WHO: Charlotte Sweeting and Jake Bexley
WHAT: Apologies and tears?
WHERE: Outside the WWN offices!
WHEN: Right after Mr. Pepper gave her the boot!
Sitting on a bench across from the WWN offices with tear stained cheeks, Charlotte stared at the building that used to be her workplace. She had been given til the end of the day, but she found she could stay any longer than it took for her to shove her things into a box. Yet should couldn’t make herself leave either. Fired. What was she suppose to do now? All she ever wanted to do in life was work for the WWN. Become a famous personality. All of that ruined because she forgot a simple task. Though according to Octavius Pepper she had forgotten lots of ‘simple tasks’, going as far as to accuse her if not actually ever working. Which was so outlandishly untrue. She worked… at times when it was convenient.
This was supposed to be a great year. Charlotte was going to own this year and make it the one where she finally moved up at the WWN. Instead she was swiftly booted out. Because of faulty masks that made people kiss people they didn’t want to. Not to mention she had been a victim too! The whole debacle with Jake had been--- well is had been something. Why would she do something like that on purpose. It wasn’t her fault. The masks had looked nicer than the ones original planned, how was she suppose to know they were jinxed. No one actually reads the fine print, so why should that have been expected of her?
She stood, steeling herself to walk back inside and demand her job back, or at least beg for another chance. Right now she would definitely consider begging. Her parents may have money, and growing up Pa made sure she wanted for nothing, but they were currently on a ‘you need to learn to fend for yourself’ kick. Something about a concern that she was getting a bit spoiled. What nonsense. Either way, she needed a job if she wanted to keep her pretty flat in London.
She wasn’t sure how long she had been standing trying to will her feet to walk across the street. Every time she got up the courage, she remembered Charlotte Sweeting does not beg. Startling when she caught sight of someone standing just in her peripheral vision she whirled around, simultaneously wiping at her face and clutching her chest.
“Merlin! How long have you been there!” she demanded, half mortified at the idea someone might have seen her crying, or having her internal debate of whether or not the WWN was worth all of this.
Jake flinched. He had come to Diagon Alley in hopes of finding Charlotte at the WWN offices, apologizing for New Year’s Eve, and leaving. He was supposed to offer to buy her lunch, at least, that’s what his healer had suggested, but Jake didn’t think he could handle any more embarrassment.
Embarrassment. That was not something that he usually acknowledged to feeling. There were times when he felt ashamed about his behavior, ready to once more lock himself away in his brother’s flat, but embarrassment? Being embarrassed meant that you actually had to care what the other person in the situation thought of you, and Jake found himself feeling increasingly more uncomfortable at the thought of Charlotte thinking ill of him.
She reminded him of a past life, one that he could remember being proud of. Jake sometimes felt like he was seeing someone else’s memories in his head, like they’d been placed in his mind to tease him of what could have been. He’d been perpetually happy, once. Confident and bold. Now going to the grocer was a difficult ordeal. His friendship, or partnership, or latching onto, of Ollie had certainly helped his anxiety over public outings, but making this decision on his own to go and seek out Charlotte all by himself nearly paralyzed him with stress.
“Er---” Jake ducked his head, ready to leave. Seeing Charlotte cry had frozen him to the spot; he was barely prepared to talk to her in a normal state, how could he possibly manage a single word while she was crying? Jake couldn’t lift his gaze from the pavement and clenched his fists. He could not go another day with feeling guilty about ruining Charlotte’s New Year’s Eve.
“I’ve come to apologize for my behavior at the New Year’s Eve party and hope you can forgive me, I’m sorry for ruining your evening, have a good day,” Jake forced out, still staring intently at the ground. Hot it was so hot for January in London. He turned, ready to walk--run away, but a voice in his head told him to stop. He willed himself to face Charlotte again and looked up at her quickly before having to look away again.
“What made you cry?”
Goosebumps raced up her arms when she realized it was Jake standing there, watching her. He never answered her question but she got the feeling he had at least seen her cry. She hadn’t even let him see her cry when they broke up and now.
