I've had this story written since the summer, so I decided to post it.
Let me know what you think :)
Present Day
Charlotte was in the handicapped restroom at Oceanside Wellness, squatting with her head over the toilet. She tied her hair back into a messy bun and with one hand, she gripped the porcelain rim. Warm liquid poured from her mouth as her stomach turned. Her other hand sat firmly on the flusher, pressing it down every once in a while. She stuck her head out of the stall to make sure she remembered to lock the door. The last thing she needed was for someone to walk in. Charlotte threw her head back down as she burped up more vomit. She stood up and swiped her mouth with her hand. She bent over and held her stomach, waiting for the queasy feeling to pass. She washed her hands and looked in the mirror. She had deep, purple bags under her eyes and her skin was paler than usual. Charlotte covered her mouth to try to stifle her yawn. She took a small glug of water from the sink and let out a deep breath. She smoothed down her clothes, and regained her composure before unlocking the door and walking out of the bathroom.
Charlotte was looking down at the floor which is why she almost ran into Cooper. He grabbed her by the shoulders and held her back. "Whoa. Where's the fire?" He chuckled as she struggled to get free from his grasp. "Are you ok? You look like crap."
"Thanks," her sarcastic tone could be heard a mile away and she rolled her eyes. "Why do you care? We're broken up, remember?" She pulled free and straightened out. She glared at him one final time and then brushed past him.
Charlotte opened the bottom drawer of her desk and stared down at the pink cardboard package sitting on top of the extra tissue box. She sighed and picked it up. She twirled it around in her hands for a minute until there was a knock on her door. She fumbled with the box and it dropped to the floor. She kicked it under her desk as Addison stepped into her office. "Charlotte, we're having a meeting in the conference room in five minutes." She smiled and backed out of the room.
Charlotte felt around for the box with her foot and slid it out from under her desk. She bent over and picked it up. "That was close," she let a puff of air out of her nose and stood up. She stuffed the box into her purse and walked out of her office with the purse clutched close to her body.
Charlotte couldn't focus on anything Addison was saying. Her eyes darted around the room and landed on Cooper. She scowled and pulled her purse closer to her body. Everyone filed out of the room, but she couldn't bring herself to get up. Cooper walked past her and noticed her death grip on the handle of her purse. "Whatcha got in there; you rob a jewelry store or something?" He laughed and grabbed at her shoulder. She pushed his hand away and stood up. Charlotte and Cooper played tug-a-war with her purse until the contents spilled onto the floor. She bit the inside of her lip as Cooper picked up the box, she was desperately trying to conceal. His face turned white as he looked at her and then looked down at his hands. He put the box on the table and pointed at the floor. "I think you dropped something." He walked out of the glass bubble and stormed off in the direction of Violet's office.
Charlotte teetered backwards before rushing to pick her stuff off the floor. She looked around to make sure no one else saw. As her luck would have it, Sheldon was staring at her through the window. He walked in, nonchalantly, and picked up a tube of mascara and some chapstick that had rolled under one of the chairs by the door. He handed it to Charlotte. "Thanks," she mumbled.
"Are you ok?"
"I'm fine." She half smiled at him and pulled her purse over her shoulder. "Mind your own business, Sheldon." She walked out of the room, but she didn't go to her office. She was headed straight for the bathroom.
Charlotte ran into the bathroom and slammed the door shut. She was so frantic about the whole conference room thing that she failed to lock the door before she disappeared behind the stall door. She exhaled as the urine trickled onto the stick. She flushed the toilet and froze with her hand on the door knob when she heard Violet Turner's voice. "I'm messed up because crazy Katie cut Lucas out of my body. What does Pete want me to do? Forget everything? Act like it didn't happen? I want to love Lucas. I want to be able to look at him without thinking about her. I want to not feel anything, but I do. Why can't he just accept that?" Violet splashed water on her face and rubbed her eyes. She blotted her face with a paper towel and walked out of the bathroom.
Charlotte's shoulders dropped and she exhaled. "That was close." She stepped out into the fluorescent light. She set the test on a paper towel, and ran her hands under the warm water. She walked over to the door and locked it. She didn't want any more surprise guests. Charlotte counted the minutes in her head as she leaned her back against the counter. She took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. She picked up the plastic stick and looked down at the display. Her heart sank when she saw that pesky little plus sign. She tossed the test in the trash and repeated the process with her other three sticks. Charlotte closed her eyes and sank into the counter. Tears brimmed in her eyes as she looked down at the last stick. She knew what it would say, but she was hoping it would be different. It wasn't. She rubbed her eyes as she tossed her garbage into the trash. She exhaled before opening the bathroom door and heading to her office. She felt a twinge in her heart as she passed Cooper's empty office and put her hand on her stomach. She locked herself in her office and closed herself off from the rest of the world.
72 Hours Earlier
"Does Cooper know you were married?"
