Reading Between the Lines

[Jen]

Type of story: Short/Medium Fic - Two-shot

Rating: T

Main Characters: Geoff/Aden, OC (Original Character)

Genre: Romance, AU

Warnings: Slash

Is Story being proof read: No

Spoilers?: No

Summary: University may just be the best thing ever. As long as you learn to read between the lines.

Reading Between the Lines

Part One

“Crap.”

Charlotte watches as all her books tumble off the edge of her desk and onto the floor. This was just the icing on the cake. In a crowded lecture theatre, sitting in those seats that are way too small, with those arm rests that constantly swing out from underneath your folders, she had managed to look completely incompetent. If today hadn’t been overwhelming enough, she now had two girls in the row in front of her looking over their shoulders and shooting her a ‘Could she be any more clumsy?’ look.

Charlotte tucks a strand of her long brunette locks behind her ear before she bends over and begins to gather up her assorted textbooks and binder, while her lecturer continues to drone on. It was the same stuff she had heard in all of her introductory classes today. Being the first day of the semester all the lecturers and professors were obliged to introduce themselves and tell all the students about the classes they were starting to take. They mentioned things like where to access extra notes online, what times the tutorials were and all the assignments that would be due throughout the term.

Finally Charlotte had manages to balance her belongings on the tiny table once more and prepares herself to zone back in on what the professor was talking about. She vaguely heard the words “essay” and “grades” and figured she probably should be paying attention. Her eyes scan her desk searching for a pen, so she could at least look as though she was attempting to take notes, but she can’t seem to see it anywhere. She knows she had it in the previous lecture and had even taken it out before the class had started, and before she had dropped everything she owned on the floor and got the death glares from the girls in front.

Sighing, she begins picking up her books one at a time, balancing them on her knees and searching between the pieces of paper of her notebook for the mysterious disappearing pen. She pats her pockets and bends over rifling through her bag.

Charlotte was just about ready to give up the search, since the girls in front were again sneaking looks over their shoulders and rolling their eyes, when she hears someone clear their throat nearby. Charlotte rolls her eyes at the impatience she detected in the voice. No doubt another student who thought she was completely clueless and wanted to glare at her for disrupting the lecture. Not that the professor was actually paying attention. Of the hair he had left it was grey, and he squinted through the lenses of his glasses into the seats of the large lecture theatre. His voice was monotonous and slow, each breath strained as he gave the outline of the course, like he was bored. He no doubt had given this lecture many times, and probably just saw them all has young whipper snappers who were drunk half the time anyway, and had better things to do than listen to him talk to them about the way we construct meaning. This was Intro to Psychology after all.

Charlotte looks over her shoulder for the source of the noise. Catching her eye behind her was a boy. But not just any boy, possibly the cutest boy Charlotte has even seen. He has blonde hair which he has swept to the side, making his blue eyes pop against his faintly tanned skin. Charlotte feels herself swallow as she takes in his face, the scattering of freckles across his nose and his perfectly pink lips that are turned up into a smirk.

He breaks her stare by darting his eyes downwards and then back up to her face. Charlotte wrinkles her brow for a moment, trying to decipher what he was suggesting. It takes her a few more seconds to realise that he is holding out his hand. She finally tears her eyes away from his gorgeous face and flicks her glance to what is being held between his fingers. It was her pen.

“Oh,” Charlotte manages to choke out.

“Yours?”

“Yep.”

The boy gives her a lop-sided smile as she slowly pulls the pen from his grasp.

“Thanks.” Charlotte shoots him a grateful smile and turns back to the professor, still standing behind the lectern, speaking as though nothing had happened -- which, to ninety-nine percent of the student body -- was the case. For the first time today, Charlotte finally feels like university isn’t going to be the most horrible thing on the planet and may just live up to her expectations.

