Behind the Veil
a fanfiction by Emma

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AN: This is more of a filler chapter before the next couple of chapters. So it's sorta short, but I hope you like it anyway :)
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Chapter Four

Fall
Ending October

Let's just say ... I can't cook.

I burnt my Kraft Dinner, my cereal tastes like complete crap. – And it's cereal! The most easiest thing in the world to make! – that's why I always used to go to Charlotte's for every meal, because I needed something to eat, and I could afford it.

It's been almost a month and I haven't talked to Charlotte. Once.

Was I mad? Yep. No doubt for that.

Has she tried to talk to me? Yep. Well ... once ... or twice.

Did I ignore her? Yep. That's one of my specialties "Ignore..ism"

Was I starving? YES! I needed a cheeseburger!

All the other diner's in this small town suck! There's this Chinese place I could go to. But it doesn't actually serve Chinese food, they got bored of that, but didn't want to change the name or napkins. Too much money apparently.

The few times Charlotte talked to me I basically tried to ignore her ...

LINE

"Chad!" she had cried running after me down the street, "Chad you can't ignore me! We have to talk about this!"

"NO!" I had yelled back to her, starting to run.

"You can't run from me forever!"

"YES I CAN!"

LINE

The last time she talked to me really made me think about things.

I was working in the market and all of a sudden she's just there, standing in front of me, glaring at me.

"You can't ignore me." she says.

I say nothing to her, but in my head I'm saying, Then what am I doing now?

"You have to talk about this." she finally whispers.

"I don't want to talk about this! I'm never going to want to talk about this, I can't look at you, I can't see you because whenever I do all I see is her! And I don't want to be seeing her everyday!" I finally snap in a whisper.

She stares at me for a second, before turning away silently.

That was the last time I spoke to her.

LINE

Maybe I was giving her a hard time ... maybe I was being a jerk. But I had a good reason ... didn't I?

I didn't want to see Sonny's face everyday, because it hurt ... it just hurt too much to see that.

Yet ... I was lonely ... and I ... I guess I was depressed in some ways. And when I was with Charlotte ... I felt ... needed, like she wasn't just going to run away.

I suddenly felt guilty ...

LINE

I slowly pushed open the door and stepped inside, whoever she was talking to turned to look at me, then automatically moved away. Charlottes stared at me wide eyed. Then she looked at me with confusion, then she was annoyed.

Mood swings.

"Charlotte I ..." I started to say walking close to her, then I noticed about everyone in the diner was leaning on their chairs trying to here, "Oh god dammit, don't any of you have a life?!" I snapped at them.

They immediately either turned away or got up and left.

I turned back to Charlotte and sat at the stools, "So ..." I said casually, then catching her skeptical eye I spoke, "I'm sorry."

"Sorry? Why are you sorry. I'm the one who should be sorry." Charlotte said, grabbing me a cup of coffee.

"No ... I was the one who flipped–"

"You had all the right too."

"No I didn't Charlotte."

"Yes, you did. I shouldn't have brought her up, I should've just dropped it. You were right, i-it's none of my business what you do with your life. Though can I give you one suggestion?"

"It depends, do I have to do it?" I asked.

"No, that's what suggestion means, stupid." Charlotte shot me a "Wooow" kind of look.

"Meh."

"Get over her."

I stared down at my coffee.

"It's hard." I finally whispered.

"Chad, I don't know why I look like S-Sonny, I've n-never noticed it before, but I do, and you've apparently noticed. But this is a small town, and avoiding people is almost impossible, and I'm going to not wear my glasses sometimes, and I'm going to want to get 'dolled up' sometimes, and that's something you're going to have to live with."

"It was just a shock for me. That's all." I said, "I wasn't expecting you to show up at my door like that."

"Another reason why this is all my fault."

"It's not your fault, Charlotte." I groaned, "Let's just ... move on, forget it."

"Okay." Charlotte nodded, "But ..."

"Charlotte ..." I warned her.

"Just hear me out! – Haven't you ever wanted to talk to someone about it?"

"No ... never. I just ... can't. ... It hurts too much." I whispered.

Charlotte exhaled slowly, "Okay. Do you want something to eat."

"Please!" I begged.

"Not a big cooker, huh?"

"Nope."

"Did your cereal taste like crap?"

I smirked, "Ha, yeah."

Hope you liked it. :D

There are pictures of Charlotte on my profile ;)