Marriage on the Brain
All he had to do was refuse her. She was fragile and volatile at the time. Sometimes, they overestimated her. Sometimes they all forgot that she could be vulnerable. She simply was so tough and take charge that it was easy to expect her to have it all together all of the time. She didn't. She wasn't perfect. She was human. And for all the times she let them be less than perfect, they rarely repaid her that human right. They always expected more from her. Unfortunately, even him. And he agreed, because she seemed to know what she was talking about and because Ray agreed. He should have fought her about it! He should have put his foot down. That was the first mistake he made. "And honestly, you gotta try to trace things back to the first mistake when you have a series of mistakes, Jeff. Knowing you, that was the moment you were born, so just retrace to the nearest first mistake of a series…" Kid Danger was crouching in front of Jeff, talking to him as they waited on the crew that would extract him from the manhole he got stuck in while trying to run. Captain Man had left his sidekick on "Dummy Duty." Henry was babbling to Jeff about Charlotte, who he simply called this girl.
Jeff sighed, "I'd rather be in jail right now than listen to more about this girl."
"Make better decisions, Jeff. This girl is important to me and I'm stuck here, with you while she's out there… with him!"
.
Charlotte couldn't believe how easy it was to shake up her trust. Actually, maybe this wasn't necessarily easy. This was one of the most improbable things to ever take place in her life. But, it had taken place, and now she needed to question everything. Max was the first guy that she felt emotionally and physically comfortable with. He helped her to discover her own sexuality and stimulated her mental energy, in the process. They were friends, lovers, collaborators… For the past two years there was very little that she did that Max wasn't aware of or involved in. To discover that she couldn't trust him… "We can't just go after him. If he really has hostages, we'll have to play this smart and get them out before we take him down," she said to Henry in the car.
"We take him down first, make some kind of deal with Mimi Cohort Whatever-Her-Real-Name is for her to tell us where the villain slaves are."
"He will have either moved them around or fortified their holding place as to not let just anyone inside."
"Okay, so how would we go about this 'play this smart' idea that you're speaking of?"
"We act as though we don't know what's happened. I go on about life as usual and try to find information whenever I'm in his space…"
Henry made a loud buzzer sound, "Absolutely not. That's dangerous. He's a maniac. I'm not letting you go anywhere near that guy again!" She made a face and he corrected himself, "I mean, I strongly disagree with you putting yourself in harm's way over a basement of villains."
"They're human beings. If they've committed crimes, they deserve to pay, but not like that."
"He's probably feeding them and stuff, if he has them working for him. They'll have to at least survive in order for him to use them."
Charlotte's entire face turned in disgust, "PLEASE tell me that you didn't just excuse slavery because they get fed, the very bare minimum of survival!"
"No. I wouldn't excuse slavery. I'm just saying I don't care as much about villains being enslaved as I do you getting caught by the person who was smart and strong enough to do that to them."
"He won't hurt me."
"You sure about that? She said he's hanging people up like puppets and puppeteering them to do his bidding."
"Including trying to win me back. If I get caught, all I have to do is ask him what's going on and pretend that I accidentally came across the information."
"Okay, but then he'll know that you know, and he'll throw you into a Rapunzel tower or something!" She rolled her eyes. "You know what - just because the way that I say things doesn't sound like a necessarily smart person doesn't mean that you shouldn't take this seriously."
"I'm taking it seriously. You're the one trying to rush through with no solid plan. Coming at a dangerous, meticulous person without a plan of your own would be a suicide mission. A stupid person's suicide mission."
Ray and Henry decided to stay out of Charlotte's way.
Well, Ray in particular when he said, "Yeah, I'll let her deal with it. This is Charlotte's problem, anyway."
"We're building a life together. Her problems are my problems, Dude."
"SHE'S your problem. Every since the two got involved you haven't been yourself. You've changed for her. And she still doesn't have your back. Let her go and do what she wants. We've got real problems and a villain farm isn't one of them. She's Charlotte, Henry! If anybody knows what they're talking about, it's her. Just, never tell her that I said that."
