#mtapf

[oh-ranpo]

more than a pretty face.

Pairing: Ben Hardy x OC AN: I know some people prefer the “Person x Reader” style, but I wanted to try my hand at an original character. I hope you guys still like this story. It’s based loosely off the song “Annabelle” by A Rocket to the Moon. This story is to make up to my Ben stans for making the “Rewrite the Stars” story about Joe. Tags list is open. Let me know what you think! Warning: Some bad language  

Hate was such a strong word. Charlie really didn’t like the thought that she felt strongly enough about anyone that she could warrant saying she hated them. However, the sound of Sophia’s voice and just being around her in general woke a sleeping beast inside of her that she could barely contain. It didn’t make it any better that Sophia was dating Ben, another person that she had strong negative feelings for, and they were both part of Charlie’s mutual friend group.

It made it hard to go out because Charlie would find herself constantly rolling her eyes or scoffing at everything Sophia or Ben said. She had always believed that Ben was a little too cocky, and it was a universal truth that Sophia was a bitch. She knew that her other friends couldn’t stand her either, but they were cordial because they cared about Ben. Charlie didn’t care about either one of them, so she never tried to hide how she felt.

It was a typical Friday night, and Charlie was out with her friends, Rami and Joe. It was almost tradition for the three of them to go out to dinner, and then spend the evening bar-hopping down the street from Joe’s apartment. It was something they had all done forever. The one thing that had changed over the past year, however, was the fact that it had gone from three people to five. Neither Joe nor Rami would admit that they had been the ones to invite Ben and Sophia along, both in fear of what Charlie might do to them if they came clean.

On this particular Friday night, Ben and Sophia were out grinding on the dancefloor while Charlie, Joe, and Rami sat at a high-top table in the corner. Charlie was sipping her beer slowly, her eyes gliding over the crowd of people to try and determine whether there was anyone present that might be worth her time. Occasionally, her eyes would graze over Ben’s blond head, and bile would rise in her throat. They look like hormonal teenagers, she thought to herself, more than a little disgusted. She would quickly turn her gaze elsewhere, fighting to get the image of the two of them out of her head.

“I just have to know,” Joe started, pulling Charlie’s attention back to the two boys sitting next to her. “is there ever going to be a time when you look at them and not get a nauseated look on your face?”

She lifted her beer back to her lips and shrugged.

“You can’t tell me that you guys enjoy having her around,” Charlie replied. Rami and Joe glanced between each other, and Joe’s eyes found hers again.

“Well, no. But Ben seems to like her, therefore we tolerate her.”

“How noble. Ben isn’t my friend, so I don’t owe him the same courtesy.” Charlie started to turn back to continue her search for a dance partner, but was brought back again, this time by Rami’s voice.

“And why do you not like Ben, again?”

Charlie sighed and set her beer down on the table. Ever since Rami and Joe had met Ben on the set of their last movie, they had been trying so hard to get the two of them to get along. It wasn’t necessarily that Ben had done anything wrong, but there was just something about him that rubbed her the wrong way.

“He’s so full of himself. He’s a pretty boy, and he knows it. It’s just annoying.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Joe smirk but she chose to ignore it.  

“I think if you took the time to actually get to know him, you would see how wrong you were.”  

Charlie scoffed, and shook her head. She couldn’t imagine a world where her and Ben would actually get along. They were too different. Or maybe they were too similar. Either way, the two of them being friends was something that would surely end in disaster if ever given the chance.

When Charlie’s eyes turned back towards the dancefloor, she felt her stomach drop when she saw Ben was making his way back towards the table. Sophia was no longer at his side, but Charlie knew that she wasn’t lucky enough for her to be lost permanently. As he was walking up, Ben’s green eyes met Charlie’s briefly, but he quickly looked away.

While Rami and Joe held Charlie accountable for the tension and distaste between her and Ben, Ben had never done anything to warrant any kind of positive affections either. From the second they met, he had been cocky and so sure of himself, but never overly polite—the complete opposite of how all his other friends described him.  

“I think Soph and I are going to head out,” Ben said as he approached the table. Regardless of how much she didn’t like him, Charlie couldn’t ignore the way his deep, smooth voice sent chills through her body. It was something that only made her hate him more.

