Chamberlain Academy

9/6 - 3:56 pm

Charlotte meandered through the aisles of the grocery store, taking her time. She had an hour and a half to spare, and she'd decided to spend it at the here. Maybe this time she could relax and wouldn't end up forgetting things. The brunette browsed the produce, alone in her thoughts.

She'd hardly seen her daughter at all this past week. Charlotte hated that. Work had just been so busy, she'd make Ver go out for dinner with her tonight. Unless she already had a date with West...Charlotte had barely heard about him, but Camilla had found it her duty to come and tell Charlotte all about their ‘fucking annoying flirting’ at every lunch. Verity had sort-of dated, but Charlotte actually saw potential in this one. Obviously, she'd looked into West on her own (he seemed like a good kid), but she wanted to hear things straight from Verity.

Truthfully, the only people she'd really seen over the past three weeks had been the rest of the staff, mostly because their schedules meshed with her the most. Charlotte had spent lunches with Rosaline and June, the two secretaries, and gone out to dinner with a few other teachers. The new history teacher, Nate, had also come in to help her with paperwork. He was really nice, and the help had been extremely helpful.

The brunette looked through the list she’d made. She’d gotten the spaghetti, saltines, chamomile tea. As she reached for a bag of granola, her concentration was interrupted by a noise at the other end of the aisle. People were so clumsy. Charlotte quickly looked up, her eyes widening.

Her ex-boyfriend, who had disappeared off the face of the earth sixteen years ago, was picking up three boxes of Cheerios at the other end of the aisle.

Charlotte dropped the granola. Immediately, she tried to disprove it was him. It had been sixteen years, surely he didn’t look the same. But she recognized the jawline, the hair, everything about him look the same. It couldn’t be him. He was supposed to be in Asia or something! Not here, not where she was, not anywhere near Verity. But he turned around, and as she hid her face down she could definitely tell it was him. He was here. Charlotte’s hands gripped onto the handle of the cart, trying to rationalize why he would be here. Now. Had he moved back? Shit, she had never even -

“Charlotte?”

The brunette jumped, but took a moment to realize that the voice was coming from behind her, and Noah had walked out of the aisle. She turned around, seeing Nate standing there with her granola. It was a relief that it was him and not Noah; then again, she didn’t want to deal with anyone right now. “Oh, hi!” She managed weakly, letting go of the cart and smiling.

“You dropped this…” He handed her the granola and she set in the cart behind her, checking to make sure Noah hadn’t returned as she did so.

“Oh, thank you,” Charlotte smiled, trying not to look uneasy.

Nate gave her a look. “Charlotte, are you alright? You look pale…”

She nodded. “I’m fine!”

“Would you like some help with -” He offered, as he looked around and then back at her.

“No, that’s alright,” She smiled at him. Maybe it would be best to leave. “I’m actually just finishing, I don’t even know why I grabbed a cart.”

Nathaniel raised his eyebrows, he was definitely onto her. “Alright...would you like some help with getting things to your car?”

“No, it should only be a bag. Thanks, though!”

“If you’re sure…”

“Positive!”

“Alright,” Nate waved as he walked off, and Charlotte breathed a sigh of relief.