Settle the Score / Hustle Play

Chapter Four | Head-to-Head

I was at Café Buena fifteen minutes early. I chose a table that wasn’t too near or too far from the entrance and sat myself facing the door so I could see Charles come in. Coming here, I had an index card’s worth of rehearsed lines, but as four o’clock loomed nearer, the words abandoned me one by one.

It had started to rain. Not too hard, but enough to get you drenched if you ran in it for more than ten seconds. I found myself hoping Charles brought an umbrella.

My heart dropped for a second when my phone screen lit up. False alarm. It was only Justine, asking if I’d already met with Charles. I ignored the message for the meantime, not wanting to feel antsier than I should be.

“Sorry, Garns. Nat threatened me with a tantrum if I didn’t get her a Happy Meal.”

It was Charles, twenty minutes late. He wore a Henley shirt that had become two shades of blue, thanks to the downpour outside. He shook rainwater off his hair as he approached, and I had to divert my gaze to my untouched cup of coffee because goddamnit, did he have to look so attractive?

“Spoiler.”

He sat in front of me, ran a hand through his hair. Stop that, I wanted to say.

“Speak for yourself,” he mumbled. “You were the one who bought her that girly thingamajig last Christmas.”

“It was on sale.”

“Whatever.”

I chuckled at the mental image of nine-year-old Natalie crafting bracelets with sparkly heart-shaped beads for Charles and demanding he wear them for me to see. Best holiday memory.

He eyed my coffee cup. “I thought I was buying.”

I needed something to warm my fingers, I thought, touching the cup just as the words came to mind. The air conditioning inside the café and my anxiety froze my hands. “You were late.”

Charles flashed me an apologetic look, then excused himself to head to the counter. I willed myself not to admire how strong his shoulders looked, further highlighted by his partially wet shirt. A text message from Colby arrived, distraction of the helpful kind.

In hindsight, I guess it made sense that Justine and Colby were as invested in this as I was. At some point in our friendship, each of us had expressed liking Charles in a more-than-friends kind of way, only no one ever acted on the feeling, so to speak. It was only when Nica came into the picture that we became vigilant, acting like protective mother hens who didn’t want to see him break his heart.

“So—what’s up?”

He ripped open a sugar packet, poured the granules into his cappuccino. I watched him do the same to a second packet, only his hands became suspended in midair for a second when I asked, “Are we going to pretend yesterday didn’t happen?”

I saw the perennial smile on his face fade a bit as he continued pouring sugar into the cup.

“I’m sorry about Nica... I was so shocked, I wasn’t able to pull her aw—”

“You’re being weird about this.”

“Weird how?”

“You’re supposed to be mad at me.”

“Why would I be?”

“Because I kissed you!” I raised my voice. It angered me that he was being so cool about this while my unease ate me alive. “Because I might’ve… ruined your relationship!”

There was a fleeting look on his face, a look that meant he finally understood why I was making such a fuss. But he only shook his head and sighed, then reached across the table to wrap his fingers around my wrist. His touch was as warm as the cup of coffee I nursed between my hands.

“Garnet, listen. Nica and I had a talk, and we’re cool. We’re okay.”

“No... it’s not okay.”

“Garns.”

I wrapped my fingers tightly around the cup as I spat out the words. “She’s cheating on you, Charlie! She’s cheating on you with Kelvin from the soccer team! I don’t know how—”

As if he got burned, Charles’ grasp on my wrist quickly loosened. Briefly, I wished he would just get up and leave, but he remained seated, gaze challenging mine.

“This feels like déjà vu.”

“God, Charlie! How long are you going to let her play you?”

He slammed a fist on the table. “What did Nica ever do to you?”

I knew I struck a nerve, but I wasn’t about to back down. “Come on, Charlie—wake up! She’s no good for you! And if you think for one second that this is nothing more than character assassination, then we should stop being friends. I don’t want to be associated with an idiot. It was Nica who said it herself. I was merely there, and I heard it.” Tears stung my eyes as I spoke, voice trembling. “Did you think I’d sit down and do nothing?”

He scoffed. “So you kissed me... so what? So she’d break up with me?”

“Charl—”

“You really are something, you know that?”

I cringed at the scraping of wrought iron against tile when Charles pushed his seat back and got up. Without another word, he bolted out the door and disappeared into the pouring rain.