*ON HIATUS* Lost Time | Charlie Barber

The End.

NEW YORK

Red.

     It was all I saw. I consumed myself in my painting, using only reds. The color represented my anger, resentment, and pain. The bliss we once felt was slowly fading out of sight.

     It was 11:30 at night with no contact with Charlie. This had become a trend: he came in late every night with some stupid excuse. "I'm sorry, my rehearsal just ended." "I'm sorry, the cast and I went out for a drink." "I'm sorry, one of the cast members wanted feedback on a certain scene and I lost track of time."  I had heard it all.

     Right out of high school, Charlie began to direct plays with a local theater troupe and pushed college back a year so he'd be able to start at the same time as me (Charlie's a year older). That wasn't fulfilling enough for him; he had to move on to bigger and better things.

     So, when I graduated, we both packed our things up and moved to New York together to pursue our theater dreams; he chased directing, and I chased acting. We used what savings we had to buy ourselves a little apartment, just big enough for the two of us. It was perfect for the time being.

     It started out great; our relationship was better than ever. Living together brought us even closer as partners and we fell even more in love. But, once Charlie submerged himself into his work, the relationship was put on the back burner.

     Work quickly got in the way. Between my auditions, I had to go work a job at a small coffee shop down the block to make sure we had a little bit of money. He was an intern for another big New York director, but Charlie went back to directing small productions on the side to bring in his share of finances as well.

     It didn't take long for Charlie to get recognition for his work. He was loved by all of his colleagues, who praised him relentlessly for his excellent work and his bright future. It gave him a really big head; anyone could tell that Charlie wanted to take any opportunity possible to flaunt his success.

     As a part of his internship, his boss would get him to go watch other local productions to see the other directors' techniques. Even though the spark in the relationship was burning out, he invited me to come to one, and I agreed.

     At this play, the lead actress couldn't keep her eyes off of Charlie. She was a petite blonde woman with a pixie cut and beaming smile. We sat near the front, so it was easy to sense the desire she had for the man who was slipping through my fingers. I knew at that moment, it was the beginning of the end.

     I focused on my painting, trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. Suddenly, he rushes in the doorway.

     "I'm sorry I'm late," he mumbled, walking over to me and giving me a meaningless kiss on the head. I slammed my paintbrush down, splattering paint onto the floor from the impact.

     "Why does this happen every night? What is going on?" I yell, looking at him in pure rage. He raised his eyebrows in anger, holding his hands up at me. "Whoa, where is this coming from? I walked in and was nothing but nice to you, yet here you are nagging me!" he shouted back, the fire in his eyes glowing bright.

     "I think I deserve to know why you come home late every single night, we kinda live together," I sarcastically hissed, rolling my eyes.

     He threw his arms back down to his side. "You really want to know? Sit down and we'll civilly talk about this, then," he said harshly, motioning at the sofa.

     I took a calming breath in and sat down at his side. Charlie was fidgeting with his thumbs like he usually did when he was nervous, and all the color had washed out of his complexion. I could tell something was wrong.

     "Y/N, you're right. You do have a right to know why I've been coming home late, why I've been distant. I just don't know where to start because I care about you so much," he whispered, staring across the room to avoid eye contact.

     "Just go ahead, Charlie," I cried softly, getting anxious for what he was going to say. He sighed loudly before looking at me with teary, bloodshot eyes.

     "Do you remember that play I took you to months ago?" he began quietly, his voice getting shaky. I let out a soft sob, knowing where this was headed.

     "It's her, isn't it?"

     Charlie broke down crying. "I was meaning to tell you earlier, I just didn't want to ever hurt you," he hiccuped, dropping from the couch to his knees. "It's just that things with us were going south and I didn't know what to do. I felt like she was the only person I had anymore, and it went further than I ever thought."

     I shook my head in disbelief. I knew it was bound to happen, but hearing it from him broke my heart.

     "Do you love her, Charlie?" I asked, the hot tears rapidly falling down my face. He looked up at me with a tear stained face. "I think I do. I'm so sorry, Y/N," he whimpered, reaching to hold my hand.

     I snatched my hand away, not letting him touch me. "Please just let me explain, baby," he cried, reaching for my hand again. I stood up and backed away from him. "Don't you dare touch me. I don't even want you near me; you betrayed me. There's absolutely nothing to explain, you've said it already. You love her," I hissed, the tears still training down my cheeks and off my chin.

This time, it was him looking at me in disbelief.

     "You made your choice, you fell for her while we were together. Instead of fixing what was broken, you got something new that didn't need repairing. Go and be with her, you obviously want to," I stated, scarily calm. He stood up and stepped towards me. His crying had stopped and the resentment had seeped back into his eyes. "You're right. I do want to go to her," he said coldly, walking over to the door and slamming it.

     Once he left, I stepped back over to my painting, looking at the shades of red that had been smeared all over the canvas. The color that used to represent passion and love now depicted anger, heartbreak, and deceit.

I didn't ever want to see Charlie Barber again.

A/N: i know this chapter is called "the end", but this is just a way to show how the relationship originally ended between charlie and y/n. but, as you can probably tell from the book description, they're going to fall for each other once again as the story progresses. anyways, happy reading! -bre<3