Title: packed in ice
Summary: But in the end, their relationship lasted exactly one month. Their friendship lasted much longer than that.
Warning/Spoiler: Post-movie, lots of interpreted OOC-ness, mild language
Rating: T/PG-13
Character(s)/Pairing(s): Charlie/Stella
Author's Note: Um. I'm back? Maybe? Let's see how the summer goes. Also – this is based on some real life things (whoops, there I go, breaking rules…) although the generic tone of this particular one-shot allowed me to mess around with details. But the title and subtitle were picked from some very deliberate song choices.
In any case, this is really, really bad but I wrote it and figured I might as well post it. Or something.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Lemonade Mouth – book or movie – and anything else you may recognize (this one has lots of those, probably.)
packed in ice
[remember those times i was hoping for something?]
They started dating on October 19th. Their romantic relationship ended exactly a month later, the seeming-mutual but really one-sided break-up quiet but upsetting. No group was split, but tears were shed and harsh words spoken – she broke up with him on their one-month anniversary after all – but in the end, their relationship lasted exactly one month.
Their friendship lasted much longer than that.
On October 15th, she asked him out – it's Stella goddamn Yamada, like hell she was going to wait for him to gather some of that non-existent courage to ask her out – and he sputtered out a "uh – yeah – that sounds great…" and despite his muttered utterances and stuttering words, Charlie was excited and ready for this. It'd been too long that they'd had to suffer through Mo and Scott's impromptu baby-talk sessions; it'd been way too long that they'd had to suffer through Wen and Olivia's back-and-forth, and even though they finally started to label their relationship as one of the romantic kind, their stolen glances and shared smiles were really irritating.
So the opportunity to spend time with a girl, on a date, without the pretense of said girl only wanting to date the drummer-of-Lemonade-Mouth (he really can't believe he'd been that dumb) seemed completely perfect.
It was funny how much they had in common – they made playlists filled with Led Zepplin and Jimmy Hendrix, and even the occasional Passion Pit and The Decemberists. They watched endless marathons of the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies and the Bourne series, while even dabbling in John Hughes films. They ended up watching The Big Bang Theory and reruns of Boy Meets World together, pausing only to refill on candy – Skittles and Snickers – and her endless supply of baby carrots. If nothing else, having the excuse to escape reality with Stella allowed him to forget about everything else. (She ignored the tiny voice in her head that reminded her that she really was not attracted to Charlie, not like that, and that the way his tongue attacked her mouth was not at all romantic. Or even enjoyable.)
By November 10th, everything started going downhill.
Charlie's grades – already average – proceeded to slip further, as time spent with Stella meant time not spent studying. Distracted by drums and candy, math and English were pushed aside: Mrs. Delgado noticed quickly, however, and after the third below average grade in a row, getting grounded seemed almost too easy.
The arguments – not their easy back-and-forth bickering they were used to, but actual arguments about how she'd refuse to eat over at Charlie's due to the lack of vegetarian food or the way he felt very uncomfortable around Stella's environmentally-conscious friends and their habits of posting their life stories on the internet – seemed to plague their entire relationship. The moments spent in peace and tranquility and making out were masked by uncomfortable handholding and tears and unsettled stomachs. After the first one, it brought them closer – they shared their third kiss that day, but it was special because it was under the starry sky and he lent her his jacket and they sat cuddled on a bench beside an antique store with rusty vases and fragile cases. The second one put her on edge – she was already upset about Lemonade Mouth's latest rejection and Ray Beech's sudden spike in popularity again with the rise of football season – and he was turned off by her temper. She kicked the wooden door to his room – she apologized for it immediately after and he knew she meant it – but she refused to speak to him that night at rehearsal.
Charlie realized relationships were hard and they needed work. So he sucked it up and apologized to her. Stella smiled at him softly, shook her head and tried to explain that she needed to tell him more, and he agreed: he hated it when she backed off, waved him off with a "nothing" or "don't worry about it." So she promised to work at it too.
By November 18th, it was pretty much a moot point.
The day began normally enough – they spent the chilly Saturday morning wrapped under her organically-spun quilt, laughing at the latest episode of The Big Bang Theory before Stella distracted Charlie with several kisses. He finally left hours later – much later than he should have, with a test, two quizzes, and a paper due in the next three days. But that night, spent hanging out with the band in a confined area, left Stella bitter, Charlie uncomfortable, and nothing feeling right. Their final argument resulted in Stella walking away, upset and unsure how to respond, with Charlie shaking in the cold air with the gut feeling that everything was wrong. He woke up the next morning to a simple "meet me in the basement after school" and a lead pipe in his stomach, squeezing into iron ball as the day progressed.
On November 19th, Stella broke up with Charlie.
"I don't think this is going to work out," she said, keeping her eyes steady and focused on him.
"Okay." Charlie was paying more attention to the boiling in his stomach and the chipping paint in the wall across from them. "Why?" he asked quietly, not really wanting the answer but knowing he needed one.
"I feel like we're always fighting – and not the good fighting," she added. "It's too much and I can't – you won't admit it, but you're always upset about something, and not at me or anything, but at something that going out with me has done. Something – relationship adjacent. Like your grades."
Charlie remained silent. Relationship adjacent, huh? He nodded slowly.
"Are you upset?" she asked, her voice small but unwavering and he knew she was convinced and had given it more thought than he'd given her credit for. To her, it seemed like a pathetic question, but she needed to know.
"Honestly, yes, I'm pretty pissed," he answered sadly, looking at her for a moment. "I'll get over it though. Probably."
Stella nodded. "Fair enough."
A couple of moments passed: Charlie felt his heart slow down and something hot tear down his spine while Stella's shaking hands made her heart drop to the floor. Finally, Charlie stood, whispered "bye," and left.
Stella stared at her hands, studied the calluses and blisters that grazed her inelegant fingers; she sighed at the way her stomach clenched and released in time with the wavering of her mind. Time was such an important thing: the decision to break his heart with hers wasn't easy but it was right. She felt the nape of her neck relax and the lids of her eyes grow lighter.
She walked away, promising to never tell him about how her heart seemed happier when she was alone or the way she had been happier with Luke or Ryan even those relationships had not worked out. She wanted to end their relationship – but their friendship was something she wished to cherish forever and she could only hope that one day she could forget about this detour and go back to comfort in the way things ought to be.
They broke up on November 19th, exactly one month into their relationship. It was two months later - many awkward encounters during classes and band rehearsals later – that Charlie passed Stella the cheese pizza without a word. Two days later and Stella raised an eyebrow at Charlie as he dropped his drumstick and shook her head with a small smile. It was a week later when Charlie went the opposite direction to their latest gig and Stella laughed at him without worry. The day after that Charlie asked her if she'd seen the newest The Big Bang Theory and the day after that they forced everyone else to watch The Avengers with them. It took a while before they could be alone, but when Charlie's dog died, Stella didn't hesitant to give him a hug while they waited for the others to join them.
When Scott and Mo broke up, and Scott and Patty started dating, and Wen began to avoid Olivia like the plague, and the group dynamics suddenly seemed so wrong, Charlie just needed to look over to Stella and see her frown to know they were on the same page. No matter what, they'd always been on the same page. Their relationship may have lasted only a month, but their friendship would last much longer than that.