Getting Away

Piper watched in awe as the guys put down multiple burgers at Happy Fun Burger, and playfully elbowed Charlotte, "How'd you manage to stay sane in a room full of this at work everyday for five years?"

"Oh, you know… Ingenuity, and earbuds," Charlotte tried to joke around. She was obsessed with checking the Souldates app every few minutes, in between apology and begging texts from Max. She ignored him up until the point of: Your visit luggage is in my hotel room. "Oh, shoot!" She debated on whether she should make him bring it to Happy Fun Burger to drop it off, but knew that Max wasn't above following her to where she was gonna be sleeping tonight. She could have him bring it to the hotel and have to face her while all of her friends were there giving him the stink eye. He didn't particularly care what people thought about him, though. Can you bring it to the hotel that my guests are at? He started a phone call, instead of answering her text and she got up from the table and went to take the call.

"Does anybody care that Charlotte is most likely gonna get back with a guy who is sort of turning out to be kind of a creep?" Piper wondered.

"They haven't broken up, so, I'm counting on a make up, personally," Jasper said. "Charlotte's got a lot of patience in her for certain people."

"Not us," Ray said and Henry and Jasper laughed about it. "No, definitely." "Absolutely not."

Henry reminded his sister, "What happened to he's so hot and they kiss all of the time?"

"I saw Charlotte cry tonight. I didn't even know that was something that Charlotte could do!" Piper yelled.

"Clearly, you've never seen Charlotte mess up a science project," Jasper said.

"Charlotte's never messed up a science project," Henry quickly interjected, but added, to Piper, "But, her work is an area that she might shed tears about. I don't think her crying was over the guy. I think it was over what he did to her work."

"She's married to her work," Jasper said.

"Well," Henry tilted his head, then nodded, "Yeah, she's definitely Mrs. Charlotte Work…" She came back to the table and sat back down, and finished eating, not saying much.

...

The group rented two suites - one for Ray and Schwoz, and the other for Jasper and Henry, but since Piper had tagged along for the trip and Charlotte had left the event with them, Ray let the kids have both of those (begrudgingly) and he and Schwoz rented another.

Charlotte was in Jasper and Henry's suite and all three were having themselves a spa night while Piper used her dad's card for her own space, because she had enough of all of these guys. Jasper noticed Charlotte texting a lot and figured that she and Max were still hashing things out. Henry chose to try to ignore it and move on. "Yo… So, is it too soon for me to ask about Phoebe?"

"She's not interested, Henry," Charlotte said, rolling her eyes. Jasper was applying a gel skin mask onto Henry's face. Charlotte already had a clay mask on hers and was "relaxing" in the hot tub, in her undies, because her things were still with Max. Somebody knocked and she quickly got out, Henry looked in the opposite direction to avoid seeing her body exposed, Jasper absentmindedly turned his head to do the opposite. "Dude!" Henry scolded.

"We're like family, Henry. Grow up," Jasper said, returning to the mask while Henry now couldn't help but to sneak a peek himself.

She grabbed a bathrobe, slipped into complimentary slippers and went to the door to open it for Max.

Henry couldn't see him, but heard his snivelling voice. "Hey, I brought your stuff… Can we please talk to each other? I want to make this right."

"You can't undo past actions, Max." She was trying to keep her voice quiet so that her boys couldn't hear.

"I know that I can't, but am I not allowed to make a mistake, sometimes? Is this really about what I did earlier, or is it, like all of our problems, actually about your feelings for Henry?" She jumped with a start, grabbed his arm, glanced towards her two friends, and shoved Max outside of the door to talk to him in the hallway.

Henry and Jasper glanced at each other, then made a run for it, to eavesdrop. "We shouldn't," Jasper gave the compulsory warning, but they did, anyway.

Charlotte complained in a low voice, "I've already told you that Henry and I are friends. We've been friends a long time."

"Right, but you still wear his pajamas that you stole on Thanksgiving, even though they don't fit you."

"They're comfortable! I gave him back four pairs that I intended to score on Christmas to avoid having to keep coming back to the pajama argument with you, and here we are again."

Max was frustrated, even though he knew that this was petty, he strongly felt it was significant, "It's an example, not an argument. Some of the stuff that you've complained to me about Henry, I wouldn't even dream of doing to you and he gets to keep you as a best friend, but I do one thing wrong and you don't even want to see my face, now?"

