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Charly

Chapter 5

A week later, the band had shows in Rome. After tonight’s concert, they would have a day off and then their second concert at the venue because tickets had sold out so quickly. On the bus from the airport to the hotel, Charly sat next to Liam. “How you’re doing?”, she asked him. He had already told the boys about Sophia breaking up with him and they were incredibly supportive, but also very childish about it. Making jokes and silly comments on what Liam could do now with his newly won freedom.
“Holding up okay”, he said and even achieved half a smile. The song half a heart started in Charlys head. She patted his hand and nodded. There was nothing else to say. The two had talked about it a lot in the past few days, especially before he had told the lads.
At the hotel, Charly received a text message from Ethan. It was the first time she had heard from him since his last text calling off the skype-date. “When are you free tonight?”, she read in her head. For a split second she thought he finally had come to visit her, but he was just asking for another skype-date. “I’m done at 11 pm, so what about 11:45 pm?”, she texted back. The answer came immediately. “Great.” She didn’t know why, but she had to smile. She went to the receptionist, got the keys and handed them out to everybody. She felt so good that she wanted to called her besty Dale. She rang him up, but after just the second dial tone, she went right to voicemail. “That little fucker just sent me right to voicemail”, she said to her phone. “Who?”, Lou asked, who had just appeared right next to her, also waiting for the elevator. “Nobody”, Charly shook her head and put her phone back into her bag.
Right after she had brought her luggage up to her room, she had to go back down to get to the venue with Paul to see if everything arrived okay. When they got back, she found Zayn and Liam working out with Mark between the tour busses. “Don’t come to close, Charly, or he’ll hit you again”, Zayn shouted as he saw her coming which brought him a punch from Liam on his upper arm. “Don’t worry, I’ll stay away. I love my boobs too much”, she laughed. “When you see Niall, can you send him out, Love?”, Mark asked her. “Hyperactive kid, coming right at ya, buddy”, she pointed at him and went inside.
“So? Where’s the party happening tonight?”, Niall asked around as Charly came in. “Again? Can you not stay in for just one night?”, she asked and grabbed a bottle of water off the table. “I can stay in when I’m dead. Are you coming this time?”, he asked. “No, I have another skype-date with my man”, she noted. Maybe it will actually take place this time, she thought to herself. “Again?”, he asked and sighed frustrated. “Yes, people do that when they’re in a relationship. They talk to each other”, she explained to him like he was a little child. “We talk all the time, does that mean we have a relationship?”, he asked and pulled up his eyebrows quickly several times in a row. Charly opened her mouth and closed it again without saying something. Was he flirting with her?
“ANYWAY…”, she said and threw the bottle of water she had in her hands to Niall. “Mark wants to see you outside. Your time to sweat.” “Yeah, gotta work on my bum. I want to have an ass like Kim Kardashian”, he said with his joking low voice. “Sorry, but that ass is already married to her”, said Lisa while reading her magazine. “Nice one”, Charly complimented her on her joke. She sat down next to her and started playing Candy Crush. “What’s going on? Nobody has work to do?”, Paul came in and saw Lisa, Lou and Charly sitting around playing with their phones or reading magazines. “Lisa?”, he asked. “Clothes already laid out”, she said without looking up. “Lou?”, he went on. “Everything set up, no hair to brush around”, she replied without looking up from her phone. “Charly?”, he asked her. “Expense reports done, interview list sent and appointments confirmed”, she said without looking up from her game. “The amount of respect in this room cannot even be measured right now”, Paul sighed and went back out. The three ladies looked up and as their eyes met, they burst into laughter.
“So, who’s coming?”, Louis asked and grabbed his phone from the table. They all had gathered after the show and were about to head out to party. “Just a second”, Lou said and finished a text. “What about you, Liam?”, Zayn asked. “No, I think I’m gonna sit this one out”, Liam waved off. “Charly has her date”, Louis pointed at her while going through the little crowd of people. “Yes, and I need to go now”, she said and grabbed her purse. “Okay, then we’re good to go”, Harry smashed his hands together and got up. “Wait for me, I’m coming too”, Lisa rushed up behind the clothes rack. “How can you even walk in those shoes?”, Niall asked and gave the shoes a horrific look. “They’re super comfortable”, she defended her shoes and also looked down at her feet. “You look like a hooker”, Louis commented. “Dude, un-nece-ssary!”, Lisa said and pointed out the syllables with the pointer and thumb pressed together in front of her. “But if you buy me a drink, then I might forgive you”, she winked at him and went past him out the door. “If you buy the first round, then we might all forgive you”, Niall said, snapped his fingers in front of Louis’ face and walked out imitating Lisa’s walk as a joke.
