Royal Mistake || BxB || Complete.

Chapter Eight

Charles's POV:

My hand tapped against the edge of the table as I waited for Alex in the kitchen, I was excited to tell him the news that my sister was coming here for vacation but at the same time a strange feeling was fighting against my excitement, I didn't know what it was but chose not to focus on it. 

40 minutes had passed and there was still nothing, I knew he never woke up late, he didn't like wasting his day away, I stood up and walked up the stairs and towards his art room and slowly opened the door, he didn't notice as the slow but loud music covered any sound around it, he sat in front of a painting, it looked finished and I noticed he wasn't painting, he had something else in his hand. 

His hand roamed around the edges, he looked afraid to touch it, as the lighter in his hand ignited every few seconds then stopped, the hesitation was evident in his shaky hand and I felt as if I was intruding on a private moment, suddenly he threw the lighter to the floor and smacked his hand against the table harshly, I flinched for him but he didn't seem affected by the pain as he kept his hand on the table and stared onto nothing, the song faded out and the silence was my cue to make my presence known. 

'Alex', I didn't know what else to say, I could almost see his body stiffen up a little bit as he didn't turn around to meet my eyes, I walked closer and put my hand on his shoulder and he still refused to turn around, 'talk to me, what's going on?', I heard him let out a shaky breath and his head slowly turned towards me, his face was red and his eyes had tears in them, he reached his hand and wiped the ones setting on his face. 

He stood up calmly and grabbed the lighter he had thrown to the floor, 'let's go to the balcony', his voice was raspy proving to me that he had been crying for a while, I followed him without hesitation as he sat on one of the chairs, I sat opposite to him, giving him some space in case he needed it, he reached into his pocket and grabbed a small object, he placed it in between his lips and grabbed the lighter sitting on his lap to light it. 

I stared slightly stunned, he took a long breath, releasing the toxic smoke back into the air, 'you smoke?', I tried my hardest not to stutter on my words, he turned to me a sad smile on his face, 'only when I need to', 'why do you need to?', I softened my voice and tried not to sound nosy when I spoke, 'I don't really know, but it gives this numbing sensation, it's not calming really, it just completely kills everything, I've always craved that feeling, especially in moments like this, where the world feels like it's collapsing on me with the truth but I fight it with every ounce in my body because lying to myself is much easier'. 

His voice was nonchalant, like he had said the most normal thing he could've said, like his heart wasn't breaking with every word he spoke, we sat in silence for the few minutes afterwards, he finished his cigarette putting it out and staring into the sky, my words wouldn't seem to form into anything coherent, 'I have archery practice in a few, I should head out', he broke the silence like it hadn't been there, 'wait-', I stopped him even though he wasn't moving, 'I don't want you to go like that, just hear me out, you have something going on that you feel like you can't talk about, and I don't want you to talk about it, but at the same time you cannot keep agonizing over it in your head, it won't end well, the truth of things isn't always good, being honest with yourself despite the consequences though, that's the only thing that'll stop this feeling of being lost'. 

I stopped and sighed as his face didn't change, he looked relaxed but thoughtful, 'take all the time you need in the world to face whatever it is that hurts you, but never let it take over you unless you're strong enough to beat it in that fight, you're too good of a person to be hurt like that Alexander', he looked into my eyes a small smile forming on his face, 'and you're too good to be my friend', I returned his smile with mine.