Charley Effie Black

Chapter 77 - Oliver Preferred Waffles

Part of Charley expected Oliver to be back in the morning when she woke up, so when she awoke, she started crying again as she stared at the empty half of the bed that he took up. She hated being alone. She hated not being with him. She hated that she missed him. She'd survived without him for so long, how could she not bare to be without him now? What was so different?

She must've been in her room for a long time because eventually there was a knock on the door. "Char? Olly? Genevieve said you'd promise to play with her in the morning!" Lottie yelled.

Charley groaned and tucked her tear-soaked strands of hair behind her ears. "I'll um... Maybe later!" Charley yelled back.

"Charley! Charley!" Genevieve squealed from the other side of the door. "Horsies!"

"Charley, are you two presentable? Can we come in just for a little bit? Genny is really excited."

Charley knew it was no use. They'd eventually realize Oliver wasn't there if they hadn't already. She picked up her wand and flicked it toward the door to unlock it. "Yeah," she quietly said, hoping they wouldn't hear. Sadly, they walked in. Lottie was holding Charles while Genevieve ran in with three horse toys. She climbed her way up onto Charley's bed and handed her a horse.

"Olly?" Genevieve asked. She crawled over to Oliver's side of the bed and checked under the pillow. "Where Olly?"

Charley avoided Lottie's gaze as she stared at the horse toy set in front of her. "He um... He had to go see his family, Genny," Charley lied.

Genevieve made her way back over to Charley and wrapped her arms around her. "Charley sad?" she asked.

Charley shook her head and forced a smile for Genevieve. "I'm okay, Genny," she lied again.

"Mummy, Charley sad." Lottie smiled softly at Charley and set Charles down on the bed, handing the baby the final horse to play with.

"What happened, Charley? Are you guys okay?" she quietly asked, placing a hand on Charley's back and rubbing it softly. Genevieve watched for a moment before grabbing her horse and playing with Charles.

"We got in an argument yesterday morning and we tried to ignore it until we were putting Genny to bed. It escalated quickly and then he packed a bag and left," Charley told Lottie, fighting the urge to cry. She'd had boyfriends before. If they broke up, she'd find a new one. That's how it always worked.

"Did he tell you how long he'd be gone for?"

"He said a few days to cool down. So I bet within tomorrow or the next day, he'll be back," Charley said before breaking down again. "He'll probably pack up all his things."

"Oh, sweetie," Lottie said, wrapping her arms around Charley and pulling her into a hug. "We can't let that happen. The two of you are young. You need to calmly talk to each other."

"We try, Lot. We tried and it escalated to a screaming match."

"Your parents were the same way, Char. Just give it a day or so and try to talk to him again. When you're both calmed down a little bit," Lottie told Charley. Charley nodded at her and thanked her softly.

. . .

Charley woke up the next day to the smell of pancakes. She sprung out of bed, figuring that Oliver had come back. However, as she walked into the kitchen, she found James and Jayde cooking the pancakes with Harvey on chocolate milk duty. She almost started crying as she thought about Oliver teaching them all to make pancakes.

"Can I flip a pancake now?" Harvey complained.

"Harvey, no," Jayde told him.

"I'm not a little kid! I can flip one over!"

"Mum said only with adult supervision," James sided with his sister.

"I'm not that much younger than James! How come he gets to do it?" Harvey protested, throwing up his hands and crossing his arms grumpily.

"Harvey!" Jayde shouted, spinning around, but she froze as she saw Charley standing in the doorway. "Surprise!" Jayde weakly said.

"Mum said that you were having a hard time without Olly. So we decided to make you breakfast like he did when he was here," James explained.

Charley nodded and faked a smile. "Thank you guys," she told them.

"Now can I flip a pancake?" Harvey asked. Jayde and James both scurried away from the pancakes and let Harvey flip one with Charley. He grinned widely up at Charley before flipping another one proudly.

"Good job, Harvey," Charley told him.

"Olly must really love pancakes if he puts up with us trying to help him every morning," Jayde muttered. Charley nodded as she looked over at Jayde.

Oliver preferred waffles.