A/N: Hi! If you're going to comment or message me, please say more than just 'update' <3 tell me how you're doin or something!
dedicated to XXsweetrevengeX for the absolutely beautiful cover you see on the side!! :)
Chapter 23: Sweet as a Sundae
My head tipped back. "Your house," I said, awestruck. "It's not a house..."
"It's not mine, either," Ben muttered.
I glanced at him. His back was stiff and straight and his expression was pinched. It was obvious how much he didn't want to be here, and I really wished that we could leave. But he needed to do this - face his demons and make peace.
We stood on the lawn that lay before the mansion, and I was just looking up at it. It was huge and extremely beautiful.
Archer nudged me. "The cake is melting, we should go in," he said.
I glanced at Ben again. He didn't look as though he was ever going to move. "Ben?" I asked tentatively.
"What?" he said, his voice tense.
I didn't like this. "Let's go in, okay?"
Ben nodded and began walking, his movements jerky and his strides long. Archer and I looked at each other and hurried to catch up to him. I didn't like how upset he was, and I didn't like how hard he was working to cover up that sadness with harshness. I ran up beside Ben and laced my fingers with his. His grip on my hand tightened, and I smiled.
At the front door, Ben abruptly stopped, and I slammed into his back. "Oh," I squeaked in surprise, stepping back and rubbing my nose.
"Sorry," he said, but sounded extremely distracted.
I waited for a moment, and when Archer started jumping impatiently, I tapped Ben on the shoulder. "Ben?"
"What?"
"Could you please look at me?"
When he turned to me, his expression was distant and cold, and I could tell that he wasn't really looking at me - his mind was somewhere else.
I frowned worriedly. "Ben, come back to Earth."
His mouth twisted into a scowl. "What, Lottie? Why do you always want something from me?"
I was taken aback. "What do you mean?"
"You can't just say stuff like that," he said loudly and unkindly. "You can't just pretend that you can fix everything, because you can't!"
I gulped. "I-I know that-"
"No you don't! You don't know how hard it is for me to do this, and yet you pretend that you do! I don't need your help, okay?"
My self-defence mechanism was to smile - it had always been like that. I couldn't help that whenever I felt hurt, I hid it with happiness. My mouth wavered into a shaky smile as I took a few steps back. "I'm sorry," I tried to say. "I didn't mean for-"
Ben turned away. "You don't care," he said. "God, Charlotte, don't you have the decency to know not to look so happy to see me this mad?"
The smile dropped. I didn't know he felt that way. I didn't know he thought I was just pretending to care. I thought I'd made it clear how much I liked him.
My heart stuttered when I realised that he'd called me Charlotte. Even though his back was turned to me, I lifted my chin and pressed my lips together so that an outsider wouldn't know that anything was wrong. I didn't say anything in response to Ben, because it seemed that anything I said just made him angrier and more annoyed. He didn't need more stress right now.
Archer's mouth was wide open when I looked at him. He was shocked. I tossed him a small smile. Maybe I was just overreacting. Maybe I didn't mean as much as I thought I had. I took a deep breath. Don't cry, Lottie.
Lottie. Only Ben called me Lottie.
Don't cry, Charlie.
I was just overreacting, like the silly little girl most people thought I was. How could I possibly feel such things over a few simple sentences? The only answer was that I was being stupid. Silly.
I needed to get over myself. Stop being so lame. Stop overreacting. Take a deep breath. He was just upset. Maybe he didn't mean what he said. My thoughts jumbled into each other until my head hurt. I shuffled backward.
Ben wouldn't turn around to look at me, which led me to believe that he meant every single word he had said. But I had told him that we would do this together and I wasn't backing out. I wanted him to know that I wasn't in it just for the ride.
Archer put a hand on my shoulder and gave me a sympathetic look. I just smiled and nodded towards the door. "Open it," I whispered. I gestured to the cake and he handed it to me while he searched for his keys.
I kept my distance from the brothers as Archer walked up beside Ben and clapped him on the shoulder. "Ready?" he said to Ben. Ben remained silent as the pristine white door swung open. "Alright, come on in."
I felt utterly insignificant as I stepped through the doorframe and into the beautiful mansion. The floors were smooth white and black marble, and the halls were lined with beautiful landscape paintings and thousand pound vases.
I had barely stepped inside and I was already lost.
It didn't look like a celebration of any kind was going on. I stood awkwardly on the foyer, waiting for some sort of direction. Archer strode forward, and so I followed him after a quick glance at Ben. He stood in front of one of the paintings, and I couldn't see his face.
I figured he needed some alone time, so I kept following Archer. "We should put this in the fridge," I said quietly.
He waited for me to catch up and then threw his arm around my shoulders. "I don't know what's up with him, Charlie," he said sadly. "I bet he's just really stressed."
I shrugged. "Don't worry about it, kiddo," I said, even though he stood a foot taller than me.
I guess something in my expression made Archer rethink his next words, because he just sighed and ushered me forward. I decided to change the subject.
