The rest of the time in the restuarant passed in silence, both Charlotte and Phil immersed in their own thoughts. Phil was thinking of Sam and Charlotte of Phil. They decided to skip dessert so Phil paid the bill and the pair left the restuarant arm in arm.
"Do you fancy coming back to mine?" Charlotte asked "Just for coffee"
"Yeah why not" Phil replied. He didn't think he could bear going back to an empty house just yet.
Charlotte smiled at his answer and hailed a cab. After giving the driver her address, she rested her head on Phils shoulder and entwined her fingers with his. Phil didn't really notice what she was doing as he was too bus thinking about Sam. He didn't want to lose her or move on from her like Charlotte had said would happen. He liked visiting Sam everyday and talking to her, telling her about his day and how all their colleagues were. He didn't want to get to the point where he visited her only once a week or once a fortnight out of guilt...but maybe he should move on. As Charlotte had rightly pointed out, his life had been on hold for half a year and could still be for a very long time to come. If he got together with Charlotte, the pain of losing Sam would be a lot less because he wouldn't be lonely.
Phil looked up when he felt Charlotte pulling at his hand and was surprised to see the car had stopped.
"Come on Phil, lets go inside, I'm freezing!"
Phil hurriedly paid the driver and followed Charlotte up the garden path to the front door which she unlocked and held open for Phil. She led Phil through to the living room and sat him down while she made the coffee, all the time, planning her next move.
She re-entered the room, handed Phil his coffee and sat down next to him. Phil noticed her skirt was decidedly higher up than it should be. He sipped his coffee in silence, watching her slowly move over, closer to him. Next time he looked at her, her skirt had creeped up a few more inches and he could see the black lace of her underwear. She started rubbing his shoulder with one hand while the other found its way into his shirt. She rubbed his smooth chest slowly then pulled back and let her jacket fall to the floor, revealing her very low-cut dress. Charlotte moved even closer to Phil, rubbing his chest again, slowly lowering her head to kiss him. She closed the gap between them and locked her lips around his. For a second, Phil responded, sucking gently on her lower lip and opening his mouth to allow her tongue inside...then he came to his senses and pulled back.
The pair sat still for a second, just looking into each others eyes before Phil spoke
"I'm sorry Charlotte, I can't do this just now, I'm not ready" he grabbed his jacket and fled the room whispering "I'm sorry" again.
Charlott sat on the couch by herself, deflated. She wondered if she had come on too strong, maybe she had taken things too fast, then she realised, it wasn't her that was the problem. She hadn't done anything wrong, it was Sams fault. It was the thought of her that made Phil flee.
"Well I'm not going to let her spoil my chances of a relationship with Phil" Charlotte thought to herself "If Phils not going to let her go, I'll have to get rid of her myself..."
