You Confuse Me {mialotte}

✧˖° 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟓 - 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

(a/n : this chapter's quite uneventful. i'm sorry! power through guys. chapter 6 is a good one, i promise🙏)

CHARLOTTE'S POV:
~ "No... Oh, Carly that sounds awful."
I can't believe what I'm hearing. Forget whatever I was thinking about Mia. Why was she picking on a 17 year old? That's disgusting.
"Yeah. It was horrible."
I feel so guilty, if I hadn't swapped shifts with Carly she would have never been made to feel so embarrassed about her period like that.
I apologise, probably slightly excessively, to her. She says it's okay, that she's over it now. But I still feel so bad about it.
In better news, we don't have to cover at the sister nursery as much anymore. There's a bit of a sickness bug going around, so we barely have enough staff for our own nursery, let alone spare staff to cover over there.
I suppose it's a good thing that I'm not working there though; guess who's filling in as manager!? Mia, again! Reece is off sick, just like he was the other week. Apparently it's worse this time. Marjorie says he'll probably be off for a while. I'm sure Mia's absolutely thrilled about that.

MIA'S POV:
~ Reece and his weak immune system. My god I don't want to be manager of this place for that long. I'm responsible for so much crap that I really don't give a flying fuck about. I didn't even want this job in the first place. But I needed to take it, to please Rodger, to keep Reece 'on a tight leash'.
So when you think about it, it's just pointless me doing his job when he's not even here. Can't Rodger have somebody else fill in as manager!? I get that I'm the deputy. It's kind of in my job description... but I absolutely hate it. You'd think that I'd love something like this, that I'd love the power and control. But I fucking hate this place. I hate working here. Charlotte is the only thing that makes it bearable sometimes. I wish she would cover here more. I want to see her every day.

CHARLOTTE'S POV:
~ I'm so happy to be back working at my own nursery. However, after covering at the sister nursery for all of week last week, it feels a bit strange to be back. I didn't realise how much I was thinking about Mia until now. She's not here, so its made me realise that it's odd she still keeps popping into my mind. I don't like thinking about her. She really confuses me. And after what Carly told me earlier, whatever high opinions I had of her are fading. Why would she be so vile to Carly? Couldn't she have said it nicely..? She would have if it was me... she would have worded it so gently and been so nice about it. What's different about me? I don't understand.

MIA'S POV;
~ The phone rings. I debate just ignoring it, but that's probably not a great idea.
"Yes?"  I say, putting the phone to my ear.
"Hello, Mia."   Oh for fucks sake. It's him.
"Rodger.."
I should have just ignored the call.
"I'm just calling to let you know that I need you to come for a meeting tomorrow morning."
Ugh. I lean back in the chair. It feels weird; Reece has adjusted his seat differently to mine. I hate this desk. The glare from the window irritates me. It's hardly organised whatsoever. Everything's everywhere. I don't know how Reece finds anything. And now, I've realised the seat's different too. I make a mental note to switch the chairs and tune back into the conversation.
"And I think you're doing a great job running the nursery."
"Yep, thanks."
"Yes. Well, That'll be all. I'll let you get back to work now, Mia."
I don't even say goodbye, I just put the phone down. I despise that man.

CHARLOTTE'S POV:
~ Marjorie calls me into her office. I get this really worrying feeling that she's going to send me to the sister nursery. I get all nervous about seeing Mia, about talking to her. She makes me anxious. I don't know why, it's just something about her... But I stop for a second, think about it, and realise I won't actually be sent there; we're short staffed as it is.
"Hey, Marjorie. You wanted to see me?" I say, walking into the office.
"Yes, my love. I'm just letting you know that Autumn might need your help tomorrow morning. The owner's called me in for a meeting."   
All that worrying for basically nothing. Could  she not have said that over the phone?
"Oh, okay. Yep. That's fine" I reply, smiling "Why such short notice, though?"
Marjorie shrugs. "No idea. All he said on the phone was something about a performance review."
"Oh, alright then." I say. "I'll get back into the room now, bye Marjorie."
"Alright, my love. See you later."