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Chapter Thirty-Six

Following a full day of classes, I was exhausted by the time the day was over. After almost falling asleep and missing my stop on the bus journey home, I practically crawled up the stairs to the flat and buried myself deep in my bed, still fully clothed.

When Charlotte's gentle knocking on the bedroom door woke me up, it was dark outside and I had absolutely no idea what the time was.

"Abs, Alex just called. Can I come in?" she called through a small crack in the door.

"Yeah, sure," I groaned, stretching out to release my muscles from the tight, fetal position I had fallen asleep in.

"It's good news, Abs," she beamed as she rushed in. "The meeting went so well, they've signed already."

Her words made no sense in my foggy, half-asleep state.

"Huh?" I replied.

"The band," she grinned. "The Ambition. They've just signed a record contract. It's really happening!"

As she threw her arms around my neck and hugged me tightly as I lay in bed, my brain finally caught up with the warp speed at which she had been talking.

"Oh my god!" I gasped. "That's amazing! I need to call Noah. Oh, wait..."

"What?" she replied, still laying across me with her arms around my neck.

"I, umm... I don't have his number," I replied.

"Are you taking the piss?" Charlotte smirked.

"Nope," I sighed, pressing my lips into a tight line. "We just... we haven't had the chance to swap numbers yet."

Charlotte threw her head back as she laughed. "Abi, the guy was practically naked in your bed yesterday morning. You both admitted to being a couple, but now you're saying you haven't even swapped numbers?"

I couldn't keep a straight face, she was right. I joined in with her laughter, covering my face with my palms as she finally released her grip and sat up.

"Well, luckily I do have my man's number." Charlotte teased, poking me in the ribs. "I just spoke to him to find out how we're celebrating. Come on. Get up and get glam, the party starts in an hour."

"Party?" I spluttered, "I've just woken up, Char. And it's a Monday for God's sake."

"Rock n' Roll lifestyle baby," she chuckled as she rolled off the bed and made her way to the door. "Better get used to it."

I lay there for another couple of minutes before dragging myself up and into the shower. After drying and straightening my hair, I began to rifle through my wardrobe, getting more frustrated by the second at my lack of nice clothes.

"Char," I said gently as I knocked on her bedroom door. "Can I borrow an outfit please?"

"I was waiting for you to ask," she called back. "Come in, it's already hanging up."

As I entered her room, I couldn't help smiling to myself at the sight of Charlotte at her dressing table, putting the finishing touches to her hair and make-up. She had seemed a lot less concerned with dressing up recently. As beautiful as she was naturally, seeing her paint on her smoky eyes and curl her blonde locks brought back a glimpse of the Charlotte I had always known. Fun, flirty Charlotte. The Charlotte she was before that monster did what he did on the night of Ben's funeral.

Looking towards her wardrobe, my mouth dropped as I saw the dress she'd picked out for me hanging on the door; short, black and lacy, with delicate long lace sleeves. Nothing at all like the any of the outfits I had in my collection.