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WHO: Charlotte Sweeting and Jake Bexley
WHAT: Awkward turtle ducks
WHEN: Some time before today
WHERE: Ollie's house in Venice!
STATUS: Finishing in comments



Lottie was doing remarkably well avoiding Jake since his arrival in Venice. How convenient it was that he showed up not too long after she had. The plan had been to go talk to him right away, before the awkwardness between them could grow anymore than it had. Except when Charlotte first saw him she panicked. Immediately froze with the first look he gave her and realized she had nothing to say. Actually she had a lot she wanted to say, but she couldn’t find the words. She opted to turn and flee before either of them could say anything.

Now she spent most of the last week trying her best to leave before either Jake or Ollie woke and stayed out until the very last shop closed. At least convincing Ollie to let her decorate his house (on his sickle) left her with something to do. That is until she nearly ran into Matteo Basili in town, and had to hide from him too. As she pathetically hid around a corner, not wanting to give that man a second of opportunity to think that she stuck around for him, she realized had to get out of Italy. Perhaps take up Phoebe’s offer to send her money.

Staying here was doing nothing for her, except letting her hid from the bad decisions she had made. She had to stop running whenever things got hard, or else she would have nothing worth anything in her life. And the very first thing she could do to take steps in the right direction didn’t even involve leaving Italy.

“Jake?” Lottie hovered in his door waiting for permission to enter, or to see if he even wanted her here. She had stood just outside of his view for ages before building up the courage to step into the doorway. She didn’t give him long to respond, fearing being turned away. Her heart raced, standing here now. “I going home soon. Tomorrow, I think. If I can manage it.”

Jake had not had any desire to visit Italy, or Venice to be more specific. He had been isolated in his room from the end of the World Cup until Ollie’s letter arrived. Hearing that Charlotte was in Venice only deepened his desire to destroy the country, but then Ollie explained that he did not know when he would be returning to England.

And then, the anxiety that Jake had managed to suppress, erupted. It had been fine to live in their house by himself while he was under the impression that Ollie would be coming back, there was a goal, a finish line for this loneliness, but being told that his friend had no idea when he would be returning caused Jake’s body to cramp up in stress. He couldn’t handle living on his own for an indefinite time, that was---terrifying, but he could not go back to his room in his brother’s flat, that would be going backwards.

So, he came to Italy and locked himself up in another room. Jake had no desire to see Charlotte because his embarrassment was too great to handle, and she had not made any attempts to see him. He was beginning to really hate himself for not being able to stay in England.

Charlotte’s sudden appearance startled Jake, and he froze on the edge of his bed as he finished tying up his laces. She was leaving? Why was she even bothering to tell him?

“Okay,” he said, looking back down to his shoes. He couldn’t look at her for long, he couldn’t manage it.

Okay. Okay. That was all he had to say and Charlotte didn’t think one word could sting so much. Obviously he didn’t care if she stayed, or went and she probably should have just taken that as a cue to just go. Except her feet seemed stuck in their place forcing her to stay in the doorway. Jake couldn’t even look at her. She stared at him as he stared down at his shoes and all she could think about was why didn’t he say anything. Not that it was his responsibility to keep her out of trouble but over the last week, Lottie kept remembering all that Jake had done for her since New Year’s. After all of that surely he wouldn’t have just been fine with her walking away with another guy. He should have said something, perhaps she would have stayed.

“I’m sorry, Jake.” Charlotte said after standing silent for a little too long. “I should have never left you at the World Cup party. It was a horrible way to repay your kindness. And though I probably deserve it, I hate this,” she gestured between the two of them weakly. She wondered just when she got so used to having him in her life again. “I hate not talking to you, but I could not stand the idea of facing you either, not after---”

Lottie pressed her hand to her eyes. She hadn’t planned to say any of this, she just wanted Jake to understand. To know that she was sorry. “Coming here was a mistake, and I was stupid to ever think otherwise. So I’m going home, like I should have done two weeks ago. I just wanted to apologize first, because you deserve better than how I’ve treated you.”