I THINK WE SHOULD SEE OTHER CLIO [Charlie]

Rowan sat at an empty table, nervously waiting for Charlie. He was going to break up with her today. After wanting to for weeks, he was finally going to do it. He kind of had to, now that there was someone else he wanted to date.

Still, he felt bad doing it. He was afraid to hurt Charlie, even if he didn't love her anymore. Hopefully she would take it well...

He didn't even know what he was going to say. All he could think of were stupid cliches like "I think we should see other clio." So he was doing the stupid thing and just winging it. This was gonna be rough.

]=

Charlie walked down the road towards the tavern. She was going to break up with Rowan today. Well, she was going to bring up the idea of a breakup, but hopefully work out some nice still-together-but-with-other-clio deal. She had planned out everything she was going to say.

With Mae on her shoulder and her hair down and tousled a bit, Charlie opened the door to the tavern and walked in. She spotted Rowan right away (it was kind of natural by now) and she sat across from him.

"Hey," she said pleasantly. That's all they really were now. Just pleasant. "We need to...talk."

Rowan didn't say anything, mostly because Charlie had taken the words right out of his mouth. "Yeah, we do," he agreed finally. What did Charlie think they had to talk about? Was it possible that she wanted to break up to? That would be...a relief. "Er...What did you need to talk about?" he asked. He wasn't going to break up with her if she was going to do it for him.

"Well," she started, looking at Rowan's face. Everything on it. His beautiful eyes, his beautiful skin that her fingertips knew so well...damn, this man was everything Charlie wanted, but she just didn't feel it anymore. The worst thing was that she really didn't feel bad at all about this. She could kind of tell something was off, I guess.

And she was fucking her bodyguard, also known as her ex-boyfriend's (the boyfriend she cheated on Rowan with) brother. Yeah. Guess she didn't really have much to feel bad about anymore. Rowan might've broken her in from innocent teen to...whore?

Nah, you're not a whore, Mae said. She could barely said it without laughing a little inside.

Shuddap, Charlie said, trying to take this seriously. She had practiced it so many times.

"I think we should reconsider our situation," she said. She wasn't sure how he would interpret this, so she continued. "I just don't feel it anymore, Rowan. I get the feeling that you don't either. But I really don't want us to break up for good, you know?" She looked at him for a second, studying him. "How do you feel about...an open relationship?"

Rowan raised an eyebrow. That was totally the last thing he expected, especially from Charlie. What had he turned her into?

"Well, funny you should mention that," Rowan said slowly, trying to predict how Charlie would react to what he was about to say. "I've...actually...started to see someone else recently. That's what I wanted to talk to you about. I mean, an open relationship sounds great to me, but I really like...this other clio, and I need to make sure it's okay with them."

He gave her a slightly apologetic look, but in all honesty he didn't feel bad at all.

Charlie couldn't help but smirk a little bit. So that was what had been up, huh?

"I've actually been seeing someone else, too. Not in the same sense, I wouldn't say," she glanced down at the table, thinking of her feelings towards Wes...or lack thereof. "But if you want to check with them, that's fine. I understand if they don't want you to see me. I know this guy really couldn't care less." She looked back up to him, smiling a little. "I just know that I would miss you if we broke up officially. I don't know why, but there's just something about you that feels right. I just don't feel that...spark anymore, or something."

So she was seeing someone else? Well, judging by her description, fucking someone else was a better term. Rowan wondered who it was, but didn't ask because then Charlie might ask who he was seeing.

"I know what you mean," he replied. "Charlie, you have no idea how big of a relief this is. I mean, I'll miss what we had, but...Well, you know. I don't have to explain if we're feeling the exact same thing."

Charlie nodded. They were feeling the same thing. Awesome.

"So uh...are they in Dian?" she asked. She was just curious. "If you don't wanna tell me, t hat's cool."

"No...They're in Solas," Rowan admitted, knowing that Charlie wouldn't be able to figure it out from that little factoid. He was pretty sure she wouldn't figure it out unless he told her directly, considering the fact that, up until recently, not even he had known he was into guys.