Things Aren't Always What They Seem

Ch 5

***Flashback***

"So you're really going out with him?" Jon asked Charlotte as she looked in the mirror and put on the finishing touches of her make-up. She glared over at him side-eyed and gave a smirk. "This was your idea," she sang bittersweetly to him.

Jon swallowed hard, walked over and leaned against her doorjamb, arms crossed. He didn't particularly like the idea that she thought this was his doing because, well, simply put, it wasn't. "I just don't want to see him hurt you."

She turned around from the mirror and looked at him. "Jon it's one date. Seriously. You're being ridiculous. I know you're protective and all, but it's one date!" She looked across the room to the clock and let out a little gasp, "I need to get my shoes on he's going to be here any minute. I don't have time to debate you." She rushed over to her door where he stood like a guard not letting her pass. "I promise I'll be fine. It's not like we're going to get married after one date." She looked up into his eyes and gave him a death glare, he knew better and moved out of her way seemingly satisfied with her answer.

"If he's a dick, call me."

"He won't be. I'm sure you put the fear of the Lord into him," she said knowingly as the doorbell rang.

Jon mumbled to himself but didn't take a step further. He could see her and her door and when she opened it he could see Patrick.

Patrick didn't see Jon immediately and his eyes lit up when he laid eyes on Charlotte. "You look beautiful," he cooed before doing a double take and finally noticing Jon down the hallway. Seeing his friend and teammate there made him feel uncomfortable.

"Tazer," he nodded his head clearly feeling awkward that Jon was in Charlotte's apartment with them.

"Kane," Jon nodded right back, arms still crossed.

Charlotte looked back and forth between the two friends and shook her head confused and uncomfortable. "Okay Pat, let's get out of here." She put her palms to his chest and pushed him backwards towards the door.

"No plans tonight?" Patrick ignored her and kept his eyes on Jon.

"Nah," Jon shook his head. "I'm going to have an easy night. Get some take out and relax."

"Jon just lock up when you leave," Charlotte yelled as she shut the door behind them. She didn't notice the death glare that Jon gave Patrick before it closed, a glare that told Patrick clear as day that Jon would murder his ass if he fucked with Charlotte.

"He, uh, he has a key?" Patrick looked at Charlotte slightly taken aback as they walked to his car.

"Yeah," she said innocently. "He's the only person I trust enough. It's good to know he has my back and it just became a lot easier than opening the door every time he came by."

"So he's here a lot then?"

"Yeah. But you already knew that," Charlotte said as she nodded her head and Patrick opened the passenger door.

When they got to the restaurant Patrick took the liberty of ordering them each a glass of wine and fell easily into being smooth and suave having had plenty of practice. "I have to be honest," he started with a smirk as he took a sip of his drink. "Jon's had you around for so long and never made an honest woman out of you."

Charlotte blushed and looked down slightly embarrassed. "It's not like that with us," she said with a little laugh.

"I can't see why it isn't," Patrick replied not wanting to put any ideas into her head but curious to see if they were already there. "I mean, look at you. You're so beautiful. I've been wanting to ask you out since the first time I met you but wasn't sure if Jon would agree to it."

"Why would he have to agree to it?" Charlotte wrinkled her brow.

"You know he's extremely protective over you," Patrick stated and she already knew it. He'd demonstrated it repeatedly over the years.

Charlotte nodded, "Yeah. I know. He'd do anything for me and I'd do anything for him. But I think he feels like he has to be that way since I moved out here, he's really the only real friend I have. The only one I've ever really had. That sounds lame, doesn't it?" she asked flustered.

Patrick shook his head, "No," he said softly. "I'd rather have one good friend like that my entire life than twenty fake ones."

"Yeah," she nodded her agreement and gave Pat a huge smile. "He's the best." Talking about her best friend put a smile on her face but she was hoping that wouldn't be the main topic of discussion.

"I know it," Pat nodded and lifted his glass. "But I don't really want to talk about him."

"What do you want to talk about?" Charlotte flirted.

"How I'm the luckiest guy in the world right now to be sitting here with you."

Charlotte couldn't deny the smile that spread across her cheeks. No one had ever spoken to her that way. It wasn't that guys didn't hit on her, but Pat went above and beyond and made her feel like he actually cared about her; like he was putting in the effort to actually get to know her. "You think so?"

"Oh," he nodded. "Without a doubt." Pat sat back in his chair and downed some more of his wine.

"So, I have to be honest," she started. "I know you're a bit of a player. What's on your agenda for tonight?" She was toying with him but it was a brutally honest assumption and Pat almost spit out his drink when she said it. He liked that she was ballsy with him.

"I've never quite been called out on a date before," he said impressed.

"I'm not most girls."

"Ok," he nodded his head trying to figure out what to say. "You aren't exactly wrong but in my defense I haven't really found a girl to change all that yet."

Charlotte smiled bashfully. "And you think I could be that girl?" It came across as an innocent question but she said it more as a statement knowing that was his implication.

"It's still early but it isn't like we just met. I think from what I know of you that there's a good possibility of that. I mean, if you'd wanna be that girl."

"Play your cards right," she flirted back feeling the butterflies in her stomach.

"So," Pat changed the topic very satisfied with how his time with Charlotte was going so far. "If you had to pick a quality about yourself that you liked the most...what would it be?"

"What do you mean?" she cocked her head and looked to him to explain further.

"I mean...how would you sum up yourself. In one word, if you had to, what would you say about yourself."

"No one's really asked me that before," she said hesitantly. "I don't know. Probably...loyal. I'm fiercely loyal, almost to a fault."

A grin spread across Pat's face and his eyes never left hers. "That's funny....that's the same thing I would have said."