"I wasn't." Charlotte walked over to the elevator and pressed the button. She turned back to Violet. "Melissa and Brendan are back together. They're happy. That's all that matters, right?"
"Why don't I believe you?"
"Let it go, Violet."
"Were you lying?" Violet walked off to her office as Charlotte and Cooper stepped onto the elevator.
Charlotte was silent the entire way to the diner and seemed a little distant at the table when they were finally seated. Cooper arched an eyebrow and put his hand on top of hers. "I think I want the banana pancakes. What about you?"
She turned her head towards him. "Huh?"
"Char, what's wrong?"
"Nothin'." She sighed.
"That doesn't sound like nothing."
"I'm fine, Coop, really." Her mind darted back to the young bride and groom, and Violet.
"Ok." He took a sip of his chocolate milk. "What are you gonna get?" He was smiling at her.
"Eh, not sure." Her voice was soft. "Maybe the French toast."
"Looks like we're having breakfast for dinner." He laughed and normally Charlotte would chuckle a little, but she wasn't in the mood. The guilt of keeping this from him was eating away at her. She wasn't even that hungry anymore.
"Yeah. I guess." They ate their "dinner" in relative silence and Charlotte footed the bill.
Cooper was lying in bed staring at the ceiling and Charlotte was playing with his chest hair, thinking. She took a deep breath and looked Cooper in the eyes. "Cooper, I need to tell you something."
"Ok." He could tell by her tone that this wasn't anything good.
"I was married before."
Cooper shifted and pushed himself up farther. "And you're just telling me this now?"
"I don't like talkin' about it."
"You don't like to talk about anything." He rolled over so his back was facing her. "Night." He closed his eyes.
"Coop, please." She got silence. "Talk to me."
"Now you wanna talk?" He rolled his eyes even though she couldn't see it.
"You're mad?"
"You lied to me."
"No I didn't."
"A lie by omission is still a lie, Charlotte." He paused. "I'm going to sleep." He closed his eyes again and drifted off to sleep. Charlotte laid there restless. Suddenly, her stomach turned and she found herself wedged in between the wall and the toilet. Cooper didn't even stir in his sleep as she retched her insides into the bowl. She ended up falling asleep, sprawled out on Cooper's bathroom floor.
Two Days Later
Charlotte was sitting in her office with her hand on her stomach. She had just spent the last five minutes with her face in the garbage can puking up the toast she ate that morning. She glanced at the photo of her and Cooper on her desk, and started to tear up. She threw the frame into her top drawer and locked it shut. Charlotte looked at the calendar and stood up. She walked out of her office and started for Cooper's, only to realize he wasn't there. She walked out. "Hey, you looking for me?" Cooper's voice startled her.
Charlotte turned around. "Yeah. Just wanted to let you know that I have a staff meetin' tonight. Not sure when I'm gonna be home."
Cooper stared at her and let out a puff of air through his nose. "You lied," Charlotte turned her head to the side and rolled her eyes. "Why did you lie? I just wanna know why."
"I told you why."
"No! You told me there are things that you can't…"
"I told you I didn't wanna go there!"
"Were you ever gonna marry me? Was that a lie too?" Some nurses were beginning to crowd around them.
Charlotte dragged him into the conference room. "I can't believe you're gonna do this here."
"Can you answer one question?"
"Can you not ask it! And I have answered it." She fought the urge to vomit all over him.
"Do you have any other hobbies or is emasculating me your favorite?" He wasn't getting anywhere with the marriage thing so he decided to change the subject.
"So let me get this straight. You think my favorite hobby is sittin' around dreamin' up ways to emasculate you?"
Cooper walked towards her. "You humiliated me when you bought me into the practice without asking me! That made me less of a man."
"No, you made yourself less of a man when you spent all the money in your bank account." She snarled. Cooper let out a breath. "You know what, let's just start over."
Cooper threw whatever was in his hands down onto the table. "No, no, no! This is good. Get it all out. This is good. Charlotte King finally opens up. Come on."
"What's that s'posed to mean?"
"I am there for you and there for you, but all you wanna do is screw and not talk."
"All I wanna do is screw? All I wanna do? Oh you are definitely gonna have to look in the mirror because the pot is definitely callin' the kettle black. Screw is all you know how to do!" Charlotte brushed past him and swallowed some barf that was starting to slide up her esophagus.
Cooper flipped around. "No, no. I'm a person. I'm a whole person with feelings, friends and a practice full of patients. And what do you have?"
"You."
"Don't you dare say that like it's an insult. Don't you dare!" He paused. "I'm not the freak…I'm not the freak that got fired because I'm heartless!" He stepped back and knew he struck a nerve. "Charlotte…"
"No. You're the freak who needed me to bail you out which is how I know I'm not heartless. That fifty grand I spent to buy your ass a place in this practice…proves I'm not heartless!"