“So soon? We just got here,” Joe complained. Ben gave some excuse over Sophia suddenly not feeling well, but Charlie chose to pretend like she wasn’t listening. That was, until her eyes landed on Sophia near the bar, her arm draped over the shoulder of a strange man she had never seen before.

“She looks alright to me.”

Charlie’s voice caught Ben’s attention and he turned so that his gaze was following hers. She could see his shoulders deflate slightly, but he quickly recovered before turning back to her with a passive look on his face.

“It’s probably just a friend. This is the neighborhood she grew up in, after all.”

Charlie shrugged off his comment, not willing to start an argument over something she cared so little about. Besides, the two of them both knew that that man was not ‘some friend’, because things like this were known to happen all the time. Not only was Sophia a bitch, but she was also horrifically disloyal.

“Ben…” Rami started when he caught on to what was happening, but Ben just waved him off.  

Charlie seemed to be the only one clued in on just how horrible of a person Sophia was, because she seemed to be the only one who would ever catch her in the act. Whenever Ben wasn’t around, Sophia would fall all over the first tall, handsome man she could find until Ben returned. Sometimes, Sophia would even sneak off with one of the guys and no one would see her for over an hour, before returning looking flushed and disheveled. Charlie had tried to tell the others, but no one wanted to believe that anyone would do something like that to Ben.  

“I gotta go. I’ll talk to you guys later,” Ben said dismissively, giving both Rami and Joe small waves and brushing past Charlie without saying a word.  

The three of them watched as Ben approached Sophia from behind and wrapped his arm around her waist. She pretended like she was excited to see him, but the confused look on the other man’s face told them that she had failed to mention her boyfriend.  

“God, he deserves so much better,” Joe mumbled, sculling back the last of his drink.

“He allows it to happen. He’s only enabling her,” Charlie cut in, earning glares from her other two friends.  

“He loves her. Love is a complicated thing,” Rami murmured sympathetically, and Charlie rolled her eyes. She had been in love before- once, and a very long time ago- but she still knew that love was not allowing someone to repeatedly cheat on and emotionally abuse you.

“It’s a pathetic thing,” she chided, standing up from her seat and grabbing her empty beer bottle. “I’m going to grab another drink. Do you want anything?” Both men shook their head and Charlie turned to head towards the bar.

As she sauntered through the crowd, she became increasingly aware of how dead the bar actually was. Sure, there seemed to be quite a few people, but they were mostly couples or guys that were way too young for her. Not that it mattered, anyways. Now that Ben and Sophia were gone, Charlie knew that she would finally be able to enjoy her night with Rami and Joe. Awards season was about to start, so she knew that their time was going to become more limited.

Once she had her drink in her hand, she headed back towards the table where Rami and Joe were waiting. They had been talking animatedly about something, but when she approached, they abruptly stopped. Her eyebrow quirked as she gave them a questioning look, but neither one of them offered her an explanation.

“You guys are acting mighty suspicious. Do you have something you would like to share?”

Rami quickly shook his head.

“No, ma’am. Just guy talk, you know,” Joe replied, only causing her to be more suspicious. The boys seemed to be having more of these secret conversations lately. Ever since they had gone away to film Bohemian Rhapsody, Charlie had started to feel more and more out of the loop.

“Whatever you say,” she mumbled in response, sliding onto the barstool next to Rami.  

“After Charlie is finished with her drink, what do you say we just head back to my place? We can drink and play games or something,” Joe suggested, and Rami and Charlie instantly agreed. The mood for the night had changed since Ben and Sophia left early, and all Charlie really wanted to do was relax.  

“Perfect. I’ll see if Ben wants to come by.” Charlie felt her stomach drop at Joe’s suggestion, but just rolled her eyes.

“I doubt princess Sophia would let him leave her side,” Charlie muttered under her breath, not really intending for the other two to hear her. When Rami laughed, she could feel her cheeks go pink.

“We’ll see about that,” Joe replied, a hint of mischief in his voice. Joe and Rami really were up to something, and Charlie was determined to find out what.

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