Chapter 5: Brunch

Charlotte Greene was wearing Ethan's shirt. She smelled conspicuously like the warm, intoxicating cologne he wore every day. She was marred with his mark. She smiled the smile she reserved for only him. She was distinctly his.

And when she walked into her apartment, everyone knew it.

Charlie didn't even close the front door behind her before her friends noticed the obvious change in her. She was a very different woman from the one they'd seen before her weekend with Dr. Ramsey. The woman they saw on Friday night was on the heels of devastation and in search of a distraction as her life seemingly fell apart, and they resisted the urge to shield their eyes as she sank lower and lower into despair.

When she disappeared on Friday night, they'd been terrified for her wellbeing and were only marginally comforted by her "I'm fine" text on Saturday morning – though much of that comfort dissipated when she refused to explain her absence over the course of the weekend. At one point, Jackie suggested they go on a manhunt through Boston and force her to face her problems, but Sienna and Elijah insisted on a gentler approach.

And now, she was home (perfectly safe and unharmed – Sienna was already visually examining her for any signs of injury or disease), and she had a lot of questions to answer.

Charlie jumped when she looked over to her dining room, finding all of her friends crowded around their dining room with an overwhelming amount of food and mimosas nearly falling off the limited space. And they were staring at her. Every. Single. One.

Swallowing, Charlie let out a weak wave and put her keys on the hook in an attempt to seem casual, "Oh, hey, guys."

"Hey, guys?" Jackie was the first to pounce, hands already on her hips as she incredulously repeated the greeting, "Where the fuck have you been, Charlie?"

"With a friend," Charlie shrugged as if the meaningless gesture could ever shake Jackie's questions off. They'd been friends long enough for her to know better.

"You're certainly dressed like you were with a 'friend,'" Bryce snorted, his eyes lit up with mischief and amusement as he helped himself to the alcohol. He'd been on Jackie's side during the discussion of a manhunt. In the last year, he'd adopted Charlie as a little sister, and the idea of something happening to her had stayed with him through most of the weekend. But now, there was something he hadn't anticipated – that she would lie to him. He'd seen enough girls leave his apartment on a Sunday morning to know what to expect, and under the smile on his face, he was hurt she wouldn't tell him.

"I had to borrow some clothes," Charlie crossed her arms across the t-shirt, hiding the cartoon turkey she'd obsessed over a few hours earlier, "I don't know what you're implying, Bryce."

Bryce cocked an eyebrow as if silently daring her to admit what he already knew. Despite his hurt and concern for his dear friend, there was a part of him that was enjoying himself. Firstly, it wasn't often that he got to tease someone else for their sexual exploits, and now that he knew she was fine, he intended to enjoy putting her on the spot.

Jackie opened her mouth, ready to tell her friend just how worried they were and how irresponsible she'd been, but sensing a fight, Sienna stepped in.

"You weren't answering your texts on Friday night, Charlie, and we were so worried," Sienna's voice was so soft that, for a moment, Charlie dropped her guard and suddenly felt guilty for having it up in the first place, "And then you were hardly answering us on Saturday and didn't come home. We love you, Charlie, and we didn't want anything bad to happen to you."

Guilt began to fill Charlie's limps, turning them to lead as her face flushed with shame. In all of her self-pity and risky behavior, she hadn't really thought about how her friends would feel. She could see them now, face twisted with concern as she evaded their questions.

Add being a shit friend to the list of bad things I've done this year, Charlie thought to herself.

"I'm sorry… I didn't mean to make you worry," Charlie admitted, "I just needed space after Landry-"

"You mean the lying piece of shit we no longer acknowledge," Jackie corrected.

"No, the snake who shall not be named," Elijah chimed in.

"Ah, the fucker we kill on sight," Bryce added in for good measure.

"The one who looks like burnt ramen noodles?" Kyra was happy to chime in as she raised her mimosa in a toast to the tirade of insults.

Charlie nodded, trying to hide the laugh building in her throat through the motion, "That's the one."

"Charlie, we would have been there for you," Sienna stepped towards her friend, squeezing a hand as she added, "I hate to think of you dealing with that on your own."

The weekend flashed through Charlie's mind – waking up in Ethan's apartment, going to the river to see Naveen, fighting with Ethan, and waking up in his bed…

And without even a flash of hesitation, she said, "I wasn't alone."

"Does that mean she got laid?" Kyra's whisper was aimed at Bryce but reached the whole room, earning Charlie's glare as Bryce nodded his answer.

"100% got laid," Bryce confirmed in the same stage whisper.

"Guys," Charlie tried to stop them, but it was no use.

"Charlotte Greene, don't be ashamed of sex. It's perfectly natural, and an open conversation encourages a healthy dialogue that is the key to successful relationships," Bryce leaned on his elbows, his wicked smirk reminding her of the last time he talked to her about her sex life.

