xi

                                    

                                          
AUTHOR POV. 
APRIL 14, 2022
As Charlotte turned the lights on, she jumped upon discovering a spider on the wall, screaming loudly. Tripping over one of the many boxes on the floor, she started falling forward until Mason quickly caught her mid-air, wrapping his arms around her torso and scooping her up so that she wouldn't fall. But unfortunately, the sheer momentum of her falling was too much, since he simply just ended up falling with her.
"Ow." Charlotte said. Mason had somehow managed to cushion her fall with his arm though, as her head had not hit the floor. "I abused your arm again like I did last night, didn't I?" 
"A little bit." Mason laughed. "But then again, I landed on top of you, so I guess we're even." He said, referring to how he was quite literally on top of her. Both of them noticed the strange tension between them due to their physical proximity, but neither of them acted upon it. Instead, Mason got up first and helped Charlotte up. Thanking him, she went back to finding the boxes and she handed a couple of them to Mason, who carried them out into the store. 
Charlotte was going through the shelves to find the last of the sample handcreams when she felt his hands gently grabbing her waist and turning her around. Slightly taken aback, her eyes widened a little, but they instinctively closed shut when she felt his lips overlapping hers. She dropped the handcreams she was holding in her hands and placed her arms around his neck, tiptoeing to match his height. 
After a few minutes, Charlotte was the one who pulled away first. Upon seeing the look of disappointment on his face she said, "My supply closet isn't exactly the most romantic of places." 
"True." 
"Besides, I need to go back out to the store anyways." She smiled and after picking up the handcreams she had dropped, she carried out the boxes, with Mason trailing closely behind. When they exited the storage room, they found Ben and Phil at the register, helping the customers out.
"What took you so long?" Phil asked. "Don't hold me responsible if I've accidentally not been processing any of these payments. I have no idea what I'm doing." 
"You never have any idea what you're doing. That's not really news to me." Charlotte patted him on the head and the two of them chattered away as Mason and Ben engaged in a conversation of their own. They ended up operating a little bit overtime because there were still fans outside the store, but in the end, Charlotte had managed to sell out. The clock read 6:34 PM. Charlotte turned around and asked Phil, 
"Are you going back to Manchester tonight? Or are you going back tomorrow?" 
"We just got back from Spain this morning, so we have training tomorrow night. Then we're playing Liverpool the day after that. If I leave tomorrow afternoon, I should be fine." 
"What were you thinking? I'll drive you back tonight. You should go home and get some rest." Charlotte slapped him across the back. "Isn't this the FA Cup Semi-final?" 
"I'm fine, Lottie. Stop treating me like a little kid. I can take care of myself, you know?" 
"You can stay the night at my house, and I'll drive you to the train station tomorrow morning then? You better not have driven down here, with that massive head injury." Charlotte glared at Phil, making him laugh. 
"Relax. I took the train." 
She then turned to Mason and Ben and said, "Thank you guys for coming as well. I know you all are super busy." After a bit of thinking she said, "Let me take you guys out to dinner. Please? It's the least I can do. There's a really nice sushi place nearby, it's only a 10 minute walk from here."