The Fortune Teller

When morning arose, it would be safe to say that Charlotte certainly wasn’t expecting to wake up beside Rissa. It would be safe to say that it most certainly was the last thing to expect when waking up. She bit her lip. The smell of alcohol was still fresh on Rissa’s breath, mixed with morning breath. Charlotte’s nose scrunched up, how did Tom cope with that? She rolled out of the bed. Glancing at her clothes she was still wearing from yesterday.

Charlotte shrugged her shoulders, making her way downstairs. She could hear Rosie singing along to Fairytale of New York. That made her smile, reminding her of Saturdays when Rosie would come to her cottage, making herself at home. Rosie had this ability to make anything her home, she could be living in a commune full of hippies and yet there would be her own twist. Charlotte couldn’t be jealous of that trait, she admired it. There was only so much jealousy Charlotte could have before it could corrupt her but luckily she bared none (but a small tad of jealousy of Robyn, she couldn’t deny).

“Good morning Lottie, want some pancakes?” Rosie asked.

“Good morning Rosie, and yes please.” Charlotte grinned as she took her place at the table.

“I’ve already fed the dogs, just packed up their shit. Just need to do my own and I should be all done.” Rosie smiled. She placed a plate stacked full of chocolate chip pancakes in front of Charlotte. “Eat up.”

Charlotte scrutinized her best friend. “There is something up with you. You don’t normally act like this.”

“What do you mean?” Rosie asked.

“You are acting motherly, its fucking scary, please stop.” Charlotte mumbled.

Rosie laughed, rolling her eyes. “Behave you daft sod. I am just trying out this whole being nice thing then I can go back to not giving fucks.”

Charlotte nodded her head, raising her eyebrows sarcastically. She gingerly accepted the pancakes.

***

“Yeh ready to go?” Oliver asked everyone in the van.

“Yeh, get movin’ it, it’s goin’ to take the piss getting back home cause of the snow.” Matt grumbled.

Thankfully, Charlotte managed to sit passenger seat and not between Tom and Rissa, that would’ve been lethal. It seemed Robyn was getting doses of karma since she had to sit between them. Charlotte smirked in satisfaction. She hoped Tom and Rissa would kick up a fuss and make the van ride home hell for her. Thor was sat on her lap, curled up. Charlotte cuddled him closer to her as she leaned her head back on the chair. Oliver glanced over to her, raising an eyebrow.

Halfway through the journey, almost everyone was asleep, still recovering from last night. Charlotte felt too jumpy to sleep. She had bubbles of excitement like a little kid, more for the fact when she gets back to Sheffield, her and Rissa were going to get their own Christmas decorations.

“Are yeh not goin’ to sleep?” Oliver asked quietly.

“Nope, no way I could leave you be on your lonesome.” Charlotte laughed softly. “Plus, sleeping in the car is really awkward.”

“That I agree with. That’s why I drive.” Oliver smirked.

Charlotte rolled her eyes playfully. Oliver apologised to her, for not being there when she woke up. She accepted his apology, but feeling unsure as to why he felt as if he should apologise to her. It was nice that he was trying, but she didn’t want him to change. She put that across to him and he just chuckled, talking away as if he was in his own world. Now, Oliver’s hand found hers, intertwining their fingers together. Charlotte tried her hardest to not break free the grin that was slowly surfacing.

By the time they arrived in Sheffield and dropped each person at their home, it was three in the afternoon. Charlotte and Rissa were last left in the van with Oliver, since Tom went to Jona’s and Matt’s flat. Rissa was still bitter but she tried her hardest to not show it, thankfully. Oliver pulled up at their flat, cutting the engine.

Charlotte got out of the van slowly, careful not to jostle sleeping Thor in her arms. Oliver being the gentlemen, he liked to think he was, got their bags and brought them in. Rissa wandered to her bedroom to unpack, leaving Charlotte standing in the hall with Oliver, close proximity. Charlotte let Thor jump and land gracefully out of her arms. She crossed her arms immediately, staring up at Oliver.

“When will I next see yeh?” Oliver asked.

“Don’t plan it. We will just let things fall into place.” Charlotte smiled, releasing the tension in her crossed arms.

Oliver raised his eyebrow questioningly. He leaned closer to Charlotte, leaving her no choice but to back up against the wall. Her eyes wandering along Oliver’s facial features, her mouth opened slightly but no words forming. Oliver was wearing a cheeky smile, his face edging closer to Charlotte’s. She could feel his breath tickling her cheek. She knew if she moved her face any closer, he would kiss her without a doubt. She let her arms fall to her sides. She moved her hands towards the bottom of his shirt, knotting her fingers in his shirt in a firm grip. She noticed his dark eyes were watching her carefully, to see what she would do. She had to admit, she so desperately wanted to kiss him in that moment, but something held her back. Oliver pressed his lips to the edge of her lips, catching them in a half kiss. Charlotte stunned by this action, let her fingers fall from his shirt and just stared at him thoughtfully, wondering what the hell just happened.

“Goodbye Charlie.” Oliver grinned wickedly, with that he turned and left out the door, leaving Charlotte speechless for once.

