Becoming Better

Chapter 7 - "Why?"

"Hey Charlie," Cassius said. He looked very uncomfortable.

"Hi," she breathed, swaying a little on the spot. The alcohol had thrown her balance off. "What are you doing here?"

"This is a class of 2019 party," he said, referring to the year he graduated. "What are you doing here?"

She stared at him, speechless. "Partying," she finally answered.

He looked at the cup in her hand and frowned. "Are you drunk?"

"No," she said defensively, although she was realizing she was drunker than she thought. But that wasn't the point here. They hadn't talked in nearly 3 months and this was all he had to say to her?

"Yeah, ok," he said. He shook his head and started to walk away.

Charlie couldn't believe this was their conversation. "That's it?" she yelled after him.

People were starting to stare. He turned back around to face her. "You really wanna do this here?"

"No, but when else are we gonna do it?!" she kept yelling.

"Fine!" he said, walking up to her. "What do you want to talk about?"

"I wanna know why," she said, feeling herself starting to tear up and hating it. "Why did we break up?"

"Because Charlie, I couldn't stand it anymore," he said, lowering his voice so only she could hear. "All we did was fight."

"That's not true."

"It is, you literally made me hate myself," he argued.

"What!? How did I do that?" she asked.

He shook his head again. "Ok, maybe I was the one who made me hate myself. Do you think I liked being that guy? I hated it. I tried not to be. But you just bring out the worst in me."

That hit her like a punch in the gut. "The worst? I thought you loved me..."

"Don't do that Charlie." He gave her a warning look. "I won't let you pull me back into this. I was sick of the way I felt all the time. And not to mention I was sick of every guy you know just waiting for an opening to get with you."

"They are not. And I didn't do anything wrong, Cassius!" she raised her voice again. "I never cheated on you!"

"Not yet." He shrugged. "And now look at you. Since when do you drink?"

"That's so unfair," she started, but stopped when she felt someone's hand on her shoulder.

Wyatt was standing behind her, looking concerned. "Everything ok here?"

Cassius checked Wyatt out, looked at his hand on Charlie's shoulder, and gave her a pointed look.

"Yep," Cassius answered, and walked away.

Charlie turned on Wyatt, furious at him for interrupting. She was trying to make Cassius stop worrying about other guys. Wyatt touching her like that destroyed any chance of that happening now.

"Why did you do that?" she spat at him.

"I wanted to make sure you were alright," he said, confused. "I just saw you over here arguing with that dude and I was worried."

"That dude was my ex, and I was trying to fix things. And now it's ruined, so thank you for that," she said, still fuming.

"That guy?" Wyatt asked, now even more confused. "He was being awful to you. Why do you want to fix things with him?"

"Because I love him!" she yelled. Alcohol really made it hard for her to contain her outbursts.

"Ok, I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to ruin it," Wyatt apologized.

Charlie calmed down slightly. "Ugh, whatever. It wasn't going great before you got here, anyway," she admitted.

Wyatt looked at her intently. "I know it's not my business Charlie, but a guy like that? With those kinds of trust issues? You deserve better."

"You know Wyatt, you're right." Charlie rubbed her eyes with one hand, then looked up at him. "It really is none of your business."

***Oouch Charlie! Wyatt's just trying to help. How do you think Wyatt will react to her outburst? Still friends or is he over it?