Infinity || Dan Smith

Twenty-Three.

Charlie and Dan sit in the back of his parents car. Their are fingers laced together. While Dan's parents bicker about politics Dan and Charlie play footsie, every time Dan gets a little rough Charlie flashes him a blushing smile. Dan on the other hand then looks out of the window for a few seconds, admiring the motorways golden lights.

"Charlotte, wasn't you the one Dan presented the Brit award with?" Rod, Dan's father, asks as soon as Isla stop talking about the looming Brexit.

"Yeah, we fucked that one up. Don't you think?" Charlie smiles.

"You two were adorable. I watched it the next day on catch-up. Those award shows sure do go on until late..." they both presented the last award of the evening. But it was worth it, because they're the most rememberable.

Dan and Charlie nod their heads, while Isla turns her head slightly and looks at Charlie who is sitting diagonally opposite her. Since Charlie is too busy looking into her boyfriends eyes, Isla spot their fingers intertwined. She's in complete awe.

"Bollocks." Rod all of a sudden grunts, ruining the romantic mood for the backseat passengers.

"What is it?" Dan asks as the car stops.

"Car accident. Don't look out of the window my side." Despite everyone in the car being over twenty five, Dan's dad still has to say the last part.

It's out of respect.

"Is it that bad?" Isla asks while she covers her eyes with her hand looking out of the window besides her. It's only because she's sitting in the passenger seat and can see at the corner of her eye. She's sensitive to things like these, as is every other normal person.

   That being said Dan looks. "Fucking hell it's worse than bad." He almost gags at the strange sight. There's a lot of blood. More blood than he sees on television. There's three bodies laying on the ground, one already has a blanket placed over them. While Dan watches in horror he then notices that two of them are children.

   "Get us out of here." Dan says as he watches the paramedics place a blanket over one of the children.

   "I can't. We're blocked in." Rod mumbles under his breath, disbelieved that Dan still pays no attention to his warnings.

   "Nah. Don't look..." Dan whispers while Charlie curiously tries to see past him. She gets a glimpse of a child, maybe a little younger than seven. She's less bloodier than her siblings. But Dan pulls her away before she can see a blanket being placed over her body too.

   "Is that little girl okay?" She wearily asks while Dan is in a dilemma. He doesn't know how to answer. He can see that Charlie is affected because she has tears in her eyes. Even Dan himself wants to cry. He just witnessed a terrible thing...he saw people die.

   "I..." Dan's voice trails off while Charlie hugs into him saddened.

   "She's okay, Charlie." Rod says in a calm and reassuring voice. Even though he is more or less crying himself.

   Sometimes lies aren't all that bad.

   Isla see's the tears in his eyes before looking the other way and deeply breathing in and out. Dan brushes the side of Charlie's hair while she hugs into his body with her eyes tightly closed.

After a few seconds, Dan then turns around in his slightly so she doesn't see the horrible sights out side of the window. He does this because he knows that Charlie without a doubt the news. She hates anything to do with death and misery, as so does Dan because of his past. It's not because she is a damsel in distress or anything like that.

   "I'm so sorry you all had to see that. Next time we'll take the detour." The only reason why they didn't take the detour is that they was hoping to show Dan their potential new house.

   "It's not your fault." Dan whispers while he dries his eyes. Charlie knows that she must've died although she doesn't want to say anything else on the subject.

   Instead of the car being silent, Isla needs distraction and turns on the radio. As soon as Radio 1 comes on it blares the Donnie Darko version of  'Mad World'.

   "Fuck no!" Dan immediately shouts as he pushes Charlie off of him and leans over the gear box, changing the radio station to Magic. 'Breathe' by Blu Sean Paul plays...which is much better than Mad World.

"Oi, do you mind?" Rod mumbles looking at his thirty two year old son who is behaving like a toddler.

   "It was a really depressing song...this song isn't though." Isla then decides changes the topic for the better.

   "Do you have any brothers or sisters, Charlotte?" Charlie who is still mortified over the crush doesn't answer. Isla's words slip over her head while Dan tightly holds her.

   Charlie hasn't got any children relatives and she's always been a only child. But that doesn't mean she doesn't feel for children, because Charlie does. She's always dreamed about starting a family of her own...but she knows in her profession that isn't likely.

   When she was barely fourteen she ran away from her foster family. She hitchhiked to another part of London, a less posh area than the one she grew up in, and she eventually into a caravan park. She still has the caravan and goes there sometimes to remember her roots. Though, she hasn't told a single soul about it. Not even Dan.

   "I'm an only child." Charlie sniffs as Dan helps her wipe the tears away without smudging her makeup.

   "Really?" Isla says in a disbelieved voice.

   Charlie nods her head, though Isla can't see. "My mother is druggie and my dad killed himself." Charlie say's unenthusiastically. She used to get defensive when someone called her mum that, but as she grew older her mother got more disgusting.

   "Sorry...I didn't..." Isla's voice trails off while Charlie sits up.

   "No. It's fine...I'm just saying that he died and she is a druggie. That's why I don't have any siblings." Charlie knows she probably does have siblings now...but she'll never know about them.

   "Wow..." even Dan whispers in shock.

   "So it's always been me, myself and I." She nervously laughs trying to clear the air. Still with the image of the little girl in the back of her mind.

"Well it's not like that now. Is it, Dan?" Isla says encouragingly. Dan shakes his head while Charlie kisses him on his lips. The innocent kind which makes them wish they can kiss for a little longer, but obviously they can't.

   "Thank god." Rod mumbles under his breath as the cars in front start to slowly move.