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As the elevator drops closer to the first floor, the tension only rises as Anri gulps, nervous as to what she'll find in the class weird kid's home.
(With how much stuff she makes up you have to wonder what's in here that messes up her head so badly... She has to be in some place even crappier than mine. I hope she's okay.)
Before she has the time to reach for her dear host, Charlotte's hand slips into her pockets grabbing a handful of pills she gulps down quickly trying to not raise suspicion.
-"Um, we're gonna be alone for the rest of the day, I know being stuck with me is a bit distracting b-but my study notes can help! Hopefully, I mean."
-"You know there's no better place for me to study than with you Charlie, I'm glad you've worked up the courage to invite me here! I've heard you never had visits so I'm happy to be your first~"
("Our next date can be a therapy session") the worried girl thinks, not saying so outloud from not only the rude factor but how much she'll freak out if she realises she's been flirting with her for so long.
Wiltshire looks away clearly embarrassed.
-"Sorry you're stuck with someone with so little experience"
Anri's hands clutch a little as she struggles to seem apathetic to her comment. The elevator rings and Charlotte follows up before a comment can be made, "W-We're here! It's a bit of a mess but my room is down the hallway, the furthest door to the right."
Anri's eyes get wider as she's met with a fancy wooden floor and furniture of the same quality, the walls perfectly clean and well lit by a chandelier and some unused candle sticks. The nice rug she's met with only contributes to the perfectly homely atmosphere, even though the lack of any proper decoration creeps her out.
-"Charlie!! You never told me your place was so nice!" (i didn't take her for the cottagecore kind???)
-"It's not much, the tenants are the real life around here. I just try to keep it clean and stocked up, is all. It could be a lot better."
Anri is made only more confused by her words, she should be happy to be so lucky! Although, she's pried around enough through school files to learn she lives alone, maybe it's not that she makes all these things up and she's just kept her imaginary friends. Kind of cute...
-"Let's just get into the meat of this already, let's get our books out!" She wanted anything but to study, but she must keep her alibi. Charlotte nods and leads her into the room where she shows her date around to the bookshelves, to the desk and most embarrassingly to her stuffed animals which Henrietta finds adorable. Innocently, the host sits at the desk as her guest jumps to sit on her bed.
-"A-Anri! You can't just-" Before she can get her words out, Anri gives her a smile and an inviting stare.
-"C'moooon, it's comfier here anyways!"
-"Okay? Just... give me a minute to get you a snack or something."
-"Mhm, it better be good if you're gonna leave me waiting though". Charlotte nervously leaves the scene shaking her way to the dining room, unknowingly to her friend who's too occupied lounging around what's not her property.
Once she hears the door close, she springs back up, a new task on her mind: Figure Charlie out! She quietly runs back to the bookshelf, looking behind and between her collection for anything dirty. Nothing. (Why is this so bland? 1984?? Of course she rejected the literature club...) She checks behind and beneath the shelf and her plushies, still nothing. (I can't just ask her if she's straight, just give me an easier answer!) She gulps again as she readies herself. The bedside table is locked, meaning her only other chance is under her bed. She's worried that if she finds anything too graphic she'll notice her blush, but she needs to find if she has a chance with her.
She crawls hurriedly feeling her time run out and lifts the unmade bed's blanket, but a jumping figure makes her jump and scream.
Charlotte opens the door just in time and rushes to her fallen over friend's side, laying a plate of microwaved pizza on the floor and sitting on her knees, reaching over her shoulders.
-"Anri, what happened?! Are you okay?"
She looks behind the girl's deadly preoccupied eyes, shocked to see a living breathing magcat. (There's no way... Of all the things she didn't make up, bringing in a magcat? She's even weirder than I thought.)
-"I'm fine, just uh, didn't expect to find that."
-"I'm sorry! I should've told you it likes to hide under the bed, I just figured you would've heard it or seen it crawl around... It's my fault, just tell me if there's anything I can do to make up for it, please." She doesn't mind the scare, just her task's failure. Her mind changes priorities though, as she realises this is the best oppurtunity to find out what she came here for in the first place.
-"Charlie, just tell me... are you okay like this? I know you live alone here, and you make no effort at all to socialise at school... just the minimum effort into me, too. You barely hang out with me and all you do is follow that fake god like a blind puppy. I'm tired of staying behind only for you to get yourself hurt!"
Charlotte recoils at this, realising all this time she was taking Anri's attention away at the part of her life she was most convinced on it being worthless.
-"Anri, you don't get it... You should be able to see more than anyone else how much of a hassle I am. While you were worried about me I was just getting myself and C more hurt." Her stare drops to her shoes, her hands clenching the rug. "All this time, Anri! I've been avoiding people all this time, knowing how much I should disappear from their world and when I finally get the chance to leave it, I'm too scared to!" Charlotte cries behind a smile, looking back at her best friend. "I'm just the worst, aren't I?" The room is silent for a second, the air completely filled with tension as Anri tries to get through her shock.
Once she takes Charlie's words in, she leans in closer. She grabs her shoulders as the frail girl gasps, pushing her to the floor, her tear flowing eyes dampening the yellow ribbon.
-"What the fuck do you mean, being awful for not leaving me?! How do you not understand all this time, everything I've done for you was because I wanted to SEE you here! To see you happy, with me!"
Charlotte only looks more distressed after this, but Anri barely punches her shoulder with her small fist. "All this time I was worried you were doing this because you were some weirdo, but now you're acting just like the others! I want my Charlie, not some fake god suicide cult sheep..." Anri cries over the other girl's punched shoulder.
-"Anri, I-I'm sorry, I didn't realise you felt that way, but-"
-"No buts Charlie, what's so hard to understand that I lo-, I-I mean, like you?"
Charlotte's eyes widen for a second. "T-Thank you Anri, you helped me calm down a bit... but why did you stutter there? Are you okay? That's unlike you."
-"And now you're talking like you always knew me..." A pale hand strokes her dark hair, trying her best to comfort her. An awkward silence reappears in the room as Anri tries her best to lock her feelings back away, even if her blush is no longer just make up.
-"I-I mean... Charlie, aren't we basically dating?"
...
-"I-I'm sorry, I think I don't follow what you're saying."
-"Charlie, did you seriously think I came here to study? In your room?"
Charlotte's episode is over only to be replaced by shock and confusion. All this time, she wasn't just dragged along for being a lost puppy. She was loved, something she thought could only feel whenever her pills were gone.
-"Listen Charlie, I have no idea what way you even swing... I mean there's nothing wrong with keeping this platonic, clearly you've never even thought about thi-"
-"Anri..."
-"Charlie."
-"I think I love you too."
...
-"You 'think'?"
-"You know well I don't have any experience with this... The only other friend I've made would rather die than touch me! But I never dared to think about looking at you that way, you were my only friend and I thought this was all out of pity".
(Of all the things I lie about, how much I care for you is the most honest thing I mean.)
-"Charlie..."
-"Anri?"
-"I love you."
-"I love you too."