Pride: an austen reimagined novel | 1

Chapter Twenty-Three: Lily

I'd put the difficulty up on my game; I seriously needed something to take my mind off everything that had happened the last few days. Between Jax avoiding Anne, Cass being the one to break up their not even official relationship, then Austin's attitude on the soccer pitch, I was livid.

I yelled as I got dragged under a horde of zombies and watched while I was slowly killed.

"Cheery game that," I heard a voice behind me and turned to see Charlie hovering inside the door.

I spared a glance for Anne's side of the room, but she was still curled on her bed, reading with her headphones on. I sighed and felt my heart clench as I looked at her. She wasn't crying, she hadn't cried, but I could tell she was crushed by Jax's behaviour. The reminder of which only made me angry again.

I took a deep breath and forced a smile for Charlie as I stood up. "Hi. Yeah, I have the need to kill things when I'm frustrated."

Charlie nodded, hugging his laptop closer. I saw him looking behind me and watched as my avatar got off the floor and started ambling around with the other zombies. If I didn't hit restart soon, I'd auto swap sides, but I didn't really care about that at the moment.

"What's up Charlie? Did we miss a coffee date or something?" I asked.

He started and blinked. "No, no, not at all. I uh... I just thought you'd like to know that Sebastian approached me about the job," he pushed his glasses up, "and, uh...well, I took it."

I blinked, this time out of disbelief than actually trying to pull my mind from more awful things. In comparison, even Anne having her heart broken seemed not quite as terrible as Charlie accepting Seb's job offer...

"It didn't come with any other offers, did it?" I asked.

He shook his head, confusion obvious. "No, should it have?"

I narrowed my eyes. "No, it shouldn't have. But, why did you take it, Charlie?" I sighed, losing all anger or disbelief. "You could have programmed your games and sold who knows how many before you turned twenty-five! You could have gone to uni, done something with your life." I stopped talking, seeing the awkwardness on his sweet face.

He nodded. "You know I don't have the...knowhow to do any of that..." He shrugged. "It's better to have something definite than go through all that only to have uncertainty staring me in the face."

"Oh, Charlie." I took his hand and pulled him to sit on the bed next to me. "Charlie, it doesn't have to be like that."

"Doesn't it? It's all right for you Lil; you've got strength of character to reach your dreams. Sure, I can go to uni, work my arse off, but what chances do I have of getting a job at the end? The job market sucks and I can at least use some programming skills in working for Sebastian. The pay will be good and it's probably the best offer I'll get for years."

I stared at him, not sure what to say. I wanted to be supportive, if only because that's what good friends were for. But, I seriously thought this was the worst plan ever. He was settling! Settling for a boss and a job that he'd probably be stuck in forever because he wouldn't have the guts to move on – to assume that Seb would let him.

"When are you leaving?" I asked.

"The end of the week."

So soon? "And, the rest of Year Twelve?"

He shrugged. "I'll graduate with my Year Eleven and I've already got a job lined up."

I patted his arm awkwardly. "Well, okay, then... If it's what you want?"

He nodded. "It is."

I smiled, hoping it was sincere. "Good, well, I'll have to come and visit when you're all set up and see your swanky office!"