Olivia's POV
Samuel's words about needing more time echo through my mind as it finally dawns on me that there's no getting out of this. It doesn't matter how either Samuel or I feel. Everything is going to end with my memories and my ability gone. I was, after all, never meant to know of his existence.
"Liv? Are you crying?" Nick asks from where he's still sitting on the stool beside Samuel.
I reach up to my eyes and discover he's right. A few stray tears are sliding down my cheeks, but before they can reach my jaw I wipe them off.
"Olivia?" This time the voice filled with concern comes from Samuel.
"I'm fine," I assure both of them and slide my index fingers underneath my eyes to catch any lingering tears. "I just realized how it's all going to end."
Samuel's eyes soften into an understanding look, while Nick continues to stare at me with furrowed eyebrows.
"What's going to end?" Nick asks.
"I can't tell, because even if I do you won't believe me."
"I'm sorry." Samuel reaches across the counter and places his hand on top of mine. "I knew from the beginning that things would end this way, and I thought you knew as well. Weâ"
"Don't." I pull my hand from underneath his and busy myself with wiping the nonexistent dirt off the counter.
"Olivia?" Samuel softly calls my name, but I refuse to look at him.
Instead, I focus on the rest of the café to see if there are any customers waiting to place their order. Before I make a full sweep across the café, my eyes land on Charlie. For a moment the Head Guardian's arrival and Samuel's revelation had distracted me, but now there's nothing left to demand my attention.
My rib cage presses down onto my lungs, making me feel like someone is sitting on my chest. I don't need to think too hard to know what the suffocating feeling is. It's high time I do what I have been meaning to do ever since I discovered that Charlie was the boy I saw on the night of the accident.
"Can you do me a favor?" I ask both Samuel and Nick while keeping my eyes on Charlie.
The boy is glancing from me to Nick, and I'm a little surprised to see his eyes flickering onto Samuel's back as well. Then again, to him it must be nothing but an empty chair, so I quickly push it out of my mind and turn back to the two guys sitting across the counter from me.
"I want to talk to Charlie... Alone."
"Okay." Samuel immediately nods.
Nick, on the other hand, glances at his younger brother and after a silence-filled moment turns back to me. "Okay. I'll wait here."
"Thank you." I smile at both of them and then take off my apron. My hands feel unusually sweaty as I shamble to Charlie's table and stop behind the chair across from him. "Do you mind if I join you?"
"Not at all." Charlie motions to the empty chair, but I don't miss the questioning look he shoots Nick when he thinks I'm not looking.
Once I sit down, I wipe my hands into my pants and keep my eyes on the table between us. "I'm not sure you remember, but my name isâ"
"You're Olivia," Charlie beats me to it. "I know. You wouldn't believe how many times I've heard your name in the past couple of weeks. You're all he thinks about."
Both of us glance at Nick, who is now turned away from us. He's facing toward the counter and talking with Ramona.
"If you say so." I turn back to the table and return to searching for a way to explain everything to Charlie, while also being mindful of his newly released condition. The last thing I want is to add more worries or stress to his young shoulders. Though, as I search through my dusty brain, I come up empty. All I can think about is that I don't know how to think my words through. I've never done it before.
With one last deep breath, I lift my eyes to Charlie's curious ones. "My mom is always telling me that I have no filter when it comes to my words. So, I'm sorry if what I'm about to say won't be wrapped in cotton candy."
"Okay," Charlie drawls. "I'm getting the feeling that there's something you want to talk to me about."
"Yes." I nod. "But I don't know how you're going to take it."
"It's okay. I've had enough people tiptoeing around me ever since I was admitted into the hospital the first time around. You not minding your words is a nice change. I'm not a little boy who needs to be protected from the world... At least, not anymore."
"Good." I crook my lips into a soft smile and then allow the words that have been weighing onto my chest to finally pass my lips and see the light of day. "Nick must have already told you this, but I'm not the most patient person. In fact, I have always thought that thinking before doing something is the worst thing I could possibly do."
Charlie continues to look at me, but I'm not able to hold his gaze any longer. Instead, I focus my eyes on the wall behind him.
"I thought that my gut feeling was always right, but now... Now I don't know anymore. I'm still missing a few details, but the big picture is that one night my dad asked me to drop off some medicine with a friend of his. When I was making my way home, I saw a trio of men attacking a fourth guy." From the corner of my eye, I see Charlie's shoulders tense, but I can't find it in me to look at him. "The guy... He looked right at me, yet I... I froze... I stared at him and then... And then I ran. I followed my gut feeling, but this time it was wrong... I should have stopped and called 911 to do everything in my power to help him... To help you."
"You... You..."
I finally glance back to Charlie and find him gaping at me with big round eyes. For the first time since I met him, he looks like who he truly isâa thirteen-year-old boy.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I know my apology can never be enough, but I can't think of another way to express how wrong I know my decision was."
To my surprise, Charlie reaches over and rests his hand on top of mine. "It's okay. You were a girl alone out at night. If you'd stayed... If you'd stayed something even more horrible could have happened."
"I know I couldn't have been a match for those men," I shake my head, "but I should have called for help."
"It's obvious you regret what you did. You apologized to me when you could have easily kept the truth to yourself. So, of course, I accept your apology. And because I don't blame you, neither should you."
I stare into his blue eyes, which are the same shade as Nick's, and discover nothing but honesty reflected in them. He isn't just saying things to make me feel better. He truly means it.
"Thank you." I rest my other hand on top of his. "You really are the kind person Nick described you to be."
Charlie smirks, looks behind my back to where I know Nick is still sitting, and then turns back to me. "At least you got home safe that night."
"Not really." We both pull our hands to our sides of the table. "After I ran away, I was hit by a car and landed in the hospital with all of my memories from the night wiped out. It's why I needed so long to apologize to you."
"You what?" Charlie is back to looking at me with his eyes wide open. "The car accident Nick mentioned happened that night?"
"Yes." I nod and scratch the side of my neck. "But there's nothing to worry about. I already got most of my memories back."
"Is the accident connected to the driver my dad was talking about? Did he arrest the wrong person?"
"Yes, but I'm working on correcting that mistake."
"I'm sure Dad and Nick will do everything in their power to help you find the person responsible."
"Yeah." I force out a chuckle but keep the part about officer Wright being the one who is refusing to believe me to myself. "I'm sure the driver will soon get what she deserves."
"Good." Charlie flickers his eyes behind me again. "Is there anything else you want to talk about?"
"Why?" I turn around and follow his gaze.
"Because it looks like those two are seconds away from storming over here," Charlie chuckles.
He's right. Samuel and Nick are sitting on the edges of their seats, looking like they're prepared to march over to us at the smallest sign from either Charlie or me. Before I can roll my eyes at their behavior, though, I realize what Charlie just said.
He said those two. As in Nick and Samuel.
***
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- E