CHARLOTTE'S LAST DAYS

        "I am here!" Nora screamed as she entered the room with enough paper bags in hand. 

       Faith, Charlotte and Ethan turned to her and she closed the door slowly. Charlotte's skin was pale now and she looked sick. The nurse has fixed all the things she needed and has connected her heartbeat to show on the monitor. Charlotte's mom was lying on the other bed. It was only her brother that wasn't there. 

        "Welcome!" Ethan and Faith chorused. 

  Nora held up the paper bags.  "I brought enough goodies for everybody." 

        They clapped for her. She handed each person a bag. 

        "You are an angel," Ethan said when he took the meal from her. 

       Faith glanced at him and wondered why he was happy about the food. Has he not eaten yet? She had not even noticed. Nora went over to Charlotte and held her hand? 

        "How are you doing?" 

    Charlotte smiled.  "You know I'm always fine." 

     Nora went over to Mrs Hernandez and touched her arms. The woman looked up at her and smiled. Mrs Hernandez was not always talking, she doesn't speak English fluently so she doesn't join in most of their conversations. 

      "How are you, Mrs Hernandez?" 

   The woman nodded her reply, she opened her takeaway. "Gracias," she said to Nora raising the takeaway.

         "You are welcome." Nora sat down at the edge of Charlotte's bed.  "Why is it so boring in here?" She turned to Charlotte, a mischievous smile on her face.  "Tell me, what do you wanna do?" 

       "I want to dance with the stars," Charlotte said. 

       "Alright, but I don't think it would be allowed on hospital premises." She paused for a while and brightened up.  "I got an idea. Where is Valentine?" she asked looking around.

       "He has gone to school," Charlotte replied. 

     Nora bent to Charlotte and whispered something in her ears. Charlotte smiled broadly. 

        "I like it," she said still smiling. 

     Faith scowled.  "What are you guys planning without me?" 

       Nora looked at her and smiled.  "Do you think we should include her?" 

        "There's no way the two of you are gonna do things alone," Faith challenged.  "You will always need another hand." 

      Ethan finished chewing the food in his mouth and wipe his mouth. He turned to Nora.  "First, Nora did you make this food? If yes, can I employ you as my chef?"

       "Welcome back Mr Floyd," Nora said and snapped a finger on his face.  "First, I am not going to be a chef and definitely not yours, but thank you for the compliment. In case you were wondering, we were just discussing how we would make Charlotte lively. She had been lying on this bed for three straight days."  She turned to Charlotte.  "Ain't you bedsore already?" 

         "Of course, I am. But Mrs Hernandez won't even let me out of her sight." 

         "That was why I came up with that plan." 

         "What plan?!" Faith and Ethan chorused. 

          "Wait, you guys are making plans without me? I feel so jealous and mad right now," Faith said feigning anger. She crossed her arms across her chest. 

       "Oh, my baby girl. Don't worry, I'll tell you in your ear, can you take the risk?" 

         "Bring it on," Faith challenged.

                                   * * *

     Later that night, when Valentine, Charlotte's brother returned and took over, Faith decided to go home and catch some sleep, she has a client to attend to the next day.  Ethan offered to take her home. She was so exhausted when they got home. She yawned and headed towards her room, but Ethan caught up with her and held her hand, turning her to face him. She looked at him, confusion knitting her brows together. 

      "Thank you," he said looking deep into her eyes. 

      "Why are you thanking me?" she asked avoiding his gaze. Whenever he looked at her like that, her heart was always racing and her legs were always watery. She was even aware of their proximity and it made her breath hitch. 

         "Thank you for being here for Charlotte." 

       She looked down and looked up at him again.  "She is my friend and she would have done the same for me." 

      He slowly left her hand.  "Charlotte would be there for anybody. I want to cook, do you wanna come stay with me?" 

       She searched her mind to find a good reason to decline his request. She didn't want him to know about her ulcer, so she couldn't use that as an excuse and she couldn't just say she was exhausted and needed to rest. First, he would take it that she was avoiding him and it might sound a bit rude. He noticed her discomfort. 