Charlotte now raised her voice, "I believed in this, you jerk! You altered my launch. You spent months supporting me and making me feel secure and confident in my work and this relationship, only to hijack the controls when it became official and set forth a motion that we can't undo. Whatever complaints that I've had about Henry, he's never in all of the years that I have known him, plotted behind my back, on my behalf or otherwise without telling me, (well, except for the time he got Bish arrested)... But, he's NEVER purposefully interfered in my work or the success of it. He'd never have the mind to do that to me. He might hate listening to me speak about my extracurricular plans and science ideas but, I'm snappy at him at times, too. We reciprocate annoyance and we reciprocate friendship. This was something else. I was giving you my full trust, as my man. You told me I could fly, then you clipped my wings, and pulled me onto your back to fly for me. I just can't forgive this, Max. And, Henry had nothing to do with it. This time, our problem is all on you."

Max stared at the ground and took a few deep breaths. "I'm sorry. I'll never forgive myself for it. I thought if we threw in some villains, gave supers a reason to check it out, they'd come for the initial curiosity and stay for everything that you've made available to them. It was really more like a massive text, but I should have spoken to you about it. I thought that if I made a big move, I could finally actually win you over, from him."

"Oooh, he's in trouble now," Henry whispered to himself, shaking his head and smiling.

"Win me over?" Charlotte repeated. "Max, if Henry had me - that would be my choice. Series of decisions and actions from myself would be necessary for that possibility. I'm not a trophy that someone brought out to present because of your performance at an event!"

Max dropped to his knees and lowered his head, "You want me to beg? I'll do anything. I'll say anything. Whatever I need to do to make it right, Charls." Henry scoffed at that nickname. Other guests walked by and saw a damp woman in a bathrobe, wearing a clay face mask and a satin scarf wrapped around her head and a guy in front of her, on his knees.

"Let's go talk inside," she told him. Henry and Jasper rushed from the door. Henry picked up a menu that he reviewed while standing in the middle of the room, and Jasper fell into the hottub, fully dressed. Charlotte paused, stared at them, knowing that they had been eavesdropping, but didn't respond. "My room's this way," she told Max. He telekinetically lifted her bags and followed her, without saying a word.

Jasper got out of the hottub, casually waved at them, and put his hands on his hips. "She's gonna forgive him."

"She loves him," Henry said and shrugged his shoulders. Char deserved to be able to explore her feelings and she hadn't had chances when they were younger. He just had to accept that as her friend, he'd see her relationships, good or bad, and had to dedicate himself to being there for her when they didn't work out, as he was sure that eventually this wouldn't.

...

The next morning, Charlotte walked Max out, trying to part ways before anybody else woke up, but Jasper was already up, setting up the table for breakfast and he'd woken Henry up, too. "Morning, Lovebirds," Henry said, yawning.

Max rolled his eyes and headed out. "Later, Max!" Jasper cheered. Max forced a single hand wave. He paused at the door, stared at Charlotte, reached out to touch her chin, to which she awkwardly smiled and casually leaned away, shut the door behind him and joined her friends at the table.

"The makeup sleepover sounded lively."

"Shut up, Hen."

Jasper had roses on the table as he served heart shaped pancakes, "Happy Valentines Day."

"Can you believe all of that happened in one day?" Charlotte asked out loud. They started breakfast and talked. "So, Max and I will proceed with our plans for this weekend, as usual. Everything's already paid for, but we're going to be rethinking some things, I'm sure."

"Rethinking last night's makeup encounter?" Jasper genuinely asked, "Or the breakup fodder from the launch?"

"We didn't makeup. We decided not to continue dating, but to try to remain friends."

"No wonder he was in such a crappy mood. You let him stay over, grown up sleepover, and still broke up with him!" Henry laughed, "Savage."

Charlotte waved her hands in front of her and shook her head, "No, no, no. It was mutual. Everything was mutual."

"Whatever you have to tell yourself. He was shattered when he left here." Henry knew what a shattered dude looked like.

"He was just tired. We talked all night."

Henry smirked, "Talked? That's what we're calling it now?"

"Look, a lot of talking happened, in between the other stuff, okay? Maybe we had some grownup moments of weakness throughout the course of the talking. Ultimately, we realized that if we let ourselves, we could keep doing this likely unhealthy dance for a long time, and decided that last night would be the last night for such weakness, and that we'd still be friends, if possible, and science bros, whenever needed."