Henry's next mistake was similar to the first one, in that he expected too much/was possibly unfair with his reaction to her awful mistake. But, just thinking about it made him angry all over again, so what was he supposed to do? Pretend it was fine? Be okay with her not trusting him, not believing him? She believed in Max up intil the point that someone confirmed he was the worse. She couldn't believe in Henry that way?
.
Charlotte and Henry hadn't been speaking as much. She was working on her project, trying to figure out Max's secrets and doing a lot of FaceMask maintenance. He was doing Kid Danger things. It wasn't like they had broken up, but they certainly hadn't been connecting, and both of them had it in the back of their minds how messed up their situation was from start to present. THAT was why when she noticed he and Babe chatting in the comments of his fitting for Byshelle's wedding, she became more than a little suspicious.
She didn't know that they had touched base since that day outside the lab when she caught him flirting over the phone with her. She didn't know that in her absence, he'd been communicating with someone who used to have a crush on him and from her comments was at least still attracted to him. And she didn't like the mystery in those comments.
Babe: *Heart eyes emojis* You look really good in floral print! Drooling!
Henry: *Blush emoji* You flatter me. With the truth, but I'm still flattered.
Babe: We never got together about our thing! *Wink emoji* You have any time?
Henry: Free right now. Message me.
Charlotte scoffed, "Free right now, message me? What 'thing'?" She frowned, huffed and puffed, then made a bad decision. She just needed to know that her mind was playing tricks on her. Henry wouldn't cheat, but he was flirting, right up front for whoever to see! She noticed that Piper went through and angry reacted all those comments, so she at least believed it wasn't her imagination.
So, Charlotte just did a small hack job to check out what the messages said, in progress.
Babe: My God, seriously - you're so beautiful. *Fans self*
Henry: Thanks.
Babe: So, I know that you said that you didn't want to discuss things over the phone. Do you think that we should meet up to talk about our thing?
Henry: I don't know when I'd be able to. Always working. But, I'm so down for it. I've thought about this a lot since the last time that we talked. I really wanna do it. You just tell me when you're ready to.
Charlotte grabbed her phone and called Henry and he answered, "Hey, Char. Wasn't expecting to hear from you during lab hours."
"I took a break, if you can believe it."
Henry: What do you need from me to get things started?
Babe: Just your body. *Wink emoji*
Charlotte asked him as she read the messages, "So, whatcha up to?"
Henry said, "Nothing much. How's your lab stuff coming along?"
"Great. Great. Got 90 essential oils programmed into the system, so the panel now gives the mixture recipsle."
"Awesome," he said, but he wasn't that enthused. Probably because he was still writing Babe, she presumed. (When really it was because he didn't know how to respond to things when she was still sharing Max's lab space).
Henry: My body is ready.
Charlotte squealed, "Is it? IS your body ready for her?"
Henry chuckled, "What?"
Charlotte asked again, "What are you doing right now?"
"Talking to you."
"And DMing other girls!"
He laughed and said, "No, just Babe. What, you saw her comments on my pic? Wait. You saw my pic and didn't even comment? Or like it? WAIT!" He thought for a moment, "You've… read my messages?!"
"Yeah, I read them. I'm reading them right now, as a matter of fact. You have anything to say for yourself?"
"I have something to say for yourself! You violated my privacy. That's a huge sign of disrespect."
"Are you kidding right now? You're flirting, arranging meetings, and getting your body ready and I'M wrong?"
"Yeah, you are. You're loud and wrong. What are you accusing me of, exactly? Talking? Making plans, or are you really, honestly and truly convinced that I'd ever cheat on you?"
"From where I'm sitting, you already are."
He blew out a guest of air when that statement hit him in the heart.
"Well, I hope you enjoy that seat on your high horse, alone."
"My high horse? Did you not tell her…"
"It was about a business meeting, Charlotte."
