She woke up early, his head still buried in the crook of her neck. She groaned, rubbing at her eyes. Her head throbbed as she looked around the room, memories of the night before immediately flooding her mind.
She pulled herself away from Thomas, taking one last glance at the innocent and clam look on his face as he slept. Her feet tiptoed soundlessly and she rushed into her own room, trying to keep herself from making any noise that would cause Thomas to wake.
She tried to think of all of the places she could go without having to see him. She couldn't go to Jordan's, he was out of town, she didn't know where Lucy lived and it would be awkward if she went to Dylan's place.
She checked her phone for the time and saw it was only 7:00 a.m. Conor would kill her if she arrived at his apartment this early.
She decided she would get dressed and clean herself up slowly, that way it would probably be around 8 by the time she even got to leave her apartment, but she was conscious of Thomas waking up. She didn't want to speak to him.
She had been so vulnerable in front of him the night before. Her nightmare made her look at him completely differently, a side that she had never seen of him before seemed to be the only thing she could think of when she looked at his face.
She quietly closed the apartment door and crept out, before releasing a sigh of relief.
Her walk to Conor's apartment took longer than she had expected and by the time she got there she was exhausted.
She knocked on the door three times, her patience running out as it took too long for someone to answer the door.
Suddenly it was pulled open by a grumpy looking Jamie, who wore nothing apart from his underwear.
She glanced at his abs before tearing her eyes away, making eye contact with him instead.
He stared at her with a frown, "What are you doing here?"
"I woke up super early and realized I hadn't seen my brother in a few days so I thought I'd pop around for a visit," She mumbled, fiddling with her fingers at the blatant lie she had just told.
She was getting a lot better at lying, a quality which she didn't exactly like about herself.
He pushed the door open further and stepped aside, allowing her to walk pass
him.
She kept her eyes focused solely on his face, making sure they didn't try to wander anywhere else.
"Is he still asleep?" She asked.
He shook his head, "He has a class. So does Preston. Feel free to wait around but I'm going back to sleep."
He walked over to his make shift bed on the couch and tucked himself under the blanket, rolling himself over.
"Sorry for not being a better host but it is way too early for me to be awake," He grunted, his voice muffled by the cushions on the couch.
She shrugged as a loud yawn escaped her mouth, "I'll just go to sleep in Conor's bed until he gets back."
She walked into the first room she saw and took a look around. His room was unusually clean. She smiled to herself, realizing that he had finally gained some responsibility and started cleaning up after himself.
She kicked off her shoes and flung herself into the bed, pulling the large duvet covers over her.
She slept peacefully until she was disturbed by a figure standing at the end of the bed staring at her.
She peeled one eye open and glared at Preston, "What are you doing in here?"
"What am I doing in here? What are you doing in here? This is my bed," He told her, frowning at the girl.
She jumped up quickly and looked around, of course the room was too clean to be Conor's.
"I thought this was Conor's room," She admitted, climbing out of his bed.
He glanced at her hair which was currently all over the place and rolled his eyes, "Whtever."
The last conversation they had entered her mind and she realized how annoyed she was at Preston. Not only had he called her names but he had also treated her best friend like dirt.
He raised his eyebrows as she continued to stare at him, "Why are you looking at me like that?"
She rolled her eyes, "Because you're an asshole."
She walked away from him, only to be dragged back by her elbow, "If this is about the camping trip then I'm sorry for everything that I said about you. I didn't know you had an eating disorder."
She looked at his hand that was wrapped around her elbow threateningly and he glanced at her annoyed face before he quickly released it, resting his hand back by his side once again.
"One, Don't touch me and two, if you tell anyone about that I swear I will make you regret it," She held her finger in front of his face and he smirked at her threat, but made no comment about it.
"I'm shocked that you think I'd tell someone about that. Since when I have I been one to tell your secrets?" He asked, his voice almost turning into a growl.
She shook her head, "You Don't know any of my secrets to tell."
He shrugged, "I know enough."
She stared at him questioningly and he spoke up before she could say anything.
"And besides, why would I be talking about you anyway? There's better topics of conversation."
Her eyes rolled before she could stop them and she spoke up, not giving him the chance to interrupt her again, "I'm just saying, if I do happen to come up in conversation then don't mention anything about what I told you, to anyone."
"So not even Conor? I'm assuming he'd know about this."
"Of course he knows but I don't want him to know that you know," She explained with frustration.