***

After being wined and dined, Charlotte arrived back to her place happier and more flattered than she could remember. Pat was such a gentleman that she couldn't understand why Jon had been so uptight about it to begin with.

"So how'd it go?" she heard a male's voice as she opened her door and walked through. It scared her so bad she almost fell backwards and let out a little yelp.

"Jon what the hell are you doing here!?" she gasped still catching her breath.

He lowered the volume on her tv and got up off the couch. "Waiting for you to get home. Just wanted to make sure you were okay. Plus, I had to find out how this date went," he said with a grin as he walked over to her table to make a plate of his chinese leftovers.

"So you waited for me here?" she asked borderline cynically as she met him over at the table and browsed over the selection of food he'd gotten for himself.

"Not like it's the first time I've done that. Geez, calm down. So how'd it go?"

"It was really nice," Charlotte gushed. "He was so sweet Jon. I don't know what you were so worried about. What did you think he was going to do, take me to his place and date rape me?"

"Of course not," he shook his head. "He's just..." Jon didn't know the words to say so he let out a sigh. "He's just a ladies man with a tarnished rep. C'mon Char, I'm looking out for your best interest."

"I know but it was a really nice time. I really liked being with him." She was convincing, a little too convincing for his liking.

"So if he asked you out again you'd say yes?"

"Well," she picked out of the little cartons of Jon's chinese with an extra fork as they stood there side-by-side at the table completely relaxed. "He asked me out again for when you guys get back from your trip and I said yes. I think he might be special Jon," she looked up at him so hopeful and optimistic he could practically see the hearts in her eyes.

"Good," he said matter-of-factly. "I'm just glad you had a good time and that he was a gentleman. If he wasn't I'd have to kick his ass," he teased and looked into her eyes.

"Jon," she whined with a smirk and playfully gave him a small shove. Jon caught her wrist with his hand and pulled her to him looking down into her eyes intensely for just a brief second. "Char..." he suddenly shook his head and lightened the mood. "Let's watch a movie."

*****

***Present Day***

"What's with you lately?" Charlotte asked Patrick as they sat at the table waiting for their food. He'd taken her out to dinner but she just felt like he was being distant. She couldn't put her fingers on why and she needed to talk to him before it ate at her so bad she couldn't sleep.

"What do you mean?" he asked coldly.

"I mean you're being weird. It's like you don't even want to be here, or...with me," her eyes and voice fell revealing just how hurt she felt. "At all."

Pat took a deep breath and looked away from her. He felt badly for how cruel he'd been, it wasn't intentionally done. When he looked back up at her he was slightly more accepting towards her. "I'm sorry Char," and he did mean that to a degree. She didn't deserve this...any of this. "I've just had a lot on my mind lately."

"Like what? You know you can talk to me about anything," she pleaded with him to open up. He used to be so open with her, at least she thought he was. Now it was like he asked her to marry him and closed up shop. It made no sense to her.

"It's just been a weird time, you know? We're like smack dab in the middle of the season and it's starting to wear on me. There's been a lot of things going on." He was being honest but she had no idea what was really going on and he wasn't about to tell her everything. For starters, he couldn't tell her that after their date tonight he was heading over to Rose's to get his fix and he was becoming antsy sitting in his chair waiting with each passing second.

Her eyes dropped again and she swallowed hard. "Like us getting engaged? Are you having second thoughts about that?"

Pat looked at her wide-eyed like she finally really got his attention. "No! Of course not." His heart dropped a bit into his stomach but kept his nerves under wraps. "You think I'm having second thoughts? That's not even close to it. Look," he reached across the table and grabbed her hands in his. "I'm sorry." It was the most sincere he'd been with her in a long time. "It's just been crazy. Think about it. Now we're going to start planning a wedding, and really," he shrugged still not releasing her hands, "the rest of our lives."

Charlotte gave a faint smile and rubbed her fingers lightly against his. "I was starting to think you were pulling away because you changed your mind about marrying me so soon after proposing. I just miss you. We used to be...different. I don't know, maybe I'm just being a little clingy after getting engaged and all."

Pat shook his head, "I'm not changing my mind about us." He felt the guilt begin to eat inside of him for what he was unintentionally doing to her but he pushed it away, looked into her eyes and smiled.

*****

When Charlotte walked through her door she was in a better mood. She'd talked to Pat and his answer was sufficient enough for her to go back to thinking everything was okay. Just about, anyway. Something still bothered her but she couldn't quite put her finger on it and she figured she would shake it off by the morning. She just needed to sleep on it. When she closed the door behind her she saw the familiar figure perched on her couch watching tv.

"You know you have your own place," she teased as she kicked off her shoes and took off her coat. "And it's a hell of a lot nicer than mine."

"Yeah," he stood up and headed over to the table where he had a half eaten pizza pie. "But it just feels so much more comfortable here."

"Because I actually clean?" she shot back.

"Maybe," he grinned as he took a bite of cold pizza. "I don't know what I'm going to do when you move out of this place."

When Charlotte heard those words her heart froze and her eyes fell down to the ground. She felt the tears poke behind her eyes and threaten to fall and the most frustrating part was she didn't even know why. She shook her head and tried to ignore her feelings, continuing the short walk over to the table to grab a slice of pizza with Jon. Whether or not she was hungry enough to have more than one bite was another story.

Jon did a double take as he noticed the saddened expression on her face. "What's wrong with you?"

She looked up at him and gave him a shrug. "What do you mean? You should probably start spending more time at your girlfriend's," she said as she nudged him trying to avoid talking about what was bothering her.

"You seem upset." Jon knew her and he knew she was wasn't okay but she didn't want to talk about it, whatever 'it' was.

"Nope, I'm fine." Charlotte shrugged and took a deep breath before looking up at him. "Let's watch a movie."