Don't Be Scared, It's Only Love...

"Hey, Char! I'm back," Jordan's voice echoed in the hotel room. Silence was all that answered him. "Charlotte?"

Jordan started to panic, jogging into all the rooms of his apartment looking for her. He tried to think for a minute if she had said she was going to go somewhere. He whipped out his phone, hoping there would be a text there from Charlotte explaining where she was. Nothing.

He dialed her number and waited. After a few rings she answered.

"Hello?" she said casually, like she didn't know who was calling. Jordan scowled to himself.

"Yeah, hey. Where are you, Charlotte?" he asked, frustrated. She snorted.

"What are you, my dad?" she said viciously. Jordan was confused.

"No, I just thought maybe a heads up would be nice. Like, 'Oh hey, Jord, I'm gonna go out into the city on my own so don't freak out that I'm not at your apartment.' Seriously Char, you had me worried," he said with a sigh.

"So I'm not allowed to go out for a walk without your permission, but you can just ditch me whenever you damn well please? That's fucked up, don'tcha think" she retorted heatedly. Jordan's confusion faded. This was one emotion he was very familiar with: jealousy.

"Just come home Char. I think we need to talk." He said, resigned. He heard her murmur agreement and the click of the phone going off.

She was walking through the door 5 minutes later, an angry look still on her pretty face. Jordan sighed, rubbing his face with his hand and then got up to talk to her.

"Look, I'm sorry I ditched you. I just felt bad that I had to cancel hanging out with Jenna earlier," he said quietly, deciding the best way to go about this was to earn her forgiveness.

"Oh, well sorry I ruined all your fucking plans Jordan. I never see you. Never, J. I make a trip to come up and see you because I miss you and now you're making me feel like shit because your little puck slut needed some attention and you had to cancel," Charlotte sneered, eyes alight with fury. Jordan's eyes narrowed and he threw apologizing out the window.

"She's not a fucking puck slut, Charlotte! She's my friend. So what if maybe I'm interested in her for more, it's not like I have any better offers around," he said nastily, smirking smugly at the angry girl before him.

"That's a laugh, Jordan. Not a puck slut? Okay then, what's her last name? What does she do for a living?" Charlotte asked mockingly, and then laughed humorlessly. "She's probably a fucking psychopath stalker fan girl that wants to get a picture of your dick and sell it to the newspaper."

"So what?! Maybe you're a fucking psychopath stalker who wants to get a picture of my dick! God knows you've been throwing around desperate enough hints that you want me to fuck you," he shot back.

Charlotte's mouth gaped open at his last words and then shut firmly into a thin line. Her eyes held anger, but also hurt. Tears welled up that she couldn't stop from falling.

"Fuck you, Jordan Staal," she said fiercely, giving him a look of pure distaste. Then she finished sharply. "& just for the record, if I'm a puck slut, then I'm the only one who isn't just looking for a fuck and a shopping spree, because, regardless of how much of a prick you can be, I really, really liked you."

And with that, she turned on her heel and left the way she came in, leaving Jordan to soak in her words. It was the first time either one of them had admitted out loud that they had feelings for each other. Jordan closed his eyes and shook his head slowly in disappointment.

"Sometimes that girl is too much fire for even me to handle," he said, fondness and sadness melding together in his words.



Charlotte sat on a bench out in Market Square and cried, her head buried in her hands. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to be met with pretty hazel eyes.

"Hey, Sid," she managed to sniffle out. Sidney gave her a sympathetic look, but his eyes also held a similar sadness to her own and she noticed. "What's wrong?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" he replied with a dry laugh. She just gave him a look and he sighed. "Fine. Maggie broke up with me. She was all fucking pissed about me spending time with your sister. I couldn't deal with it, Char. I freaked out on her. I've been in such a fucking bad place since my concussion. It's been 3 months Char. When will I be better? Maggie was never there and so I would always talk to Jen on the phone."

Charlotte gave him a sympathetic look and he gave a small, tight-lipped excuse for a smile.

"I mean, even when she was there, she just wasn't there, ya know?" he said thoughtfully. Charlotte nodded, thinking back to her blue eyed boy that had almost been disappointed when she showed up to surprise him.

"Jordan accused me of just wanting to fuck him," she said suddenly. Sidney looked startled.

"Damn, Charlie. Why the fuck would he say that?" he asked in confusion.

"I called his precious Jenna a puck slut and he bit back with that comment," she said bitterly. Sidney cocked an eyebrow.

"Jenna? The one he met yesterday?" he asked curiously. Charlotte didn't answer for a minute, just sat completely still, staring at the ground, her lip pressed together.

"He met her yesterday," Charlotte stated dully, her eyes once full of fire now looked full of emptiness. Sidney slung his arm around her shoulders and she let herself lean her head on his shoulder.

"Love's a little bastard, isn't it?" Sidney said quietly. He felt Charlotte nod against his shoulder. He sighed, leaning his head on top of hers. "But you can never get rid of the damn bastard, no matter how bad you wish you could. It makes you do stupid stuff and it makes you wanna curl up and die. But I guess it can also make you better and it can make you feel like you're fucking perfect and shit. Maybe it's a blessing disguised as a curse."

"Pretty damn good disguise," Charlotte muttered. Sidney laughed humorlessly.

"Yeah. Pretty damn good. It damn well fooled me."