"Well, when she laid on all the pleasure, you could've spoken up. Such as, 'That's a nice compliment, but I'd like for us to maintain some professionalism.' Or, go my route whenever someone hits on me - I appreciate your compliments. My boyfriend thinks very highly of me too.'"
"Well, I didn't think to say that because I'm not a liar!" She froze and he jumped at his own attack. "I mean… I don't know that you do think highly of me, anymore. Like this very instance, you saw a girl flirting with me, but you could've taken a page from my book. I'd have interrupted that conversation with a "Isn't my girl the hottest?" You… you hacked me, then attacked me. You didn't even straight up ask me about the situation, and you're the one that said we gotta always be honest with each other. This is me, being honest!"
Her voice was hurt, but she was out of fight, because he was right about a lot of that. "Well, I'm sorry to have made you feel that way. No wonder you're into her.."
He scoffed, "I can't do this right now. Click."
"No click. We're not done yet. I've obviously hurt you..." Click. She looked at the phone. He'd hung up on her and then she saw him type.
Henry: Hey. Messaging compromised. Can I call you?
Babe: Sure! Here's my number!
Charlotte set her phone down and cut off her computer. She got back to her work and by the time she left the lab, had been crying for hours. She was glad Max wasn't there that night.
When she couldn't get through to Henry for a few days, she deactivated her socmed accounts except for FaceMask and SoulDates… and she changed her SoulDates status to single. Henry got the notification for that change and his heart plummeted. He needed space to sort through her not trusting him, but he didn't think she'd do this. And, he didn't do anything to try to get her back, either. He just.. accepted it. Maybe she'd been right before. His next mistake was accepting that.
.
"And that Jeff, was my THIRD mistake. What did I expect her to do? Wait until I was out of my feelings and just presume everything was gravy until I did? She was feeling insecure and instead of reassuring her, I just got really pissed. I had the right to be, but I could have just told her - I'm upset that you spied, I'm upset that you're accusing me and I need a little time to process these feelings. I just hung up on her and stopped replying to her. Of course she dumped me! I'm surprised it took her a week to do it."
"This girl sounds like a buzzkill," Jeff said.
Kid Danger popped him upside the head, "Only loved ones get to say stuff like that."
"Look, Man. My sister gets married this weekend and I'm supposed to give her away because our dad's locked up. Can you lock me up a different night?"
"Your sister's wedding is this weekend?"
"Yeah. So, can I…?"
"Shut up, Jeff."
This weekend? Henry hadn't seen Charlotte in a few weeks. If that wedding was this weekend, that meant a few things. 1. He had to see her this weekend. 2. The anniversary of the first time he tasted her lips, and everything else.
They'd really hit the ground running, and somehow ran everything into the ground. How was he even supposed to face her after everything? He wasn't sure, but just knowing that he had to made him consider taking up alcohol.
.
Henry and Charlotte began fighting because she was "getting close" to Max's secrets and he was trying to warn her of Mimi's meetings with Max and talk her out of going forward. It became an issue of trust and she started feeling like not only that he didn't trust her, but maybe she couldn't trust him. So… she kinda started not to.
First with his protective opinions.
Then with his flirting with Babe.
But, when he ghosted her, she threw in the towel. Ray refused to come get the Man Cave Remote Control Panel from her apartment, so she simply turned it all off.
Her focus was on FaceMask, her lab, Byshelle's wedding, investigating Max, and an impending Spring Break.
Jasper tried to plan things, but she told him that Henry could have him for Spring Breaks, so long as she got him on her birthday weekend and they'd split holidays. When she told Jasper what happened, he literally cried. He was wailing. She almost felt worst for telling him than she had about causing Henry to dump her. She'd moved her project into her home, to try to test it out for real (and avoid Max prying about why she was single again). Every single night, it gave her a cool fan with chamomile, lavender, neroli and ylang ylang. In other words, the AC unit knew that she was stressed out to the max. She even packed up all of Henry's pajamas with the things that she intended to give back to him. She shipped it to the Man Cave and spent the weeks between their fallout and the wedding just trying to live her life. The life that she thought she'd always be sharing with Henry…
.
