𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒆

𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒏𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒔

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐓 𝐒𝐌𝐄𝐋𝐋 𝐎𝐅 𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐇𝐋𝐘 𝐁𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐃 𝐂𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐎𝐍 𝐁𝐔𝐍𝐒 consumed the air. That mixed with the warmth of the attic provided a cozy atmosphere for the girls. Their laughs ricochetted against the bedroom walls as they sat on Lucy's bed reading through an old magazine they had found in the library.

"Oh, that's horrible." Charlotte giggled as she turned the page to see another miss matched outfit. The sight made the girl beside her burst into laughter.

"I will never understand how designers could make their models walk out in that." Lucy grinned looking at the girl beside her who was trying to contain her laughter.

Charlotte's hand shot up to grab another cinnamon bun, but all it felt was air. She kept feeling around the plate silently praying it wasn't empty. Lucy caught on to what the girl was doing and turned to her questioningly.

"You do realize there is nothing there, right?" Lucy pointed out, much to Charlotte's dismay.

"I'm hoping that if I keep doing this, eventually, I'll touch one." Charlotte hoped although she herself knew it didn't work like that.

Lucy put two of her fingers against Charlotte's chin and slowly tilted the girl's head towards the empty plate. At the sight, Charlotte gave a dramatic sigh before turning back to Lucy with the biggest frown the girl had ever seen.

"We're out of cinnamon buns." Charlotte whined, letting her head fall face-first into the mattress. Lucy hesitantly placed a comforting hand on her and stroked her back.

"You could always go get more from the kitchen." She proposed, making the girl sink her head deeper into the mattress.

"I'd have to get up." Her voice sounded muffled to Lucy but she still understood her words.

"You'd have to eventually." She reminded the girl hoping she'd actually move but Charlotte stayed still, the only sound coming out of her being her muffled words.

"I'd have to walk down the stairs." Lucy rolled her eyes at the girl's words.

"Don't be lazy." She reprimanded her but still no movement.

"I'd have to look at George." She whined again. At this Lucy stopped to ponder if she really wanted more cinnamon buns. She decided she did and that she'd rather Charlotte face George than herself.

"Oh..." Lucy nodded in understanding, still needing the girl to move out of the position she was in since she was taking up almost the whole bed. "Well, you can't ignore him forever."

"Try me." The girl countered only for it to be received with silence. Charlotte felt the edge of the bed dip down before it returned to normal. Only she could no longer feel Lucy's presence beside her. She decided to lift her head to look for the girl. But oh what a mistake it was since she was immediately met with a pillow to the face.

"Get up or I'm hitting you again." Lucy raised the pillow once more making Charlotte look at her with narrowed eyes.

"That sounds abusive." Charlotte retorted making Lucy roll her eyes and lower the pillow a bit. "You wouldn't-" But Lucy didn't let Charlotte finish as she hit her once more with the pillow, earning an 'oomph' from the girl. Before Lucy could hit her once more Charlotte's hand shot up. "Ok ok fine I'll go get more, jeez." She gave up before getting up, making Lucy giggle in victory.

Charlotte ran down the stairs, making her way to the kitchen with ease. Pushing the door open she was immediately engulfed by the sweet smell of cinnamon buns. George sat on the table with a plate of cinnamon buns in front of him, while he read a book. When he noticed the girl was there he pushed them toward her.

"I took them out when I came here." He spoke not tearing his eyes from the page he was reading. She smiled and grabbed the plate before heading towards the door.

"Thanks George." She added just before leaving out the door, the boy only giving her a quiet 'mhmm' in return still not tearing his eyes away from his book.

While going up the stairs she noticed the lights in the library were on. She walked towards the door and peeked her head through a bit. Noticing Lockwood she gave a slight knock on the door before opening it completely, it making a creaking sound as it opened. The boy turned at the sudden sound and gave a slight smile once noticing it was her.

"Hey, um... I made some cinnamon buns, in case you wanted one." She moved the plate from in front of her toward him. He looked at the plate before looking back at her. Once he saw the look in her eyes there was no way he could say no.

"Sure, thanks." He grabbed one, biting into it. His eyes instantly lit up at the taste. "This is delicious, did you make this?" He questioned.

"Yeah, bakings a comfort of mine." She answered moving to sit on the chair beside him. Noticing a half-eaten apple on the chair she placed it on the table. She then placed the plate of cinnamon buns on the table, as well, before turning back to Lockwood. He was reading some kind of magazine while his cinnamon bun lay in his right hand which he occasionally brought up to his mouth.

"What are you reading?" Charlotte questioned making the boy look up from his magazine. He folded it before lifting it up to her view.

"Just keeping up with what's going on in town. Parties, that kind of nonsense." Charlotte nodded in understanding before grabbing another cinnamon bun and biting into it. "You'd think there'd be less of them since the Problem, but for the rich, it's quite the opposite. Nothing they like more than to lock themselves in a posh hotel and thrill with horror at the thought of all the visitors lurking outside." He ranted, Charlotte listening to every word. "DEPRAC held one last week. Everyone who's anyone was there." He commented giving the cinnamon bun another bite.