For the remainder of the time, Charlotte couldn’t concentrate. She has attempted many times to focus directly on the speaker and even consciously take notes from what he was saying. Seconds later she abandons this and begins drawing love hearts down the margin of her page and writing her name in curly letters across the lines. It was as though she could feel his warm breath down the back of her neck, making her smile, which was ridiculous since a) while he was sitting in the row behind her, he certainly wasn’t close enough the breathe on her, b) she didn’t know his name, and c) he most probably had a girlfriend. Someone that good looking had to have a girlfriend.

When the forty-five minutes was finally up, there was a lot of clattering and banging as hundreds of psychology students abandoned their desks and scrambled for the door. As soon as the lecturer dismissed them all for the day, Charlotte finally chances a look over her shoulder. Her eyes search the entire row, but all the seats are now empty. He had gone. Charlotte feels her face fall. Slowly, she packs away her books into her bag and leaves the lecture theatre. But she keeps the pen in her hand.

She didn’t have another psychology lecture until Thursday. And those three days in between were torture. Charlotte is yet to find a lecture that could hold her attention for the full period. Meanwhile the lecturers have decided to load them up with readings and essays they were supposed to be starting. She is still getting lost, having trouble deciphering the little codes on her timetable and matching them with the actual buildings and room numbers.

At 10:58 Charlotte enters the big lecture theatre for the second time. Most of the students have already arrived and have their notebooks out, pens poised ready to go. Scanning the room, Charlotte wasn’t only looking for a vacant place to sit, one out of the way so she wouldn’t embarrass herself again, but also for any trace of the beach blonde hair that had occupied her dreams for the past three night’s straight.

Nothing.

It was probably lucky though, that she couldn’t find the boy again. She was at university to study, not to fantasise about guys who hand you your missing pen. No matter how good looking said guy is.

Charlotte slides into her seat just as the lecturer clears his throat and starts the class. Charlotte is busy scribbling dots points across her page when she hears the seat creak next to her. She rolls her eyes to herself at the lateness of the person who has sat down next to her. She plans to ignore them, holding on to her resolution to pay attention in class, but can’t resist sneaking a sidelong glance.

His profile was also perfect. His perfect set jaw and neck as he stares intently down at the professor. He seems totally enthralled in the lecture, not even noticing that Charlotte was now staring at him. Charlotte attempts to concentrate on her own work, but can’t help sneaking glances to the side every so often just to ensure that he was still there.

At 11:45 on the dot the lecturer stopped talking, but not before reminding the class that tutorials started that afternoon and students should check their room allocations on the noticeboard outside before they arrive. Students immediately begin to stand and leave the lecture theatre almost immediately, making a quick dash to the doors so they could meet up with friends, finally talk out loud or just go and get some food for lunch. Charlotte puts her books away, carefully avoiding looking across again at the person sitting beside her.

Then there was the problem. Well, not so much a problem, it could possibly be the best thing ever, that in order for Charlotte to get up and leave she would have to carefully shuffle past the boy, who arriving late had occupied the seat on the aisle. He was still sitting there, his books neatly stacked on his desk, bag on the floor and phone in his hand. His thumbs were flying across the keypad as he stared at the screen, completely ignoring the fact that Charlotte was still beside him, and needed to get past.

Charlotte carefully clears her throat, “Uh, excuse me?”

He stops and looks up at her. His expression was blank, as though his mind was elsewhere.

“Uh, I need to get --” Charlotte can’t even formulate a sentence in her brain, she’s too busy staring into his blue eyes and taking in every line on his face. Instead she opts for motioning with her hands haphazardly; a gesture she hopes will suggest that she wants to get past.

“Oh, sorry,” the boy apologises. He stands up, piling his books into his arms and slinging his bag over his shoulder. He shoves his phone in his pocket and moves out of Charlotte’s way.

“Thanks,” Charlotte replies.

She expects him to fall back into the seat as soon as she is in the aisle, but instead he takes the stairs with her and they leave the building together.