He held his hands up, "Alright I won't say anything. Damn."
She turned away from him and began to walk out of the room, only for him to grab her wrist and pull her back again.
"You know, if you want to say something to me a simple 'wait' would suffice. You don't have to grab me," She pointed out.
He knitted his eyebrows together, "I'd never judge you for that, by the way. You do know that, right?" He asked, his voice suddenly turning low.
She stared at him in surprise and shrugged, "I don't know, you don't exactly have the best track record when it comes to being kind to me."
He pursed his lips, "This is different, this is serious."
"Still. If you're not a nice person in general then you're not going to suddenly be nice to me because of one thing," She grunted.
"Hold on. No one said I was going to be nice to you. I just said I wouldn't tell anyone and that I'm not going to judge you for it. There's a lot of other things that I can judge you for. Don't mistake me being a decent person for me actually liking you," He told her, a smirk forming on his lips.
She pursed her lips, "Whatever, if I try to leave this time am I going to be grabbed by you before I get the chance?"
He shook his head and she sighed, relief washing over her.
Her feet carried her into the living room and she froze upon seeing Thomas walking in the door.
"Have you seen Charlie? I woke up and she wasn't in the-" He began. He paused abruptly when he saw her staring at him, an expression like a deer caught in headlights on her face.
"Oh."
She smiled awkwardly and nodded, "Here I am."
"Here you are."
Preston walked into the room, his face breaking into a large smile once he saw that Thomas was there.
He pulled him into a man hug and slapped him on the back, "I wasn't expecting you so early," He admitted.
Thomas looked at Charlotte accusingly before shrugging, "Yeah, I just thought I'd pop by for a while."
Preston glanced between the two, his eyebrows knitted together. He didn't know why they were acting weird but he didn't like it.
"Okay. Why?"
Thomas tore his gaze away from Charlotte and looked at Preston, "Why what?"
"Why did you 'pop by'?" Preston asked, holding his arms over his chest.
Thomas shrugged, "To see you."
Preston shook his head, "Whatever."
He suddenly turned to Charlotte, "Can you get Lucy to stop texting me every five minutes? Like if I don't respond to the first one then I'm not going to respond to the next thirty."
Anger suddenly filled her as she remember how badly he was treating her best friend, and her expression quickly contorted info one of fury.
She used her finger to stab him in the chest and he took a step back, "What-"
"I most definitely will not get her to stop texting you. How dare you treat her the way you are! If you want her to stop then you can explain to her that you're an asshole!" She yelled.
Preston's lips parted slightly as he stared at the girl. She glared up at him, her whole body tense.
He held his hands up in defense, "Alright! Damn."
Thomas chuckled from behind them, "Don't mess with a girls Best friend. It never works out."
Charlotte jumped as she felt his hands on her waist, pulling her away from Preston.
She shifted sway from him, flashbacks of her nightmare coming to her mind. Her hands shook involuntarily and she clenched them into fists and held them at her side.
"I think I'm just going to go," She muttered.
Preston raised his eyebrows, "But you came here to see Conor, and he's not back yet."
She shrugged, "I've been here for a few hours, I'll catch him another day."
She turned and walked out of the door before either of them could respond, but stopped when Conor bumped into her.
She let out a sigh of annoyance. Of course he would turn up at the one time she just wanted to leave. The only reason she had gone over there was to avoid Thomas and he had followed her.
"What are you doing here?" He asked, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.
She closed her eyes for a moment before opening them, forcing a smile to form on her face, "I just wanted to see how you were doing. It's been a while."
Conor raised his eyebrows, "It's been like three days, but whatever."
He led her over to the couch, where all of Jamie's blankets had been removed. She wondered where he had gone.
Thomas glared at her accusingly as she sat down and she looked around in embarrassment.
"Where did Jamie go? He was here earlier," Charlotte said loudly, trying to break the awkwardness.
"You and Jamie were here by yourself?" Thomas asked, now giving Charlotte his undivided attention.
He sat on the armchair across from them, his right ankle positioned on his left knee as he spread his top half out.
"Well.. yeah. He went asleep so I went asleep in what I thought was Conor's bed but was actually Preston's," She admitted.
"oooo, he definitely wasn't happy about that," Conor laughed.
She thought about the conversation they had had in his bedroom and frowned, he didn't seem too upset at her falling asleep in his bed.
"He just told me to get out."
