Interlude: In Which Colin Becomes Self-Aware

Unable to stand the intensely awkward silence that had overtaken the room after Colin left and Elisa stormed off, Charlene decided now was the time to excuse herself.

“I better head home now,” she said, rising from the dinner table. She rinsed off her dishes in the sink as quickly as she could manage. “Thank you for having me over, Alejandra.”

“Always a pleasure, dear,” she said. She looked about ready to pass out.

Charlene quickly left, closing the door behind her and feeling extremely glad she wasn’t going to be part of the discussion that was about to happen. Her long, red hair fell into her face, forcing her to push it away as she headed toward the elevator. When it arrived, she pressed the button for the first floor. And, as always, said a small prayer that today wouldn’t be the day the elevator broke down.

Coffee. Coffee was something that she needed. Even if it was seven at night—getting a nice boost was the only way she’d be able to distract herself from the…experience she’d just had.

When she stepped out of the front door of Longbourn, she was surprised to see a familiar face sitting on the bench by the curb, looking quite miserable.

“Colin?” she said, approaching him slowly.

He looked up, then quickly looked away, rubbing his eyes. “Charlene, hi. I was just…um, my car’s in the shop, so I’m waiting on an Uber.”

“Oh.”

She hesitated. She could just walk away now and leave him to mope. And yet…

“You okay?” she asked. It was a stupid question; of course he wasn’t. But asking him still felt like the right thing.

He nodded, rubbing his eyes again. “Yeah, yeah. I mean, I’ve been better, of course, but…this too shall pass. That’s the saying, right?”

She sat on the bench next to him. “Yeah. But that doesn’t mean you have to be okay right away. I mean, Elisa had a right to turn you down, but that was…brutal.”

“Yeah, that’s, uh…that’s one word for it.”

There was a brief pause, during which she pretended not to notice Colin sniffling and wiping his nose on his jacket sleeve.

Then, he asked, “Was she right? Have I been acting like a creep?”

Charlene hesitated. “Um… Well, I mean, you did come on pretty strong.”

“Well, yeah, but I thought girls wanted you to be forward,” he said. “And then I thought maybe she was playing hard-to-get, so I tried again.”

“And again,” she pointed out.

“Well, yeah. I mean… I guess now that I think about it, she was giving off some hints that she wasn’t into it,” he admitted.

“Like?” she prompted.

“Like…always excusing herself early whenever I was over for dinner…always cutting me off whenever I talked…” He frowned. “And always suddenly needing to be somewhere else when I tried to talk to her alone…”

And then, she saw it on his face: the slowly dawning sensation of self-awareness.

“Never responding to my messages…the fact that whenever I called, I’d always get sent to voicemail after a ring or two…” Colin continued slowly. “Stiffening up whenever I touched her…without explicit permission… Outright…rejecting me when I asked her out, aaaaaaaaaaand I’m a goddamn idiot.”

“There it is,” Charlene said.

“I am such a goddamn idiot,” he said again, face flushing red as he covered it with his hands. “I’m a member of the honors fraternity, and I couldn’t figure that out?”

“You were blinded by your feelings. And also your massive, insufferable ego.”

Much to her surprise, he actually snorted. He took his hands down from his face. His eyes lacked their usual, cheerful glint, and were now clouded with doubt.

“She’s right.”

“Yeah,” she said. “I don’t think you’re a bad guy, Colin, but…you kind of made a mess of this one.”

“No kidding,” he said. “Do you think it’s worth apologizing to her?”

“It never hurts to try,” she said with a shrug. “But I’d wait until she’s had a couple of days to calm down. Elisa was pretty fired up.”

“You’re right, I’ll… I’ll give her space. Maybe I should send her a very respectful text message…”

“Give it a couple of days,” Charlene said firmly.

“Right, right, you’re right…” Colin sighed, running a hand through his sandy brown hair. “Where are you headed, anyway? I thought you lived here, too.”

“I do,” she said. “I was just going for some coffee.”

There was a pause.

“Did Elisa really have you intervene so she wouldn’t have to spend time with me?” he asked, tilting his head as he looked at her.

Charlene didn’t answer with words. She just made a noise and a face.

Colin understood perfectly and groaned.

“So, everyone knew she hated me except me?”

“Yeah. Sorry.”

“Don’t be.” He sighed. “I think I may have brought this on myself.”

“‘Think,’ nothing,” Charlene said. “You absolutely did.” Then, her expression softened, just a bit, and she patted him on the knee. “But it’s not too late to say you’re sorry. I don’t know if you and Elisa can ever be friends, exactly, but a sincere apology can work wonders.”

“And she’ll get one,” he said. “After she’s had time to become less…murderous… At least that’ll give me time to write up a first draft.”

“Wait, wait—you make drafts of your apologies?” she asked, unable to hide her amusement.

“I make drafts of everything important I have to say.” Colin reached into his pocket for his phone and pulled up the notes app, showing it to her. “This one from yesterday is from when I had to call my advisor to ask her a question… This is from two weeks ago from when I had to schedule a doctor’s appointment.”

“What’s that one?”

“That was telling my mom that it was actually me that broke her Ming vase when I was seven and I blamed it on the dog.”

“And this one’s…”

“What I was planning to say to Elisa today? Yeah…”

Charlene sighed, glancing over the note. Sure enough, the first part was word-for-word of what Colin had said at dinner. It appeared he hadn’t been halfway through before Elisa cut him off.

“Well, if you need someone to proofread your apology, I’m available,” she said.

“Thanks. I’m probably going to start on it once I get home.”

“Speaking of which…” Charlene pointed to the road in front of them, just as a red car pulled up in front of Longbourn. “I think your chariot awaits.”

Colin glanced at his phone. “Yeah, that’s my ride.” He got up from the bench. “Well…thanks for talking to me. I’ll message you once I have a first draft.”

“Okay. I’d say, ‘have a good night,’ but, well… I think I’ll settle for ‘have a good tomorrow.’”

“Nowhere to go but up.”

He made his way over to the car, climbing into the backseat. Before the car could pull away, he rolled his window down.

“There’s a coffee shop in my apartment complex,” he called.

“I know,” she called back.

“Care to join me at that one? My treat.”

Charlene paused. Okay, this is a guy who was interested in your best friend until literally five minutes ago, and he’s sort of an idiot—probably the smartest idiot you’ve ever met, but still.

Noticing her hesitation, he quickly began to backpedal.

“I mean—only if you want, if you don’t want to, that’s fine—”

But he does seem to want to be better. And there’s no rule saying I’m not allowed to be friends with him. It’s not weird. Is it?

Nah.

“Move over, I’m coming,” she said, hopping up from the bench.

Colin opened the backdoor for her, and she hurried over, not wanting to keep the driver waiting any longer than they already had.

Why she’d agreed, she had no idea. He was absolutely ridiculous, even if he was harmless, and most of his awkwardness was weirdly endearing.

What am I doing? It wasn’t that she felt sorry for him. He had been a jerk in so many ways.

But when he wasn’t droning on about things, he was nice.

What was the harm in going for a cup of coffee with him?

Still, she had no idea why she’d accepted his invite.

Nope. Not weird at all.