“Hey listen,” the guy says as they wander slowly towards the cafeteria that is already swarming with hungry students, “Do you know where the tutorials are this afternoon?”

“Uh, I think they are in the Arts building, in one of the rooms on the ground floor.”

“Okay, thanks. I never thought it would be this hard, you know? Everything is just so big. I keep getting lost,” he says with a chuckle.

Charlotte finds herself giggling too,

“Well, I’m glad I’m not the only one,” she says with a smile.

“You pretty much need a degree just to find your way around this place,” he replies with a broad grin.

Charlotte nods, before realising that he is slowing his pace. He’s glancing around at the crowded tables and taking in the loud clattering of the student body.

“Listen,” he says quickly, “I’m going to head the library for a bit. I’ll see you round.” And then he turns on his heel and walks off in the direction which they came from.

“Uh, bye,” Charlotte adds pitifully after he is gone.

It was a start, Charlotte decides, having spoken to him. He didn’t seem like a complete jerk, and appeared to have a good sense of humour which was a bonus. She checks the notice board for her room allocation, before entering the small venue. The room was a lot less spacious than the expanse of the lecture theatres she had been in. It was no bigger than a regular classroom, with wooden tables arranged in a U-shape, facing a blackboard, which could only probably seat about 20 people maximum.

It was almost unnerving that as soon as she entered the room, she spotted him. Hunched over at his desk, he ran his hand through his hair, causing it to stick up at the back. Charlotte finds herself smiling as she sidles up beside him.

“Hey,” she says. He looks up and smiles.

“Hi,” he replies.

“Is this seat taken?” Charlotte asks, motioning to the empty chair in the desk next to him.

“Uh, no. Go for it,” he replies.

She can feel his eyes on her as she sits down and takes out her notebook.

“Got a pen this time I see,” he says with a smirk.

Charlotte sheepishly grins,

“They do not make those desks big enough,” she complains.

He lets out a low chuckle and she notices how he absent-mindedly twirls his own pen in his fingertips. Like his fingers are doing it without his brain even thinking.

“So, you liking uni so far?” he asks.

“Yeah,” Charlotte replies with a sigh, “It’s going okay.”

“Just okay?” He looks at her quizzically.

“Well, I mean apart from the getting lost, the early mornings, and the mountain of reading I’m yet to start, it’s pretty good.”

“Fair enough,” he says with a nod.

“It’s a lot more full on than I anticipated. Like, my brother was always telling me stories about how he spent all his time partying or down at the tav. That uni was the biggest holiday of his life, but I’m yet to see any of that.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” he agrees, “Maybe you’re doing the wrong course?”

“Speaking of courses, why did you choose psychology?” Charlotte asks.

He flicks his eyes down to his hands, before looking back at Charlotte.

“This is actually just an elective unit. I’m doing Theology.”

“Oh,” Charlotte says, “That would explain why I haven’t seen you in any of my other classes.”

“Yeah, I just thought this would be interesting to take in addition to everything else. What about you? Are you planning to psycho-analyse me?” he says, cocking his head to the side and raising an eyebrow.

And that was it. No more explanation about his choice of course or details about where he was from. He seemed more interested in hearing about Charlotte; where she was originally from (Perth), how many siblings she had (the aforementioned older brother), any hobbies (“Does shopping count?”) -- the normal sort of thing you ask when you are getting to know another person. But when Charlotte went to ask Geoff (she at least got his name) about where he was from (“Not around here,”) he completely shut down. He tended to avert his eyes, and subsequently change the topic by asking Charlotte another question.

They sat comfortably beside each other, chatting amicably until the tutor arrived. She was young, much younger than their first lecturer, and seemed as though she was only just out of uni herself. She smiled brightly and called the class to attention. The chatting died down, and Charlotte shuffled in her seat.

