Charlie is running.
He has no idea where he's going, but he's acutely aware of Evan bursting through the café doors behind him. They both spill out onto the sidewalk.
"Chuck, stop," Evan gasps.
"Why would she do this?!" Charlie shrieks. He's too close to hysterics to worry about how unhinged he sounds. He starts toward their apartment, but Evan gets a grip on his jacket sleeve and yanks him back.
"I don't know, Chuck. But can we be calm about this for a second?"
Charlie shoves him off. "You read the article, Evan! It said—"
Evan shoves him back. "I know what it said! But you need to chill out for two seconds so you can think straight, OK?"
Charlie rakes both hands into his hair.
After three years — three years — this is the first piece of information he's gotten about Griffin outside of the, "She's doing fine" he gets from Lauren and Matty whenever he works up the nerve to ask. Even Evan has a strict, "I'm not getting into this again with you" policy...
But now?
Reading that article now is just enough of a fix to unravel any progress Charlie's made in getting over Griffin Connelly. He and Evan both know it.
"Look, man," Evan says, "all the article said was something about Griffin's senior group project and that Lauren's mom helped edit it. You're jumping to conclusions here. You might not even be in it."
Bullshit. And Charlie knows Evan knows that, too.
"It said the story takes place the summer before her freshman year of college, Evan. You honestly think for a second that doesn't involve me?"
Evan huffs out a sigh. "OK, then what the fuck do you wanna do about it?"
"I don't know," Charlie groans. He already has the App Store open on his phone. "Can you send me the link to the article?"
Evan nods at the screen suspiciously. "What're you doing?"
"Griffin's group used some website called Wattpad for their project research." Charlie ignores the jump his stomach gives at saying her name out loud. "I'm downloading the app and I need to get their username from the article."
"Chuck..." Evan hesitates. "Maybe that's not the best—"
"Don't start with that shit again," Charlie snaps clean across him.
"Jesus." Evan winces and puts his hands up. "Easy. I'm just saying. You know where I stand on this."
"Yeah, I do."
"But, you also know I've got your back on this." Evan sighs. "Whatever the hell this is."
A/N: Hehehehe I could picture this scene so vividly in my head when writing it. Charlie's kind of over the top and Evan's loyal AF. It kind of wrote itself.
Thoughts?
—Alex
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