"That's very mature of you, Charlotte," Jasper said and passed around the strawberries.

"How did the two of you even meet?" Henry finally wondered.

Charlotte didn't mind telling this story, "My first weekend in my new town, I wanted to explore the science community in the area, before school started, so that I could make my rounds and show my face before the first week of class stress settled in. I went to a few places, saw some exhibits and went to a few lectures. I saw him and I recognized him right away, at this inventions convention, and I tried to dodge him, but he wound up sitting by me for a panel, and the place was way too full for me to try to find another seat…"

Max stared at her for a moment while she casually, conspicuously tried to hide in her stars and moons hoodie. He waved a hand and telekinetically removed the hoodie from her head. "I thought that was you."

"We… have never met," she lied, poorly.

"I forget faces. I forget names. But, I don't forget scandals. I met you when my sister worked on some errand with Captain Man, and I recognized you then, because you made a teleportation machine that was ultimately destroyed by Captain Man, but… You were working with Captain Man…"

She sighed, "I made a much less significant gizmo and the team thought they'd help me by bringing something else. They didn't realize how popular that teleportatiob machine might be."

"Are they complete idiots?"

"Yes. All of them. Even the genius," she laughed. "Look… I'm just here to check out the science scene before my classes start at the science institution next week. So, I won't start any trouble, if you don't."

"Why would I start trouble?"

"Maybe you forgot the scandal of the last time I saw you?"

"Oh! That. Yeah, I'm good, now." He shrugged his shoulders. "It's been a while, actually. Nothing to worry about from me, except for maybe me trying to buy you dinner."

"I love dinner. Why would that be a worry? You know a place and I expect you to pay for it, since you invited me."

"Yeah, You'd really let me take you? With like, no proof that I've changed?" Max wasn't used to that. He had to prove himself to everyone, even his own twin.

"Well, I've never seen you in the news, so you can't be a dangerous maniac. If you haven't changed, I don't see how me turning down a free dinner would benefit anybody." Now, he laughed.

"You're funny. Obviously smart, if you're here and going to the institute and super cute. You're either not single and don't realize that I was asking you on date, or you're inexplicably single and I can't help but be curious about why."

Charlotte looked shocked. She hadn't thought that she was being asked on a date, but now that she knew, she felt pretty exposed. She hadn't even tried to be cute today. "Oh! Um, very single, didn't catch on that dinner equaled to date, and I don't know if I can. I mean I can- because my parents will allow it now that I've graduated, but I kinda like the thought of being friends and knowing people before I ever took the drastic date step."

"That's fair. Dinner as friends, then?"

"Potential friends, but still your treat."

"A woman who knows what she wants."
"Most women know what they want. Some are just conditioned to answer the world a certain way…"

"He bought me dinner after the convention, he took me for coffee the next day, treated me to milkshakes the weekend after my classes started. He started bringing me takeout whenever I was getting bogged down with my work and forgot that I'm no longer working right next to an auto snacker. Then, when I wanted to go out for the internship, I needed a lab to work on my entry project and from there, we really started getting close…" She stared out into space.

"Wow, Char. You blew it. That dude sounds gooood," Henry teased.

"He is good. Too good to wait around in a relationship with me that I'm not all in. I told you, I've got goals, plans, and a lot of accomplishments before I have a window of time to do… more serious relationship stuff."

Jasper wondered, "So, are you two going to be friends who…" he cleared his throat, "talk?" Charlotte didn't dignify that question with a response, and Henry laughed out loud But, mentally… Charlotte knew probably. Probably until one of them moved on or they had a bigger falling out. As long as she kept her focus on her goals and didn't use him in the meantime. (And, being truthful, she wasn't going to forgive him for that launch stunt, no matter how many free meals she got). She just hoped that she wouldn't forget this backbone when they spent the rest of the weekend together.

…

"How does a community full of superheros and friendlies get so toxic?" She wondered, having to remove certain reported posts and content flagged from the site. For a change, Henry was at her place. He had come early to snatch her up for their first spring break out of high school and he was going to be taking a vacation, finally from the Danger.

"Superheroes aren't what you see in TV shows and movies, Charlotte. Those guys are real jerks," Henry said. He shrugged his shoulders, "You never told me what you and bae did for Valentines' Day after we left Metroburg. I mean, I know that you don't care about the day, but you did have a huge release and you did unofficially take him back after his massive mess up."

