it curiously.

"My one-year chip." Mason explained, twisting it over in his hands for her to see. "The day I earned this, I told Adam I wanted to move back here. That I wanted to find you again. I told myself that I'd do whatever I could for you, to make up for leaving the way I did. That I'd be able to handle it because if I could get sober, I could handle anything." He laughed. "But there's a bottle of wine on your kitchen counter and all I can think of right now is going in there and drinking it all."

Mason put the chip back in his pocket.

"Mase," Charlotte said softly. "I can clean it up, if that makes it easier."

"No, it's okay." He stood up. "I should go."

"Go?"

"I need to go talk to Adam. Probably a meeting too."