Gone

Claude stared. Holly was gone. Not run-off gone, more like vanished gone. What tricks were kids into these days? The girl’s magic trick were embedded into his head.

FORGET HER.

He did not.

Do I have to kill you, too? Forget her!

Suddenly, someone called Claude’s cellphone.

“Hello, it’s Claude Bailey. Who’s this?”

“Clau- Oh! It’s you!” someone guffawed.

“Who is this?” he asked, suspicious.

“ It’s me!”

“Who is this?”

“Don’t you recognize me?”

“Who is this?”

“Claude you little s**t”

“Charlotte?”

“And the whole world celebrates. Finally!”

“How are you?”

“Amazing. You?”

“Okay”

“I was thinking we could meet tomorrow at Mosby’s”

“Okay”

“You do remember Mosby’s, yes?”

“Yes”

“You little s**t”

The phone clicked. And Charlotte was gone.

 

The next day, Claude got ready for the reunion. He put on a suit and tie. It’s a serious thing after all to meet friends. He walked to Mosby’s, a few blocks away from his apartment.

“Oh god”

“That b***h”

Claude found himself facing Connor and Colin. His two brothers. He did not know what to do first: ask what was going on or reprimend Colin for his ungainly use of the English language. He chose the former.

“Colin, please” he shot him a disapproving look.

Colin shrugged him off.

“Let me be the intelligent one here and ask why are we here” interjected Connor.

“Show-off” scoffed Colin.

“Guys!” Charlotte appeared.

“Explain” Colin blurted.

“What about?” she asked

They all stood together, in unison, looking at her like the answer was blatantly obvious.

And oh, it IS.

“What?” she demanded, and looking at Claude “What is it?”

“Come on Charlotte, it’s super obvious”, said the show-off.

Claude very nearly knocked at his bossy head.

Ha! Show-off. Good one.

“What bossy pants over there means to say is that you called all three of us... ON A DATE” Colin stated as-a-matter-of-factly

“Paraphrase, much?” objected Charlotte “You stooges!”

“Explain, then” Colin repeated himself, something he did, a lot.

“You little s**t tripled!” she guffawed, “I only want to see y’all! Does it have to be so damn complex?”

Uhhh... yeah... duh. No one likes simple endings. Hah! I’m such a rebel.