Charlotte x Jeff [It’s Okay to Cry]

This is an alternate universe drabble with Jeff looking into the past.

He had held the picture up, burned to a crisp. He couldn’t remember who had taken the picture. Was it Adeline or Millie? One of them had been more than happy to sneak around and snap pictures of the few moments Jeff and Charlotte had actually gotten along.

 

She was the fire to his rain. She burned him, but he was able to put her fire out. But, he soaked her and she had nothing to sheild herself from the torrential downpour. Thats how he found himself in the situation he was in. He had driven her away with his mistakes. Her fire couldn’t counteract his rain. He wondered, had his rain been putting out her fire the entire time, even when she didn’t want to be burned out? He had extinguished her flame, and all it took was years of lies. Lies so deeply rooted in himself, that he started to even believe them himself. He had succeeded in putting the smile on her face, but also taking it off. He shook the paper, attempting to put out the fire he had started. But, it only caused the flames to spread, and the picture in his hand got smaller and smaller. He didn’t bother dropping it to the floor. He let the fire lap at his exposed hands, until finally, it had gotten so small he had no choice but to throw it on the floor and stomp it out.

 

“Jeff?” That female’s voice wasn’t the one he wanted to hear. He turned to the beautiful woman. She leaned over his crumpled body, pressing herself against him as roughly, (but subtly) as she could. “Come upstairs. Don’t you think it’s getting late?”

 

This wasn’t what he wanted. Not who he wanted. Her perfectly thin bodied made him yearn for Charlotte’s curves, her plump lips and dangerously sharp fangs. Why did he have to screw it up? This wasn’t the life that he had wished for. “I’ll be up in a minute.”

 

When she couldn’t get his full attention, the woman sighed and began to walk away. She stopped, a few feet from the doorway and began speaking again. “Put those pictures away. You don’t need them anymore. You have me.”

 

“I can’t do that…” Jeff mumbled. He had felt the tears forming at the corner of his eyes. “I said, just give me a minute.” This time his voice was impatient and irritated.

 

She sighed, wrapping her arms around herself. “I love you Jeff, and I’ll give you all the time you need, but whoever this girl is, she’s not your wife. I am.” She stormed off, half hoping he’d come after after, but fully knowing he wouldn’t. She’d be sleeping alone again tonight.

 

Jeff stared down at the box of pictures he had taken with Charlotte. One by one, night by night, he’d keep burning them until he had nothing left to torment him. He rummaged through the shoe box, finding one where he and Charlotte were kissing by an igloo she had convinced him to help her make. His fingers were so cold that day, but he kept stacking the blocks of ice. That night, he remebered fondly, she had more than paid him back for helping her…

 

But, that was the past. One he’d never return to. How many chances would he get to screw things up? He knew better than anyone that the past was a dangerous thing to revisit. He heard her voice echo in his head as he lit the picture on fire. “It’s okay to cry.” And, when he reached up to his face, he felt the cold droplet.