Henry came into Jasper's apartment, dressed in last night's clothes and exhausted. "I think I left my wedding jacket here…" he sniffed around and whispered, "Is Charlotte here?"
"What? Why do you ask?"
"It smells like her in here. Where is she?"
"Either in the shower or just getting out."
Henry groaned and rushed into the bedroom to look for his jacket. Right when he found it and came out of the closet holding it, Charlotte came out if the bathroom with just an open bathrobe and her hair elongated and glistening. They both froze and stared at each other, then he found his voice to apologize and rush out while she only nodded.
It was brief, but Henry caught a lot of details. She had a new belly button ring of a hibiscus. It was cute. Her wrist was swollen, probably from overworking, but she didn't have it wrapped up, so it was most likely fine, but he still wanted to examine it and give her massage, just in case. He knew he couldn't, but he thought about offering to do it.
From the glisten of her hair, he knew exactly where she was in her routine and wondered if she needed help, considering that one of her wrists were swollen. He noticed that she had a fresh pedicure. Probably because Byshelle had her wedding party wearing open toe shoes. The color scheme painted on them matched the floral print of his jacket, and her maid of honor dress, which he hadn't seen since she asked Bysh if she could make some changes. Charlotte picked him a matching jacket as her plus one… Now, he was going alone, but he'd helped with flowers, so, at least he won't look like a total tool.
He stood outside of the bedroom door for a long time thinking about how good she looked, and how badly he had let things get. Whenever he knocked, she peeked out with a confused expression, but froze again, as soon as she saw him.
"Henry?"
"Hey. I just wasn't sure when I'd see you again, so I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry. For my part in what happened. I've thought about it a lot and I realized that I made some mistakes."
She looked confused, "Henry, I take full responsibility for what happened. Don't worry about it."
"I… can't stop. I can't stop worrying about it. You needed me to prove that you could trust me and I just shut down."
"I shouldn't have spied though. You were justified in getting angry. I realized that whenever you didn't answer any of my calls… or texts. I would have been mad, too. Besides, like Jasper said, I could have sent you a message saying that if I didn't hear from you, I was assuming we were done before just, you know… ending it the way that I did. I was a horrible girlfriend from the start. Let's face it. I shouldn't have been trying to have a serious relationship." Her eyes were damp, "I lost my best friend in the process…"
"No!" Henry snapped, then calmly finished, "That would never happen. Our friendship just took a detour, but - we're Henry and Charlotte."
"Hashtag Henlotte," she said, laughing.
"Exactly. We're making it through this. I promise." She nodded, but he could tell that she didn't believe that for one moment. She opened her mouth to say something, but Jasper yelling from the living room interrupted her.
"Charlotte! Your big, stupid OX is here!"
Henry covered his chest like clutching his pearls. "Wow. Harsh words from Jasp. I'm going to have to talk to him about that. Not very gentlemanly. Bysh is a delight."
Charlotte chuckled awkwardly and grabbed the floral outfit in a plastic bag and her gym bag, tote and purse. "Later, Hen," she said. Whenever she went outside, Mitch grabbed her stuff to put into his truck and they were talking very animatedly. Henry watched through the blinds and asked Jasper, "Whaaaaat am I watching happen here?"
"A cry for help."
"Please, tell me she is not…"
"She did." Henry gagged. "Couple of times in the past week or so."
"But… why?"
"A cry for help!" Jasper pointed at him, "Don't shame her for it. Just make this right."
"I tried to talk to her. She seemed pretty detached, Man. I think she had enough of trying with me."
"She's already hung out with Mitch, TWICE. You wanna lose two girls to that ogre?"
"Wait, did they hang out, or did they hang out?"
"They hung out."
