Falling for my roommate

7️⃣0️⃣

The atmosphere in the apartment the next morning definitely wasn't great. Conor had woken hours after Charlotte and Preston, and Charlotte had refused to leave until she got a proper chance to speak to him.

Preston was pissed that she wouldn't leave but he understood why. If it was Thomas in that position he knew he wouldn't have let anyone tell him what to do, especially after everything that Charlotte and Conor had been though together.

When Conor finally did leave his bedroom and walk into the kitchen with his fingers massaging his temples Charlotte was waiting for him. She was already on a stool in the kitchen, tapping her fingers on the table anxiously.

"You lied to me," She said softly as he passed her, filling a glass with water.

He huffed softly, his shoulders dropping as he slowly turned to look at her. When their eyes connected he couldn't help but feel defeated.

"I know."

She pursed her lips as she looked him up and down, she was mad at herself for not being able to see the signs before. He so clearly wasn't okay and she hadn't even noticed until Preston had told her something was wrong.

"We have to talk about this, this has to stop, you know that don't you?" She did her best to keep her voice gentle, she didn't want to make him angry or overwhelm him, she just wanted her brother back.

"I know, Charlotte, of course I know! I'm just struggling to deal with everything right now okay!? I just got out of a coma to find out that Dylan cheated on you and you were pregnant with his kid, I should've been around to beat the crap out of you! Then you got fucking raped on the night you asked me to come pick you up and I said no! Then you got kidnapped and what did I do? Nothing! I couldn't do anything for you Charlotte! Im useless to you now! Don't you see that? All I've done is let you down, even at mom and dads wedding I said I wouldn't leave you alone with them and then I did, maybe you're just better off without me," he vented, slamming his glass down on the table.

She bit the inside of her cheek, fighting off her tears. She had no idea he had been feeling this way about everything that had happened to her. To deal with her trauma she had just decided to ignore it and live in denial but she had never thought about how many other people her problems had effected.

"Nothing that happened to me was your fault, Conor, you have to realise that there's nothing you could've done to prevent these things."

"I could've-"

"No, Conor. What could you have done? Nothing could've changed what happened and I know you'd like to think that because you're my big brother there's more you could've done but there isn't. Everything you've done for me since these things have happened was perfect, you were the most supportive brother anyone could ask for, and I love you for that, and I always will."

He looked down at his hands, tears forming in the corner of his eyes. Ashamed could barely even describe what he was feeling. She didn't want him to feel ashamed, addiction was a disease.

"I'm sorry," he whimpered, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

Charlotte slowly made her way over to him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. She could feel him slowly starting to relax in her hold, the tension easing out of his body, "The world is a better place with you in it. You're my big brother, I need you around. I wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for you, I'd still be getting punched around by dad."