The Fortune Teller

It was the eve before they were travelling to Paris. Charlotte never mentioned the photo she received to anyone, she so desperately wanted to tell Rosie even Rissa but she couldn’t do that. Her happy mood came back in sprinkles, unexpected sprinkles but then something would trigger in the back of her mind, forcing her to remember the text she received and the painful photo.

To make Paris not completely awkward, Charlotte pleaded both Rissa and Rosie to come and to bring Tom and Lee. Charlotte would’ve asked Vegan, Matt and Jona to join as well but they all backed out, instead joining Jona on the trip down under. Since Jona didn’t go for New Years, they were going now and having their own bachelor celebration with ‘fit birds on the beach’ as Matt so politely phrased it.
Charlotte was mentally going over her audition performance in her head, drilling the routine over and over until she was the routine. Madame Lavelle and Luca were already in Paris, settling in their own home.

“I don’t think she loves me.” She heard Oliver whisper to Rissa.

“Babe, she loves you plenty, don’t doubt yourself or her. She has been weird the pass weeks, maybe it’s just the audition, but tell her.” Rissa whispered back.

Charlotte leaned against the wall beside the living room. She could hear their conversation loud and clear. Does Oliver love her? Does he truly? Charlotte wiped the tears falling from her eyes.

“I think I will, I thought this Paris trip was gonna be us two, then I’d tell her and it’ll be romantic, cause girls like that shit, right? But she invited all yeh guys to come along, does she know? Is she scared?”

“Oliver, stop it. You’re reading into this too much, she is nervous and probably wanted more familiar friends round her during this audition and in Paris. Don’t worry. Since we are all going as couples, we will all be doing our own couplely shit.” Rissa said comfortingly.

Charlotte couldn’t listen to this anymore. She had to make them stop. She rubbed her cheeks clear of any tears. She picked up Thor in her arms, kissing his head before clearing her throat.

“Has anyone seen my ballet pumps?” Charlotte shouted as she walked into the room.

She watched both Rissa and Oliver pull away from their whispering fest guiltily. Charlotte ignored that, it felt as if she was ignoring everything recently.

“They are in the kitchen shoe cupboard!” Rissa called back. She looked more relaxed now, her eyes darted from Charlotte to Oliver, and then she yawned dramatically. “Okay, its 9 o’clock now and are leaving here at midnight, so I can have three hours kip.” She babbled as she walked out of the room, with Thor and Toby following her.

“My dad said he’s coming in the morning to pick up Thor, Zelda, Toby and Oskar, is that okay?” Charlotte asked, breaking the awkward silence in the front room.

“Yeah, it is fine.”

Charlotte bit her lip, not knowing where to look in the room. Oliver was watching her, like he was analysing every single movement. This made a knot of anxiety build up in her stomach, she felt sick. She closed her eyes shut, not daring to stare into his bottomless brown eyes. She took deep breaths, counting back from twenty. Once the knot disappeared, she opened her eyes. Her eyes widened with shock, Oliver was stood up in front of her, a small rare shy smile on his face.

Charlotte melted under his stare, all those worries floated away. How could she stay mad at him when he looked at her like that? Oh fuck it. Charlotte returned the smile to Oliver.

“Are yeh okay?” Oliver asked.

Charlotte’s smile didn’t falter as she met his stare evenly, being honest about her emotions for once. “I am now.”

Oliver beamed, his grin stretching over his face, causing his eyes to crinkle adorably.

Charlotte pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Come on Oli, we better make our way up to bed and get a quick nap.”

“Who said we would be sleepin’?” Oliver asked cheekily.

Charlotte needn’t to look at his face to know that he was smirking. She walked towards her bedroom, knowing that Oliver was trailing behind her with their dogs in tow.

Oliver lay down on her bed, not bothering changing out of his clothes. Charlotte watched him in the corner of her eye. She pulled her hair from its bun and changed out of her jeans and into her grey yoga lounge pants. She belly flopped onto her bed beside Oliver, her eyes closing once again.
Oliver tucked her beside him, she naturally wrapped her arm round his side. She looked up at him with a smile.

“Don’t worry about me, I am fine.” Charlotte assured him.

Oliver nodded his head, he needed to hear that.

“We will be fine,” Charlotte said, “I know you are pissed off that I invited more people, but I don’t want you to have to cope with my miserable arse if it goes bad.” She lied. She actually invited the others because she was worried what would happen if she and Oliver were alone in a city, city of love.

Oliver smiled, completely oblivious. He pressed his lips onto hers. It felt strange to feel his lips on hers, ever since she received that picture. She tried to keep her distance from him for the past couple days. But seeing the pain on his face, every time she would move away from him, made her feel guilty for all the wrong reasons. She did not understand how she could be feeling guilty. It was his bedroom, with Robyn in that red lingerie. She should’ve mentioned something to him as soon as she received the picture but with the audition taking priority, she couldn’t confront him. Charlotte tried to kiss Oliver back with just as much fervour as he was putting into the kiss but flashes of that picture clouded her thoughts.

She pulled away and faked a yawn. She could see the disappointment on his face once again. But only if he knew what she saw, he wouldn’t act like this.

***

The whole day flashed by, Charlotte was lost in how beautiful Paris was. Oliver held her hand all the way, explaining stories of concerts they had in Paris, some of Matt’s silly antics that had Charlotte in fits of uncontrollable laughter.

Then, their hotel was beautiful. It had an old fashioned French twist. The inside was granite flooring with dark oak desks and chairs. The fluent buzz of French accent and language filled the air as a pleasant background noise. They had their own floor which was nearly at the top, only two floors away from the penthouse suite. With their own floor, it meant they had three rooms to each couple with the basics and a room at the end which is their own personal spa slash games room, to the lads delight.

“This is fucking mental.” Tom whispered, his voice echoing excitement.

Charlotte shared a lopsided grin with Oliver, all thoughts of the previous days out of her head. They were in a new city, new country plus they didn’t have that thing anywhere near them.

“My girl and I are doin’ our own thing so none of yeh fuckers interrupt us.” Oliver stated, pulling Charlotte into their room.

They could both hear catcalls from the others. Charlotte blushed furiously, slapping Oliver’s chest whilst laughing.

“You idiot, now they think we are,” She choked up on her words, blushing heavier, “having sex.” She finally said.

Charlotte couldn’t lie. She thought about having sex with Oliver more than it him. She knew he obviously has had loads of experience with different girls, one night stands to long term relationships, then there was Charlotte, who could bravely admit only having sex with one other guy.

“And what would be wrong with that?” Oliver smirked. He loved watching Charlotte squirm embarrassedly.

“I... uh... need the toilet.” Charlotte squeaked.

“No yeh don’t. C’mon, we need to talk about it, otherwise where do we know where we stand?” Oliver said, maturing very quickly within moments.

Charlotte sat down on the couch, looking up at Oliver. She took a deep breath. “I am not, exactly, really, well experienced...”

“Yeh’re a virgin?” Oliver asked, his eyebrows rising in surprise.

Charlotte shook her head. “No, no, no. I have lost it but I’ve only had sex with one guy,” she bit her lip nervously, looking at Oliver who looked completely at ease, not shocked nor pitying, which is what Charlotte needed now. “I am not as experienced as other girls, so...” She trailed off.

Oliver kissed her forehead, sitting beside her on the couch. “Charlie, yeh are perfect for me. I often wonder why the fuck yeh are with me? Like we are complete opposites on some occasions, then sometimes we click. And that’s when I know that I really like yeh, and over the past couple days, I’ve been wanting to tell yeh something..”