"Were you there? Did you take any pictures? Oooh, how was the buffet? Charlotte eagerly asked. She had never gone to a party let alone one thrown by rich people. Kinda hard to go to parties when you're living in a different state every week.

"No. So... no." He retorted awkwardly glancing back down at the magazine. Charlotte could sense the awkward tension that had built and decided to break it.

"I've never gone to a rich people party, but from what I've heard almost 90% of the time they're boring, apart from the buffets of course." She joked trying to ease the tension but Lockwood only looked at her in confusion.

"Your parents never took you to one?" He asked, the magazine now long forgotten. Charlotte looked at him in confusion before answering.

"Uh no. They weren't very social people." From what Charlotte knew, her parents didn't have any friends really, so the thought of them socializing was a bit strange to her.

"Your parents?" He asked incredulously. "Luz and James Osborne, two of the best agents that ever lived weren't social?" He mocked with a boyish grin, Charlotte couldn't help but want to slap it off his face. "I don't see how that's possible."

"Well, you didn't know them." Charlotte snapped. She didn't know why she'd just snapped like that. maybe it was the fact that he knew more about her parent's life, before her, than she did. Although how could she her parents never talked about it. All she really knew of them was that they were agents. She didn't know how good they were or how many cases they'd had. Hell, she didn't even know they were popular until William, the man who'd trained her, had let something slip about them. To her, they were like a puzzle that she'd gotten with some missing pieces.

Lockwood's grin fell. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything, it's clearly a sensitive topic and I didn't mean to anger you. I just thought-" He cut himself off not finishing his sentence.

Charlotte sighed. Great her temper had already gotten the best of her. "No. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have snapped at you like that, it's just- I only just found out the other day that they were famous here and I never really thought of my parents that way, you know." She admitted, playing with her fingers while she talked. A habit she had earned from an old family member she'd had. "The fact that almost everyone here knows them is weird to me. I only ever knew them by how they acted with me. I guess I never really knew their true selves." She pondered finally looking up at the boy who stared back at her with an understanding in his eyes.

"My parents died when I was young too. I can understand the feeling of wanting to know them, their true selves, and how they were but not being able to." He sighed. "We just have to live off their memory since it's the only thing we have."

"Ugh, that was so cheesy." She smiled hating what the conversation had led to. She didn't like talking about her past or opening up in general, but the coziness of the library and the smell of cinnamon buns mixed with Lockwood's voice seemed to soothe her. She didn't know why but it did.

She felt understood talking to him. He was the only person who hadn't immediately pitied the girl. Because she hated that, she didn't want people to feel pity for her she just wanted someone who understood her. And Lockwood was that someone, to her dismay.

"I guess it was." he breathed out a light laugh, not tearing his eyes away from the girl. Charlotte hated that she liked this. Being here with him like this. She snapped out of it tho and stood up abruptly.

"Well um, thanks for the talk but I should really take these to Lucy before they get cold. I'll see you in the morning?" she grabbed the plate and slowly made her way toward the door waiting on his response.

"Yes of course." He gave her his signature smile before going back to his magazine. She turned to leave before hearing his voice once more. "Oh and Charlotte."

"Yes?" She asked popping her head through the doorframe.

"Good Night." This time his smile didn't feel forced at all it felt real. She couldn't help but smile back.

"Good Night Lockwood." She replied closing the door behind her.

Making her way up the stairs she couldn't get the interaction out of her head. Had she unpacked too much trauma? Yes. Should she have kept her mouth shut? Probably. Yet she couldn't help but smile at the thought of his words and how'd he'd comfort her and-

Oh my god! No! He was her colleague and boss...? No, she would not think anything of this. She was sad, he comforted her, end of story. How could she? Just dump her trauma on another person like that. What was wrong with her? She should have kept her mouth shut. It was what her uncle always said to do and it was what she would do. She was not going to be vulnerable. Especially with Anthony Lockwood of all people.

"Bumped into Lockwood on your way up?" the sudden mention of his name seemed to snap Charlotte out of whatever haze she was in.

"What? Why do you ask?" Charlotte placed the plate on the bed, in front of her, before laying beside Lucy, on her front.

"No reason." the girl answered grabbing a cinnamon bun from the plate. "You just had this weird look on your face that you make whenever you talk to him."

"What? Annoyed." She remarked flipping another page of the magazine in front of the two.

"Sure." Lucy replied eyeing the girl. Charlotte didn't know exactly what Lucy was inferring but ignored it as the girls soon got back into their fit of laughter at the ridiculous outfits in the magazine. A cozy room, warm cinnamon buns, and a friend who she could laugh with. At that moment, Charlotte couldn't have asked for anything better.