        "You don't have to come. It's just that I needed company, I don't want to think about her." 

        Now, she couldn't refuse. All she had envisioned on their silent ride back home, was getting home, manage a bath and hitting her bed and her body had already been programmed that way. In that very short moment, she tried to convince herself that pleasing herself was not being heartless. But then, this could be her someday. She could be down and might need someone to talk to, someone to keep her company, only that she would rather stay in her bed and sulk alone than talk to anyone. He sounded vulnerable and even looked vulnerable. She looked at him and her stomach grumbled. 

       She was hungry and might want to eat whatever it was he wanted to prepare. But, even as she was about to give in, that unsettling feeling, that scary feeling that she was going to be scrutinized kept tugging at her heart. She knew that they were not going to just look at each other when she stays with him in that kitchen. A talk would lead to another talk and another talk would lead to another and she wasn't ready to open up or talk about a past that makes her so sad. She didn't know what it was in her past that was always making her withdraw from people or associate with them. She couldn't place her hand on it. 

       But she managed to convince herself that she was going to stay there with him because she was hungry and she was going to keep the conversation revolving around random topics rather than focus on her. 

      She smiled.  "I will just go and freshen up and come out," she said pointing towards her room. 

       He shrugged.  "That's okay. I'll be waiting." 

     She made to leave, but he grabbed her again. She raised her eyebrows. He looked her in the eyes again. 

         "I won't cook until you come out. I'm hungry. Don't sleep off." 

      That brought out a chuckle from her. She raised her free hand.  "I promise." 

      He smiled at her, that charming smile of his that makes her want to melt into it. She had to quickly turn to stop looking at his face. She walked to her door with counted steps, knowing that his eyes were on her. She unlocked her door without looking back and went in. Before closing the door, she looked and caught a glimpse of him, still standing there looking her way. She gently shut the door, leaned on it and puffed, trying to calm her racing heart. 

                                      * * *

         When she was done having a shower that wasn't to her satisfaction, she dried her hair with the blow dryer and tied it up in a bun. She went into the bedroom and put on polka dot pyjamas and went to look at herself in her dressing mirror. She had a sudden uncontrollable urge to look pretty. She looked at her lips and decided to put a lip gloss. She reached inside her drawer, groped and took out a pink gloss. She didn't know if that gloss was expired or not, but she knew it was Nora who had left that gloss in her drawer and she had managed to move around wherever she was moving to. 

      She had never been a fan of makeup and had never thought that one day, she would want to wear any. She checked the body of the tube and found out that it was still good, she removed the cap and applied it to her lips. It added a shine and a small amount of colour to her lips, she smiled, covered the lip gloss and rubbed her lips together. 

         Wait! Why was she putting on a lip gloss? Who was she trying to look pretty for? Was she trying to look pretty only to go and stay in the kitchen with Ethan? No way! She quickly reached for the wipes on the dresser and wiped off the gloss from her lips. She looked at her face in the mirror and smiled. She stood up and started leaving the room, but stopped at the door. She looked back inside her bedroom and decided that a little fragrance won't hurt. 

        She went back in, opened her drawer and took out a mild strawberry scent and wore. When she was satisfied that she was good to go, she grabbed her phone from the nightstand and headed out of the bedroom. She waited outside her door for a while thinking about what to do or say, she even thought of going back inside, but she don't want the whole guilt on her later, so she forged ahead. 

       Getting to the kitchen door, she peeped inside, grateful that it was slightly open. He was in the kitchen, his back to her. He has removed his Cashmere shirt and was left with only a clean white vest, he wore an apron that was tied behind. She opened the kitchen door slowly and sneaked inside. 

                                    * * *

       He didn't notice when she came in, thanks to the blender. She took out a stool and sat watching him for a while, watching his muscles contrast and constrict as he worked with the blender. In order not to drool and get caught, she cleared her throat. 

        "I thought you said you won't start cooking until I come?" 

    He jerked around and the spoon on his hand fell off. 

