Made Up

Chapter 21

Charlie POV
   I am not ready for today. I didn't sleep well. I kept dreaming about people staring at me and talking. I knew they were talking about me but I couldn't understand what they were saying and I couldn't get away or make them stop. I woke up in a cold sweat and I couldn't get back to sleep. I didn't want to wake Louis or Harry so I just slipped out of the bed as quietly as possible and come to sit outside. Sun rise should be soon and I actually do want to see it.
    Everyone is supposed to be arriving around noon so I have a little over seven hours left to be just us. I'm not counting Lottie because I doubt she will leave the big house. Harry and Louis seemed confident last night that there other family members wouldn't react like Lottie. I know it's just nerves and if I can live through my parents finding out that I can survive anyone. I just don't like the thought of someone not liking me or being mad at me. Stuff like that has always bothered me, even though I try really hard to hide it.
    I hear movement behind me and I look around to see Louis. "Hey love can you not sleep either?" He sits down beside me and wipes the sleep from his eyes.
   "No I had some really weird dream and woke up. I thought it'd be cool to watch the sunrise." I don't tell him my dream details. There is no reason to bother him with the nonsense of my brain. "Why are you up so early?"
   "I just woke up. I guess I'm anxious about today. I'm not worried about everyone else, I just really hate fighting with Lottie. I'm so much older we never really even had that whole sibling rivalry thing. We've just always been cool until now."
   I have to say I'm envious of Louis and Lottie. Emma and I get along ok and she is a good big sister but we've never had the type of bond like Louis and Lottie have.
     "I'm so sorry. If I had never left you wouldn't have said anything on that live stream and no one would know about us. It's all my fault." I feel horrible about everything. "I feel like I forced you to come out. That was never my intention."
    Louis reaches over and takes my hand. He holds it to his mouth and then pulls me to his chair to stretch out beside him. "Charlie if you had stayed I would still have told my family about you. Lottie would still react the same way, because whatever the reason for her behavior is I don't think it has anything to do with you personally. I love you and I would never hide you from the other people I love. As for work we can figure that out when we get back to LA.
I just want to enjoy this next week while I can."
    I scoot down a little and lay my head on louis' chest. It's a little chilly with the breeze coming off the ocean, but Louis is small and comforting. I fall back asleep and don't wake up until well after the sunrise has already passed. When I wake up, I'm alone in the chair.

Louis POV
    When Charlie falls asleep I decide I can't wait to talk to Harry any longer. I ease out of the chair and go wake Harry up.
    I shake his shoulder till he wakes up. "What?" Harry looks at me through the veil of sleep. "Louis what in the bloody hell are you doing? Leave me alone!" He tries to pull the covers over his head but I stop him.
   "Harry I need to talk to you about something." Hearing the seriousness in my voice got his attention. He rolls over and leans up on his elbow. His hair is hanging down his shoulder, and if I wasn't so nervous over what I'm about to say I would run my hands through it. "So I've had two people ask me a question and I don't know the answer. I don't even know how to look for the answer and I need your help."
   "Louis if you just woke me up to ask me a maths question or something I'm seriously going to hurt you." Harry knows this isn't a maths question but he knows I'm upset and he's trying to lighten the mood.
    "Granny and Lottie both brought up the subject of marriage. They asked if I planned on marrying Charlie. I don't know what the hell to say to that. Charlie was talking about Paige the other day and she acted like marriage wasn't something she's interested but I'm not sure. I guess what I'm asking is have you thought about where we go from here? Have you thought about marriage or the future?" I feel so much better just putting my thoughts into words.
     Harry is quite for a long time and I almost wonder if he has went back to sleep until he sits completely up in the bed. "I haven't  given it much thought honestly. I guess I was just thinking we would stay the way we are for a while. How would marriage between three people even work? It's definitely not legal. Do you want to get married?"
    I look out the window and see the first slashes or color crossing the sky. I keep my eyes trained on the window as I speak.  "I didn't think of it either till people started throwing it in my face. I don't know how it would work either. I guess two of us would be legally married and the other wouldn't be obviously. I don't feel the need to get married. I never have. I just don't know what Charlie expects and I don't want to let her down."
   "I don't think Charlie is thinking too much about marriage right now. I think people are just trying to understand what's going on and marriage is a big question we will have to face eventually. I wouldn't let it bother you too much. I feel like as long as we are together we can do anything. It's not always going to be easy or fun but we'll make it through like we always have."
    Talking to Harry did ease my mind a lot. Knowing that Harry was confident in our relationship made me confident too. I laid down beside him but I still couldn't sleep.
   After about an hour I got up once again. Since everyone will be here in a few hours we will all be staying at the other house. I guess I can start packing all of our stuff up to move. That will at least keep me busy for a little while.
    I'm almost done with mine and Harry's thing when Charlie walks in. "Good morning again! Are you feeling better?"
    Charlie looks at me with a tired smile. "Would you be upset if I stayed here instead of going to the big house with you?"
   "Big house? Isn't  that what Americans call jail?" I try to laugh and ease some of the tension I feel radiating off of her.
   "Yeah I guess they do. I didn't mean it like that. I just don't want to intrude on your time with your family. I think if I'm not around you and Lottie can get on better terms." Charlie is looking out the window I was staring out just a couple hours ago. I walk over to her and kneel down.
   "I won't ask you to do anything your not comfortable with so if you want to stay here, I won't protest. But I think the only way everyone is going to accept us is if they see us and see how happy we are. Lottie and I will make up eventually so don't worry about that. But, if you're staying here then so am I. I don't want you to be here all alone."
    "No I don't want you to be away from everyone because of me. I'll be fine I promise." Charlie looks like she is about to cry and I know she takes on all responsibility for our situation but I was the one that decided to take us public. If anyone is to blame for the shit show we are about to live through, it's me.
   "Don't cry love! Everything will work out alright you'll see." I take her face in my hands
and kiss her softly.
   "I was about to complain about being woke up again, but if that's the view I get, I guess I'll take it." We both look at Harry and the sexy smirk on his face. I flip him off and he scrunches his nose at me. He knows how it drives me crazy when he does that. So I throw a shirt at him and leave the room in search of breakfast. "Finish packing!"