If I Stay✔️

62

A/N: some of you may be shocked when you realise I've written a whole 7000 word chapter of — que the gasps of disbelief —  nothing but happiness.

L E O

"Bssssst."

I felt a poke to my shoulder, my eyes squinting as I took in Charlie's beaming face. He stared at me creepily, in a way that reminded me of those freaky porcelain dolls my grandmother used to own. I blinked, twice, thrice. My vision taking a moment to fully adjust in the sunrise lit room.

"Charlie?" I said, my voice tainted with fatigue due to my lack of sleep. The voices had amplified in volume last night after my session with Charlie, never giving my mind a break as they continued to plague me with their dark whispers. "What time is it?"

"Breakfast time." He responded in a hushed voice that sounded far too cheery for the time of day. "C'mon," he poked my shoulder again, "I've got a surprise for you." He sang.

Hoping to drown out Charlie's voice, I tugged the blanket over my face and turned away from him. My body aching with exhaustion at the slight movement as I held back a wince. I didn't care about any surprises, nothing could cheer me up right now, not with how uneasy I felt.

"Unless your surprise is a dose of Valium can you fuck off? I'm tired, Char." I groggily told him. He tutted loudly in response and in a flash, the safety net that was my blanket was tugged harshly away from my body. "Charlie, please."

"Nope, no, nada." I cracked one eye open, watching as he shook his head vigorously from side to side. "Get up, I've arranged a very special day for you. So stop being a lazy little shit and get your ass out of bed whilst the day is still young, Leo."

"The day will still be young for another like eight hours, can't this wait?"

————

Evidently, it couldn't wait.

I sat silently, my head resting against the passenger side window as Charlie drove us to the destination that I still wasn't aware of.

Apparently he'd been given permission from Beth to take me off site for the day. How he managed to convince that woman I'll never know. I'd only met Beth a few times, but from what I've gathered she wasn't one for bending the rules.

"How did you manage to convince Beth to allow this?"

Charlie glanced at me, a smug old smirk on his lips as his fingers tapped against the steering wheel along to the exact beat of the song playing from the radio in the background.

"Please, Beth can't say no to this pretty face now, can she?"

"Apparently not." I hummed.
She definitely could. 

"I don't like your tone, Le." Charlie pursed his lips, his eyes drifting from the road ahead to me. "Beth thinks I'm a stud, therefore I used my obvious charm to convince her to let us have a Lechar day."

"Lechar?" I gaped at him. What in the Atlas is this shit. "What kind of name is that?"

"It's a mix of both our names. It was either that or Chareo which sounded far too close to cheerio." Charlie frowned, "Don't you like it?"