AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Charlotte, I had to call your dad so you’d get in my car. You’re definitely still that person, even a little bit.”
“In my defense, that was more about being in a car withyouthan me being a belligerent brat.”
He grimaced. “I deserve that.”
“At least you can recognise it.” I folded my arms across my chest. “I should have just gotten a taxi.”
“It’s much safer this way.”
“I’m not that drunk.”
“You almost fell off your chair in the pub,” he reminded me. “You absolutely are.”
“Not anymore. I can talk without giggling. Being in a car with you is a sobering experience.”
He glanced at me. “I know you’re not enjoying this, and I don’t blame you, but—”
“You don’t blame me? Oh, good. I’m glad about that.”
“—I wasn’t going to let you put yourself at risk just because you’re mad at me.”
“Mad at you?” I shifted in my seat and stared at him in disbelief. “You think I’m mad at you?”
“I’d have to be blind not to see that, Lots.”
Lots.
Nobody other than him had ever called me that.
I didn’t even know why he’d called me that. He’d always laughed it off, never explaining it, and I’d stopped asking.
It’d always been something that was ours.
But now…
Goosebumps erupted on my arms, tickling their way across my skin. “Don’t call me that. You don’t get to call me that anymore.”
“Sorry, I—”
“I don’t care.” I looked away as he pulled up outside Grandpa’s house, blocking the driveway, and I opened the car door. I forgot for a second about my seatbelt, but I unclipped it, grabbing my bag as the belt whooshed back into place, and got out. “Thank you.”
I shut the door behind me slightly too vigorously, and my stomach sank at the sound of him getting out of the car.
“Charlotte…”
“I am mad at you.” I turned around, glaring at him. “You’re right, I am. And tough fucking shit, Noah. You can’t tell me you expected otherwise.”
He said nothing, merely pressing his lips into a thin line. He was under a lamppost so his face was fully illuminated, and I could see the emotion swirling in his deep, green eyes.
“I didn’t handle things well when I left here the last time, but I never thought for a second that you, of all people, would hurt me like that,” I said, holding his gaze. “You told me you loved me, then you tossed me away, never speaking to me again. There was no breakup, there was no reason, there was no closure. You just disappeared.”
His lips parted the slightest amount, and he drew in a deep breath at my words.
“You broke my fucking heart in the most callous way possible.”
“I know,” he said softly.
“No, you don’t. If you knew that, you wouldn’t be talking to me like nothing happened. Like we’re friends. We’re not, Noah. We’re not even close to being friends, because I don’t owe you anything. I don’t owe you my kindness, I don’t owe you my understanding, and I sure as fuck don’t owe you my forgiveness. You haven’t even tried to explain to me why you did what you did. I deserved it back then. I deserved to know. I still do.”
