Soooo… She's Gone

The day that Henry was dreading was finally there. They had a wonderful prom. They had a graduation that Charlotte didn't want to give a speech at, because she hated public speaking with a passion, but had to for the sake of tradition. She started kinda miserably, (because she kept stumbling over her words and forgetting the speech that she spent weeks memorizing and had recited the night before, flawlessly in front of a bed full of stuffed animals). But, a room full of peers, teachers, and parents was far different. It wasn't until Henry cheered from his seat, "Give it to 'em, Char!" That she finally snapped back into her confidence and found her voice and her words. They had several kickass graduation parties and an awesome summer. They were together virtually nonstop. His parents didn't mind that she spent nights, so long as they weren't too loud and as long as they were responsible and safe. Her parents were a little bit more hesitant about that, but let her know that they trusted her to be smart. (Of course they did. They always trusted her).

Now, she was getting ready to get on a plane and wouldn't be back for months. He'd be naive to think that wouldn't affect them. That wasn't what he thought at all when he fought off tears as she cried onto his plaid and wondered why he wouldn't talk to her about this day before now? "I didn't wanna ruin the time we had left."

"That's selfish," she muttered. He rubbed her back. It was selfish. He knew that she liked to communicate about things and that she probably needed to discuss them officially.. but in his mind, he could only imagine her breaking up with him before flying away to a new life. He had to hold off on it as long and as much as possible.

"I'm sorry, Baby," he whispered.

"Not you're not!" She fussed as they announced her plane boarding. She pulled away from the hug and shook her head, "I'm not prepared for this. I tried really hard, but you and I have unfinished business. How am I supposed to focus?"

"Just.. don't worry about us. School is more important." He winced as he said that. Truly, nothing was more important to him, but he had to say something to ease her mind, after drawing out their separation.

"Okay," she said sadly. She grabbed the handle of her luggage and began to walk away, not turning her head from him. He seemed so cool and she'd thought he'd be the one blubbering today. Maybe she overthought her importance? He'd just said himself not to worry about them. But, what did he even MEAN by that? Don't worry because we'll endure and we'll be fine, or don't worry because he certainly won't be because we're done? See, THIS is why she kept trying to discuss this with him!

She waved and vanished through the door. Whenever she got on the plane, she was seated on the window with these redheaded twins next to her. She had to cross them and one helped her put her bag away. The one on the end kept trying to talk to her over his brother in the middle. She just wanted this trip over already.

Henry watched the plane leave and whenever he got back to the Man Cave, stood in the center of the room and announced, with such defeat, "Soooo… she's… gone." He quickly retreated, wiping his eyes and the others just watched. Nobody wanted to bother him.

.

Charlotte adjusted quickly to her new surroundings. She and those twins were heading to the same campus, which she thought was bananas,but welcomed the possibility of new friends.

When she and Henry video chatted, she asked him if they could finally talk about the "crappy situation" they were in.

"Go for it," he said.

"I wanted to tell you that I'm not going to be trying to do anything like what we've been doing with anyone else. I'm gonna be focused on school.. but I'll understand if you have other options."

Henry raised an eyebrow, "Is that you officially breaking up with me, or you extending a pass to cheat, which I never asked for?"

"It's me extending the ball to your court. I've told you my intentions. That's all that I can think to do for us."

"Well,my intention was to have you be here and for us to be together. So, it doesn't matter to me if you want to be together or apart, because we aren't even together. I'm not interested in doing stuff with anybody else. But since you brought it up, maybe that's what you want. You want to see other people?"

"I brought it up because I figured that's what you would do. You did it to Chloe. You did it to Bianca. And NOW, you're older and more accustomed to the physical fulfillment of a relationship…"

"Wow."

"I'm trying to be realistic."

"Well, you're being hurtful and untrusting." She held her head. "I don't want to cause you any pain, Char. So, maybe… We can be together when we're together and when we aren't, we aren't."

"So, if I'm visiting, we play house, and if not, the mouse will play?"

"What is it that you want me to do? You're the one who moved across the country!"

"The fact that I gave you months to discuss this with me and you avoided it only to attack me not that I'm too far away to come smack you is very small of you, Henry. I thought that we were better than this." Someone knocked on her door and she sighed and said, "Hang on."

"Hey… You okay? Sounded like you were fussing with someone," Henry heard some dude asking.

"I'm fine. Thanks for checking on me. Where's your twin? I never see you two apart."

"He got placed in a different dorm, but at least I've got you here."

"I gotta get back to my call."

"Ok. If you need anything, I'm right next door and my door will always be open."

"Cool. Thanks…"

She appeared again and Henry couldn't help but wonder, "Who's Mr. Nice Guy?"

"Met him on the plane and I guess we're neighbors now," she explained, as quietly as possible.

"He likes you. Is he.. Do you find him attractive?"

"To be honest, I hadn't paid him much mind and furthermore, we're not gonna be discussing other people with each other."

"So, he is other people, then?"

She forced a smile and said, "If it's gonna be like this, I don't want any of it, Henry."

"That's best," he said.

"That's best for you?" She asked, her lip quivering.

"For you, I guess." He shrugged and an alert sounded in the background. "I have to.."

"Yeah, go… Goodbye, Hen."

"Bye, Char. You… you know that I'm still gonna love you, right?" She nodded, then disconnected the call before her tears started.

.

And she stuck by what she said. She didn't date anybody. A semester passed, and she still hadn't even gone out on the town. But, get studies were important. She did hang with the twins in her neighbor's dorm when his roommate was out. It was cool to have a couple of dudes away from her dudes, though Jasper informed her to never refer to the twins as "her dudes," in his presence.

