Martha My Dear

Chapter 10

"Charlie," Paul began, wide eyed.

I stared at the paper wordlessly, completely bewildered. I had a week to get out of my flat or pay my missed bills with interest.

"Let me pay it." Paul spoke kindly after a moment of silence.

"There's no way I'm letting you do that." I laughed hysterically, grabbing the key from my pocket angrily and shoving it into the lock.

"Really, I can." He spoke softly as he quickly swiped the paper from my hand.

"No, you can't." I argued trying to grab it back from him, to which he simply just turned his back to me stubbornly so the paper was out of my reach.

I groaned and opened the door to my flat.

"Your electricity was cut off?" He asked in shock reading through the note as he walked in behind me.

"I'm saving the environment one unpaid bill at a time." I spoke sarcastically quickly swiping it from his hands as he was reading it.

"Charlie, really, I can help you. You can come live in my guest bedroom if you won't take the money," he insisted worriedly.

"Paul, I'm fine." I spoke slowly looking into his eyes trying to assure him I'd be fine.

He frowned grimly.

"I'll be right back, I'm getting changed." I sighed heavily before going and changing into a long sleeved blue mini dress.

Paul and I didn't talk much on our way back down to the car, neither of us knew what to say.

I'd have to call Audrey and tell her, I'm sure she'd let me stay with her and Ben until I could find a cheaper apartment, or get a better job.

It was a huge wake up call, I was realizing living on my own was way more difficult than I'd envisioned. There wasn't any jobs I was qualified enough for that would pay my bills.

"Do you like the theatre?" Paul's eyes illuminated as we began to drive along the busy streets of London.

I shot a quick smile back at him.

"My mother used to take me. I'd often sing show tunes until I drove both my parents absolutely mad." I chuckled, watching Paul grin looking over to me.

We had driven to the theatre as quickly as we could talking about our favourite productions surprising me, I hadn't expected Paul to like that sort of thing as much as he did, but I knew for certain there was so much more to him than anyone really thought.

When we'd arrived, we had been escorted in through the back doors to avoid any sort of paparazzi outside because they'd been tipped off Paul had gotten tickets to go tonight.

We sat in a private box at the side of the theatre to watch the play, being extremely close to the stage.

"Wow." Was all I could utter as I looked around at the intricate romanesque architecture in the theatre.

"Isn't it beautiful?" Paul spoke looking around with me in admiration.

I nodded in agreement wordlessly, looking down to the stage and how close we were. I'd never been this close before at a show, my mother being the sensible woman she was only ever bought the cheapest tickets.