Sweet as a Strawberry

9 ~Sweet as a Honey Comb

A/N: Look at the absolutely adorable cover mikkawrites made for me!

Chapter 9: Sweet as a Honey Comb (Charlotte)

"Charlie!" I heard Ginny screech as she entered the dorm, followed by the sound of her taking a swing at anything that stood in her way.

I peeked my head out of our room and grabbed her arm as she stomped down the hallway. "Oh wow," I said, a slight crease forming between my eyebrows. "What's gotten into your knickers?"

She stumbled inside and almost collapsed on the floor, but I took her arm and guided her to her bed.

"Are you drunk, Virginia?" I asked sternly, staring at her. It was ten in the morning!

"I am not called Vagina," she muttered indignantly.

I raised my eyebrows. "Uh huh," I said, nodding.

"I'm not drunk," she protested, swatting away my fluttering hands. "Jesus, stop hovering!"

I bit my lip. I always worried about her - she tended to hook up spontaneously when she got drunk, and there was only one reason why she would drink in the first place. "What happened?" I asked softly, taking her by the elbow so she would stop smacking me.

"Nothing!"

I stared at her stuttering and bright red face. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah..."

She had something she was trying to hide. I sighed. "Which guy was it?" I asked.

"Zachary!" she suddenly wailed, throwing her arms around me and burying her face in my neck. "I went to a party to break up with him, but he kissed another girl before I could!" At ten in the morning?

I rubbed her back soothingly, but at her words, my eyes widened. She never got upset when one of her boyfriends cheated on her, and she was never this teary over being dumped first. It hurt her pride whenever it happened, but never reduced her a mess like right now. "Do you...do you like him?" I asked. I was treading on thin waters here. Ginny didn't do crushes.

"Of course I liked him! He was fucking fit and the sex was incredible!"

I winced slightly at her words. "That's not what I meant. I mean, do you...fancy him?"

The hands that clutched my neck tightened almost imperceptibly, but I still felt it. "No," she replied, a bit too quickly to sound like the truth.

"You can tell me, you know?" I said quietly, massaging her back. "You don't have to, but you can if you want to, whenever you want."

"Thanks, Charlie. You're the best friend ever," she mumbled.

I smiled and released her, gently pushing her on her back. Now that her tear ducts were dry, she needed rest. "Here, have a little kip, my shift starts soon. When I come back, I'll bring back some films and we can have a movie-and-cupcake marathon!"

She blinked at me. "Pride and Prejudice and double chocolate chunk?" she ordered more than asked, already almost like her usual self.

I laughed at her. "Of course, I'm in the mood for some Darcy, myself. I'll just leave some aspirin for you and be off."

"Yeah, okay," she said, snuggling under her covers and turning to face the wall.

I grabbed the aspirin bottle from a bathroom cabinet and placed it at her bedside table. Then I picked up my keys and locked the room, before skipping over to my car and starting the engine. When I reached the bakery, I frowned when I realised that it was locked. I unlocked it, flipped the sign to 'Open,' and checked in.