Out of My League

{9} Rainstorm

"What the hell?" I demanded.

A look of sudden recognition crossed my father's face. "Charlotte is that really you? After all these years?"

"What do you mean 'after all these years'?" I shouted, drawing the attention of a couple of staff and visitors around us. "You mean the amount of time it took you to go to the grocery store? Where the fuck have you been?"

"Charlotte..." my mom murmured worriedly. "Hush, you're making a scene."

"I can't believe you're defending this ass-hole!" I exclaimed. "After all he's done! After he abandoned you! After he abandoned Will!"

"Will?" my father asked, amazed.

"Yes Will!" I shouted. "Your son!" Despite my mother's wishes I couldn't stop yelling. I wanted so badly to hurt this man as much as he'd hurt us. I wanted him to pay. He needed to pay. How could he leave us behind like that?

"I'm not defending anyone," my mother replied calmly. "But I just got out of a surgery, and I can barely stand. I think it's time for us to go home."

"Not all of us are coming home," I said definitively, crossing my arms.

"I can explain Char."

"Don't call me that!"

"Just listen," my father answered patiently. He seemed so haughty with his new glasses, like years away from us had left him superior in comparison to our lowly selves.

"You can't be serious," I responded furiously.

"I got my degree," he continued, his voice growing vehement. "I'm a trained lawyer and have been practicing for over two years. I've been in contact with your mother for a couple of months now."  

I looked at my mother, astonished. "You were talking to him this whole time and you didn't even tell me!" I shouted at her. 

"Don't blame your mother for this!" he pleaded earnestly. "Just listen to me Char!"

"Don't call me that!"

"I can pay for your surgery Char." That last sentence caught me off guard. For a second I faltered, quickly gaining my composure again.

"How do you even know about that?" I demanded.

"I'm still your emergency contact. When you get hurt, I'm always the first to know."

"Fuck off," I muttered.

"Listen sweety," he said. I seriously wanted to barf. "Let's talk about this when we get home. Your mom is in no state to stay here any longer. Stop being so selfish." Selfish? I'm the selfish one?

I turned to my mother. "It's either me or him," I stated with finality. "There is no way I am staying in a house with him there. I can't even look at him right now. You have to choose, because I just can't."

"Charlotte..." my mother began. "There's no way I'm going to-"

I stumbled out the hospital exit and ran. It was pouring down rain now, as though the weather had sensed my mood. I kept running. I couldn't stop, because if I stopped, everything would become suddenly real. It felt like the world was crashing down around me, and I was so deeply alone. I didn't have anywhere to go. I was completely lost. 

I finally stopped, coming to a rest about a hundred meters away from the hospital entrance. Overwhelmed by an impending sense of hopelessness, I did the only thing that could save me from losing all control. I texted Lemon.

Lemon's POV

Charlotte: Talk to me. Please.