❝ I'm scared, scared I'll go back to being broken now that he isn't here to fix me anymore❞
Before, Florence Clarke was hospitalised for having anorexia, she was put on The List at Phillipson High and named the Fat Girl, at first Oakwood Clinic seem...
Cole still looked like someone had hit him over the head with something hard.
"You look familiar..."
Charlie curled a piece of her hair round her finger, winding and winding like a noose around someone's neck.
Cole approached them, wearing a nasty expression on his face, like he'd stepped on something sticky.
"Charlie" he said in a would be jovial tone "Meet Florence, Florence meet Charlie"
He was acting like Alex was part of the furniture.
Charlie clapped a hand to her mouth.
"No... it can't be"
She looked Florence up and down, Florence braced herself for some snarky remark, a few words tossed her way.
But instead to her shock Charlie tackled her into a bear hug, practically soaking her jacket with tears.
"I came her for you" she said "I came here because Chase meant alot to me once and I knew that whoever you were you must be extraordinary, absolutely extraordinary"
She pulled away, looking at Florence like a proud mother.
"And I was right your stunning and successful and I'm so, so happy to meet you!"
She turned to Alex "And who are you?"
"I'm Florence's um.. friend"
"Oh.. okay"
She had been so wrong, so judgemental she had thought that Charlie would be some sneaky deceptive kind of person, trying to wheedle her way back into Cole's life but here was this girl practically throwing her compliments.
But why was she surprised?
Chase had chosen Charlie after all, he would never have been with a shallow, heartless girl.
"I'm so happy to meet you too" she replied, a real smile on her face.
Alex had been studying the ongoing drama and looked slightly awkward, she needed to save the situation and continue avoiding Cole's stare.
"Well this was really nice, I hope we can talk soon but me and Alex actually came here for a coffee"
This was so, so awkward.
Charlie blinked, her smile still not turned down.
"Great, order anything literally anything on the house!"
How was one person able to bottle this much niceness inside one body?
"So your just going to ignore me then? It's not like we live together?"
She finally looked up and saw that Cole was glaring at her.
"Oh.. that's your roommate" Alex nodded like it was all making sense now.
"Yeah, I'm her roomamte"
Cole needed to calm the hell down.
"I don't know who you are, but Florence neglected to tell me about you"
"Maybe we should go somewhere el-" Florence began, needing to diffuse this highly fused situation.
But Charlie's expression of happiness stopped her from finishing the sentence, she didn't look at anyone as she literally dragged Alex to a table and sat down.
They were here for the damned coffee, not for some kind of reality show.
Charlie took their order, shooting Florence and apologetic smile.
As dates went it was probably one of the worst, they drank their coffee in practical silence all the while feeling the presence of the two staff members hovering over them, but Alex remained optimistic, trying to bridge some kind of conversation.
But her happy mood was gone, Cole had stolen it away.
They walked back without the easy conversation between them.
"So what was his deal... is there something going on with you two?" asked Alex when the silence had become painful.
"No" she replied too quickly.
"Okay, I know when I'm defeated, even if this whole thing didn't work out, I'd still like to be friends Florence"
Friends, that was a safer word, the non-betraying type of word.
"Sure Alex, I'd love to be friends"
"Great"
And then he reached out and hugged her, he smelled of pine cones and she inhaled deeply, she needed to be hugged, she needed to release all the craziness inside her, to deal with the fact that maybe her perceptions were wrong.
It was a long hug.
"See you around Florence"
"You can count on it"
And then he was gone.
Once in the flat she sat down on the table and just let herself think, about everything.
Charlie had seemed genuinely nice and sitting there she thought about something she had never thought about before, that maybe Charlie could understand her more than anyone else could, she had been close to Chase and probably was in as much pain as she was. She should make the effort to get to know her, to try and even out that pain.
And then she thought about the harder thing, Cole.
He had totally over-reacted in there, reversed the progress he had been making, these past few days since getting the job he had been calmer, more amiable and definitely easier to live with.
She maybe had to accept that she wasn't doing as good a job at helping him, at fixing him than she should have been.
Why had she even gone with Alex?
She had just been constantly comparing him to Chase and that wasn't fair, no one should have to live in the shadow of someone else.
Eventually Florence went to bed, unable to deal with her life, needing some hours of peace, she clutched the frame containing a piece of Chase to her chest so hard that it left deep grooves on her body, but somehow she wanted it to leave its physical mark on her, just like he had.
She wondered if she'd ever be able to love anyone ever again.
She guessed not.
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