"Yeah, we openly communicated when you had sex with Bryce!" Elijah pointed to Bryce, who shamelessly shrugged.

"We did?" Charlie asked, amazed by how extensively her friends had discussed her sex life. She was close to them, of course, and frequently filled them in on the details of her life – but she'd never really wondered how much they talked about it when she was away.

When she had sex with Bryce at their housewarming party, the group dynamic was still young and potentially fragile. Charlie still remembered when they all sat down to breakfast, nursing hangovers and awkwardly staring at Bryce with the silent question of "what the fuck is he doing here?" Terrified to keep secrets from her new friends but dreading any awkwardness, Charlie prepared precisely what she was going to say to her friends, but to her amazement, there was no need for an organized speech. If anything, the new drama to the group dynamic made them better friends.

A few weeks later, the steamy affair came to a natural end. Their strong friendship didn't equate to a strong romance, and ultimately, the sex wasn't worth risking their friendship over. Bryce loved Charlie, and she loved him, too – but a few weeks together taught them that platonic love can be just as powerful.

Maybe it could have worked if they'd tried. Maybe it was poised to be a grand love story, but there was always a blue-eyed ghost with a grip on Charlie's heart that destroyed the relationship before it could start. Every time they got drunk and wallowed in their regrets, Bryce and Charlie didn't think of each other.

It was arguably the least dramatic thing to happen during their intern year.

The night that they had their official "talk" to end things, they'd been huddled on his living room floor, sharing takeout and flipping through Netflix options. After they dissolved their relationship, they fought over the last eggroll and settled on Jurassic Park. It was as if their friendship had somehow come out unscathed.

And the group dynamic magically did the same. If anything, there was a new joke to throw around.

"You had sex with Bryce?" Kyra chimed in, "When the hell did that happen?"

"A few months ago, keep up," Bryce shook his head as if disappointed that she hadn't studied their drama before attending brunch.

"So, are we waging bets on who she had sex with? Because my money's on Rafael," Kyra suggested, to which Bryce scoffed.

"We all know it's Dr. Ramsey."

"My bet's Aurora. They fight too much not to have some repressed sexual energy going on," Jackie suggested.

"We're not taking bets on who I had sex with!" Charlie stopped them before clumsily adding, "Not that I even had sex with anyone."

"Charlie, you'd really lie to my face at brunch?" Bryce shook his head with an obvious distaste for the offense, pouring himself a mimosa, "Absolutely disgusting."

Charlie lifted the glass from his grasp, bringing it to her lips as Bryce's jaw dropped in pure shock. Several things were sacred to Bryce – himself (obviously), his crocs, and his brunch. And to be honest, Charlie felt a sense of victory as she drank his mimosa. It served him right for gossiping about her night.

"How about we have brunch without talking about sex?" Charlie suggested as she took a seat at the table with her friends, and Sienna raised her glass in concurrence as she sat next to Charlie.

"I think that's a good idea," Sienna echoed.

"Boooo," Kyra pouted as she started to fill her plate with her favorite brunch foods, and still muttering about the new conversation rules, their friends followed suit.

After a few awkward moments of fumbling around for a new topic, the group found one. Elijah and Jackie were debating the merits of Sci-Fi movies – pro and anti, respectively – while Bryce took it upon himself to fill Kyra in with the juicy gossip she'd missed. Everyone was dancing around the elephant in the room – Charlie's ethics trial. The closest that anyone got was when Bryce explained Landry's betrayal to Kyra, but other than a few jabs thrown in from various friends, it passed by without too much debate.

Something about their silence felt wrong to Charlie. How could they not talk about it? How could Charlie walk into a career-shattering, life-altering hearing without even talking about it with her friends?

There were so many secrets and untouched topics within their group, and it all centered on Charlie. Their entire friendship with Landry was severed because he betrayed her, and once he declared his intention to move out, they were also left to shoulder the higher rent or take on the burden of finding a new roommate. Even if they weren't on trial, they were implicated in a scandal that would likely destroy Charlie's career because she'd been hellbent on giving her patient the options she deserved. And now she was lying to them about where she'd been and who she was with.

Facing the destruction of her life goals and years of hard work was hard enough that Charlie felt a knot in her stomach at the idea of minting the bubble they'd built around her. Several times, Charlie thought about bringing it up herself, and she almost brought the words to her lips. But every time, she fell short. As much as she wanted to live in the real world and openly face the truth with her friends, she couldn't face it. She needed the cushion of an idyllic, safe brunch. The real world could come later…

"We're really happy that you're here," Sienna looped her arm through Charlie's as Charlie took a bite of Sienna's famous cinnamon rolls, and Charlie leaned into her friend's touch. As she did, Sienna was close enough to whisper, "I know the truth, by the way."

