☁️Little Charlie☁️

CH 30// Alex and Katie

The weekend went by way too fast for Charlie's liking. Now it was Monday, time to go back to school.
He had 10 minutes left to get ready, but he stayed in bed, dreading every minute that went by.
What if he just skipped today? Said he wasn't feeling good and just went tommorow?

"Charlie?" Mia's voice carried from downstairs. "You almost ready? Only got a few minutes left. Come on down and have some breakfast" She said.

Charlie groaned but managed to drag himself out of bed. He went over to his dressor and threw on a Grey T-shirt, Black Hoodie, Blue jeans, and socks (mich-matched because he couldn't find a mathching pair). After he was dressed, He grabbed his bag, making sure Teddy was inside, and went over to the bathroom. He quickly combed through his hair, doing his best to fix a cow lick, and brushed his teeth before making his way down stairs.

''Oh, there ya are" Mia said from the couch. "Breakfast is on the table. Don't worry about rushing, you're not taking the bus today. I have to be up there for a meeting anyway so I can just dive you there. Is that alright with you?"

Charlie let out a small sigh of releif now that he didn't feel too rushed. Plus he didn't have to sit inside a stinky loud bus. He replied with a nod and went over to the table.
On his plate sat two buttered up bagels with kiwi on the side, and a cup of orange juice. He smiled and ate every bite of his food.
Just as he was finishing up his favorite juice, which may or may not have caused Charlie to involuntarily regress, Mia announced that they should get going. Charlie took his swinging legs to a stop and took his dishes to the sink.

After getting his shoes on, they headed out the door and got into Mia's car.
On the drive over, Charlie was still regressed. Fluffy clouds and occasional woodland animals in the forest kept him feeling small.
When they got into town, Charlie got excited to see anything colorful such as the flowers, the freshly painted yellow house on Deer street, the orange cat, and the black and white dog out on a walk. He giggled and bounced a little in his seat every now and then. Mia chuckled at his happy and childlike manner. This sort of behavior from him was new to her, and she couldn't help but wonder about it. She had fostered a kid like this before a few years back. She called it Age Regression. After that, Mia looked into it to better understand the girl she was caring for. She wondered it this was what Charlie was displaying. 'Then again, it could just as well be his personality' She thought. She wanted to ask him but didn't want to intrude. Besides, she wasn't even sure if he knew what it was himself.

"Alright" She said once they arrived at the highschool parking lot. "Charlie.." She said. Charlie looked away from the window and over to her. "You have a good day, alright?" She said with her bright smile and kind eyes. Charlie nodded, feeling confident that he would in his carefree state.
They got out of the car and went their seperate ways once they were inside.

The first thing Charlie did was look for Alex of course. He hummed to himself happily as he roamed the halls, looking for blonde hair and maybe a black hoodie. After looking around for a bit, he finally saw him sitting by the Chorus room, hunched over his sketchbook in pure concentration.
Charlie, being careful not to disturb him, quietly walked up to the boy and had a seat next to him.

"Hey Charles" Alex said still not looking up from his paper. "Don't look" He said shielding his paper from Charlies view. "It's a surprise".
Charlie smiled and looked away. He did like surprises. Well..other than surprise parties that was. He liked surprise muffins after school or surprise hugs even. After about five more minutes, Alex tapped Charlies shoulder.

When Charlie looked over, he gasped and put his hands up to his mouth as he smiled from ear to ear. It was a drawing of...him!...Looking up at the sky with stars in his eyes and wearing a flower crown. "Do you like it?" Alex giggled. Charlie pulled Alex in for a tight hug. "I'll take that as a yes" Alex laughed and hugged back. "Happy Birthday, Charlie"

********

When Lunch time finally came around, Charlie was able to spot Alex right away, since he was the only one there that was waving both his arms around and hopping up and down like a mad kangaroo. Charlie raised an eyebrow, wondering what on earth had gotten into the boy. As he got closer he realised there was a girl sitting at the same table Alex was at. She looked kind of familiar too.

"Charlie, You're here!" Alex beamed. Charlie giggled in amusement at Alex's excitement. "Oh, you remember Katie don't you?" He said pointing over to the girl. "She's the one I work with at the coffee shop. Coffe girl. Girl of coffee. Coffee girl that gave me coffee!"

"I think you've had enough Coffee, Alex" Katie laughed. She then looked over to Charlie. "Is he always like this?"
Charlie shrugged and had a seat. "Alex, you should sit down and eat" Katie said before taking a bite of her sandwhich.

"Ugh, fine!" Alex said ploppping down in his seat. He tried to take another sip of the Iced Latte next to him but Katie was quick to take it away.

"Mm-mm!" She said holding it out of her reach. She swallowed before continueing. "You've had way more than enough my friend".

Alex pouted and slummed down in his seat. "You're mean" He said crossing his arms.

"And you're hyper" Katie said putting the Late down and resuming to her meal. "Now eat something" She said pointing her fork to him and looking down at her fruit bowl.

Alex took his sandwich and aggresively took a bite and chomped on it while giving her an exagerated angry expression.
Charlie couldn't help but laugh. This caught Katie's attention and she looked up. As soon as she did, Alex looked away and put on an innocent expression, causing Charlie to laugh even more.

"I saw that!" Katie shouted. She flung a piece of fruit at his face. Alex gasped dramaticaly and looked at her 'Shocked'

"How dare!" He shouted, and tossed a brocolli back at her.

The two of them bursted out laughing for a good two minutes. When they finally calmed down, they went back to talking about their classes.

Charlie however, stayed in his own little world, and spun his spaghetti noodles around and around on his fork. He did't plan on eating it, just wanted to watch them twirl around like a tornado. He wasn't hungry anymore. A small but noteicable knot had grown where his stomach was.

Was he...jelous?

"You shouldn't be" A voice in his head said to him. "You selfish idiot". It hissed. Charlie frowned and twirled his fork faster.
"Selfish" It repeated. "You're just a third wheel here. Look at them". Charlies eyes glanced up at the two. It was true. They were so deep into their own conversation that he could walk away and they wouldn't even notice. "They don't want you here".

"Oh, Charlie" Alex said inturupting Charlies thoughts. Charlie looked up, flinching a little. "I have another gift for you by the way, it's coming in the mail tommorow" He said full of excitement.

Charlie smiled and relaxed a little.
Alex didn't want him to go away.
He was his friend.

But...Why did he still feel sad...seeing something between Alex and Katie?