Her first visit home, Henry managed to avoid her the entire winter break. She knew he was doing so and she knew he was perfectly fine because she felt his gosh dang pulse every night when she put on her ring before bed.

She visited the Man Cave and Ray didn't even make fun of her. Instead, he complained about the new girl in the cave. She didn't meet said new girl, whose name Ray couldn't remember, but whenever she asked Jasper, he turned pale and pretended not to know of what girl she spoke…

She asked him to give Henry the ring back and let him know that for future visits, she wouldn't be coming to the shop. (Not if that meant Henry avoiding her, or worse, seeing him there with her "replacement.")

So, the next semester, she decided to try to relax a little bit and at least go on a date or two. That turned into an oddly satisfying, if not sorta odd polyamorous relationship with the twins. She'd never considered such a thing before, but now that she had, it definitely fulfilled her.

Though, whenever they wanted to bring in more, a few months later, she shrank back. Maybe in the future, but she was about to be a straight A sophomore and two boyfriends had been quite enough. They remained friends and she wished that Henry could have been half as mature as either of them.. but GIRL, Henry was a year ago. Let that ish go.

.

She came home for the summer and Piper begged her to hang out. She didn't want to come to the house, but Piper swore, "Henry and Babe aren't here." Babe?

"Babe?"

"Yeah, that one girl. Can you believe that she comes to Swellview to see him and works as a temp in that stupid junk shop. She's a video game maker… why even stoop to that level?"

"For a boy…" Charlotte said, heartbroken AF, but determined not to show it. "Okay. Well… we'll have a sis slumber party."

They were hanging out in the living room when Henry came in and froze, seeing Char there, with two French braids in a pair of pajamas on his couch. "Hey, Hen!" She said, trying to remain neutral. She failed. Her voice was high and her heart was beating so fast that she thought she might pass out.

Henry waved his fingers weakly, then the door opened behind him and he kicked it shut. They all heard Babe yelp, "Ouch!"

Charlotte's eyes went wide as Henry opened the door and said, "Sorry. You gotta go."

"What do you mean?"

"Can't hang out tonight." He shut the door and locked it, then rushed upstairs. Charlotte tried not to laugh. Piper got up, went to the door and said, "Awww. That was really mean of him to do to you. Just because Charlotte is in town, he can't spend time with you? The nerve."

"Charlotte's here?"

"Yep. Spending the night. He didn't tell you she was back? She's here the whole summer!" Babe rushed off and Piper waved at her and shut the door again.

"Wow. You really played that up. Don't like her?"

"She's not you," Piper said.

Charlotte was going to claim that things were over between her and Henry, but their reactions to seeing each other was enough for her to know that wasn't true. However, she had to know what was up with her and Babe and as soon as Piper was asleep, she went to confront him about it. That resulted in the two of them "being together when we're together," because neither of them seemed able to control not touching each other, among other things.

Babe got on a plane that very night and Henry didn't even know because he was wrapped around Charlotte when that text was sent.

Charlotte woke up in his bed. He was gone, but that pulse promise ring was back on her finger.

.

She didn't come around him too much for her summer visit. She worried that she wouldn't think straight if she did. Whenever she made it back to school, they went back to not talking after a summer of not being able to resist each other.

Perhaps next summer, she could take a break elsewhere. Her parents had tried to get her to take an overseas trip the summer before college, so she checked with them and they were definitely still in support of her doing so. So, another year passed, she went to Europe. Another passed, she went to Asia. Her senior year, she came home for Christmas and Henry was in NYC. She figured with Babe. She didn't dwell on it. It wasn't the first time he'd went to her. Anyway!

Post graduation, she knew she had to hunker down. She still needed her master's degree and wasn't sure yet how she was going to do it, but the time away from Henry was long and weird. She wondered how he was and texted him to ask.

Hen, it's Charlotte. How are you?

The question tortured him. He was just strumming his tattoo and thinking about her moments before she texted. Dang universe must've nudged her.

Fine. And yourself?

Not fine. I miss you. I'm sorry…

He sighed and gave her a call. "Hey… now, when you say that you miss me… You mean like you miss that we used to be close and now we barely speak?"

"I mean everything. What happened? Why did it go down that way? What was so wrong with being together when we're together?"

"We weren't together enough…" they both held the phone. "Are you alone right now?"

"I'm always alone," she said.

"No.. I meant are you single?"

"I usually am. Henry, in the past four years, I've had three boyfriends and both those relationships didn't make it three months."

"You said three, then you said both…"

"Long story. But.. you… I mean you were in NYC for Christmas. Were you there with Babe?"

He laughed, "What? No. We aren't like that. I mean.. we've seen each other socially, but never seriously. I haven't been able to have one serious relationship in all the years that you've been gone. I compare everyone to you. I miss you. I've said your name in my sleep with someone else lying next to me, apparently on several occasions.. I'm never getting over you. That's just the truth. I was in New York to apply for a full hero status. Had to tell my parents that I was thinking of going to NYU."

"Well? Did you get it?"

He smiled, "Yeah. Your guy's a full blown hero now."

"I'm proud. Can we see each other when I come home?"

"Sure. I would have loved to see you more, but you were.. travelling."

"Yeah, I was avoiding you. When I last saw you we kept going to bed together!"

"Okay? So, why'd you bask me what happened to us when you know that you ran from me?"

"I ran because I was afraid it was unhealthy. You'd already broken up with me and had started seeing Babe socially."

"I still loved you and you knew that. I still do."

"Well.. I'll… see you soon…"

"Not soon enough."