She blinked at him as he rushed through an apology for New Year’s, never once looking up at her. New Year’s, where they kissed and she had felt like they were in school all over again. Right until he freaked out just a bit on her and she still wasn’t sure what that was all about. But she did know that if out of the two of them, she should be the one saying sorry. The blame for the masks had been placed on her after all. It was, technically, her fault.
Out of everything though, what bothered her most was how Jake wouldn’t even look at her. Jake never stared at the ground. He didn’t rush through words and look pained just to be even saying them. In school, Charlotte was certain he could convince Gryffindors and Slytherins to have a big giant slumber party if he ever had the desire to. What had happen to her confident Jake Bexley that had him running away after a simple apology. That wasn’t even necessary!
When he turned back suddenly, Lottie shifted her gaze quickly, rubbing at her face again hoping that he wouldn’t pick up on the fact that while he was studying the ground she had been studying him. Well, at least out of everything that had changed, he was still as kind as she remembered.
“I was just fired. The masks,” she scratched at her neck, looking back to Jake. “I was the one who ordered them. I didn’t know---It wasn’t--- New Year’s was my fault, so please don’t apologize.” She said finally, ducking down to try and catch his eye. “I’m the one who should be sorry.”
“Fired?” Jake let her words sink in and his shoulders fell. There was a part of him that felt annoyed that Charlotte herself was the reason behind the jinxing, that she’d been the one that had caused him a few sleepless days, but Jake could recognize her remorse. Accidents did happen, as he knew too well.
“I’m sorry,” he said, honestly feeling sorry about the news. Charlotte was a good person, she shouldn’t have to feel that sort of rejection. Jake jammed his hands into the pockets of his robes, keeping his gaze on his feet as he tried to figure out what to do next. He normally didn’t get this far, an empathetic response was a rarity. He didn’t want her to feel this way, especially with how badly the night had turned. It hurt his head, actually feeling, and Jake silently cursed himself; he knew he should have stayed home.
“I’ll buy you lunch,” he blurted, finally looking up to face Charlotte. Food was a good way to ease the sting of being fired, he thought. William always brought Jake’s favorite home when he had particularly bad day, so. “Anything you want.”
Buying her something would also help alleviate the guilt he felt, Jake believed. He should have brought her a gift in the first place, but attempting to figure out what would have forced him to retreat back to his flat in defeat.
Lottie blinked, not expecting the offer to buy her lunch. She should politely decline. She appreciated, really, but she was sort of seeing someone and it would look bad. If anything, she should be buying Jake lunch for causing him to go into a near panic attack new year’s eve. Taking advantage of Jake’s kindness would be rude. Inconsiderate. Looking back to the WWN building, Charlotte once again debated going back in to ask for her job back, or going with Jake to let him buy her lunch.
“That would be nice,” even without the mask, Charlotte found herself giving a different response than she had planned. For whatever reason, she couldn’t seem to tell Jake no. She had this insatiable curiosity to find out how the Jake she knew became the man standing before her. It didn’t help that he was still ridiculously kind to her, even after not a word of contact since school. How long would they have gone without talking had she not run into him at the WWN party.
She gave Jake a small smile, clasping her hands behind her back. “Definitely would turn this day around, having a chance to catch up with you.”
He had anticipated her accepting his offer, but had not thought it all the way through. They couldn’t just order lunch, eat, and be done with it. There would be questions asked, conversation to be had. Jake hadn’t...he and Ollie were a quiet pair, even talk of quidditch was sparse. Charlotte was unlike Ollie in every way, so...Jake wasn’t sure if he could handle having lunch with her. At least, he didn’t think she would have a good time spending more than a few minutes with him when she realized…
But she seemed happier, now that they were going. That had been the point, right? He had come to apologize to make her feel better about the disaster of New Year’s, and he’d managed to do that with an addition of lunch. It was all part of his agenda in getting Charlotte Sweeting to not hate him. Apparently she hadn’t, but it still took a lot of guilt off of Jake’s shoulders, which he was grateful for. It had been eating him up and keeping him restless.
“You can pick the place,” he said. Jake stood at attention for a moment, then decided to try and initiate the conversation. “I’ve taken my brother’s wallet, so, really. Pick any place.”
Jake smiled, amused with himself, and at the idea of Charlotte taking advantage of William’s quidditch-financed wallet. Maybe this wouldn’t be so hard.
