Being Wrong | ✓

Part 10

Travis half expected Charlie not to show after the way he'd looked at him and then just walked off at the end of lunch break, but just after seven there was a tentative knock on the door, barely loud enough to be heard over the stereo.

When Travis opened the door, Charlie was wearing pyjama pants and his fingers were tangling in the strings on his hoodie as Artemis rubbed against his leg. It took all of Travis' willpower to step aside and let him inside instead of finding out if Charlie felt as cuddly as he looked.

"Things okay?" Travis asked when Charlie stopped just inside the door and focussed the entirety of his attention on twisting his hoodie strings together.

Charlie nodded his head without looking up, but he didn't move.

"You want to sit down?"

Charlie nodded again, and finally he walked over and sat down on the sofa. Travis considered sitting down next to Charlie, but decided a spot on the other end was probably safer.

Once they were both seated, Travis was stuck. He just didn't know what to do with someone like Charlie. There were plenty of things he would have liked to do, sure, but most of them were out of the question. He would have been happy to just do whatever Charlie wanted, but Charlie was still intensely focussed on his hoodie strings.

"So, uh... tell me about you," Travis said after a full minute of awkward silence.

The small crease that formed in Charlie's brow as he continued swinging the strings was the only indication he'd heard Travis, until after much too long a stretch he finally said, "I don't know."

"Do you want me to leave you alone?"

Finally, Charlie glanced up, though only for a second. "No, I just, I don't know. It's a hard question."

"What kinds of things do you like doing?"

"Listening to music. Reading." Charlie shrugged. When he swung one of his hoodie strings around in a circle, Artemis, who had jumped up onto the back of the sofa, batted at it with her paw. The smallest of smiles curved Charlie's lips as he lifted the string to wiggle it in front of her.

"You like any TV shows? Movies?" Travis prompted.

Charlie twisted around to face Artemis as he played with her. "My dad didn't have a TV. Or a computer."

"That must have sucked," Travis said carefully.

Charlie shrugged again.

Travis resisted the urge to ask once more if Charlie wanted to be left alone. He'd chosen to come over tonight and he'd already said he didn't, but everything he did seemed to signal his complete disinterest in interacting with Travis.

"You want ice cream?" Travis tried.

That got Charlie's attention. "What kind?"

"Chocolate."

Charlie nodded. Travis was off the sofa and halfway to the kitchen by the time Charlie said, "Please."

Travis grinned and shook his head. "I think I have some M&M's in the cupboard." When Charlie was silent, Travis glanced over his shoulder at him. "You want M&M's on yours?"

"Yes, please."

Travis scooped two bowls of ice cream and sprinkled M&M's on top of them, then returned to the living room to find Artemis curled on her side on the back of the sofa and Charlie with his eyes shut and the top of his head pressed against her furry chest. For a moment Travis just stood there, a bowl of ice cream in each hand, and watched as Charlie rocked his head back and forth against Artemis while she purred enthusiastically into his hair. Charlie seemed to always look out of place, like he didn't quite belong in the world and was constantly aware of it, but just then, snuggled up with Artemis on Travis' sofa, he looked like he'd found one tiny place where he fit.