Mateless and Luna Bound (Self Published)

Chapter 18: Katy and Nick

Authors Note: Hi guys! This chapter is a relatively new one to the story in general, as it wasn't in my rough draft. I absolutely love these two and I hope you do too. Thank you for reading, voting, and commenting! Enjoy!

-Saturn

He was told to stay put, and he was trying to. Really trying to.

But Charlie could only read so much before he got antsy.

He looked at the clock. It had only been a half hour, but Charlie missed Max already. He didn't quite know why, but he didn't feel alright without him. It worried him. Charlie had spent most of his life being independent. And now he was starting to feel like he was depending on Max. He didn't want to feel like he was using Max as a crutch. He just liked how Max held him. He liked how caring he was towards him. It was something that Charlie never had the chance to have.

Was he relying on Max too much? Everything that happened yesterday just left Charlie confused. He wasn't even sure what Max felt towards him. And he was already falling head over heels for him.

"Mine."

He remembered Max saying that last night. It was strange, and felt like a dream, but there was something in Charlie that loved that he said that. There was something in him that wanted to be Max's. He felt so safe in his arms.

This was bad. Charlie was going to wind up hurting himself if he let this go on too long. It was why he didn't get too close to people. But it was difficult keeping his distance from Max, or anyone he met here, really. Everyone he's met so far has been so nice and polite to him. Even the ones that didn't quite like him at first always treated him like a normal person. Once Isabelle and Tyler warmed up a little bit, it was easy talking to them.

They made him feel like he had a home.

They made him feel like he was home.

There was a knock at the door that snapped Charlie out of his thoughts. He welcomed it this time. Another reason why he wished Max were here was because he didn't like being left alone to his thoughts at the moment. Yesterday just brought up some bad memories and he couldn't stop his mind from traveling down that path if he wasn't doing something. He could curl up in a corner and cry about it when he got back to his apartment.

"Come in," he said. It was probably someone bringing him his lunch. Hopefully he could get them to stay and talk for a bit. Maybe just a little longer, until Max got back. Dr. Button was busy with some kind of work that Charlie didn't feel like asking about. He never wanted to feel like he was prying.

In popped some familiar faces. Nick and Katy came in with smiles and some plates of food.

"Hey!" Katy said. "Mind if we have lunch with you?"

"Of course!" Charlie smiled. It was nice to see them again. "I needed the company anyway."

Without the hair net, Katy's hair fell on her shoulders. The black hair really shaped her face well. She seemed like the type of person that didn't really have a care in the world. Nick wasn't that different either. He had the same carefree look to him when he wasn't working. His hair had a red tinge to it now that Charlie was actually able to see it.

"We were wondering if you might," Nick said. "I heard that Max was going to be in a meeting."

"Oh," Charlie was a little surprised by that. "Does everyone know when he has a meeting?" Why was he the only one that didn't know?

"Not really," Katy answered. "Nick's just a huge gossip. He loves listening in on people too."

"That's not true!" he set Charlie's plate of food down. This was a big plate of greens and lunch meat. Dr. Button had decided to try giving him more vitamins in his diet. It didn't bother Charlie at all. He was just grateful for the food.