“Hey everyone, welcome to the first tutorial for Psych 101. My name is Rebecca, and I’m going to be your tutor for this semester.” She pauses for effect. “The purpose of these tutorials is to allow you guys to discuss what you have been learning in lectures and in your other units. Part of your assessment is that you will work in pairs to give a presentation to the rest of the tute group about one of the topics in the unit outline.”

There was a shuffling of paper as students went to their bags and folders, retrieving their outlines they had received in one of the early lectures. There was no question who Charlotte wanted to work with. But they had only just started chatting, so how could she possibly ask Geoff to be her partner.

She was still dwelling on this, running through the lines in her head, while the tutor went over all the available topics and dates.

The tutorial ended and as Geoff stands up beside her, ready to leave, Charlotte blurts out,

“Wanna be partners?”

He stops and turns. His face blank at first, then he furrows his brow as he considers her request. Charlotte swallows hard. No one would take this long to reply if they were going to say yes. He’s probably just thinking up a polite way to turn her down.

But then Geoff’s face breaks out into a relaxed smile, “Sure thing.”

“Really?” Charlotte asks, just to be certain she hadn’t misheard.

“Really.”

“Ok, great,” Charlotte replies, trying to contain her excitement. She was already imagining the late nights cooped up in the library under the one working desk lamp, the rehearsal time they would need working up to the presentation. She stands up and follows him out the door.

“I don’t want to be one of those nerdy kids who start their assignments early, but I’ve got a feeling things are going to get a bit hectic in a couple of weeks, so I’d like to get started. If that’s okay with you?” Geoff says as they wander across the grassy lawn outside towards the car park. Charlotte walks in step with him, even though she doesn’t have a car.

“No, I mean, yes,” Charlotte forces herself to stop and take a breath, “That’s fine by me.”

“Are you sure? You seem a little flustered,” Geoff urges as he stops walking and gazes down at her.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just thinking about all the assignments and -- stuff,” she replies feebly.

Geoff gives her a small wave and makes his way across the car park. He stops when he gets to a white car, Charlotte vaguely remembers her dad having when she was little. A station wagon or something. Charlotte doesn’t know anything about cars, so all she could tell was that it was rusting around the wheel trims, and there was a small dent in the back bumper. Geoff opens the driver’s door and tosses his book bag across and onto the passenger’s seat, before getting in.

It turned out that not only did Charlotte and Geoff spend time working together on the presentation, they also end up sitting beside one another in the lectures too. Charlotte smiles to herself at the thought of how easily they fell into a kind of routine. Whoever got to the lecture first sat one spot in from the aisle, about halfway down the second block of seats. The second person therefore by default, got the aisle seat. When the lecture was finished they would walk together to the car park where Geoff would take off in his car. She never asked where Geoff was always so eager to go, she wasn’t that confident, and Geoff never brought it up. It was just one of those things that went unspoken between them. So Charlotte would be left to wander around campus, killing time before her afternoon classes.

Alternatively, on Thursday the lecture was before lunch so they would venture into the crowded cafeteria to get something to eat before going outside and spreading out on the green grass, taking in the sunshine.

It wasn’t like Geoff and Charlotte were the only two people in their group. Over the course of a couple of weeks they each brought people from their other classes to sit with them, so the gathering grew from two to about eight or ten.

Geoff was lying back on the grass, hands resting behind his head, soaking in the yellow rays of the sun. His shirt was riding slightly on his perfectly sculpted stomach, revealing a section of skin. Charlotte couldn’t stop staring.

She was trying to be discreet about it, sort of. She was taking bites out of her sandwich, pretending to be savouring the taste by gazing around at the group of students chatting beside her. She would look at them each briefly before her eyes came to rest on Geoff, leaving them on his face longer than all the others. Thankfully he seemed oblivious to it.

She felt an elbow nudge her in the ribs.

Rubbing the sore spot she blinked up at the blonde sitting beside her. Kara, another psychology major was grinning down at Charlotte.

“What?” Charlotte asks.

