Page 71 of Degrees of Control

She nodded and followed him into his kitchen.

“What’s with the bananas,” he asked as she placed them on the counter. “Bananas are the unequivocal hangover cure. I’ve just finished proving that to Sophia.”

Somehow James mustered the ability to smile. “Pre-bachelorette party, right? How’d it go?” When James first found out about the party, he’d tortured himself thinking about all the assholes that would hit on Charlotte at the club, chat her up and buy her drinks in the hope of taking her home. Apparently, he was not only a lush and an asshole but a goddamn hypocrite.

“It was fun,” Charlotte said. “How was your brother’s anniversary party?”

“All right.”

This felt forced, discussing their weekends like they didn’t both know why she was here. Luckily, Charlotte wasn’t an upper class Southerner and she wasn’t content to suffer though awkwardness. “So about your phone call…?”

James handed her a coffee in one of the plain white mugs he rarely used. His kitchen was basically a showroom—bland and completely devoid of character. “I don’t remember what I said. Or much of anything.”

“I guessed that.” Charlotte sipped her coffee and made a face. “Do you want me to tell you what you said?”

No. He wanted to live in denial forever, but that wasn’t really an option. “Why not? Not like I can feel any worse.”

Charlotte grimaced. “When you first called I couldn’t really hear you over the music, but you kept apologizing. You said you fucked up and you couldn’t do this anymore.” She screwed up her nose. “I thought…my general impression was that you’d slept with someone else.”

James felt his hangover press down on him like a car compactor. “I can’t confirm it, but I can’t fucking deny it either, baby.” He winced. He didn’t deserve to call Charlotte baby. “I’m really sorry.”

“So am I. This was the perfect opportunity to trick you into thinking you really want me to teach you how to stand on your head and I blew it.”

James looked at her to see her smiling mischievously at him. Was she actually trying to cheer him up after how he acted? Why wasn’t she crying and slapping his face?

James put his hands on his head and exhaled. “I don’t know if anything happened with someone else, Charlotte. I was wasted, I don’t remember a single word I said to you. I can’t imagine screwing someone else but I have no fucking idea why I would call and apologize otherwise. Jesus, the fact that I don’t even know…you must think I’m such an asshole.”

Charlotte slipped her hand into his. “I don’t. Whether or not anything happened isn’t the point, James. You and I aren’t together. Even if something did happen, it’s not cheating. You don’t have to feel bad about the drunk-dialing either. When I was sixteen, I got wasted and accidentally called my ex-boyfriend’s mum instead of my ex-boyfriend. She thought I was a sex line.”

James laughed even though it made his head ache. He’d barely thought the words ‘what now’ when Charlotte sighed. “I think the problem is that I messed up. I thought we were more serious than we are. Now it feels like we’re in a bizarre, unofficial relationship and you have to be accountable to me. I don’t want that.”

“You don’t?”

She hesitated. “I guess it’s about time we cleared that up.”

James’ stomach churned and he wished she’d stop looking at him with her huge, hentai-girl eyes. “Don’t tell me you’ve gone and fallen in love with me, Miss Charlotte, you know I ain’t got the money to pay your dowry.”

Charlie didn’t smile. “I think it’s all gotten way too confusing between us, with the dinners and you asking me to move in and threatening to beat up my ex.” Her lips twisted. “The unprotected sex.”

James cringed.

“I’m not saying it’s your fault,” she added. “I’ve avoided talking to you about having a relationship because, well, I kind of have a huge crush on you and I didn’t want this to end.”

James’ chest inflated. In a lot of ways he’d already known that but somehow hearing Charlotte admit she had feelings for him made him feel like a fucking king.

If only you deserved it, Jimmy-Boy.

“So I’m going to ask you what I should have asked you ages ago…” Charlotte said, looking him straight in the eye so that James’s heart pounded hard and fast. “What’s that?”

“Are you interested in me? I mean, other than sexually?

James felt like she’d struck him in his bloated, hungover head.

Charlotte smiled, but her eyes were sad. “All you have to do is answer honestly, James.”

He held up his hands. “Yeah, I-I like you, I like spending time with you.”

“I mean do you want to date? Exclusively. Become a couple?”

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