Remember This✔

Chapter Thirty-Eight

It's nine in the morning and Charlie has been standing on the other side of the bathroom door for over twenty minutes. Molly has been throwing up continuously and she won't let him come inside to help her. Finally, she flushes the toilet and washes her face at the sink to disguise the sickness tears, he turns and folds his arms, pretending not to look.

"I get why you don't drink," she says.

"I drink," Charlie says. "Just. . . not that much."

"It's so embarrassing," Molly mumbles.

"It's not that bad, I mean we literally had to pull a guy out of the washing machine last night. And don't even get me started on the girls that flooded the downstairs bathrooms because they were dressed in mermaid costumes and wanted to feel closer to the ocean."

Molly laughs as she walks back into the bedroom. She picks up her glass of water that Charlie got for her in the night and she sits in a chair as she drinks it.

"I'm glad you stayed, I didn't think you would," Molly says.

"I was going to leave after the pool games but Perry cornered me and made me. . ." Charlie stops as Molly looks up at him. "That's not what you meant." She shakes her head gently. "Of course I stayed, I wanted to make sure you were alright."

"Lauren told you to come didn't she?" Molly says.

"Yeah she was worried. I was worried."

She rubs her head as she thinks about something. "I can't remember anything before coming to this room."

"You don't remember calling me? Leaving a voicemail?"

She removes her hand and her eyes widen in panic. Charlie laughs lightly and moves away from the wall. "Relax," he says. "It wasn't bad. You just said that you missed me, a lot."

"Well that can't be right." She looks at him and smiles. "I blame the alcohol."

"I uh. . . I went to look for you after that and I saw you with Jack. I know you can't remember it but you looked really happy."

"Ah, crap. Jack." She rubs her head and sighs. "I remember Lauren saying something about him leaving. I probably scared him away."

"Maybe he just doesn't deserve you," Charlie says. "What kind of person just takes off and leaves their date like that?"

"It wasn't his fault." Charlie clenches his jaw when he hears her defending him, he tries to disguise the anger by cupping his chin. "I was in a bad way, I might have said something to him. I don't know."

"Like what?"

Molly shrugs and looks down at the floor. Her face is pale and all of her make up has washed off, her hair is knotted and frizzy but Charlie likes it. He likes that she can sit in front of him looking her worst and feeling her worst and not caring about what he thinks. She's still beautiful to him, even when one of her fake eyelashes is hanging off her eye. She's vulnerable, bare, but she's also the strongest person he's ever met.

"Oh my god!" Molly gasps and covers her eyes. "I kissed you. Again. What the hell is wrong with me?"

"Wait, you didn't remember that until just now?" Charlie says. She shakes her head and then bites on her nail, glancing at him with embarrassment. "It's okay, I'm not complaining."

"It's like my mind is scrambled into these tiny puzzles." She puts her elbows on her knees and stretches her face in frustration. "I think I spoke to Aubrey last night. I told her that we kissed."

"Yeah I spoke to her too. Well we mainly yelled at each other."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry," Charlie says honestly. "We're not together, we haven't been together in weeks."