“Could you be any more obvious?” Kara says incredulously.

Charlotte raises her eyebrows, pretending to have no clue where this conversation was going.

Kara nods in Geoff’s direction and lowers her voice,

“You’ve been staring at him non-stop. Not that I blame you really,” she says with a shrug. “He’s good looking guy, not really my type though.”

“What is your type?”

“Hey,” Kara says with a wiggle of her index finger, “We aren’t talking about my crush tendencies. We are talking about you and the fact that you have the hots for Mr Campbell over there.”

“Shhhhh!” Charlotte hisses.

“Relax,” Kara says with a laugh, “He hasn’t noticed. Gosh, you could probably stand in front of him naked and he wouldn’t notice.”

Charlotte just shakes her head at her friend, but can’t help but smile. Geoff was almost too naive for his own good.

“You should ask him out,” Kara says finally.

“What? No,” Charlotte replies quickly, “I couldn’t do that.”

“But you’re perfectly happy to keep staring at him like a love sick puppy?” Kara raises her eyebrows in disbelief.

Charlotte nods determinedly, “Besides, he’s probably got a girlfriend.”

“Well, there’s only one way to find out,” Kara says with a twinkle in her eye. Charlotte’s eyes widen as Kara clears her throat and calls out across the circle, “Hey, Geoff!”

Geoff opens his eyes one at a time, squinting into the sun and looking over at Kara. Charlotte feels her face instantly redden. Kara wouldn’t do this, would she?

“What are you doing?” Charlotte hisses desperately, shooting an apologetic look at Geoff and daggers at Kara, who has a broad grin on her face.

“Do you have a girlfriend?” she asks bluntly.

Charlotte buries her face in her hands, and while she wasn’t a religious person, at that moment she was praying that the ground would open up and swallow her whole. Between her fingers, Charlotte opens her eyes to see Geoff smiling at her.

“Nope,” he replies with a bit of a laugh.

---

[Jen]

Part Two

“I am so sorry about Kara,” Charlotte apologises for the fifth time, “That girl doesn’t really have a filter on her mouth sometimes.”

“It’s fine,” Geoff says with a chuckle, “No harm done.”

“Still, she has no idea about being subtle.”

They’re taking their normal route to the car park, even though Charlotte has a class later on the opposite end of campus, she follows him. Her feet stop moving as she reaches the outskirts of the lot.

“If you wanted to know, you could have just asked me, you know.”

Looking up at Geoff, Charlotte notices a twinkle in his eyes. Was this the signal she was waiting for? She feels the blood rush to her cheeks, a thumping noise coming from her chest as she forces herself to maintain eye contact and not gaze at Geoff’s tight fitting black shirt that seemed to extenuate every single muscle in Geoff’s arms, neck, chest, and abdomen. He just looks really good, is all. Charlotte feels her throat go dry and forces herself to swallow some of her own saliva, just so she’ll be able to talk again.

If she doesn’t look away Charlotte is fairly certain her eyes will begin to water or something equally embarrassing. She blinks and gazes out over the hoods of the cars, all parked in perfectly straight lines. After a few weeks Charlotte was able to pick out Geoff’s car from the mob. Even though white was probably the most common colour, Geoff always tried to park in the same spot, under a shady tree in the far corner of the lot. Her eyes dart around for a moment before settling on the vehicle, but she instantly notices that something is wrong. Or rather, different.

Geoff has stopped walking too, and is staring in the same direction. In the shade of the tree there is a hooded figure, sitting on the bonnet of Geoff’s car. His head drooped down, shoulders sagging, and legs dangling off the front. Charlotte feels Geoff shift uneasily beside her before he takes off at a brisk walk towards his vehicle.

The figure on the car looks up as Geoff approaches. Charlotte can tell that he is tense. His shoulders are stiff as he places each foot in front of the other. He’s walking fast, but not erratically. His fists are balled up tightly around his car keys, as he acknowledges the person.

