Free Broken Truth by Beth Ashworth Page B

that?”
    “Cleverly,” Charlie said with a half-hearted smile. “He always manages to laugh it off and tell her that we aren’t ready for that kind of commitment. She’s buying it for now, but I know that answer won’t pacify her forever.”
    “Don’t worry,” Amelia said with confidence. “Let’s see what she says to him this weekend at Ben’s birthday party? Hey?”
    “That should be interesting,” Charlie replied.
    “Between the three of us we will work this out. Lucy and I will be here for you always,” Amelia smiled warmly across the table.
     

Nine
     
    “Are you seriously still not talking to me?” Xavier whined for at least the hundredth time that day.
    Charlie tried to hide her smile as she busied herself with the new window display. They had just received a new collection from an up and coming designer that they were showcasing and she had been tasked with making the window look bright and appealing. Luckily for her, they were just approaching July so the style was short and playful.
    “Charlieeeeeeee,” Xavier moaned from behind. “How many times can I say I’m sorry? It’s like Friday for fucks sake and you haven’t spoken to me once all week. I am feeling so unloved and this is not okay!” 
    She coughed discreetly in an attempt to disguise her laugh. If only he knew the entertainment he had provided her with over the past few days. This run of the silent treatment had worked out better than she could have ever imagined.
    After finding out through Facebook that Xavier was a lying little bastard, Charlie decided she was going to have a little fun with her friend. Pissed off that he left her for not only Monday, but Tuesday and Wednesday as well, she decided a little bout of the silent treatment would suffice.
    On Monday night when she finished work, Charlie switched on her phone to find multiple texts from Amelia who was checking in with her following their conversation earlier that day at lunch. Along with those texts were a few from Lucy and a couple from Xavier. Responding to both of the girls, she chose to then ignore the texts from Xavier.
    When she didn’t respond after a few hours, the phone calls and voicemails started. Sitting alone in bed on Monday night with a tub of Ben & Jerry’s, Charlie wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes as she listened to Xavier’s voicemails.
     
    “ Oi, you bitch! Why aren’t you texting me back? You’d better have a good excuse for blanking me because I won’t always put up with your shit. Call me back or text me.”
     
    “Right... Well you’ve either lost your phone or you’re purposely blanking me. I haven’t spoken to you in a few days. Why are you being such an ignorant bitch?”
     
    “Okayyyyy...  I’m sorry. I’ve just realised you’ve probably seen my Facebook page, so you know I’m lying, right? I would say it’s not what it looks like, but it clearly is. Call me!!”
     
    After blanking his voicemails on Monday night, Charlie made sure to lay low over the days that followed. She purposefully deleted every text message and rejected each call he made on Tuesday and Wednesday. She wanted to make sure that bastard knew she was upset with him.
    “Look...” Xavier gripped Charlie’s arm and pulled her away from the window. Normally she would have taken the mannequin arm she held and smacked him around the head with it for the way he just grabbed her. Yet this time, she stood before him her face completely emotionless.
    Clearly the silence was bothering him as she could see his usual cool and carefree persona was completely in tatters today. He just looked flustered and completely not with it.
    “Charlie, please talk to me,” he begged. 
    The pleading tone of his voice was enough to break through the hardened shell she had built to store the feelings of forgiveness. She knew that without it locked away she would be too easy on him. She wanted the little shit to suffer for a change and beg for her forgiveness. It was