“You better hurry up Charlotte! I want to get out and sort out this Christmas decoration fandango!” Rissa shouted from her bedroom.

Charlotte still dazed from the previous moment, she just wandered towards her bedroom. She changed out of her jumper and leggings into a floral blouse with a chunky burgundy cardigan over it, along with her bleached denim skinny jeans. She wore her robin knitted socks to go with her black doc martens. Her blonde hair was screwed up in a lose top knot, she left it like that. She grabbed her purse along with her phone. She walked into the kitchen, placing a bowl of fresh water and food for Thor.

“I am ready Riss! You better hurry up now.” Charlotte shouted in the general direction that Rissa was making noises in.

“Alright, alright,” Rissa mumbled as she walked into the kitchen, “are we taking your car?”

“Yeah, might as well.” Charlotte mumbled, grabbing her keys off the counter, leaving Rissa to lock up their flat.

They were lucky that their flat was the bottom one, it meant easy access. From the outside it looked like a giant house, but basically it houses three separate flats, they all share a strip of land which is their back yard. Rissa and Charlotte’s entrance and exit is the main front doors, then the second floor’s entrance is on the side, then the third is the opposite side. It was very modern, even though the building was dated back to late 1800s.

Charlotte sat in her car, starting the engine. Rissa swung her way gracefully into the car, giving her a cheeky grin. Charlotte rolled her eyes, driving the car towards their local garden centre. Rissa fiddled with the radio station, not settling on either station’s. She grumbled about the lack of good music, which Charlotte could whole heartedly agree with.

“So what is the lad’s band like?” Charlotte asked.

Rissa let out a laugh. “They are good, I mean. They have done well for themselves. Toured all over the world, their fan base is always growing. It’s fuckin’ bizarre.” She smiled widely.

Charlotte noted that Rissa sounded like a proud mother, which was weird since she acted like the drama queen daughter majority of the time. But she knew not to question it. She wondered if she’d feel the same if she would get to know the guys longer. She knew she would, she is proud of them already, just hearing the elation from Rissa, triggered it further.

“Their music can be too hardcore sometimes, like I can stand it but it’s not my scene, doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate it as much as their fans though.” Rissa said.

“It’s amazing to hear how proud you are of them.” Charlotte smiled.

Rissa returned a bigger smile of her own, nodding her head slowly. “You’ll learn, as much as a gang of pricks they can be, they are some of the best knob heads you’ll ever meet.”

“So does that mean you’ll forgive Tom then?” Charlotte raised her eyebrow.

Charlotte must’ve caught Rissa by surprise, as a meek pout settled in on her features. Charlotte pulled up at the garden centre, turning off the engine. She slid out of the car, grabbing her bag then locking her car as soon as Rissa followed her.

“I don’t know. Tom and I will always be difficult. But I can imagine Oli warned you about that already. But I guess, I will but until he makes it up to me though. At least I know he cares a lot.” Rissa said honestly.

Charlotte didn’t say anything. There was nothing she could say. She understood Rissa and Tom relationship a whole lot more. It made her smile. It was wonderful that Rissa could be so confident that Tom will come back to her. It gave her more insight on what she could expect of Oliver, but her and Oliver will always be tricky, opposites just don’t get along willingly.

The amount of trees that were piled up was ridiculous, what was even more ridiculous was that Rissa was inspecting each and every one of them. Charlotte eventually gave up and pushed her trolley to go and look at Christmas tree decorations, picking out a multi box of plain silver and sparkly silver baubles. Then a neglected box of mix matched rather ugly baubles, they all were shaped in Santa’s, snowmen, reindeers and elves, Charlotte picked up that box too. She decided against getting tinsel, Rissa explained she had a fear of tinsel, which is apparently another story for another day.

Charlotte settled on some bobble head ornaments of Santa, snowman and reindeer. She placed the boxes into the trolley. She picked up some fairy lights, one plain coloured for the outside of their house then another multi coloured. She wandered around picking up random little novelty decorations like a set of family penguins that lit up. Charlotte was so engrossed in picking the decorations, she didn’t realise Rissa was standing behind her.

“Charlie, you’re in a decoration trance, it’s scary.” Rissa teased.

Charlotte rolled her eyes at her pink haired friend. “Not as bad as you and your fetish for trees.”

“I’m a tree hugger, it’s got to be worthwhile or it sucks.” Rissa laughed.

Charlotte laughed, nodding her head pretending to agree. “Did you manage to find a tree?”

“Yep, it wouldn’t fit in your car so I rang Tom to pick it up in his van in a second.” Rissa explained.

Charlotte arched an eyebrow. “Rang Tom?”

Rissa bit her lip. “I rang Oliver but he was going out somewhere, so he forced Tom to do it for us.”

Charlotte’s interest perked at the mention of Oliver, she was wondering where he was going out. Earlier when they were in the van, he said he was staying in all night, doing work for Drop Dead. Charlotte pushed it aside, there is no way she was going to become one of those girls, constantly paranoid. She focused on the good stuff, which in this case means decorations.