The other person stands as Geoff stops in front of the car, about a metre away. Charlotte can see both their lips moving, but cannot make out any of the words. She stands awkwardly on the curb and watches the scene unfold.

At first Charlotte thinks Geoff is going to pummel the guy. She assumes it’s a guy because he’s slightly taller and broader than Geoff, and even though they are wearing dark clothing that hangs off their body in no desirable fashion, she can still tell that his arms are wide and probably made of muscle. He pulls down the hood of his jumper to reveal a short haircut, sticking out in all directions, a stark contrast to Geoff’s that is straight and sweeping across his face in the shadows.

Charlotte can’t help but stare, even though there is a little voice in the back of her mind telling her that it is none of her business what goes on between Geoff and this guy. If Geoff decides to throw a punch or two, Charlotte doesn’t really want to be a witness to that. But instead, Geoff takes another step forward, closing the gap between the two. The second guy wraps his thick arms around Geoff’s hips, tugging him towards his body. He leans back against the hood of the car for support as he tilts his head downwards, just slightly, before letting Geoff come forward.

Their mouths meet and they soon become engulfed in one another and under the branches of the tree that block out much of the sunlight, Charlotte soon loses track of who is who. Their arms are intertwined, lips moving in unison, and it as though both have forgotten they are in the very public car park of the university. Charlotte has already seen more than she bargained for, and is quite prepared to leave, but can’t seem to tear her eyes away. She forces herself to look down at her sneakers and count to ten slowly inside her head before looking back up. This time the two boys have parted, the previously hooded one has pulled Geoff so tightly between his legs, that he is pressed against the car. Geoff finally takes a step back, extracting his hand from the base of the boy’s neck. He nods and the guy who is not Geoff follows Geoff’s lead in moving away from the vehicle.

They are approaching Charlotte now, so it is too late for her to contemplate running. Her cheeks are still flushed, but now for a completely different reason. As they come closer Charlotte takes in the features of the second guy. In addition to his hooded jacket, he was wearing a pair of faded loose fitting jeans and black sneakers. Charlotte cannot help but notice how they walk, side-by-side, perfectly in synch. As they walk out of the shade, Charlotte can see that Geoff is chewing awkwardly at the side of his lip, tugging briefly at the bottom of his shirt before he looks up at her.

Charlotte swallows hard, and Geoff looks over at his companion. They stare at each other for a moment, as if telepathically deciding who should speak first. It seems Geoff was nominated. He clears his throat,

“Sorry,” he says first, “It’s been a while.” He looks over his shoulder before extending his hand, gesturing between Charlotte and his friend. “Charlotte, this is Aden. Aden, Charlotte.”

Aden grins at Charlotte and extends his hand. Charlotte cautiously shakes it. She knows it’s crazy to be worried, or scared, or apprehensive about Aden, but she can’t help the flashbacks she keeps having of how those hands were travelling all over Geoff’s body moments earlier.

Charlotte’s eyes drift away from Aden and back to Geoff. He’s smiling like she has never seen him before. His eyes bright and round, cheeks flushed a pale shade of pink, and his lips full and red. Standing beside Aden he just looks so content and happy that Charlotte finds herself getting over her shock and disappointment that her crush turned out not only to be taken, but is also gay, pretty quickly.

“So, when you said you didn’t have a girlfriend, you meant --“ Charlotte trails of.

“Yeah,” Geoff replies, slightly sheepishly. Charlotte gets the impression that Geoff doesn’t normally do public displays of affection. “I would have told you if you’d asked. It’s just, it never came up.”

Charlotte shrugs, but lets the corners of her mouth turn up.

They wander around campus, before deciding to rest their feet by crowding around a small table in the corner of one of the university’s coffee shops. While the table is made to seat four people, Charlotte ends up on one side, while Aden pulls his chair around so he is sitting right next to Geoff on the other. As soon as they are seated, Aden reaches over and takes Geoff’s hand under the table.

