Well Played - Calum Hood (AU)

7: Liability

Charlotte Sparks

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Michael places the full box onto my bed before looking around my room, his eyes lingering on a framed photo of our family from when we were younger. I look through the box to find he's given back the most ridiculous things like my favourite mug and fork. But there at the bottom of the box is a very familiar book. The glitter glue has been chipped off, the photo of us on the front is bent at the corners and the edges have frayed. I flip through the book and the memories of making this for him flood my mind. I made it for him for our first Valentines day together, it's full of our memories together. 

"Char?" Michael places a hand on my shoulder. "You okay girl?"

"Yea" I sniff and wipe my eyes. "Yea, i'm fine".

"Okay well, someone is messaging you" he points to my phone on my nightstand. 

I pick it up to find messages from Maddie asking for a date and time confirmation. I quickly read through the messages and confirm everything before grabbing the Luke box, I just shove it under my bed. I don't plan on pulling it back out anytime soon. 

"Thank you for grabbing it" I don't look at Michael. He knows i'm upset, but I don't want to show him how upset I truly am.

"Of course Char" he falls into the beanbag in the corner of my room. "What are you doing today?"

"I have to go into the office in a few hours, we're getting some new equipment so I get to check out the new cameras" I sigh as I sink into my bed. "What about you?"

"Nothing until practice tonight" he pauses. "I'll drive you to the office and then we can get lunch?"

"Sure" I smile at him.

We both begin doing our own things in silence until it's time to leave. While we're driving to the office I suddenly remember i'm going to have to see Grace. There is no avoiding her today, I have to be ready to have a talk with her even if it's just small talk. As I walk into the office I feel my anxiety bubbling in the pits of my stomach. For a moment I thought she wasn't working and today was my lucky day, but then her head popped up. Her eyes go wide when she notices me and she begins stuttering.

"Hey" my voice cracks as I speak, so I clear my throat. "Would you be able to chat after?"

"Y-Yes, of course I can" she stutters, her cheeks going bright red as I look down at her. "I finish in twenty minutes, we could go to the cafe?"

"Yea, that sounds good" I give her what I hope is a warm smile before I head to the back.

The conference room is filled with other photographers, all of us have been given specific sections to look through depending on how advanced we are. I'm in one of the lower sections, and there really isn't many cameras to look at. The ones laid out in front of me are the same cameras i've been using since I started working here, so I have no interest in taking any for upcoming jobs I have.

So I step away from the table and let the younger people take what they need. I bite at my nails as I slowly realise I haven't improved at all recently. I haven't moved up in four months now, the people that used to be in my group are in the group above me now. I'm with the fresh twenty year olds that are new hires. 

"Charlotte" Dale, my manager, stands next to me. He looks at me with a smile before he continues speaking. "Are you taking anything?"

"No, not this time" I don't make eye contact. 

"Hm, is there a reason?" I finally look up at him, but I don't answer his question. "I can guess why".

"You probably can" I sigh while looking down at my hands. 

"Come by my office tomorrow, I have some positions that might suit you better than the hockey teams" he pats my shoulder. 

He doesn't give me the chance to say anything to him before he walks away. I take that as my chance to leave, when I step out into the hallway I spot Grace sitting on the bench across from me. Neither of us say anything to each other, we just begin walking downstairs to the cafe. A million scenarios of what's about to happen run through my mind. I don't know if I want to leave here with a new friend, but I know that I don't want to leave with an enemy. 

Grace and I order some drinks before sitting down at a table tucked away in the corner. We sit in silence for a while, both of us sipping our drinks waiting for the other to say something. I end up speaking first, not being patient enough to wait any longer for her. 

"I'm sorry" I say without thinking. "You um, you never deserved what happened. I-I don't know who posted the videos, I never wanted that to happen. I really can't imagine how you have been feeling, I didn't even think about it and I feel really bad about that".

"No Charlotte, please" Grace shakes her head then looks at me, tears already welled up in her eyes. "You have no reason to apologise. I slept with your boyfriend, i'm the one that needs to apologise. I truly am so sorry, Charlotte".

"Did you really not know we were together?" I swallow, scared to hear her answer.

"No I really didn't" A tear slips from my eye but i'm quick to wipe it away. "We never spoke at work so I didn't know your personal life. W-When I met Luke he told me he was single and just wanted some fun, but looking back now I see that was the first red flag".

"First?" I frown.

"I, um-" She pauses. "I was very stupid, I really believed he liked me. We met at a party then spent the night together, he never gave me a real phone number or anything. We continued seeing each other at parties and then one day he was at our work, he asked for my address so I wrote it on a paper. He showed up that night and I thought he was starting to actually like me".

"Grace-" she cuts me off.

"I'm so sorry, I don't know why i'm telling you these details" she gasps while shaking her head. Tears are still falling from her eyes, and some are falling from mine too. 

"No, I want to hear it. I don't know the truth of anything, this is the first time i'm hearing about it all Grace. Luke instantly made me the bad guy even though he cheated, he hasn't explained anything to me. And honestly I don't want an explanation from him, at this point I trust you more" I attempt to give her a comforting smile.

"Charlotte" She swallows as I notice more tears building up in her eyes. "H-He never told me he was recording".

"What?" My stomach drops and I find myself sitting up straighter.

"I um, I didn't know he had a video until they were posted" she wipes the tears that are quickly falling from her eyes. 

"Grace" I reach out and grab her hand. "I'm so sorry. You never deserved any of this".

"But I do" she sobs, pulling her hand from mine. "I-I slept with your boyfriend, Charlotte. You should be angry at me, you should've been the one to post those videos!"

I let her cry for a moment as my mind goes blank. I want to so badly agree with her, I want to be mad but I just can't. My heart cracks at the thought of these girls lives being ruined because of my ex boyfriend. I've been crying my eyes out for weeks now because he cheated on me, but I never once imagined how the other girls would've reacted. I feel my heart break again as I watch Grace walk away from the table as she sobs into her hands, still blaming herself.