Rissa piled a few more boxes of mix matched decorations, one of those was a singing Santa. Charlotte’s eyes bulged, she hated them with a passion but she didn’t have the heart to tell Rissa that, since she was utterly besotted with it.

Once they were done, Charlotte swore both her and Rissa’s credit cards were aching. They noticed that the van was pulling into the car park, Tom hopped out, obviously trying to avoid looking at Rissa. Charlotte sighed heavily, she could not be dealing with this again.

“Rissa, go and show Tom our tree, I’ll meet you back at our flat.” Charlotte eyed Rissa, hoping she’d catch onto it, Rissa nodded reluctantly.

Charlotte got into her car, without any further comment from Tom or Rissa. She couldn’t be dealing with their awkward tension or silence. She hoped Rissa would do the right thing and tells him how she feels and that Tom will be equally responsible and talks it out.

Charlotte hoped far too much.

Charlotte soon arrived at her flat. She opened the door leaving it ajar as she carried the boxes in. She was thankful the snow hasn’t yet hit Sheffield. Otherwise she probably would’ve broken several bones. Even for a ballerina, Charlotte was clumsy. She locked her car and headed into the house, she noticed Lucy must have dropped both Zelda and Toby off as they were lounging on the couches along with Thor.

It wasn’t until half an hour later that both Tom and Rissa came back, both their moods improved incredibly. They weren’t couplely, just civil.

“Tom’s gonna bring in the tree, where shall we put it?” Rissa asked, as she surveyed the room.

There was a mini gap by the window next to the couch and television, Charlotte looked at it and noticed Rissa was eying the same gap.

“There.” They both chorused, pointing towards the same spot.

Tom shook his head, an amused smile on his face. “I’ll bring it in now.” Tom walked back out.

Charlotte helped him with the tree. They placed it in the spot, removing the netting so the branches could fall free. Rissa clapped, she had cheesy Christmas songs on so it can get everyone in the Christmas mood.

“Shame Oli ain’t here.” Rissa said.

“He’s out with Robyn.” Tom said plainly, shrugging his shoulders.

Charlotte heard this, biting her lip hard. She shouldn’t be so jealous, they weren’t even anything exclusive and plus he said to her it is purely platonic, she had to believe him.

“Don’t worry about it.” Tom whispered to Charlotte, when they were placing the baubles on the tree.
Charlotte didn’t have to ask what he was talking about because she knew, he meant Oliver and Robyn. She nodded her head slightly.

“It’s okay, I don’t control him so its whatever.” Charlotte shrugged.

“You don’t control who?” Rissa questioned.

Charlotte’s eyes bulged. She shot a look at Tom, who smirked evilly.

“Oli.” Tom replied innocently.

“Why would Charlotte control Oli...?” Rissa trailed off, her eyes widened. “Are you fucking Oliver?” She shouted accusingly.

Charlotte’s mouth fell open. “No, please no. We simply came to an agreement.”

“A fuck pact?” Rissa shouted again. She threw her arms up in the air, almost dropping the bauble on the floor.

Charlotte tugged on her hair in frustration, she groaned loudly. There was no way she could make Rissa simply understand. She would be lying if she said she never thought about having sex with Oliver, but at this moment she felt like a little girl who thought boys had cooties.

“I don’t want to have sex with Oliver!” Charlotte shouted back, she glared at Tom who was stifling his laughter. “I am going to kill you. You got me into this problem, get me out.” Charlotte stomped her foot for extra emphasis.

Tom’s smile fell off his face as he nodded his head slowly. He turned towards a stunned Rissa, placing his arms on her shoulders.

“Riss, they aren’t fuck buddies or anythin’. They are like goin’ to date soon but for now they are bein’ friends but too close for friends but not fuck buddies.” Tom explained.

Rissa furrowed her brows in confusion. Her mouth fell open slightly as she moved away from Tom to look at Charlotte.

“I hope you know what you are going to get yourself into.” Rissa said, sounding a lot like Charlotte’s mother.

Charlotte rolled her eyes playfully. “I am old enough to look after myself.”

“I know you are, but Oli can be a dick, prick and the sweetest lad ever but I just hope you don’t get swept away,” Rissa mumbled, her eyes meeting Charlotte’s, “you are probably one of the best people I have in my life right now and I don’t want that to change.”

Charlotte was shocked. She didn’t expect that to come from Rissa, she never thought she would have that impact on someone as independent and confident as Rissa. Her eyes watered, she pulled Rissa in for a tight hug. Both girls hugged each other tightly.

“Gosh, ye lasses are tirin’.” Tom grumbled.

“Fuck off, you Sykes’ always know how to ruin a good moment. I guess that is something you’ll end up learning.” Rissa smirked at Charlotte.

Charlotte pulled away from her pink haired friend and groaned. She knew she was forgiven from Rissa’s rampage before but now this was it, this was the teasing, jokes and never ending remarks she’ll get.

“Rissa, please stop.” Charlotte mumbled, pinching her temples.

“Only because you asked nicely,” Rissa giggled.