Charmed into Darkness

one

NOT EDITED. Prepare yourself for the upcoming grammar mistakes and weird wordings. Catherine and Cathy is the same person, Cathy is just a nickname.

“And don’t forget all the Swedish women you can impregnate in June.”

“Yeah, dude. Don’t forget all the Swedish milkmaids.”

The sound of heels clicking against the tiled floor suddenly caught the attention of the four males seated in the restaurant. The boys were in the middle of discussing about breaking up with Dani—or rather, getting other girls pregnant, when Catherine Bradford overhead their conversation. As Dani's close cousin, she was not pleased. Silence enveloped the table as Cathy grabbed Mark's jacket on the seat next to him and threw it to his face.

"Who's impregnating who?" Cathy glanced at the boys with raised eyebrows, expecting an answer. None of them answered, slightly intimidated by the stare of their female friend. Josh was trying to look busy with his book, while Pelle held a small smile as he drew something on a book, Mark and Christian on the other hand were looking gloomy—especially her cousin's boyfriend. "Seriously, what's up with this fucking pregnant talk? Are you guys having a baby fever or something? Did you boys just discovered breeding kink?" Cathy chuckled at the thought. She winked and grinned when Pelle glanced up at her from his book.

"What? No!" Mark frowned, slightly offended. "I'm just saying that Christian here needs to man up and br—"

"Bro, just drop it." Christian rubbed his face in frustration.

Cathy sighed internally, knowing exactly what's bothering Christian since she overhead their discussion from earlier. At times like these, Catherine felt tormented inside. Who wouldn't? Especially when your best friend kept on talking about breaking up with your cousin, who is close enough to be your sister.

As a child, Catherine Bradford had lost both her parents. Although it was at a separate occasion—her mom died giving birth to her, and her dad died two years later in a fatal car accident—Cathy still felt like they died together at the same place, at the same time. It only felt that way because she had no recollection of memories regarding her parents. Thats where the Ardor family came in. Dani's mom was the older sister to Cathy's mom, they took little Cathy in and care for her like their own—and soon the line between mother and aunt blurred. Dani had became Cathy's sister too, her best friend through thick and thin.

Which hurts Cathy to not be able to tell Dani about the uncertainty of their relationship on Christian's side. Cathy somehow knew something was off in their relationship, but she never verbally heard Christian said until that she overhead them talked earlier. It kills Cathy inside especially after the phone call she took with Dani while she made her way to the restaurant—Cathy remembered how she tried to convince her cousin to talk it out with Christian. Even though he was Cathy's best friend, let's all admit he's not exactly the best boyfriend in the world.

"No, I will not drop it." Mark got into his best friend's face with a pointed look. "You've been trying to break up with this chick for like almost a year. Just put yourself first and end it!" Mark raised his hands in frustration before turning to face Cathy. "Aren't you annoyed by this? She treats your best friend like a therapist, always calling about her problems!"

"He's her boyfriend, you fucking idiot! She's supposed to lean on Christian for support, who else is she gonna rely on? Of course, you wouldn't know anything about it because you can't even hold a relationship to save your life." Catherine snapped angrily. Christian glanced down at the table, seemingly guilty as he heard his best friend's words.

"Okay, granted." Mark rolled his eyes in annoyance. "But what about sex, dude? That cousin of yours doesn't like to give o—"

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Cathy frowned. "Why do you care if Christian gets his dick wet or not? You're not the one who's lacking." Mark was about to speak back but she ignored and steered her eyes to Christian, who was still in deep thoughts. "Is she that bad to put up with?" Cathy murmured with a sympathetic look—not for Christian, but for Dani. Catherine sighed when Christian doesn't reply. I guess Dani's intuition was right, she is a chore to Christian. "Look, Christian. If you really feel that way, then confront to her about it. Its unhealthy to be in an unhappy relationship. It's better to talk it out than going behind her back and impregnate a fucking swedish milkmaid. Yeah, I heard, you horny asses." Cathy gave them a knowing look, which earned sheepish smiles from all of them. Well, that's the least she could do—nudging them to the right direction, hopefully they figured it out.

"That's what I've been saying!" Mark pouted, crossing his arms.