"What'd we do for what?" she asked, hardly paying attention to the question, as she was focused on removing SO MANY photos of superdudes' junk. Didn't know who wore the masks, but here she was seeing those things.

"Valentines' Day. When people do the whole candy and cards bit? Romance? Love? You and Max went ahead and spent your time together and you never muttered a word about it."

She looked like it just dawned on her what he was talking about, "I worked on the website I'd just launched and I think he cooked. He did flowers and steaks and had music playing and commented that everyone told him he needed to do something like that. He never actually said, "I was too caught up in my work to pay it attention. I had to try to fix some of the stuff his little plot affected, even made an announcement that it was a publicity stunt that the site creator wasn't aware of, in case it comes back to bite me. Anyway, we weren't back together. We just finished out the weekend as planned. We left our statuses unchanged for political purposes. I didn't want people to put together that he was the publicity stunt person. It could hurt his hero rep, and he's worked hard to shake off that villain stuff. Plus, I feel like breaking up in front of everyone right after launching a dating site could have been catastrophic for business."

"Your relationship is a business ploy? How… Has this dude not dumped you yet?"

"Do you really want to know the answer?" She asked, lifting an eyebrow.

"Does it have to do with your grownup sleepovers?"

"You know it does."

"No, thank you. I heard how that goes from across the suite. Nuff said." He couldn't help but be curious, though. Her love interest was a recovered villain, born superpowered, official superhero, who was smart enough to be an evil genius, but apparently down enough to cook for her and try to romance her… Oh, God. Charlotte has been speaking and now, she's looking at you because you are supposed to be responding to something...

"You didn't hear a thing I said, did ya?"

"Well… You didn't realize that dude was trying to seduce you for the special day. Probably trying to undo your alleged mutual break up."

"I was definitely seduced…"

"Let's NOT!" Henry shoved his fingers into his ears. "Just, repeat whatever I missed when I zoned out!"

"I was saying that I might have to pull the plug on the site. It's doing very little actual love connections."

"That's because supers don't want love. You know what they want? To have someplace to be after a hard fight. Some soft arms around them, but not so much conversation and… Basically… They want…"

She held out her hands for him to release whatever he was trying to say and took a shot at guessing, "Booty calls?"

"So crass."

"Superhero booty calls? That's what my site is for?"

"To be fair, most social media has a high volume of digital get down." She let out a frustrated grunt at that news. That was not what this was for. This was for Hen to find love, for people like Hen to find connections. Not superpowered body parts and arrangements to put them places.

"Is that what you do with your space?" Charlotte wondered.

He blushed and scoffed, "I mean… It's more ethical than hooking up with damsels who were just rescued, like so many of us used to do!" She closed her laptop and got ready to go. "So, what's your feaux beau science bro doing for his Spring Break?"

"Well,"- she went behind her clothesline curtain to change, "He's on a mission, currently, so he's probably gonna be working for the whole thing. But, I mean - he's old enough to drink, so his Spring Breaks are probably you know - party truth."

"Does he drink? Gross habit."

"No, but he's one of those snooty people that will watch everyone else drink and judge their lives in a comical manner," she came from behind the curtain in a peach colored bikini, with a sheer cream cover up blouse over it, and a short pair of floral shorts. She went into her beauty wardrobe for cocoa butter and Henry forgot what they were even talking about upon seeing her. "Should we take any selfies before we go, or you think that Jasper will feel bad?" She asked while, rubbing her legs down to moisturize and protect.

"I think he might, but I also think we gotta. Look at how good we look." She looked him over. She knew how good she looked. She looked good on purpose. But, Henry was just waking up looking fine, these days. He did have to do his hair, but he took good care of himself and his hair wasn't a ton of work to maintain, so within a few minutes, he could be a total babe.

"We do," she said, taking out her phone. After several very close selfies that she tagged him and hashtagged them as besties, despite the fact that his skin touching hers was doing something to her lately.

"Hey, Char - will you put the sunscreen on my back for me? I might need you to commit to it all week." He smiled, anxiously, hoping she wouldn't shoot him down and be offended that he asked.

"Most definitely. Gotta protect that glorious skin…" She felt her face grow hot. Henry did too. He blushed and nodded his head, grabbing her bags for her. "Oh, thanks."

"We take care of each other," he said, with a shrug. When did his shoulders get this broad? She sighed. This was about to be a long week.