Author's Note:
This is kind of short and I'm sorry if you were expecting the date to be this chapter. BUT I had to clarify this because I felt like Bruce asking Charlotte to lunch was extremely rushed. So this a transitional chapter! Sorry don't destroy me!
But Enjoy the Chapter!
13.
"So just like that?" Annabelle asked.
"Just like what?" Charlotte questioned looking over at her sister.
They were sitting on the couch watching a rerun of the Big Bang Theory. It was early, well early for Annabelle, Charlotte was up at this point usually. Usually she was in Stark Tower working with Tony but she wasn't going in today. She was still angry with Tony. And with Bruce too, but on a lesser scale.
"You just forgave Bruce and now you're going to lunch with him," Annabelle said rolling her eyes, "Charly, you came in here all pissed off and yelling things about revenge and whatnot. Now you just forgive him when he comes around knocking and making moony eyes at you with promises to buy you food and make you smile. Blah, Blah."
Charlotte stared at her sister with wide eyes, "We're just going to lunch. It's not like it's a date."
"Please Charly," Annabelle said with an eye roll, "Don't make your life a crappy romantic comedy, we both know you think it's a date. And we both know you want it to be a date. Just do me that one favor."
Charlotte huffed, "What should I do? Hold a grudge?"
"Um yeah," Annabelle said, raising an eyebrow at her, "Like a normal person."
Charlotte snorted, "It's complicated. It's hard for me to hold grudges."
"I could teach you," Annabelle said, "It's really easy."
Charlotte gave a soft chuckle, "It's not exactly something I want to learn Anna. I know how to but it's hard for me to. Like when Mom and Dad told me I couldn't come back home, I wanted to be mad, I wanted to be able to curse the world and the people that lived in it. I wanted to be able to scorn Mom and Dad's name, vow that I would never see them again and vow that I never wanted to."
Charlotte sighed and rubbed her face, lifting her glasses off her nose, "But I couldn't. I stayed in California even after my accident and I still hoped that they would call me like that said they did to invite me home with open arms."
"But they didn't and I waited for nothing," Charlotte said leaning against the couch, "So when it was confirmed that Bruce and Tony looked through my files, I couldn't scorn their names once I thought about it. It was like I was staying angry just because I thought I should. I was angry at them when I first heard but after talking with you it just made me feel like I was overreacting with Bruce."
"Overreacting?" Annabelle asked.
"Yeah," Charlotte nodded looking down at her lap, "I mean, Tony I'm still pretty pissed at but I understand why he did it, I don't like it but looking at it from his perspective I can sort of understand it. But with Bruce, it's not the same thing. He and I did have an understanding between ourselves. But the difference is that Bruce can accept his 'condition' where I haven't yet. So even if I don't completely forgive him, I do want him to be the first person I look at the file with. I feel he will bring me back down to Earth and prevent me from being too excitable and overly emotional about it. You know offer a perspective from someone who has already been there and back?"
Annabelle nodded slowly, "I'd still be pissed at him."
"Well, I'm not you Anna," Charlotte said with a smirk, "It was kind of my fault anyway."
"How?" Annabelle said her face twisting in shock.
"Well, I didn't look at my file in the first place," Charlotte reasoned, "And I got too defensive about it."
Anna slapped the armrest of her side of the couch, "You're always saying that."
"Saying what?"
"That it your fault," Annabelle said with a frown, "That it's your fault Mom and Dad don't want you home, that it's your fault I'm going to art school instead of being a scientist, that it's your fault your coworkers went through your entire life story, that it's your fault you were even in this accident in the first place."
"Well when you say it like that you make it sound like I don't have a backbone or something," Charlotte muttered.
"Charly, I know you," Annabelle said, "Well I know some of you. But the part I know is that you are taking the entirety of the blame when in the end it was just an accident. And I get it, it was pretty horrific and it ruined your life. But as callous as it might sound, it's in the past. It ruined your future then and your letting it ruin your future now. You need to get over that accident or it will take over your life, completely."
"But it has taken over my life," Charlotte insisted.
"No it hasn't, you just think it has," Annabelle said with a nod, "You still have control over your life. You still have the mental capacity and resources available to control this...whatever. Look at Dr. Banner, he did it. I'm not saying your life is going to go back to normal, like it was before, but at least you can find a new route to happiness. I mean your halfway there. You've utilized this ability or whatever you want to call it. You've tapped into it and you've sort of accepted it. It's pretty amazing what you did, I saw some news footage covering the battle. It doesn't have to be a curse. It could just be a blessing in disguise."
Charlotte stared at Annabelle, "I really wish I was around to see you become this. You should really look into debates or philosophy."
"Hey, if you were around, I probably would have ended up as a scientist then all my genius would have gone to waste," Annabelle said with a shrug and a playful smile before growing serious, "Promise me, Charly, that you will try and get some kind of closure on this."
"Okay, Anna," Charlotte said with a small smile, "I will."
"Good," Annabelle said, "Now onto my life. So that guy I was telling you about in my pottery class, he and I went for coffee after class and he is actually really strange. Like he talks in Shakespearean English and completely disproves the whole chivalry is dead. I don't know whether to be immensely infatuated and aroused or on my guard because he could potentially be a rapist."
"Shakespearian English, huh?" Charlotte asked.
"Well, not hardcore Shakespearian English, but he's got a British accent so everything he says sounds like he's from the old school," Annabelle sighed, "He is so dreamy and sophisticated and he held the door open for me when we were leaving class. Charly you don't understand. He wears these pants that should not be allowed on a human being that looks as good as he does. But I mean I've only talked to him about pottery and school. That accent could be fake for all I know and he's going to end up kidnapping me or some shit like that."
Charlotte laughed and listened to her sister list all the reasons why this guy could be a rapist or her dream man.