Addicted

Chapter 7 - Christmas Party

Tom's P.O.V.

The judges and university board members walk over to me. I answer their questions. I see in the distance Charlie. She quickly walks away. I suppose that maybe she was embarrassed. I smile. After some time. We were able to go on a little break to ourselves for a moment. I take the opportunity to walk to the bathroom to freshen up alittle.

The fair was coming to end. I walk over to pack my bot up into the box. Cleaning my area up around it as well. I grab my box and bag and head out the back towards the parking lot. Heading towards my car I walk past some guys. I click the button on my key fob. To open the trunk. It pops open. I set my bag and box on the ground to move things out of the way to make room. I hear someone walk over. Looking up I see Nathan and some guys around my car blocking both sides of escape.

"Can I help you?" I say nicely. "What's this?" He asks. Looking down at my bot. Is he for real right now? "It's a robot from the fair." He chuckles. Handing it to his buddy next to him. I quickly intervene. "Listen I've gotta go and get my friend." I say trying to move by. Nathan shoves me backwards. I stumble. I do it once again. "Listen man, I really gotta go." I say more serious. He shoves me back again. I charge at him and he docks me in the face. I fall to the ground. He crouches to my level. "Your little girlfriend can wait." "You better give Landon what he wanted, and stay the fuck outta my way, including Charlie." "I don't need that bitch to get in the way of things." I grab my nose cause it hurt so bad. I watch as Nathan goes to walk away. "Oh and uh." He looks at his body with my bot. "Toss that will ya." His buddy throws it into the road. I watch as it smashes into pieces. My face becomes hot as I become frustrated and upset at this fucking prick. I hear yelling in the distance. A female. Recognizing it's Charlie. There's some shouting and then it becomes quiet as I see her pick up my bot and walk over.

"Fuck them." I say. "Tom, it's okay we can..." I cut her off. I'm beyond angry at this point.  "He's a piece of shit and so is Landon." "They think it's fun to fuck with anyone who they think is lower than them." I full on rant. And they.." I get up. "They treat women like shit." "They treat you like your nothing, you deserve so much more than you know." I look at her. I can feel my heart racing. "Thomas.." She says. "Fucking pieces of shit." I run my hands through my hair. "And they just ruined one of the good things going for me." She puts the robot into the trunk of my car closing it turning to me. "Fuck them, you did amazing." "You can do bigger and better for your next one, this was a prototype a temporary one." I scratch the back of my neck. I nod. "Come on." I get into the car starting it to drive off.

Charlie's P.O.V.

I wake up that next morning noticing Tom isn't laying beside me. I look over to see he's at his desk. Trying to put his bot back together. I look over at the night stand. It was alittle after 9 in the morning. "So how long have you been up?" I ask. He doesn't respond. Realizing he had his earbuds in. I get up going behind him. Sneakily looking over his shoulder to see what he was doing. He was putting a piece back in currently. I put my hands on his shoulders. Startling him. He quickly relaxes after seeing it was me. He pulls an earbud out. "Morning." He says. There were bags under his eyes. I wonder how long he had been working on this. "Hungry?" I nod. "Yeah." I answer back. He smiles. "Okay I'll be ready in a few." He gets up heading over to his closet. I head into the bathroom to change and freshen up.

We get seated at a booth in a small restaurant I've never been to. It was cute. The lady hands us menus. "Can I get you guys started with any drinks?" Tom and I look at each other. He motions for me to answer. "I'll just have some water thank you." She writes down my drink. "And for you?" She asks Tom. "Some orange juice." She nods. "Alrighty let me get those for ya." She walks away. We open the menus looking. "Go ahead and get whatever you want." He says. I smile. "Okay." A few minutes pass and our drinks come. As well as we order our food. The waitress walks away to give the order. It's silent between us. "You want to talk about yesterday?" Tom finally says. I nod. "I just..." "I just don't get why Nathan always picks on you." "I really hate that guy sometimes." I cross my arms. He chuckles. "You and me both."