Charlotte can see why Geoff is crazy about this guy. Heck, if he wasn’t already taken, and well, gay, Charlotte might also find herself getting caught up in his stories about the fishing boat he works on every second weekend, as well as on Monday’s, when Geoff would hurry away from uni to meet up with him as soon as he returned to the dock. Charlotte lets her eyes wander to Geoff, who is fixated on Aden’s face. She can see his eyes flick each time Aden licks his lips while he is story-telling before he breaks out into another grin.

“You know,” Aden says, “I was kind of worried when Geoff started here.” He glances sideways at Geoff, who now has a serious look on his face, “Not that he wouldn’t be able to do the work, I always knew he was smart,” Geoff relaxes slightly. “Just that, it would be hard, fitting into a new way of life.”

The confusion on Charlotte’s face must be pretty obvious, because Aden soon clarifies.

“We were so used to having to sneak around. Where we’re from, people weren’t exactly -- supportive, of our relationship.” Aden looks up, directly at Charlotte, then breaks into another smile, “But when he came home and starting talking about this girl he met and how genuine you seemed to be, I felt myself relax. My biggest fear was not for me, but for Geoff.”

“You know you didn’t have to worry about me,” Geoff replies.

“I know,” Aden says with a shrug, “But I guess I couldn’t help but feel a little bit protective. Especially with the way things ended at home.”

Instantly, the mood changes. Geoff tightens in his shoulders, his lips forming a hard line. He lets go of Aden’s hand, and brings his own together on top of the table. Charlotte nibbles nervously on the inside of her lip, and even though she wasn’t the one who brought it up, she wishes they could go back to five minutes ago when they were laughing and just having fun.

There is a low murmur from all the other occupied tables in the coffee shop except for theirs. There is the occasional clink of china as tea cups are brought down on saucers. Charlotte glances down at her empty mug, suddenly wishing she had something left to drink, just so she had something to do. She can sense the silent exchange between Geoff and Aden before Aden speaks up again,

“So,” he shifts in his seat and Charlotte finally looks up. “I guess I just wanted to say thanks.”

“Oh,” the praise catches Charlotte by surprise, “You don’t need to thank me. I was grateful for the companionship.” Great, she makes it sound like Geoff was a golden retriever. She tries a second time, “I mean, you weren’t the only one who was worried about fitting in. This is new to me too.” Charlotte waves her hand haphazardly in the air, as she attempts to make her statement all encompassing.

“Awesome,” Geoff says with a single clap, “Now that Aden’s got some time off work we can hang out a bit more. All of us,” as if he needs to clarify. Charlotte smiles. “But first, we need to get you a boyfriend.”

“What?!” Charlotte finds herself spluttering, and is thanking her lucky stars she didn’t have a mouth full of hot chocolate at that point.

Geoff and Aden now have matching mischievous smirks, and Charlotte is beginning to wonder what she has got herself into.

“Well, isn’t that what you were looking for?” Geoff asks, raising one eyebrow, eyeing her suspiciously.

Charlotte finds herself making some sort of non-committal noise and maybe muttering something under her breath about killing them both, but Geoff has this cheesy grin and Aden is nudging him playfully in the side, so Charlotte can’t stay mad at them for too long. And if she’s being honest with herself, then maybe she does want someone so she can be as ridiculously cute and happy as Geoff and Aden are when they are together.

“What about him?”

Charlotte looks in the direction where Aden is nodding. “Green hoodie, drinking hot chocolate, nose in a book,” Geoff offers commentary until she finds him. And even though she has no idea of his name, when he looks up from his book and accidentally catches her staring at him she finds herself blushing hard, much to Geoff and Aden’s amusement.

“Perfect,” they say in unison.

--

A/N: Thank you for the comments . This is a different kind of short story because it's established-relationship fic which is something I haven't written before, so I hope you like it. Feedback is always wonderful.

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