"A me and you hang or a you and Oochie Coochie hang?"
"EWWWWW! A me and you hang. You think I could so calmly tell you Charlotte…" he shuddered at the thought. "But, that's what could happen if you don't stop making these mistakes."
"What did I do wrong today?"
"For one thing, I'm starting to think you're butchering Akuchi's name on purpose and at best, that's culturally insensitive, Man."
"True that. I'll stop. Besides, he's good to you, so you know I love that."
"Actually, we've stopped seeing each other that way."
"What did that scalawag do?"
"Nothing! We're still friends. But, the whole thing with me wanting something serious someday and him having to eventually marry for political reasons. It was just a mess waiting to happen if we let it continue."
"Sorry, Man."
"No biggie. I've moved on."
"Okay, Player. Maneater. Ladykiller. Equal opportunity devourer or slayer of some sort… Gimme fuel, Dude. What's your current situation?"
"You're makin' it weird."
"Seeing Charlotte messed with my brain, Bro! I have to get her back. How can I get her back? CAN I get her back? I need HELP!"
"Oooookaaaay. Well. As you may know, I know some things. Charlotte and I have discussed this. You can definitely get her back. She still loves you. If she shot you down, it's probably because she is really focused on getting Max. She thinks she has to do it, because he's used these people to get to her. She feels obligated to free them. As soon as she completes that, she's coming back to you. She's moving back to prove to you that she loved you all along! Hashtag hearteyes!"
"She can't do that!"
"Which part?"
"ANY of it! Charlotte invented something for school that can probably take care of her for the rest of her life. I can't let her turn her back on this education for.. for me."
"I'm confused. You want her back but you want it to be like it was?"
"No!" Henry sighed, "I don't know. I just know I have to get her back. I need her in my life, Jasper. I opened up my heart to Jeff, last night!" Jasper simply looked confused. "I'm… I'll move with her," Henry declared.
"You're just saying that," Jasper said laughing. "Henry. You're Kid Danger. You can't leave. Remember that time your dad got a new job and you sabotaged it to stay? Because, I didn't, but Charlotte sure did. She brought it up in her gajillion point plan to defeat Max and 'come home to her Henry." Henry grabbed his jacket and started to leave. "Are… You… About to chase her like that? You look a mess. At least clean up.."
"I told you, Man! My mind got messed up. You should have SEEN her!"
"I did."
"She was beautiful."
"She was normal."
"Her normal is beautiful."
"Look, do you need help cleaning yourself up, or not?"
.
Henry was so nervous when he made his way to the arena. It was mostly empty, but Charlotte had hired a team of college students to help people navigate where to go. He went to find her in the dressing room with Byshelle. There was a star on the door with Bysh "Basher" Bilsky on it. "She's not a wrestler!" He observed before he knocked.
Charlotte opened the door and froze, yet again. Third time today. But… Seeing her, Henry was also stuck.
It wasn't a dress. It was a romper, with a cape. She took a reportedly hideous dress and turned it fashionable and herself into such a view… "Henry, what is it? Is there a flower problem?" She cut into his dazed stare, whispering, so that Bysh couldn't hear her.
"No. It's personal."
Charlotte rolled her eyes and shook her head, "Henry…" She stepped out of the dressing room and he nearly passed out. She was even more gorgeous when he saw her legs, and followed them all the way up her slender frame, decked out in this awesome floral outfit, up to her finger pointed at him and her bemused face, "Do not start anything on Bysh's day. She's already stressed out!"
"I'm sorry. I just had to let you, before you bang Mitch or something…"
Her face grimaced, "WHAT? Henry, get out of here."
"I just had to tell you that you don't have to do it alone - any of it. Not stop Max, not anything. And you don't have to move back to Swellview or do any other huge life changing thing. I believe you, and I still love you and I want to make it up to you. I'll help you stop Max, and then I'll come to be with you."
She frowned, confused, "You would leave," she looked around and whispered, "The Danger behind."