The words were so soft that they almost faded into the chatter and clinking of glasses, but despite their impermanence, they were powerful enough to turn Charlie's blood to ice. Swallowing, Charlie mirrored Sienna's soft voice as she repeated, "The truth?"

"About your weekend," Sienna was practically beaming as she spread jam across her toast, looking up to explain, "Dr. Ramsey found all the concerned messages I left on your phone on Friday night. He didn't want me to worry about your safety, so he called to make sure that I knew that you were alright and spending the night at his apartment."

"Ethan called you to let you know I was alright?" Charlie felt like a broken record as she repeated her friend's words once more, but she craved the confirmation. Her sweet, wonderful Ethan…

"You call him Ethan now," Sienna noted with a sly smile. She looked as if she'd stumbled upon an epic romance, her gaze full of hopeful excrement and adoring warmth, and it was infectious enough to touch all the hopes Charlie purposefully neglected. Her relationship with Ethan was still so fragile that Charlie feared weighing it down with expectations, but as her chest inflated with affection, she couldn't help herself.

And right then, more than ever before, she wantedto tell the truth. She wanted to shed the lies she'd inherited at Edenbrook and share her swelling heart with the people she loved the most. But even when Ethan wasn't Dr. Ramsey anymore, she sensed an unspoken barrier between the world they'd made in his bedroom and the one she now inhabited with her friends.

"He doesn't work for Edenbrook anymore,' Charlie's pathetic deflection didn't fool Sienna, and she knew it, "I don't have to call him Dr. Ramsey."

Sienna nodded her head to play along, but the joyous glint in her eyes gave her away as she imparted advice on her friend, "You know, I've always found titles overrated. What does it matter if you're an intern and he's an attending? It's just a job, and times like this remind us that we're all just people every day," Sienna motioned towards the friends crowding their dining room in support of Charlie, "Look at us. A year ago, we didn't even know each other. We were just residents who happened to be assigned to the same hospital, and now, I love you all like you're my family."

Sienna hadn't realized that the room had grown silent to listen to the end of her speech. All other conversation fell to the side, and all eyes lingered on Sienna. It was only when she finished that she noted the warm smiles from her friends.

"That. Was. Beautiful." Bryce looked like seeing such purity was a sucker punch to the gut, his eyes brimming with tears of affection, and he stood from his seat to pull her into a surprise hug.

"Oh!" Sienna gasped, patting him on his back as Bryce tightened his grip in his signature bear hug.

"Fuck it. We love you, too, Sienna," Jackie dropped her croissant and joined Bryce in the hug.

"It's a group hug!" Bryce's voice was full of excitement as Jackie piled on to their hug.

"This is literally the purest thing I've ever seen," Kyra snapped a photo with her phone before joining the hug.

Charlie watched as Bryce welcomed everyone into the fold, earning giggles and jokes as her best friends joined together. Charlie couldn't stop the happy laughter that escaped her throat, not that she even wanted to. Her heart threatened to burst out of her chest at the sight of loving friendship, and she didn't hesitate as she added, "I love you all so much."

"Stop it, you guys, I'm gonna cry!" Sienna called out, now buried in her friend's affection.

"What are you talking about? I'm already crying!" Elijah called out, earning laughter from the room.

Charlie was enveloped in her friend's embrace, reserving no personal space to contain her thoughts, and she couldn't escape the emotions she'd buried since Mrs. Martinez's death. She'd spent so long trying to be strong that she'd neglected the network of people who loved her more than anything.

And abandoning her reserves and embracing their trust, Charlie began, "No matter what happens tomorrow, you guys have given me an incredible intern year, and I'll always love all of you. And-" Charlie choked back a sob, "I'm so sorry that I let you down and involved you in such a stupid, dangerous decision. I just wanted to give Mrs. Martinez the care she deserved, and I didn't exercise enough caution-"

"Oh, fuck off with that nonsense," Jackie interrupted her, pulling out of the hug just enough to put her hands on Charlie's shoulders, "You never made us do anything. We were perfectly aware of the decision we were making, and I think I speak for everyone when I say we'd do it again."

"Of course, I would, Charlie!" Sienna interjected.

"I would, too," Bryce confirmed, his hand now on hers as he squeezed her hand with the same brotherly affection she could always count on him for.

"You did the right thing, Charlie. You always have," Kyra reinforced, "You taught me to keep fighting, and you're crazy if you think I'll let you give up now."

"We love you, Charlie. Sienna was right – we're a family," Elijah's smile warmed Charlie's heart, and as she looked around the room, she found it echoed in the faces of her best friends.

"I don't deserve you guys," Charlie shook her head as if still trying to process why this amazing group of people had decided to stand with her.

