Six days had passed since she last heard from John. No word, and she was pretty sure he still had her old address, email, and even her phone number. They had all stayed the same since he had left three years ago. Charlotte sat on her bed, trying to read a book. She had been on the same page for the past 30 minutes; her thoughts were filled instead with the conversation she had with John.
Charlotte felt her phone buzz. She checked the screen: "Hey girl, I just got back from work! What did you want to talk about?" It was a text from her best friend, Talia. Talia worked as a journalist, and worked odd hours as a result.
Charlotte texted back: "Can you meet me at my place? I'll make some coffee, and theres some leftover pizza in the fridge." The response was immediate: "Ofc, on my way!"
Talia came over almost immediately, admitting when the door was opened that she had already been on her way to surprise Charlotte with pastries. "The more the merrier!" Charlotte exclaimed, eyeing the chocolate eclairs in the bag Talia brought in with her.
"So...What's the gossip? I wanna know everything." Talia leaned on the counter, her eyes sparkling. She had just come back from covering a big story about a robbery at the bank and was in a good mood from having gotten to the scene first.
Charlotte sighed, not knowing where to start. She knew it wasn't John's fault that he had to leave her. Of course he had to - his dad had been dying. Charlotte knew she would have done the same thing. But she had been so heartbroken when he left. They had secretly loved each other for years, and that summer, the summer when they had finally confessed their feelings to each other, had been the best few months of her life. When he left, she couldn't leave her bed for weeks. Talia had come over to take care of her then, and had been horrified at the lack of hygiene in that room. It took all of Charlotte's strength and a lot of Talia's prodding and comfort to get her showered and functional. And it had taken even longer for Charlotte to even talk to another man again. She had closed up her heart so shut for so long.
"John...he's back in town." Charlotte told her softly, her eyes locked on Talia's to look for some sort of response. Talia's face contorted in anger. "What???!? That punk?? Where is he?? I'll kill him!"
Charlotte laughed a little and grabbed Talia's arm to hold her back. "No, it's okay... we saw each other a week ago and he wanted to talk to me." Talia relaxed a little. "Well, what did he say?" she asked.
And then Charlotte told her everything that had happened, why she acted the way she did, as Talia nodded, listening to everything.
"What should I do?" Charlotte buried her head in her hands. Talia came around the counter to sit with Charlotte at the table. She put her arm around Charlotte in an attempt to comfort her.
"Well," Talia started, "Do you still love him?" Charlotte looked down her hands. "I think I do." She admitted to Talia, and a little to herself.
"Then. Tell him." Talia told her firmly. "I know he hurt you. But he didn't want to. And obviously he still loves you. I know there's so much pain between you two, but I also know how happy you were when you were together. I was there. I know you two belong together."
"But what if he leaves again? What if..." Charlotte trailed off, thinking of the possibilities. She didn't want to feel that kind of pain ever again, if she could avoid it.
"Honey," Talia held Charlotte's hand with one hand and grabbed a chocolate eclair with another. "Love hurts. But it's worth it."
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