        "Oh, shit, you startled me," he said and bent to pick the spoon at the same time as she bent. 

     Their head hit together and she yelped.  He quickly went over to her as she wrinkled her face and rubbed her forehead. He removed her hand and robbed it himself. 

       "I'm so sorry, you kind of startled me." 

     Her eyes were on his chest. She was seated and he was standing, making her be on his chest level. She was drinking in his scent. A scent of musk and man and she was aware of his strong hand cupping the back of her head and the other rubbing her forehead. She didn't know if she slept off in his arms, but the next thing, he was jerking her. She looked at him and realized that he had stooped and was looking straight into her eyes. 

        "Are you alright?" he asked. 

     She was confused. She didn't even know what had happened.  "Yes, yes...I'm alright. Did you say something?"  God. Why was he looking extremely sexy in that apron? 

         "I was asking if you were alright from the collision because you seemed blacked out." 

       It was indeed a collision and she was yet to recover. She stared at him. 

       "Are you sure you can stay? Do you want to go inside and have some rest?" 

      And leave all this sexiness?  "No!" she blurted. She recovered, closed her eyes and shook her head slightly.  "I'm fine, I'm fine." 

       He straightened up.  "If you say so. I'll just finish with the smoothie." He pointed towards the blender again. 

       "Alright," she smiled at him. 

       He smiled back and turned to continue what he was doing. She widened her eyes and mouthed a 'wow' was that the effect he had on her now? He went over to the cabinet and took out two glasses, rinsed them and poured the strawberry smoothie in them. He handed her the glass, she took it and muttered a 'thank you' 

       "I like to keep my spectators entertained," he said. 

       "What are you cooking?" she asked. 

        "I want to make mushroom soup." 

         "Can you cook well?" 

     He sipped from the glass, dropped it on the table and shrugged. "I can prepare a couple of things. Charlotte's craving mushroom soup, so I'll do the best I can do." 

         "You could just place an order." 

          "She wants homemade." 

     She wondered if she should help him. But their hands might bruise and make a fire burn up her body. 

        "I could help you. I could cook it for you." 

   He looked at her and smiled.  Thanks but no thanks, I want to make it myself. Some videos can help me and you can just help me, but I will do it myself."

        She shrugged and drank her smoothie. He took out the mushrooms and placed them on the kitchen table.  He took out the chopping board and started chopping the mushrooms, she watched how graciously his hands worked with the knife. 

       "Are you sure you don't want me to do anything?" she asked. 

        "As I said, I just want your company. Let's just be each other's company." 

        "I never said I wanted company." 

         "Come on, Faith..."

        "It's Miss Prescott, remember?" 

        "I thought we were gone past this formality. Ain't we friends at least for now." 

       She kept mute not knowing what to say. She shouldn't be this uptight around him anymore, right? 

          "We are both lonely people," He said and put the chopped mushrooms in a bowl.  "So, we need each other's company at least now."  He put a pot on the stove and melted the butter.  "I know that once you go into your room, your thoughts start to run wild." 

        "How would you know that?" 

   He put the onion and garlic and started stirring.  "I know that you cry yourself to sleep most nights." 

      She rolled her eyes. "You talk like you know me." 

       "I might not know all of you, but I know you enough to know that you cry and drink yourself to sleep." 

         "Do you watch my every move around here?" 

    He chuckled. The onion and garlic were soft now and he added the mushrooms.  "We live in the same house, duh!"  He stirred the mixture.  "There is no way you could ignore what's going on in the other person's life." 

      She didn't know what was going on in his life, aside from that he had a girlfriend who was lying in the hospital now. That was not enough to say you know someone. 

      As she opened her mouth to answer him, her phone went off. She took it out of the pocket of her pyjamas and looked at the screen. She froze, her jaw dropped and the colour drained out of her face. She glared at the phone like it was something she had not seen before. Ethan was talking but she wasn't h earing what he was saying. 

      She slowly slid to the green icon and slowly put the phone in her ear, still looking dazed. 

        "Faith, I miss you," Noah said from the other side.