Charly arrived in her hotel room just in time and quickly turned on her laptop. She was glad, Lisa was out with the rest, so she could talk to Ethan openly about everything. She really needed to talk to him about some stuff, especially why he called so rarely. As soon as she had started her Skype, he already rang her. She was totally nervous all of a sudden. “Hi, baby”, she said as Ethan’s face appeared on her screen. “Hey, sweetie”, Ethan said and smiled, but it looked a bit fake. “What are you up to?”, she asked him and twisted her fingers under the table. “Not much, working all the time”, he said. “You?”, he asked in return. “Also working much, it’s very hectic, but the people are nice, we’re really good friends now. You should really come out some time and meet everybody”, Charly suggested. “Yeah…about that…that’s not gonna happen, sweetie”, Ethan said. “Excuse me?”, Charly asked confused. “I really don’t want to lead you on any longer”, Ethan began. “What do you mean? Leading me on…were you leading me on?”, she asked totally confused now. This date was so not going the way she had planned it. “Yes, yes I was. Since you’ve been gone, actually. God, it feels so good to finally get that out”, Ethan said and smiled relieved. “Oh, I’m happy YOU’RE doing okay”, Charly couldn’t help, but being sarcastic about it. Was her mind playing tricks on her? This couldn’t actually be happening right now.
“See, it hasn’t been that good between us lately anyway and when you left…well, I kinda met someone”, Ethan confessed and he made it sound like it was her fault. “You met someone? W-What? Why? Who? Is she from work?”, Charly shot the questions at him, her head was spinning. “Does it really matter, sweetie?”, Ethan smiled condescending and shook his head. “Don’t call me sweetie!”, she spoke up. Charly was furious and out of her mind. “How can you do this to me?”, she asked and felt the tears rush to her eyes. “You make it sound like it’s all my fault”, Ethan said and pulled a face. “IT IS ALL YOUR FAULT, for god’s sake”, Charly screamed out. Her vision started to blur because of all the tears in her eyes. “Okay, okay, you’re right. I’m the one to blame here”, he said it like taking the high road. “I-I…I…”, she stuttered, but couldn’t get anything out, she was so shocked…and embarrassed. It was silent between them, nobody was saying anything. And what made it even worse was what happened next.
“Have you finished, darling? How did she take it?”, someone came from Ethan’s bathroom and went up to Ethan to hug him from behind. Weirdly enough she knew that voice just too well. “Well, actually she’s still…”, “DALE?!”, Charly said in shock. “Oops…well, since it’s out now…Hey sweetie”, Dale said and waved into the camera. “DON’T CALL ME SWEETIE!!”, Charly was actually screaming now. “Okaaaay, a bit loud, don’t you think?”, Dale asked her and pulled up his eyebrow. She couldn’t help but feeling indignant. “How…how…dare you to talk to me like this? You’re fucking my boyfriend”, and as she said it out loud, it became even more real. Her boyfriend was fucking her gay best friend. Her male, gay best friend. She was actually feeling sick and her head was spinning.
“So, basically, what I was trying to tell you the whole time, Charly…it’s over and I’m with Dale now…”, Ethan wrapped up the past few minutes. “Yes, I kinda got that”, Charly swallowed and her mouth was dry. “But I really want to stay friends with you, it were 3 lovely years anyway, right?”, Ethan made a kind offer and it was now Charly’s turn to pull up her eyebrow. “You’re kidding, right?”, she asked. “We get it, you need some time to process that, it’s a lot to take in, but don’t worry sweetie, you will find someone…I’m sure you will”, Dale tried to comfort her and smiled into the camera. She used to love that smile, now it made her sick. She took a deep breath and then looked straight into the camera. “I don’t want to be friends with you…in fact, I don’t ever wanna hear from you again. You’re dead to me!”, her voice got louder with every word and the she smashed the screen of her laptop down.
She always thought if something like that would happen to her, she would immediately cry, but she was just angry. Like hate pulsating in every vain of her body and she was literally seeing red. She jumped off the chair, walked towards the bed, took her pillow and screamed as loud as she could while she pressed it against her face, but that wasn’t enough. Charly laid down on her bed, again, screamed in her pillow and hit the bed uncontrollably with her feet like an angry child. And she probably acted like one right now, but she didn’t care.