Ratbags and Scallywags [bxb]

Chapter 33

"Aubrey!" 

I couldn't even breathe a sigh of relief when Charlie came bounding through the door. Hot sweaty hands grabbed my cheeks and pulled me close to his face, eyes darting around and downward as he seemed to inspect every part of me for injuries. Then after a quick glimpse at my hand, he grabbed it and inspected my grazed knuckles.

"I knew it," he said through breathless huffs of air. His cheeks were red and sweaty, like he'd sprinted all the way here. "Where's that bastard? What'd he do this time? Where is he?"

Hearing sounds from up the stairs, Charlie's eyes narrowed towards my closed bedroom and started to dark towards it before I quickly snatched his arm and held him back. His protective side was so cute, it made me like him all the more. But something was different about him, right now. I couldn't put a finger on it.

"It's fine, I'm fine. He didn't do anything to me," I assured him, assessing any identifiable changes. Hair, skin, clothes... "Something's different."

Charlie's fingers glazed over my knuckles but returned to my face, as if to reinspect it and solidify his certainty that I had not, in fact, been hurt. His face was so close; beautifully dark eyes boring into mine. Still, his fingers were sweaty and making my skin itch.

"Your fingers are sweaty, get off," I said pulling away, using my shoulders to wipe the sweat spots while still glancing at him. Then it struck me. He was basically at eye level now, as if he'd grown a few inches in the last couple of hours since I'd seen him. I flicked my gaze up and down at him, trying to verify this. "You on tip-toes?"

Nope, it was clear he wasn't.

"Don't be dumb," he said, wiping his hands down his sides. "I need a drink; I ran all the way here. Catch me up."

He walked over to the kitchen like he was here every day, ineffectively trying to throw me off whatever he was guilty of. He reached for the glasses at the top of the cupboard far easier than I remembered him doing the last time he stayed, but even as I looked down, he was still wearing ordinary school shoes flat on the ground.

"You did something," I said, watching him fill the glass in the sink.

"Where's Horse-Face? What's he doing?" Charlie asked, swigging back some water. He let out a loud ahh sound and put it back to his mouth, staring at me expectantly.

"You're rigged."

Charlie rolled his eyes. "Let's get into poetry if you won't tell me then."

He stuck the glass back into the sink and startled when a loud thud resounded from the couch. We both turned back to find Tessa having jumped over the back of it, standing in front of us while staring at us in astonishment. She looked dubiously at Charlie first, then to me with a look of questioning on her face.

"Poetry?" she asked, like the word tasted unfamiliar on her tongue. "Aubs, you're doing poetry again?"

I shrugged. "Charlie's helping me with end of year assignment."

"Huh..." she looked thoughtful and strolled over to us. "Wow, Charlie must be a god. If you ever wanna marry then wait till I'm old enough, 'kay?"

Charlie chuckled and rubbed her messy bun until it was a bird's nest. "Thanks, but I'm g-"

"-Glad," I interrupted, throwing my arm around Charlie's shoulders and pulling him away. We weirdly felt more or less the exact same height which was absurdly strange. There was no damned way this was possible. "He's glad you think he's so great, Tess. We're gonna start on our schoolwork now."

He was still an unfiltered clown, even if he had matured forty years or something in the last few weeks. In the past, you could predict everything he said to be completely stupid and embarrassing. Now things were worse, because I couldn't see them coming anymore.