"No, you didn't." Josh chuckled, shaking his head at Mark.

"Yeah, I did. I told him to break up with her." Mark stood his ground, confused at them.

"Yeah, about breaking up. She just said to talk it out." Pelle joined in, smiling slightly as he placed his elbow on the chair he's leaning on as he made eye contact with Cathy. "It's different." Cathy tilted her head, smiling gratefully at him.

"What? Okay, I mentioned the milkmaids didn't I?" Mark raised his shoulders, thinking he made a point.

"Bro, the milkmaids that you couldn't wait to test your breeding kink with?" Catherine burst out laughing as the other joined in with small laughter. "That's so cute." She teased, wrapping her right around his shoulders and pinched his cheeks.

Mark scoffed in embarrassment, "Shut up, sex freak." Mark bit back. Catherine gasped out loud and pushed his head softly, trying to shut him up. Mark smirked and faced the others, "You know last summer, I came home early, guess who's shaking the be—" Catherine immediately slapped her hand onto his mouth, preventing more words from coming out. "She's so flexible!" Mark mumbled audibly. Cathy glanced at the boys who had a smirk on their lips. However, her eyes was only focused on Pelle—his subtle smirk made Cathy giddy. Mark suddenly licked her hand, which made Cathy pulled it away in disgust—Mark was ready to spill more embarrassing story of hers when suddenly Christian's phone lit up, and the vibe suddenly dampened. "Oh my god." Mark shook his head and leaned back, annoyed.

Christian suddenly excused himself for privacy. Mark refused to make way for him so Christian had to ask Josh and Pelle to move so he could get out of the booth. Catherine watched as he walked away with the phone in his hand. She suddenly stood up and took Josh's seat.

"Thanks, Josh!" Catherine smiled at her friend and immediately faced Pelle who still had his elbow propped on the chair. Hot.

"What? Oh, whatever." Cathy ignored when Josh sighed as he begrudgingly took her previous seat.

"Hi." She laid her elbow on the table and placed her chin on the palm of her hand, dreamily staring at Pelle—who seemed a bit flustered which made Catherine Bradford smiled.

It had been a while back when she realized her Swedish friend is actually quite cute. Despite his "cuteness", Cathy knew there was just something about him that attracts Cathy. She doesn't normally go for good guys, so the fact that she's into him means there's something hidden behind that adorable smile of his. He had caught her attention when he was explaining the cultures of his community back in his home—though Catherine was slighty tipsy the whole time he talked and her memory was a bit blurry, she did remembered how passioniate he was talking about his hometown. It captivated Cathy—both him, and his community. Or maybe it's because he kinda match her freakiness.

Since then, Cathy had been playfully teasing him, just to see him flustered. In her mind, it was just flirting—but at the same time, if anything were to happen beyond that, she wouldn't reject it either. Pelle had been nothing but a dream to her, he's kind and thoughtful, sweet and passionate, he's everything to Cathy. In fact, they had been so comfortable with each other, that sometimes she slept over at his place. Just some warm cuddling, drunk therapy sessions, and occasionally hooking up time to time. Catherine herself sometimes felt baffled at the thought of them not crossing the romantic line yet.

"Hi." He smiled back before slanting something in his hand for Cathy to see. He drew two things. The table, and her. Catherine's eyes widened a little bit when she saw his drawing book. It was a rough sketch, just outlines but she knew it was her because he wrote her name next to it in a small font. Unconsciously, she leaned into him and kissed his cheek, lingering for a few seconds.

Mark suddenly groaned at them, asking them to get a room—reminding Cathy that they weren't alone. The thought of their friends knew nothing of their secret situationship stopped her from jumping into Pelle's lap and just ravish him. So she decided to tease him instead, raising her other hand and slowly let her finger glide down his arm, "Do you wanna get a room?" She batted her eyelashes playfully. "I'd do anything you want me to." She whispered only for him to hear, which made him look up at her, slightly enthralled. Little did she know her words meant a lot to him more than she realized.

She stared into his eyes with a smile, but that soon faded when a hand landed on her shoulder. Cathy glanced up at Christian, suddenly her heart raced—knowing whatever news coming out of his mouth was not something that can be celebrated.