"Love should not make you feel like walking on eggshells."

Charlie slipped out of the covers, doing the best he could to be quiet so he wouldn't wake Ben up. The last time he did it didn't go well. He doesn't want to show up to work with a black eye again. All the attention was on him the whole day...It wasn't fun. He understood why Ben got mad though, it was his fault for waking him up so early.

The cafe he worked at opened at 6 am, he did the opening shift so he had to get up at 5 am so he had enough time to get ready. Charlie drew a sharp breath and walked downstairs to make coffee. How was he already overwhelmed when he just woke up? He knew today was going to be long. After having his coffee, which he considered his breakfast, he went upstairs to begin to get dressed.

"Stop being so goddamn loud my god," Ben grumbled and sat up, rubbing his eyes. Charlie froze, he thought he was being quiet. "I'm sorry, go back to sleep luv, I'll be quiet." Charlie stammered.

Ben rolled his eyes, "Well I'm awake now thanks to you." He scuffed. Charlie chewed his lip, tensing at the tone of his voice as he put on his apron. "Sorry." He said again, hoping this would be the end of it.

Ben got up and shoved Charlie, causing him to stumble to the ground, landing on his ankle. "Shit," Charlie whispered as his ankle began to throb in pain.

"Have a great day at work," Ben said sarcastically as he walked over to the bathroom. Tears whelmed in Charlie's eyes as he managed to get up, avoiding his ankle the best he could. Charlie walked downstairs, more like limped, and headed out the door.

"Sorry!" Charlie squeaked in surprise as he bumped into someone in the hallway. He looked up and couldn't help but smile softly as he saw Nick. Nick was still in his pj's and slippers gripping Nellie's lease to let her outside.

"Oh hey, Charlie!" Nick greeted, but his voice was rough since it was early in the morning. "What are you doing up this early?" He asked. "I got a shift." Charlie motioned down to his cafe uniform. "I'm guessing you're letting out your pup?" He asked, wanting to facepalm at how awkward this conversation was.

"Yup. Nellie got to pee." Nick chuckled, "Well have a good shift-" he was about to walk away but Nellie tugged on the lease, trying to nudge towards Charlie. Charlie watched Nellie in confusion, he petted her but froze as instantly sniffed at his injured ankle. Nick noticed and raised an eyebrow, "Hey, you okay?"

Nellie whined so Charlie began to rush to leave. "Yeah, I'm sorry I'm running late I got to go." Charlie rushed downstairs, ignoring how his ankle screamed at him in pain. This day was turning into a nightmare. The word sorry was becoming his catchphrase.

Luckily, he managed to get to work on time. He opened up the cafe and took a deep breath as his coworker Ash walked in. "Hey, you okay? You kinda look like shit." She hummed.

"Wow, thanks," Charlie said sarcastically as he cleaned the coffee machine. "Why is everybody asking me that? I'm fine."

"I'll make your favorite coffee to help this morning." Ash smiled and began to do so.

Charlie turned to her, "Thanks! How do you have so much energy in the morning?" He asked.

"Caffeine." Ash chirped as she handed Charlie the coffee. Charlie rolled his eyes and sipped the drink, he checked his phone as Ben messaged.

Ben: Don't do anything after work

Charlie felt himself go pale with nerves, "Hey uhm, I can't hang out tonight." He stammered. "Why not!?" Ash whined in frustration, "This is the third time you canceled on me!"

"I-I'm sorry! Ben wants to...Do a date night tonight." Charlie lied the best he could. God, he wished that was why. The truth was he didn't know why which made his anxiety worse.

"Oh! Well okay, maybe we can hang out next weekend." Ash hummed. Charlie nodded and chewed his lip, the workday was going to be a drag now. What did Ben want to do later?...

Throughout the shift, Charlie kept having to sit down because of his ankle. Ash got annoyed but didn't push it. That was until Charlie yelped in pain as he accidentally put too much pressure on his injured ankle, causing customers to look over.

"Alright, That's enough. End your shift early and go get that checked out." Ash demanded. "I wasn't going to say anything but you're clearly in pain."

Charlie felt terrible, "Okay...I'm sorry." He said for the millionth time that day and began to make his way out of the cafe. He pulled out his phone to let Ben know what was going on.

"What Charlie? I had to pause my game." Ben answered the call.

"Uhm...My ankle is bothering me, it's swollen and I can't put pressure on it without it throbbing so I need to go get it checked out. Can you drive me?" Charlie stammered, knowing Ben was going to be nothing but aggravated.

"How the fuck did you injure your ankle?" Ben asked as he got up to get ready to leave. "When you shoved me this morning..." Charlie whispered.

Ben rolled his eyes, "Stop being so sensitive. I'm on my way."

Ben hung up and walked out into the hallway. He gasped in surprise as he tripped over...a dog!?

"Watch your fucking dog I almost fell!" He snapped at the stranger as he shut his apartment door. He looked down at the border collie in disgust.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't see you come out of your apartment. I would've been more careful." Nick rambled, gently pulling Nellie over to him.

Nellie stared at Ben and growled.

"Get your service dog trained." Ben scuffed and walked down the stairs out of the apartment building.

Nick rubbed his face, "Well...I didn't make a good impression on Charlie's boyfriend." He told Nellie as they made their way outside. Nellie grumbled in response. Nick brought Nellie over to the yard and sighed.

Nick had a bad feeling about Ben. His gut was telling him to check on Charlie, and he didn't know why.