"How did you get here?" Thomas asked, interrupting her and Conor's conversation.
Charlotte pursed her lips before slowly turning to him, "I walked."
He nodded, a skeptical look on his face, "So, you must've really wanted to see Conor then."
She shrugged, focusing her eyes on the ground. His accusing tone was making her more uncomfortable than she'd have liked to admit.
Conor raised his eyebrows, noticing the tension between the two.
"I think I'm going to get going, I have work in a bit," She lied.
"You sure?" Conor asked, eyeing her carefully. He knew something was going on but he couldn't quite figure out what it was.
Thomas stood up and cleared his throat, "I'll bring you home, it saves you from having to walk."
She frowned at his offer, a feeling of dread washing over her. She didn't want to spend time with Thomas. His presence made her nervous.
"I'll be fine, the exercise is good for me."
He frowned, "I'm going home now anyway, it wouldn't make any sense for you to walk."
She met Conor's curious gaze before nodding. She could never tell him about what was going on inside her head.
Thomas smirked at her as he placed his hand on the small of her back, leading her out of the apartment after they said their goodbyes.
The walk to his car was uncomfortable. The only thing Charlotte could think about was his hand touching her back, his touch leaving unwanted traces on her skin.
"You lied back there," He said after a while.
She jumped at the sound of his voice, "What are you talking about?"
"You said you have work later but I know that you don't. Why did you lie?" He pressed.
She bit the inside of her cheek, staring out the window, "I didn't think you knew my schedule."
"Of course I know your schedule," He scoffed.
She sighed, watching as the trees flew pass the car window.
"So?" He glanced at her, taking in her uncomfortable expression.
"What?"
"Why did you lie?" He asked again, the car slowing down as it came to a red light.
"I..." she frowned as her brain failed to make up an excuse for her, "I wanted to get away from you," She admitted.
"Yeah, I gathered that much."
She looked at him, he was staring straight ahead, waiting for the light to turn green.
"Because of last night?" He questioned.
She shrugged, "Kind of."
"Kind of? Charlie we only shared a bed. It wasn't a big deal, you were sad," He pointed out.
"That's not what it was."
"What was it then?"
"I had a bad dream last night."
"Yeah, I know, about me."
Her hands shook involuntarily and he took a moment to look at them before driving off as the light turned green.
"Yeah, well, you were trying to hurt me."
He raised his eyebrows, "Explain."
She sighed, "You had me pinned against the wall, and you wouldn't get off of me. I tried to get you away from me but you just kept forcing yourself onto me and t-touching me."
He stayed silent, his jaw clenched as he stared at the road ahead of him.
They sat in silence for the rest of the trip. She didn't try to get him to speak and he didn't seem to have anything he wanted to say to her.
They walked into the apartment and he turned to stand in front of her.
"I'm sor-"
"Just don't. You don't have to apologize for your dreams. It's not like you can control them," He mumbled, cutting her off.
"Then why are you mad at me?" She asked, her voice shaking slightly.
He shook his head, "I'm not."
"Then why won't you talk to me?"
He sighed, "I'm not mad at you, okay? I know that after what happened to you people tend to have nightmares about people they know hurting them. I was expecting you to have one about me considering I'm such an asshole to you, but I didn't realize I'd feel so angry about it."
She stared at him in shock, "Did you do research about it?"
He shrugged, "Well, yeah."
She looked at the ground, the thought of him researching the effects of rape made her feel something that she couldn't place.
"Thanks, but you didn't have to."
"I know I didn't have to. But you're my roommate, I wanted to know what to expect." And I care about you.
"You didn't have to avoid me though," He added on.
"I know. I just didn't want to face you. Last night I was vulnerable and I guess I was worried you were going to judge me or tell all of the guys or something."
He raised his eyebrows, "We both know I'm in no position to judge you for anything you do and why would I tell anyone about that? That's your personal shit, just like I didn't tell anyone about how we shared a tent."
She blushed at the memory of them sleeping in the tent together and he smirked slightly.
"Thanks for that, by the way."
He shrugged, "Since we're being nice to each other now, does that mean I get to share a bed with you again?" He asked hopefully.
She rolled her eyes, although the corners of her lips twitched slightly upwards, "No."
"We'll see about that," He mumbled.
She scoffed and walked away from him, plopping herself down on the couch.
He watched her in amusement, knowing that if he ever got bored she was a great source of entertainment.