dancing queen 》david pastrnak [completed]

viii. final goodbye to the 617

Em wakes up to to the sound of breakfast being made in the kitchen. She checks the time on her phone and sees it's 10:04am. She goes to the bathroom and washes up before heading to the kitchen to see Charlie and Kiley up drinking coffee and talking.

"Morning, Em," they both greet her.

"Morning, guys," she greets them both.

"Sleep well and did you have fun last night seeing your boys?" Charlie asks.

"Yeah, I slept great and yeah, it was great seeing the guys again. I hadn't seen them in months. I used to see them every once in a while because of Marty and Sid but they're back with the Isles again. I used to visit them in Toronto too," she explains.

"I can tell you're close with a few of them," Kiley observes.

"Yeah I'm close to obviously Marty, and I'm also close with Mitch, Kappy, Will, Brownie, Mo, Gards, and sometimes even Matts," she explains.

Kiley finishes up with breakfast and they all sit down on the island to eat. Em scrolls through her social media while eating, as well as talking to Em and Charlie. Eventually, they finish eating and they head to the kitchen to clean. After putting the dishes in the dishwasher, Em heads to the guest room to start packing to head back home the next day.

She puts on music and the song Still Down by H.E.R. comes on. She sways along to the soft R&B jam as she starts putting clothes into her suitcase. After a few minutes, Charlie comes into the room and sits down on the bed.

"You came in here to help?" she asks, arching a brow.

"No," he chuckles. "I really wish you could stay longer."

"Me too, bro, but I got a job waiting for me to get back. I'm sure the kids are dying for 'Ms. Emely' to come back to teach them," she giggles lightly at the end.

"I know and it's selfish of me to think or expect for you to stay longer," he adds.

"Well you've always been kind of selfish," she adds offhandedly.

"When it comes to you, always," he admits with a smile.

"Charlie, we're not teenagers anymore. Things have changed," she sighs, thinking about their history.

"I can't help it, Em. You've always been special to me. We've been together since we were toddlers," he adds.

"Yeah, but I'm not the one who left," she sighs, referring to when he left for Michigan at 15.

"Are you gonna hold that against me forever?" he groans.

"Yes because you're the one who left me Charlie and it doesn't matter anyway. We're both happy with our lives right now so we shouldn't argue about it anymore," she sighs.

"You're right. Ima let you keep packing," he sighs, before getting up and walking out of the room.

She puts her music back up again and focuses on packing and not her repressed feelings over her relationship with Charlie. After an hour, she finishes packing and lays down on her bed. She hears a knock on the door before Kiley enters a few seconds later.

"Hey, can we talk?" she asks, making her way over to the bed.

"Yeah, what's up?" Em asks, sitting up.

"I just want you to be honest with me. Were you and Charlie ever a thing?" she asks hesitantly, looking down at her fingers.

"Yes, when we were kids. When I was 14 years old, I thought Charlie was gonna be my husband and we were gonna live happily ever after. We got together when I was 14 and we stayed together when he first left for Michigan. We even lost our virginities to each other but the distance ended up becoming too much for us and I slowly fell out of love with him. I love him but I haven't been in love with him since I was 17. So you don't have to worry about me trying to get with him or whatever. Charlie's like a brother to me and that's all he's been since then," Em explains.