"I'll be as safe as Jake Hart."
She smiled and shook her head, "Okay. I'll think about that. I'm gonna go back in."
"I love you!"
"Okay, Hen." She nodded her head. "We'll talk later." She went back in and he looked at the sky. What had he done wrong? She didn't say that she loved him back. She didn't even respond to him leaving behind a life he loved! What the butt? He sighed and moved on. The wedding was… interesting. Henry had never seen so many huge guys. He also… saw Max. He guessed that Charlotte brought him as her plus one. Wow. He felt SO stupid. Like, sure - maybe it was just to keep him close enough to find out his secrets, but, Henry hated it, still.
Afterwards, when they went to the section set for the reception, Max found him. "Henry, I didn't realize you and BB were friends!"
"I did the flowers," he said, not wanting to even look at dude. He was so angry, just being in proximity to him.
"Oh, yeah! Your one gift! I heard about that…"
Henry stepped forward to step to him and Charlotte appeared and held him back, "Hey, Henry!" She cheered, covering the fact that she didn't want them to fight by distracting Henry with her presence and her touch. It worked. He paused and looked down at her. He looked at her little brown hands on the chest of his coat, then into her eyes. She smiled shyly and lowered her hands. "What did you think of the wedding?"
"You made a circus surprisingly classy," he complimented. She beamed as she smiled and giggled, unintentionally. Henry smiled to himself at that. He'd… made Charlotte giggle… Like, he didn't think she did that for him. Like, he was trying to remember if she had before, but now, seeing her do so, he knew… He'd made it. He had her back. They hadn't talked about it, but he KNEW. Max did too. His frown was plastered onto his face as he left to grab a couple of drinks.
When he was out of earshot, she admitted, "I didn't want to get into a heavy conversation knowing that he was coming. I've been trying to crack his security code without detection. I know where they are, but getting to them has been impossible!" She fixed his tie, "You look so good today, Hen."
"Me? You're… You stole the show. Who is this bride they speak of?" She giggled again and playfully swatted him.
"I wouldn't ask you to leave here," she said, suddenly serious and studying his chest. "I would have to know that you did it because you wanted to, and not to make sure that I didn't come back or to save me or anything other than you simply wanting to be with me. I've been selfish enough…" She looked up and their eyes met again. "I just want you to want me again."
"I never stopped," he whispered. She opened her mouth to say something, but Max shoved a drink between them and she smiled sadly and turned back to him. Henry went to go get himself a drink, as well. Charlotte saying she wanted him to want her made him pretty hot.
"You two are gonna get married, watch," he heard Bysh say.
He turned and cheered, "Hey, there's the bride! You looked beautiful today, Bysh. Really pulled off the princess look." He purposefully ignored her comment.
"Thanks to your future wife," she said. "I really appreciate her. Both of you, really. The flowers are beautiful. People keep asking me about them."
"I mean… I didn't create them," he laughed.
"Yeah, but you gave me the right ones and they look amazeballs together! We're doing the bouquet and garter toss next, so stay tuned."
"The what and what?"
"I throw the bouquet and the women fight to catch it. Whoever does catch it wins. He throws a garter and the men fight to catch it. Then the two winners do a dance." She shrugged her shoulders, "It's a stupid wedding tradition. The folk tale is that whoever catches those are the next people to get married."
"What?"
"Yeah, it's dumb, but my mom insisted that we do it, for tradition." The announcer called for the bouquet toss and Bysh rushed to it. Henry decided to take his punch and watch this. Charlotte was amongst the ladies waiting for it, but she didn't look too enthused about it. Still, the bouquet came in her direction and she looked like she was trying to shield herself getting hit with it, but she caught it in the process. Bysh turned and screamed, then rushed over to her. She was way more excited about it than Charlotte.
Whenever the men gathered for the garter, Henry noticed Max going, so he set his cup down and did the same. Charlotte bit her lip and bounced nervously. Bysh said, "I hope that they have a brawl over you."
