anne

23 | Hideaway

Anne's Timeline

• ____________ •

"Well, you know where to find me. And if you should ever change your mind on New Orleans, you know you are indefinitely welcome."

"I'll think about it."

Klaus grinned, "I'll get you. Just you wait."

Anne waved him off while he got into his car, his crew starting up their engines as well. The sun would start rising in a few hours, so Charles tried to get the girls to bed to salvage at least a little bit of sleep in their separate rooms before he got some himself. He offered to take the couch, but Anne insisted that he should have the bed as she would be up for the rest of the night organising things. But, really, she was up all night not knowing how she was going to sort this mess out.

The next day was simple: wake up, breakfast, go for a walk, go swimming, come back, play games, watch some movies, have lunch, call coworkers about time off, make dinner, and go to bed. The day after was much the same, but the last day was different.

Cassie's coldness towards Anne had gotten on her father's nerves, to the point he had to excuse both himself and Cassie from the dinner table to have a chat with her.

Caroline smiled at Anne, "Don't worry, she'll come around."

Anne half-heartedly returned the smile and started cutting some more roast beef to put on her plate, "It's okay, I'm just your dad's friend, I'm not here to replace anyone."

Even though she'd convinced herself of this, Cassie felt very differently.

::: ::: :::

An hour or so after the awkward dinner, Caroline was in bed reading a book and Cassie was outside on her phone, so Charles and Anne were left to wash the dishes. Which was more enjoyable than Anne gave him credit for. 

"Oh, no. I could never."

Anne stopped brushing the dirty pot in the sink to look at Charles, a smile growing on her face when she saw him refusing to look at her. "Oh my god! You so have!"

She laughed, returning her attention to the sink and shaking her head. "Who would've known; Goody-two-shoes Charles ran naked through the halls of his college."

Charles threw his head back in laughter, whacking Anne's shoulders with the tea towel, "Shut up, it's not like you've never done something like that. I mean, you're you! You've probably done everything!"

Anne chuckled, shaking her head, "Well, I haven't done that..."

Her open-ended tone caused him to look at her expectantly, waiting for further elaboration. 

"I did worse." 

He grinned, picking up one of the plates and drying it, "What did you do that was worse than streaking in front of your entire college?"

Anne bit her lip to hide her smirk, "Try streaking on live national television."

"No..." Charles leant on the counter with one hand on his hip, "You did not."

"Did so."

"Did not."

"Did so."

"Did not."

"Did so."

"Okay."

Anne grinned at Charles' agreement, and he mirrored it. He shook his head, and whacked the towel lightly at Anne's face, "I'll believe it when I see it."