the affection ends here. nova has no plans to let anything else happen. she certainly won’t allow herself to turn to kiss charlie. no. charlie’s unworthy of her affection. he’s lucky she’s even sat in his lap ! there’s shame in even going that far. nova’s well aware that plopping onto charles’ lap might as well be the kiss of death. ( surprisingly, she does have a voice of reason in the very back of her mind ! she just doesn’t let it be used much ! ) arms remain crossed over her chest as she listens. of course, charlie goes on. apparently the reason for her anger hadn’t been all that obvious. if nova wasn’t so busy pouting, she might just call out charles on this. she could be quick to call it utter bull shit. nova doesn’t though. nova sits in charles’ lap like the needy doormat she is. a man shouldn’t have this much control over her, this much nova knows. she just can’t help herself. she needs him. oh, how she hates that she needs charles. how she wishes she could just get up & leave him. unfortunately there would be an emptiness in her heart. there’s no one out there, not that she knows of anyway, that can quite fill the void charles has.
no other man puts up with her like he does. she can’t completely berate charles for all his negative traits after all, nova has her own problems. the reality of the situation is: they’re perfect for each other. ( despite being a disastrous pair. ) this thought pumps over & over again in nova’s mind. the two of them deserve each other despite, you know, not even being a couple at all.
arms are crossed over her chest, waiting for whatever excuse charlie’s cooking up. nova has a fair amount of guesses on what he could say. she’s held close by him. there’s an urge to push him away, to shriek ❛ don’t you TOUCH me ! ❜ nova, like the fool she is, lets it happen without any drama. she’s quiet, listening as charlie provides his reasoning. she’s tempted to mock his tone & do finger quotes. ❛ enjoy each other’s company ! ❜ he says. nova scowls. she tries not to behave like a child for once. acting like an adult proves to be a difficult task when dealing with charles. ( of course, behaving in general is a difficult task for a bratty girl like nova. ) there’s some validity in charles’ words though, if he is actually telling the truth here. he hasn’t spoken to the other girl. of course, nova has a snide little remark about that regardless. ❝ yeah, i’m here because i’m the fucking idiot who keeps coming back to you. ❞ emotions weigh heavy in her voice despite the fact that a pitiful little smile cracks onto her features. it’s funny sometimes, just how stupid she is.
she exhales, eyes narrowed.
❝ i don’t believe you for one second but… ❞ there she goes, being weak again. ❝ … nothing i say will ever make you change. you’re always going to do stupid shit & because i’m stupid as fuck, i’ll always sit here & let it happen. ❞ it’s not like she’d ever get up & leave charlie. doing so would be absolutely out of character. she’s a parasite, clinging onto whoever is OPEN for attention. while charles’ might be a bastard, he always has his arms open. consider it a gut feeling but she believes charles’ would never leave her in the dust either. they’re stuck together.
charles and nova continue to prove themselves nothing more than a ridiculously childish conundrum. that said, part of their problem, lies of course in a lack of commitment, commitment which charles has indicated relentlessly that he was not interested in. this was, of course, an issue which proved meticulous to solve, a hurdle that would likely be in the way for a while. yet and still, there is the other half of the issue. that was, charles’ oblivion ----- perhaps nova’s own stubborn nature. the combination of the two proved to be a barrier to intimacy between them.
intimacy. whatever could it mean ? however often the word is written off to mean nothing more than sex, there was nothing actually too intimate about their sexual relationship, or at least there hadn’t been at first. this was not a surprise, as this was continuously the case with charles and his escapades. what did portray to be intimate though, was the way that the pair had become comfortable around each other. at least for charles, letting his guard down always seemed to be a tedious difficulty and fear which he could never quite overcome. with nova, that boundary had been broken. maybe, it’s the way she never lies to him. the way she refuses to bend to his will the way the people from his past encounters had simply from the sight of him.
what was it that these people wanted from him ? his body, his money, his fame ? perhaps it differed from person to person, but charles could never put his finger on it. certainly, it couldn’t be him. the real him, so very flawed and ugly in every which way you could think of beside externally. that would simply be far too romantic and unrealistic for the life that he lived. intimacy and love were things that were, as far as charlemagne was concerned, reserved for good people in the world. the best people in the world. so then, what did nova want from him ? if nothing else, he was positive that it couldn’t have been his body, his money, or his fame. she’d proven him wrong in that train of thought too many times. but maybe it was something else. what he was unsure of, was whether or not he could provide that something else.
even so, he’s too selfish to tell her to walk away, a thought which scares him even now, as he zones out for a moment’s time. how could you know someone deserves everything and trap them in so much of nothing ? even he wasn’t so sure. as if he hadn’t even had the thought, he simply continues on smoking, as if to break the screen of the conversation. ❝ you shouldn’t say that, ❞ charles says seriously, though his eyes stare across the room at nothing rather than meeting her own, ❝ that you’re stupid, i mean. ❞ he had wanted to say the words: you’re not stupid. i’m just selfish. but instead, he takes yet another drag, still searching for a way to take the edge off of this dialogue to begin with.
❝ promise me you won’t call yourself stupid anymore. you take... ❞ a gulp, the words seemed to be going somewhere so much less surface level than he’d initially intended, and that made him nervous, as it always did. ❝ you take on too much. blame yourself too much. you don’t need to, around me. i’ll take some blame. so relax. just relax around me. ❞