Cup of Roasted Coffee

22; charlottie p2

/ i really wanted this to be longer but it didn't work out and imsorryok /

Emma stood back, eyes wide on the woman who had said a single sentence. "Charlotte, what the fuck did you just say?"

Charlotte, sharing the same wide-eyed expression, shook her head quickly. "No, no, I really...I shouldn't say it."

"Charlotte. If either of us heard you right, I think it'll be best if you just said it again." Melissa placed a reassuring hand on the woman's shoulder.

Charlotte winced.

Emma and Melissa exchanged a look.

They'd heard her right.

"Ok, ok...fine. Well, uh, Sam's been taking night shifts recently, so I uh..." Charlotte's voice faded off as she thought about it.

Soon after, Emma and Melissa sat through a whole retelling of recent events. Apparently, Sam had been staying out late and coming home pissed. Charlotte explained how Sam had been acting towards her whenever they were together, the two women becoming angrier as they realized what was happening.

"He's fucking cheating on you!" Emma, entirely pissed off at this point, turned towards the mirror to take a breather.

Charlotte had been driven to the point of tears now. Melissa took the time to quickly pull her in for a hug, rubbing her back in a desperate attempt to calm her down. "Hey, hey, I'm sure everything's going to be alright."

"No, no, that's not all..." Charlotte wiped her eyes and nose before returning the embrace. Slowly turning around in a concerned manner, Emma's eyebrows furrowed.

"What do you mean? There's more?" she asked, instinctively wrapping her arms around herself.

"Well, you see, I can't be mad at him, even if he was cheating!" Charlotte's voice cracked and they were all reminded of her worsening mental state. "Because, uh, well...You promise not to tell anyone?"

Emma would've screamed if it weren't for the circumstances. "Yeah, ok, we promise! What is it?"

Melissa shot the barista a look. It wasn't much but it had easily convinced the shorter woman to calm down and get herself together.

"I can't be mad at Sam, well, because...I'm cheating on him with Ted!"

Emma and Melissa gasped in nearly perfect sync. They knew they shouldn't be surprised(it had been pretty obvious now that they think about it), but it was hard not to be when they had heard it from Charlotte herself.

The dinner table stayed awkward and close to silent. The men had their small talk, conversing over random things like the weather and traffic. Their conversation over nothing ended when Emma rushed up to the booth and slid back into place.

"Is...everything ok, Em?" Bill asked, eyebrow raised in concern. As she nodded quickly, he responded with a nod.

"Yeah, it's just...ya know, Charlotte's upset and asked to talk to Melissa." She shifted in her seat and squeezed Paul's hand. He was a bit confused as to what was going on, but hey, he wasn't complaining.

They ate their food, making sure the table wasn't silent. Even if they had to talk about useless 'shit', they knew they'd probably die from the quiet of it all. Charlotte and Melissa returned a few minutes after the food arrived, completing their circle yet again. After that?

Things had gone back to normal almost instantly.

Emma wasn't sure what Melissa had said to Charlotte in the bathroom, but she thanked whatever god was up there that she did. As Paul and her sat in the backseat of an Uber, driving to each of their apartments, she couldn't stop thinking about it. She didn't need to know, of course. Emma knew she'd be able to die peacefully without that knowledge.

But, damn, would she like to know.