"Not at your reception!" Charlotte said.
"Yeah! That'll make it better!"
Whenever Bysh's new husband threw the throwaway garter Henry noticed that it was going directly towards Max. Actually, he noticed that Max was making it come directly towards him. His hypermotility helped him intercept it. He smiled at Max and Max fumed. "You cheated," Max said, smiling through his teeth.
"I countered your cheating," Henry corrected.
Max and he wound up face to face, close enough to kiss, to be honest, but Henry didn't know why he thought of that, other than Max was way too much in his personal space if they were close enough to kiss. "You blew it, Henry," Max said, "Just leave her in peace."
Henry laughed, "She wants me back and I'm not resting until I get her back."
Max glared, but Bysh pulled Henry away and told him that it was time for him to put the garter on Charlotte and start out the dance. Charlotte hated dancing, and she hated being put on the spot. This was THE WORST… But, it was Henry, so she felt calm. He smiled, sliding the garter onto her soft, smooth thigh. Whenever they danced and he held her close, he felt like every molecule in his body wanted her. She was in his system. "Char," he whispered, "Does this mean we get to get married, now?" She shuddered against him and laughed lightly.
"Could you imagine? We haven't even gotten dating right, yet."
"We'll get it," he said.
She smiled, "Yeah. We will."
"Does… Does that mean that you're willing to take me back?"
"Why do you keep saying it like that? Like I just ditched you, or something? You checked out and I made it official. So, the question is really if you're willing to take me back."
"I'm willing to take you forever." He rubbed his nose against hers and she stood on her toes to kiss him. She'd completely forgotten about everyone there. She'd completely forgotten about Max. Max stormed out of the arena, a wave of devastation following him angrily as he did.
"Whoa. Did that dude make that happen?" They heard Mitch ask. She looked to see the doors fling open and Max stomping out.
"Oh my God… What did I do?" she asked.
"Don't worry. We're together now. We'll take him on and free those villains and…" She kissed him again and he smiled into it.
"Sorry. I just miss having optimistic Henry in my corner. I missed you so much, Dude."
"Let's never ever do anything like that again."
"I promise, I never will. I learn from my mistakes."
"I'm still scared that I'm gonna do something stupid and lose you again."
"I have faith that you won't. And if you do something stupid, I'll remember to take the facts into consideration."
"The facts are that I'm stupid and I do really stupid things when I have feelings. And I have a lot of feelings, here, for you."
"The facts are also that I know who you are Henry, sometimes better than you do. You're not stupid, just emotionally sensitive and that makes you sometimes do things that we call stupid, and I still believe in you."
He smiled, "Being validated by you is my kink." He pulled her even closer and she rocked against him. "I'm never gonna let you go again."
"I'm never gonna leave you again," she countered. He cupped her face and kissed her again. He didn't know if he would ever stop kissing her. He didn't know if he ever could.
.
Charlotte texted Max an apology for her behavior at the reception. "I didn't want to hurt you or disrespect you. I just can't get Henry out of my system. I'm so sorry that things turned out the way that they did. I hope you're okay." He read it and re-read it. He watched her closely. He waited until he couldn't STAND IT anymore. Henry was packing up some things into his jeep, and from where Max was standing, a roof near the junk shop… He appeared to be leaving. LEAVING? With Charlotte? Was he coming with her? Was this just a trip? At any rate, he snapped, figuratively and literally. When he did, the jeep flipped over onto it's top and Charlotte screamed, with Henry yanking her out of the way. As if Max would ever endanger her! He jumped down and lowered himself in front of them.
"Hey, Henry. Charlotte." He looked beyond them at the jeep. "Having car trouble?" Ray and Mimi came rushing out of the shop and she froze whenever she saw Max. This was the first time she was seeing him since she told Ray and Henry everything, and from the scene, she could tell this was about to be ugly. Henry and Ray pulled out their gumballs and blew their bubbles. Max just smirked. This was about to be interesting.