Montana Mansion

Next Move

Charlene's POV:

I heaved a sigh, my chest shuddering. "It's the only way."

"No, it's not," Maybeck fought me. "It'll blow over." I looked at him with a raised eyebrow and he added. "Eventually."

"The O.T.s aren't going to wait for everything to blow over, Maybeck. The group needs to be able to work together," I wiped my eyes and stood up, walking away from him.

"We've been through drama before, Char. We can still function."

I bit my lip and willed the tears back into their ducts. "I owe it to everyone to do the right thing, Maybeck," I breathed before turning to meet his gaze. His brown eyes ate into me like knives. "And this is the right thing."

"How do you know?" he pleaded. "We need you, Charlene."

I smiled grimly. "No you don't. You're around! You can do everything that I do."

"But who's going to be our cheerleader, Char? Who's going to keep us motivated on our third day of no sleep?"

"Text me anytime you want. I'm pulling out so that no one has to see me. Not so no one can."

"Don't talk about it like it's already done. Besides, if you're doing it for the group then why don't you ask them what they think? They should get a say."

"I don't want them to think that I'm trying to be a martyr. I'm the one that caused this mess and they deserve for me to try to end it."

"They won't think that. They're your friends."

"I've been thinking about doing this for a long time," I conceded with a sigh. "And I think that now is the time."

"At least let me tell them what you're planning to do."

"No," I turned away, covering my eyes as he pleaded with me further, forcing me to whirl around. "Don't you see?" I choked. "They won't care and I can't stand it. I can't stand to have my best friends in the entire world not care, Maybeck," I wept. "I just can't."

Willa's POV:

It had to have been after midnight when I saw a dark shadow creep into my room. "What do you want?" I snapped at it.

"I know you're angry," Maybeck's voice rang out. "You have every right to be. But hear me out, okay?"

I rolled my eyes and sat up. "Whatever."

"Charlene's about to do something really, really stupid and I think you're the only one that can talk her out of it."

"I give exactly zero Mickey bars about Charlene right now. So just get over it."

"It's not just stupid for her," Maybeck plowed ahead. "It would hurt the entire group."

I snorted. "Hasn't she done enough of that lately?"

Maybeck swallowed audibly. "She didn't ever want to hurt anyone."

"But she did, didn't she?" I asked rhetorically, a sharp edge to my tone. 

"She's going to quit."

"Fantastic. Then I won't have to look at her."

"I'm not kidding," Maybeck replied desperately. "She booked a flight home for tomorrow."

"That's just like her, you know," I hit the bed with my fists. "Cause a big disaster and then just run away, trying to make it all about her."

"You don't know what you're saying," Maybeck seethed at me through gritted teeth. "You'll regret not talking her out of it one day."