"Is everything okay?" Jake looked nervous when he opened his door a short time later. "Are you okay?" He added as he clocked the expression on his face. "Let me get you a drink."

Charlie didn't  know why she had decided going over to Jake's was a good idea.  She had just known she had to be as far away from her so-called best friend as possible right now and, even on her walk over, she had no idea what she planned to say or do. And she still didn't. 

Tell the truth and lose him? Lie and potentially still lose him anyway? Spontaneously combust from stress? The latter option seemed most viable right now. 

Jake handed her a glass of wine and touched her shoulder lightly. "Sit down," he instructed her, smiling tentatively. "Talk to me."

Charlie sipped her wine, a stalling tactic to allow herself time to think. Time to call on her improvisational skills once again. "I - uh - spoke to Paul," she blurted.  "After you left. He said it was obvious something was going on between us, and he wants me to end things with you."

It was probably for the best, she thought. Clean break, no loose ends. But, much to her surprise, Jake didn't look happy.

"Charlie, I don't want to lose you," he said quietly. Apparently sincerely. "I've had such a great time with you these last couple of weeks and I really like you. I know whatever is happening here hasn't maybe started under the best of circumstances but I actually want to see where it goes . . ."

"Paul and I broke up," Charlie interrupted. "I said I didn't think we could go ahead with the wedding - with a future together - if I was interested in someone else." She waited with bated breath for his response. Still expecting him to instantly back off, full of excuses as to why it suddenly couldn't work out. 

"You're kidding!" He exclaimed. "That's great news!" He pulled her to her feet and kissed her. "Oh god, I thought you were about to end things with me there."

Wow. This had went far better than Charlie expected. Deep down she had thought that Jake would definitely lose interest if he thought she was single but it seemed he really liked her after all. 

Suddenly she saw she could be part of a couple, a proper couple, with Jake. Not having to lie or sneak around. She would have an actual boyfriend, who cared about her, looked after her, made her laugh, comforted her when she cried . . . Really it was all she had ever wanted. 

She should be over-the-moon, shouldn't she?

Except she wasn't.

Because, when push came to shove, Jake wasn't the guy she wanted to be with. And suddenly she realised she didn't want a boyfriend just for the sake of it after all. 

She was actually fine by herself.

"Actually," she pulled herself gently out of his arms, almost not believing what she was going to do, but knowing it was the right thing. "Jake, I'm really sorry but I don't think we should keep seeing each other either."

Jake's mouth dropped open. "You're kidding! "Seriously?"

She nodded sadly. "Look, I think I need to be by myself right now. I'm starting to realise that this is what I need to do. And the way things started with us is never going to really sit right with me, if I'm perfectly honest. I think it would ultimately just eat away at me."

"Okay," he nodded, downcast. "I understand. For the record though," he added sincerely. "I really did like being around you. I was in a bit of a bad place the night I ran into you and you really brightened up the last few weeks for me."

Something in Charlie's brain clicked into place and she glanced over at him astutely. "Louisa? Your ex? I don't think you're over her, are you?"

He hesitated and then laughed resignedly as he shook his head. "You're pretty smart, aren't you?"

"Yep, I am. Except when it comes to myself." Charlie laughed. She gave Jake a quick hug. "Listen, maybe you should contact her, tell you how you feel. Maybe there's still a chance for you guys." She pulled back again. "I'm going to head off but . . . Thanks for a great few weeks. It's been an experience, that's for sure."

It couldn't really have worked anyway, she mused as she headed back down Jake's street without looking back. There would always have been the Paul lie, and it would have to have came out in the end. 

She paused at the end of the street, realising she literally had nowhere to go now. Perhaps she could sneak back into the flat without running into Thea? She wasn't sure she was prepared for another bout of verbal abuse; that last round had fully taken it out of her.

But, to her surprise, when she inched open the door, Thea was waiting for her at the kitchen table, her face pale and drawn, an untouched glass of wine beside her.

"I'm so sorry," her friend blurted out before Charlie could even shut the door behind her. "I was completely out of order."

Charlie hadn't been expecting an apology at all. But she knew she deserved one.

