"Come on, Charley!"
"I'm coming Stan! Don't get your knickers in a twist!"
"Is this what it's going to be like all the way to Sunderland?" Steph asked.
"Yes." Lucy and Charley replied at the same time as Charley walked into the room and Steph rolled her eyes.
The drive from the team hotel to Charley's mams house in Blaydon-on-Tyne didn't actually take that long, but to Charley it felt like it had taken forever.
The closer they got to the familiar surroundings of Blaydon, the more she would fidget in the back of the car and the more annoyed Lucy Staniforth got.
"If you keep moving that fast you'll give yourself whiplash."
"If I wanted your opinion, I would've asked for it."
"Whatever happens today, she's still your mam." Lucy finally said.
"Don't even go there. We both know she was a shit parent. If she wasn't doing god knows what with stepdad number five then she was on the drink."
"Okay, that's plenty." Steph said as they pulled up on the familiar street that Charley had grown up in. Jill's mum lived round the corner, and both Lucy's used to live on either side of Charley and her parents.
"Promise me, before we go any further that all of you will behave."
"What are we, children?" Charley rolled her eyes when Steph scoffed, getting out the car.
"Could've fooled me, the way you lot have been acting."
Charley breathed in deeply as they opened the gate and walked into the garden. Stan walked up to the door and knocked and Charley watched as she could see her mother walking towards the door from behind the glass.
When her mam opened the door, Charley tensed up and almost stumbled backwards, only being stopped by Lucy placing her hand on Charley's back and it took all of Charley's courage not to smack her hand away, but it seemed to calm her breathing down so she let it pass.
"What are you doing here?" Her mam asked, not even bothering to greet Lucy, Jill or Steph.
"Hi mam." Charley muttered, hands shaking.
"You."
"How've you been?"
"Better when you weren't here."
Steph was about to say something but Charley put her hand up to stop here. She breathed in deeply and turned to Lucy, "Now you see why I didn't want to come back here?"
Lucy blinked, confusion etched across her face as she chased Charley from the garden. "Charley! Charley! Wait!"
"What, Luce?"
"I don't understand why she didn't want to see you..."
"Why do you think? Why do you think I only ever brought you home when she was at work? She didn't know I was gay until the week before I left, I never told her. And when I did she reacted so badly I knew I needed to protect you from that. That's why I left. It wasn't because you cheated, it was because I was trying to protect you from her because I didn't want her to make you feel the way she made me feel."
Lucy scoffed. "I didn't need your protection! I needed you to be honest with me."
Charley rolled her eyes as Lucy grabbed onto her wrist to stop her from walking away, quickly wiping a tear from her face. "Don't you fucking dare talk to me about honesty. If anyone needs a bit of honesty from you, it's me."
"Hey, look at me..." Lucy frowned, putting her hand on Charley's cheek, pulling her in towards her. "I love you, Charley."
Charley shook her head. "No. No. I'm not doing this with you. I'm not going to ruin her relationship like she ruined mine."
"Char—"
"You love her, Luce. Good for you. Despite all your faults, you two are really good for each other." Charley pulled herself out from Lucy's grasp and walked back towards Jill's car where Steph was waiting with open arms.
"I'm sorry, Steph..."
"What are you sorry for, Chaz?"
"Not telling you why I left." Charley sighed, wiping more tears from her face.
Steph shook her head. "Don't ever apologise for being yourself. We love you no matter what and we always will. Especially her." Steph muttered so only Charley could hear, pointing towards Lucy who was stood with her hands in her pockets, looking everywhere but at Charley.
And nobody out there ever gets to define
The life I'm meant to lead
With this unruly heart of mine
