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Chapter 6

*H E R O*

I pace back and forth in front of the hotel. I still can't believe that they knew last night. Why the hell didn't they tell me? Why did they comfort me in the first place?! God, this is Cardiff all over again. They always take her side! In that instant I hate Charlotte. For leaving, for stealing my friends, for making everything complicated. And for making me fall in love with her. If you think about it we were never a perfect fit. There was too much passion to be truly happy.

"Hero!" Lizzie calls my name and I turn around.

She walks over to me and gives me a hug. I don't hug her back though.

"Let's go for a drink somewhere," Jack suggests.

"It's too early," I shrug. I don't want to make this easy for them.

"Well, it's five o'clock somewhere!" he says.

"God, that's such a Charlotte thing to say."

"It is. But you look like you can use a beer."

I don't move.

"Come on," Lizzie says in a calming voice.

She takes my hand and drags me along.

In the pub it's warm and cozy. There aren't a lot of people at this time of the day. I walk straight to a booth and let Jack order the drinks. I'm in a mood. Lizzie slides in the booth with me and I can tell that she's nervous. She can't sit still and she looks at the bar all the time as if to make it go faster. She's obviously afraid that I will yell at her or something.

Jack hands me a bottle of beer and takes a sip of his own.

"Okay, I believe you have some questions," he says.

"Really, Jack?" I roll my eyes.

"Hero, you shouldn't be angry," he says and takes another sip.

"Did you know last night?" In my heart I know the answer but I need to hear them say it.

"Yes," Lizzie whispers. "I'm sorry, Hero, but yes, we knew," she continues in a steadier voice.

"Why didn't you tell me just then?" I try really hard not to lose my temper.

"Charlotte made us promise not to tell you," Jack answers.

"Why?"

"I don't know. Maybe she was afraid that you would try to keep her here or something."

"That's ridiculous. We were broken up."

"Is it though? You guys have a very strange relationship. Maybe you would have tried to stop her and maybe she would have stayed. But would that make things better?" Lizzie asks.

She has a point though. Would that make things better?

"I feel like you guys keep walking in circles. Ever since you met, you have been in a lot of fights. Maybe some time apart is what you need."

"This isn't some time apart. She left. That's quite a statement," I say. Jack was right, I can use the beer for this conversation.

Lizzie and Jack stay silent for a while.

"Why did she leave?" I finally ask. It's the answer I need to know to move forward with my life.

"She left because she couldn't take this anymore. She loves you, Hero, so much. But she has given you her heart and for some reason that wasn't enough," Lizzie says. "Melany will always stand between you."

"That's bullshit!" I raise my voice a bit.

"No, it's not. Look, Hero, what happened last year was fucked up. You should have been honest with her from the second you met. You knew what she had been through and you knew she had trust issues. For some reason everything worked out in the end because there's so much love between the two of you but then you come here and you make the same mistake again," Jack rants.

"Jack, sshh," Lizzie puts her hand on his arm and tries to calm him down.

"No, he needs to hear this!" Jack says. "I'm so sick of this too!"

I stare at him, unsure what to say.

"You should have been honest with her from the moment you knew about Melany's pregnancy and frankly, you should have known better than to be friends with her. You know that what happened last year will always stand between Melany and Charlotte and you know they will always fight over you so why didn't you just pick one of them? Just make a fucking choice for once!"

"I... It's stupid that I have to choose between my friends and my girlfriend!"

"Hero, I love you but now you're the stupid one!" Lizzie says. "You know she would never ask you to choose her over your friends but you damn well know that Melany is different."

"Anyway, Charlotte was so sick of all of this. And you really hurt her last night when you didn't believe her. She couldn't even have sex with someone else because of you and you just cut her off! You were really harsh and that was the final straw. You hurt her so much. She's done with all the drama and worse, she's done with film."

"Done with film? But that's her dream!"

"Yes, it was. But you took that from her. This whole thing just ruined it for her."

I don't know what to say.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know that."

"I know you didn't, honey." Lizzie puts her hand on mine and smiles at me.

"You know," she continues. "I always thought you guys were perfect for each other but now I think it's for the best that she's gone. I think it's better if you're out of each other's lives. You can never be happy if you're too close but not exactly together and you'll probably never be happy if you're together. Too much has happened."

I look at her in shock. I never thought she would say this. Even last year when things looked pretty dark and bad, she always supported our relationship.

"Lizzie is right," Jack says. "You have to forget about her and start your own life."

My mind is racing and my heart is hurting. Are they right? Maybe they are. For the first time I realize that I never expected this break-up to be forever. I always counted on our love, we would always end up together. And now it hurts a lot to realize that we never will.

"Where did she go?" I ask. I swallow hard because there's a lump in my throat. For some reason it's important to know where she is.

"We don't know. She didn't know where to go when she left. She promised to text us as soon as she had arrived safely."

Why don't they know? Where did she go? It's a strange feeling not to know where in the world Charlotte is. It's a strange feeling not to know where my heart is. Ever since I met her, I always knew where she was. That was important to me. She was the center of my universe even if she hated me at first. I feel strangely off balance now.

"Is she okay?"

"No, but she will be."