"You were," she replied, carefully."You really upset me and I'm not even sure what I said to merit all the shit you threw at me there."

"I know. I . . ." Thea didn't even finish her sentence as she suddenly burst into tears. 

What the hell???

Charlie stared at Thea in shock as she put her head into her hands and sobbed into them. Thea never cried. It was a running joke between them that Charlie had somehow inherited Thea's share of tear ducts as well as her own as Thea didn't seem to know how to cry. Whereas Charlie could and would cry at anything, and proved this on a regular basis.

"What's wrong?" She asked gently, pulling out a chair and sitting down opposite her friend. 

Thea looked up. "I just want you to know I'm not crying just to make you forgive me," she insisted.

"God, I wouldn't think that," Charlie shook her head. "But, by the way, it's probably a good thing you don't cry normally as you are not an attractive crier." She wasn't lying; Thea didn't look good right now.

"Kick a girl while she's down, why don't you!" Thea said dryly. She was already starting to regain her composure although tears were still trickling down her face. 

"So what's going on?" Charlie pushed Thea's glass of wine in front of her and nodded encouragingly. "Actually tell me your problems for a bloody change rather than bottling them up.  Maybe I can help."

"I doubt it, but thanks." Thea wiped her nose and took a fortifying gulp of wine. "It's Craig." Charlie nodded understandingly. "And . . . Dave."

"Okay, now you've lost me," Charlie said, confused. 

So then it all came out. 

"I can't believe you've been keeping all this to yourself," Charlie shook her head after Thea had bared her soul. 

"I know." Thea sighed. "I wish I'd just told you from the start. I can't believe how good it feels to just get it all out."

"So you love Dave." Charlie giggled nervously as realisation dawned. "No wonder you went ape-shit when I said I'd kissed him."

Thea frowned. "I don't love him," she argued. "I just . . . Okay, maybe I do. I wouldn't normally fly off the handle like that so there's got to be a good reason. Maybe that is it. "

"You know I would never have done that if I'd known though, right?" Charlie checked. "I don't know how I would have got out of that situation but I definitely wouldn't have kissed Dave! I mean, I wouldn't even have used his photo as pretend Paul if I thought there was even a chance…"

"Oh I know that," Thea said, waving away her protests.  "And, again, I'm so sorry for taking it all out on you. I didn't mean any of what I said, I was just so angry at the situation I'd put myself in and when you said you'd kissed him I took all that anger out on you. I'm sorry about what I said about you being desperate and selfish. I don't think that at all! And about saying neither Aaron or Jake were interested. I was just lashing out."

"Well, you weren't wrong about one of them." Charlie admitted. "Aaron's not interested. He's taken." She tried to say this casually but she could feel her bottom lip tremble a bit, despite everything. "But, oh, I told Jake me and Paul had ended it and he still wanted to see me."

"Wow!" It was Thea's turn to shake her head. "No offence but I did not see the Jake thing turning around like that. Not with the way you met."

"To be honest, deep down I thought the same. Turned out he wasn't so bad after all though. But… I told him I thought it was best we parted ways."

"You're full of surprises today," Thea laughed in confusion. "But why?"

"It's just . . . I liked him, and he was hot but . . . If I'm honest I always felt like I was playing a role with him, pretending to be something I wasn't. I never felt properly comfortable around him, which is fair enough given it's only been a few weeks, but I just couldn't see myself with him long-term. Not the way I felt about . . . Well, you know." She shrugged. "But on top of everything else that happened tonight I also met Aaron's perfectly lovely girlfriend so my chances of that going anywhere are null and void."

"Aw, mate." Thea pushed her half finished wine glass towards Charlie. "Think we're both as pathetic as each other. But on the upside, after finding that out, staying with Jake would have been the easy option. So I see that as a victory."

"Cheers to that!" Charlie raised the glass before necking the rest of it. "Now how about we actually just go out to the pub and actually catch up properly? In case there is anything else you've forgotten to tell me," she said teasingly.

"Sounds good to me." Thea pushed her chair back determinedly. "And maybe you can help me figure out how to sort this Dave mess out once and for all."