"Are you kidding?" Jackie shook her head as if disappointed with Charlie being so naïve, "You're the glue that brought this ragtag family together in the first place. You're the reason we're here, and you deserve every bit of our support. Stop letting this ethics hearing make you doubt yourself. You're a fucking badass, Charlie, and it's time to start acting like one."

"That might be the nicest thing you've ever said to me," Charlie laughed through her tears as she unsuccessfully tried to wipe them away. The difference in her was immediately visible. Their support built her up a way nothing else could, and the sight weighed Jackie down as she thought about the strain between them for the last few months.

"I'm sorry that I haven't always supported you. I should have. Friends first – competition second."

"It's okay," Charlie squeezed her friend's hand, "I'm sorry, too. You're one of my best friends, and I don't want to fight anymore."

Jackie was amazed by how readily Charlie forgave her and was struck with how undeserving she felt, and as if sensing her thoughts, Sienna enveloped her in a hug.

"We love you, too, Jackie."

"Even if you scare us," Bryce conceded.

"Is anyone going to talk about how Jackie put competition second? That's a breakthrough!" Elijah couldn't contain his surprise to everyone's amusement.

"Are all your brunches this supportive? Because, if so, I'm coming to every single one from now on," Kyra wiped at her eyes, trying not to show that she was just about to cry with the rest of them.

"You're always invited," Charlie insisted, holding out her hand for Kyra, but to her surprise, she was enveloped in a bear hug instead.

Bryce took a step back, wiping at his eyes as he announced, "This shit's too cute. I need champagne for this. This is the best brunch I've ever been to, and we all know I don't say that lightly."

"Come on, let's go find you some champagne," Sienna started to lead a blubbering Bryce to the kitchen to find the perfect – and only – bottle of sparkling wine left in their fridge to toast their brunch to.

And it was right then that Charlie suddenly knew she had to tell them.

"Guys," Charlie called out before she could stop herself. Everyone had already started to move back to their seats, wiping at their eyes and murmuring about how sappy they felt, but they all stopped to look at her, unsure what else she could have to say.

You can do this, Charlie thought to herself.

Taking a deep breath, Charlie pulled off the Band-Aid, "I had sex with Dr. Ramsey."

"WHAT?" Elijah choked on his coffee.

"I fucking knew it!" Bryce air pumped his fist in victory, looking as if he regretted not taking bets, "Charlotte Greene, I am so proud of you. Why the hell didn't you tell me earlier? We would have celebrated!"

"Yeah, Charlie, why didn't you tell us?" Sienna's question was genuine, even if she'd known the answer all along.

"I don't know," Charlie admitted, shaking her head as she tried to work through the jumbled thoughts, "I was scared. I'm so scared, you guys," her voice cracked, "I just don't want to put too much pressure on it, and I didn't want you to think that I'd been fucking my boss for a better ranking. I promise, it just happened. I drunk texted him on Friday, and he picked me up. And then he invited me to see Dr. Banjeri, and then I spent the night and we…" Charlie trailed off, surprised by the incoherent story flowing from her mouth.

"Charlie, we'd never think that about you," Sienna stepped forward, pulling Charlie into another tight hug.

"Even I'm the first to admit that you worked your ass off," Jackie admitted, "You should have told us. We would have made fun of you for hours!" Jackie's smirk mad Charlie laugh despite herself.

"Can we go back to the fact you drunk texted him? Does he even know how to text?" Elijah asked, his eyebrow raised, "Wait, does this mean we're friends with him? Holy shit, I should invite him to my movie marathons."

"No, no, we're… I don't know what I'm with him, let alone you guys. We had sex once – well, twice, but –"

"Twice? That's my girl," Bryce interjected, earning a glare from Charlie.

"I could be Dr. Ramsey's new best friends. Guys, what if he likes science fiction movies?" Elijah was now going off on his own tangent, and it was best to let him fall down the rabbit holes on his own.

"Okay, guys, pause on everything. We need champagne for this!" Bryce insisted, practically sprinting to the kitchen to retrieve the bottle.

The room had practically dissolved in chaos. Elijah was discussing movies and planning marathons and toying with the idea of Dr. Ramsey joining him. Kyra and Bryce were so overwhelmed with pride that they couldn't focus on much else, disagreeing on how to best toast to their friend ("no, we should celebrate how brave and unapologetic her life is!" "no, we're definitely toasting the sex, Kyra."). Jackie was now overwhelmed with how many opportunities she now had to tease Charlie, and Sienna watched over all like a proud mother hen.

Even if it was overwhelming and even a bit frightening, Charlie loved it. She loved them.

And there was a thought in the back of her mind – just a whisper, really – that left a foreign thought to invade every corner. Maybe – just maybe – those three words belonged to Ethan all along.