a sky full of stars - louis partridge

purple

CHARLOTTE
FRIDAY, NOV 3rd 2020

"There we go," Charlotte said, stepping away from Elliott. There was still some purple dye on her hands that had failed to wash off before she had dried Eli's hair, trapped beneath her nails and in the creases of her skin. She grabbed the soap.  Eli stared at himself in the bathroom mirror, then looked to Charlotte. "Whoa," he said. "We look awesome."  River started laughing, covering his face. He was the only one out of the three of them who had wanted to keep his own hair colour, sitting on the edge of the bathtub, which was filled with more watery purple dye. "Eli, the school is gonna kill you."  River said, Eli just shrugged. "Who are they gonna tell? Mum won't pick up if they call. All they can do is tell me off."  "True," River said, glancing at Charlotte.

She just shrugged and looked back at her own reflection.  She quite liked the new colour they had chosen. It was a dark, purple, that seemed almost black unless it was caught in certain lights. It was even flattering on Eli.  They had decided to dye there hair immediately upon arriving home from their zoo trip. Margaret wasn't home anymore to tell them off. she had gone out to her friend Tracy's house. It was just them, boredom and a lot of hair dye. Charlotte hadn't realised just how messy it would get.

I'm fucking starving."  She said chewing at the inside of her cheek, thinking for a moment, then saying, "If you guys help me finish cleaning up I'll make us all Nutella on toast and hot chocolate. Deal?"  "Deal," they both said, getting on their feet and following her out.  Outside of the bathroom, the rest of the house was dark and quiet. It was only just past five o'clock, but with no one else home all the lights were off, and the effect the silence had was almost unnatural. While Eli and River finished cleaning up Charlotte headed down stairs to the kitchen to make some toast. it made Charlotte feel like she was the only person in the world.  She went to the pantry and pulled out bread and Nutella. She had done this for the three of them so many times over the years that she didn't even have to think about it anymore. Charlotte's graduation was tomorrow, she had been trying not to think about it but the day just kept getting closer and closer. She knew that after tomorrow her whole world was about to switch all over again. She had no idea what was in store for her, she still hadn't heard back from any of the fashion collages she had applied to, she applied for some local ones just incase she ended up not wanting to leave, she had been excepted to the university of greenwich which was only a train ride into to town away, but her dream forever had been to study fashion, in a new place, where nobody knew her name. But that was then, now she had responsibilities, like her siblings, her friends and him of course. She knew she wouldn't be able to leave him the moment he smiled back at her on the bus the very first time he had finally noticed her.

Half a minute later she heard a sound outside, startling her so badly she almost dropped the breadknife she was using to spread the Nutella. She ran quickly towards the door, a letter falling through the mailbox on her door right beside her feet. It has the label ESMOD International Paris on the front of it. She quickly grabbed the letter of the floor, pausing for a minute and taking a deep breath before ripping open the envelope and taking out the letter. She scanned though the words so fast, they all began to jumble together, that was until she saw these words. "Charlotte we are so excited that you have been accepted to join the ESMOD International Paris class of 2021." She screamed with excitement causing her brothers to run down stairs. "What happened" Eli said as river took the letter out of charlotte's hands, quickly reading it. "Charlotte no way this is amazing, you got in." He screamed, then wrapping his arms around her. "I hate to break the good mood but i don't know how i'm gonna be able to handle this is you leave" River said nervously. "Hey don't worry, I'm not going anywhere without you guys." Charlotte voiced. There was no way in the world she was gonna leave her brothers alone, with Margaret while she lived forever away. She couldn't bare the thought of it.

She decided not to dwell on it just yet, instead placing the toast on a plate and carrying it to the couch, before going back to carry up their three hot chocolates. River and Eli were already lying on the couch, waiting for her to come back.

"Grab these quickly before I drop them," Charlotte said, nodding at the hot chocolates. Both of them quickly took there mug. Eli immediately took a sip, burning his tongue.  "Ouch!" he shrieked, jolting backwards so fast it was a miracle none of his hot chocolate spilt on the floor. "Why is it so hot?" Eli said. River looked at him dryly. "What part of your brain told you that was a good idea?"  "So what movie should we watch," Charlotte said, ignoring them both.

She glanced back at Riv and Eli to see if they were listening, but both of them had their faces stuffed full of Nutella sandwich. Somehow Eli had even gotten Nutella smeared across his nose.  "We're good with whatever," River said, through a mouthful of food. "How about Captain America?" She said "yeah" Eli said. It was long into the movie before Charlotte zoned out. She was thinking about Louis. She couldn't leave him. He hadn't believed in love before he met her. She couldn't do something like that to him and shit didn't want to.

Charlotte glanced up at River and Elliot, who were both watching her intently. "What you thinking about?" River asked.. "is it Louis" he continued, sensing that something was wrong. Elliot just looked between them both. He didn't have much to contribute when Louis was brought up in conversation.  "Yeah," she said, forcing herself to take a bite out of her toast. "If I do...go to Paris and I take you guys with me, i just.. i don't know how I'd be able to leave him here."

"You must really love the guy" River said, a mischievous grin slowly spreading across his face. "She looked up at him from her toast, raising her eyebrows. "Shut up."  "You so love him. God I never thought this day would come, my own sister. You know I never thought I'd even see you bring a boy home"  "Well I don't know it just happened unexpectedly" Charlotte said blushing, but even as she spoke she knew he was right.

"Look just try not to overthink this collage thing to much you've still go time" Charlotte said. "Yeah i know"  She said pretending to actually take his advice into mind. She did want to go, but she knew she couldn't leave him. That boy had been cracked enough as it was and she knew that if she left, he would be shattered.  and it wasn't only that. he made her feel like home.