"No," Eliza says sounding exasperated and accompanying the comment with a roll of her eyes, "he's gay Charlie. And totally not my type. And totally in love with this guy called Charlie."
"Charlie?"
"You, dickface."
"Finn's not in love with me."
"God this conversation is just going round in circles," Eliza sighs, then louder, "look Martin, Finnegan likes you, I'm not sure how much, but it seems like a lot. You evidently like him even though I know you're about to deny it and so will the two of you just fuck already so the damn sexual tension will disappear."
"There's no sexual tension."
"I swear I am five seconds away from hitting you."
"Fine," Charlie says, "point taken, I disagree but I'll take what you have said into consideration."
"Thank you, you know you should just get accustomed to knowing that I'm always right."
"That's not what I said."
"But deep down you know it's true."
The unfortunate thing is that deep down Charlie does indeed know this. He knows that he likes Finn, that his body does stupid things whenever he's near the other boy, like blushing and stammering. But he also knows that Finn most likely does not feel the same way back. Finn said it himself, he flirts with everyone. He also said he moved on so whatever feelings he did have have evidently upped and disappeared.
They've reached the coffee shop by this point and stay quiet the entire time they're queuing. Charlie lets Eliza order and then they're on their way again, he searches for the right words to say, worried that the silence is becoming uncomfortable.
"Even if I did like Finn," Charlie says, "y'know hypothetically."
"Hypothetically of course," Eliza says, sounding like she believes it's anything but.
"I don't think he does like me back. I think you're reading too much into things, I mean he's just trying to be friendly."
"I'm sick of saying this but I'll say it one last time. Finn flirts with people yes, and Finn has been known to fuck around. But Finn generally does not combine that with friendship. So yes, Finn is friends with you, yes he's flirting with you. But I've been friends with him for long enough now to know that when he flirts with you he actually means it."
All Charlie can do in response is shrug.
---
It's a couple of hours later when Charlie looks up from his laptop and realises that everyone except for Finn and him have packed up and left.
Finn looks up and their gazes catch, Finn smirks mischievously, Charlie smiles bashfully.
"You don't have to stay if you want to go," Finn says, pulling his earphone out, "it's kinda late and I don't mind staying alone."
"Is that your way of telling me that you'd rather I wasn't here?"
"Not at all."
"Good. Cause I've still got some work to do so you can't kick me out just yet," Charlie tells Finn, his voice finally taking on a teasing tone.
"I wouldn't dream of it."
Finn offers another smile, then he's rifling through bits of paper once again, jotting down notes, chews on the end of his pen as he puzzles over something. Charlie would be lying if he said that Finn wasn't providing a distraction, if the sight of Finn in black rimmed glasses, tired but still somehow full of energy didn't make Charlie think about things he really shouldn't.