"How did you end up in my bakery?" I asked. Good Eats was fairly popular with the locals and the uni students, but I didn't know that city dwellers had any idea about us.
Archer paused. "I heard Mrs. Wellington tell my mum about seeing Ben over there," he said. "I just wanted to try my luck."
I smiled, and it was a little more real this time because I was so happy for him. "I'm really glad," I said. "I'm glad you found him, and I know he's glad too."
Archer patted my head. "I think it was a bad idea to bring him here, though. But I don't know what the big deal is."
I frowned. Did Archer not know about Ben being disowned? "No, it was a good idea," I assured him. "Ben needs this."
Archer shrugged and continued leading me down the white marbled floor and through different doors until we reached a large, metal door. "Here's the kitchen," he announced, letting go of me in order to open the door.
When he did, I jumped in surprise. The kitchen was bustling with people dressed in white and black, plates of food in their hands while others stood in front of stoves and ovens, doctoring the cooking food. My eyes travelled across the hot room, and I noticed a huge, four layer cake perched on top of the fridge, decorated with white fondant and covered in silver flowers.
"Archer, what on Earth?" I said, shocked. I looked at the cake in my hands and frowned. "What was the point of this?"
He grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. "I didn't want to be that douche who walks into a store and walks right out without buying anything."
"So you wasted money on something you weren't even going to eat?" I said in a scolding tone.
Archer rolled his eyes, reminding me largely of Ben. Ben looked exactly like that when he rolled his eyes at me.
I pursed my lips. I hoped Ben was okay. "Where should I put this, then?"
Archer led me over to the fridge and opened it up. "Just shove it anywhere," he said.
There was absolutely zero space. Every inch of every shelf was covered in cold cuts and condiments and vegetables and bread and cream. I had to balance the now useless cake on top of three jars of raspberry jam, where it wobbled precariously as I shut the fridge door.
I looked at Archer, who was watching me carefully. "What now?" I asked. I definitely wasn't dressed for any fancy occasion. Maybe I should just-
"Miss Carter!" a shrill voice screeched from the entrance of the kitchen.
I jumped and turned around, my eyes finding a tall, thin white-haired woman running over to me. She was dressed in a black pencil skirt and white blouse - professional enough to be part of the staff, but not fancy enough for a guest.
I furrowed my eyebrows and looked at Archer. He shrugged. "I'm Charlotte Carter," I said to the woman.
She eyed me up and down, her nose wrinkling in surprise. "Where is your luggage?" she asked.
"Luggage?"
"You are Mr. Fisher's girlfriend, are you not? I was informed that you two would be staying the weekend. Mr. Fisher's room has been prepared for you two-"
"Oh, I'm not staying the weekend!" I said, my eyes widening in horror. I looked at Archer again, and he blinked nervously. "What did you do?" I mouthed.
The woman frowned. "You must, Miss Carter. Madame Fisher has already been informed and is eagerly awaiting your arrival."
"B-but I can't stay that long," I stammered. "I have work, and school-"
"That can be easily taken care of, Miss Carter."
I was running out of excuses. I didn't want to stay here the weekend. I wanted to go back - back to Ginny and Diana and Queenie. Diana would kill me for missing a shift. Ginny would kill me for leaving her on her own. "I didn't bring any spare clothes," I said desperately. My hands clasped together so that she would know how much I wanted to leave.
She cocked her head. "You don't want to be with Mr. Fisher, Miss Carter?"
I blinked, taken aback. Why would he not leave? "Is he staying?"
"Yes, miss."
I could feel myself wavering. I didn't want him to go through this by himself. But on the other hand, he didn't want me to be here. And he had Archer. I could just hire a car and ride back home. Forget that this ever happened.
Archer tapped me on the shoulder. "I asked him to stay," he said. "And I think you should, too."
"Why?" I asked, feeling myself wilting down. If I was a flower, all this negativity would've turned me dry and brown. "You heard him. He doesn't want me here."
He scoffed and waved a hand around. "Don't listen to that fucker. He's just being stupid. I would've thought you'd be used to it by now."
I tried to smile at his attempt at cheering me up. "Hey, it doesn't matter. It's your parents' anniversary, it's got nothing to do with me."
Archer grabbed my arm and looked over my head at the woman. "Laura, I'll take care of this."
The woman, Laura, nodded stiffly and turned around, seemingly eager to get out of the stuffy kitchen. "You'll take care of this?" I parroted, raising my eyebrows. I didn't want to be taken care of. I kind of just wanted to go home and eat lots and lots of cookie dough ice cream.
Archer put his hands on my shoulders and bent down to my eye level. "Look, Charlotte, I need you to stay. Nobody in this whole place knows jackshit about my brother - even me."
I shrugged, my head falling down so that I wouldn't have to look at him. "You know, Archer, I don't even know if I know him. God, the only personal things I know about him are that he likes blueberry yoghurt and doesn't like sweets!"
Archer shook his head. "I don't think you understand, Charlie."
"What don't I understand?"
"Him and you - you don't see it, but from an outsider's point of view, there are no two people more right for each other than you and my big brother."