"Now we're back to the money again. You're such a bitch that you…"
"I do what needs to be done. I do what needs to be done and you resent me. What, because I don't go all cry baby every five seconds?"
"It's not about crying. It's about being a person. It's about being a normal woman for once!"
"It's not my fault you're not a man, so don't tell me I'm not a woman."
Cooper shook the chair he was standing in front of and held onto it. "I'm literally…I'm full of hatred right now."
"Oh, join the freakin' club." She paused and got in his face. "Do you know how ridiculous it is that you would take me aside…"
"Can you answer one question!"
"You can't separate…" She stopped talking and swallowed hard. It was becoming harder to keep the throw up down. Charlotte leaned against the window with tears brimming in her eyes.
Cooper was sitting down now, staring at the table. "We are breaking up."
"Coop, we're havin' a fight."
"No, we're done. I'm done."
"You don't get to be done. You don't get to decide what happens to us."
He stood up and grabbed his stuff off the table. "Goodbye, Charlotte."
"Ok, this is the problem right here. You won't man up and face stuff. You just wanna cut and run. We're havin' a fight."
"No, the problem is you're a sex toy I found on the internet. The problem is you're just a trashy little girl who's trying to please her dead daddy and I shouldn't have expected much from you." He paused. "My bad."
Charlotte bit the inside of her lip. "You act warm. All cute cuddly Cooper, but the bitch of it is, you're the one who's heartless. Not me. You. You're a mean, miserable, bastard who doesn't know a thing about forgiveness." Charlotte stomped off, hoping the conversation was over.
"You screwed another man and I forgave you."
"That's just sex. I was talkin' about us. I was talkin' about love. You're s'posed to love me."
"Were you ever planning on marrying me?"
"Doesn't matter now, does it?" Charlotte pushed the door open and walked to her office. She threw her head into the garbage can and relaxed her stomach. The warm liquid spewed out and tears streamed down her face. She was in love with a man who didn't want anything to do with her, and to make it worse, she was throwing up her insides ten times a day. Charlotte sank into the floor as Cooper's words swirled around her head and strangled her brain. Another feeling of nausea cleared her of her thoughts. She stood up when she realized it was just that, a feeling. She chugged what was left of her water bottle and erased any sign that she had been crying from her face. Charlotte had a staff meeting tonight, but she was none too pleased to go to it. She contemplated calling it off, but she was Chief of Staff. She was a strong woman, and she was determined not to let one man take that away. Charlotte centered herself and walked out of her office.
Present Day
Charlotte walked into Cooper's apartment, and the familiar scent made her smile. Her smile quickly faded when she remembered why she was there: to pick up the rest of her stuff. She sauntered into the bedroom and slid open the closet door. She jumped a little when the bathroom door opened and Cooper walked out. She looked at him as he wrapped a towel around his waist. She missed what was under that towel, but she quickly dismissed any of those thoughts from her mind. "Sorry. I thought you'd be at the gym. I just came to get the rest of my stuff."
"Oh, ok." He paused. "So?"
"So, what?"
"Are you…are you pregnant?"
"It was negative. False alarm." She lied.
"Oh." Charlotte wrapped the dominatrix outfit around her hand and stuffed it in the suitcase. "I bought the latex jumpsuit."
"For me. You bought it for me." She paused and glared at him. "What you gonna have some other woman wear it?"
"Well, should I give it to you so you can wear it for some other guy?"
Charlotte walked back over to the closet. "Cooper, we can do this. We liked each other once."
"No, actually we didn't. We disliked each other and then we had sex, and then we fell in love. We never liked each other."
She was on the verge of tears, but she tried to keep them at bay. "Guess you're right."
Cooper watched her as she packed up her stuff. "I think you should leave the practice."
"What?"
"I'll take out a loan. I'll sell my car. I'll do whatever it takes to buy you out."
"No."
"No?"
"No! I'm buildin' a business. I don't care if you were there first. I belong there just as much as you do. I'm not goin' anywhere!" She pulled some clothes off their hangers angrily and practically pulled them apart in her hands. Under her breath she said, "Useless, stupid, love." She threw the clothes into the suitcase and smashed them into place.
"What?"
She looked up. "Useless, stupid, love! Waste of time." She took out the jumpsuit and held it out for him. "Take your latex jumpsuit. Find another woman. Have a blast!" With all the strength she could muster, she threw the article of clothing at him.
"Oh I will! I can't wait!" He slammed the bathroom door closed.
"That's my towel you're wearin', and I want it back!" Cooper slid open the door and tossed the towel at her. She hastily packed up the rest of her stuff and left as fast as she could.
I know we're going back in time and a lot of people don't like this time period, but here's the first chapter.
the story's written, so let me know if you want me to continue posting or not. (And I can edit the chapters if there's something you'd like to see)
Please Review!
