Although this might not be the happy chapter you want, this is for jensy25. Love, IJKS xxx
Chapter Three
Charlie woke up with the mother of all headaches and felt extremely queasy. But more than anything, her heart was burdened with everything that had happened. The first thing she was aware of was that she was alone. Joey was gone and she hated her that much that she'd decided to tell her all about kissing Aden the night before. Remaining on the pillows, Charlie sighed heavily and began to cry all over again.
Joey woke up a little confused. She had a hangover, was in a strange room and someone was asleep beside her. Then everything came rushing back. She and Charlie had broken up and Joey had moved into a new house. Drunk and incapable, she and Aden had both crashed in her room. Then she remembered the phone call she and Charlie had had and she felt torn between guilt and satisfaction. Sighing, she closed her eyes and wished the world away.
Ruby brought Charlie toast and coffee in bed, wondering how she was feeling. She was grateful that her older sibling had not thrown up. That wasn't a bucket she would have relished cleaning out.
"Joey kissed Aden last night," Charlie said sadly.
"You called her?" Ruby screeched.
Charlie pulled a face and put her hands over her ears. Ruby apologised and then asked the question again more quietly.
"Wait, she kissed Aden?"
Charlie nodded. Her head swam.
"But she's a lesbian," Ruby pointed out. "And, like a proper one. Not..."
"Me?" Charlie challenged.
"I didn't mean it like that," Ruby assured her. "Just... she's never been with men, has she?"
"No," Charlie said. "I don't think it meant anything. I don't even know if it was true. She could have been trying to hurt me."
"Really? But... it's Joey."
"She was horrible on the phone," Charlie admitted.
Ruby struggled to accept it. Joey was always so nice.
"I guess that's what I've done to her," Charlie sighed.
It was lunch time and Joey still hadn't quite managed to get dressed properly but at least she'd got out of bed. She and Aden had made conversation with Joey's new housemates and were now contemplating food of some description. They were interrupted by a knock on the door. Hauling herself to her feet, she opened up to find a delivery man standing there with a huge bouquet of roses. He handed them over to her.
"Wait," he said, dashing back to his van.
Joey stared as he presented her with no less than three bouquets, apparently totally fifty four roses – the exact number of days that Joey and Charlie had known each other.
"I guess this Charlie really loves you," the delivery man commented. "These would have been seriously expensive!"
He moved to walk away but she called for him to stop. Laying each bouquet on the table, she promptly began destroying them with a knife from the drawer.
"Joey!" Aden shrieked. "You can't do that."
"Yes, I can," Joey said firmly.
Tossing the debris into a carrier bag, she handed it back over, slipping the guy some cash and asking them to deliver them to the police station with a message for Charlie Buckton.
Charlie had hauled herself to work, needing to work some more on the case of the fire at the caravan park from a couple of nights ago. But her head was still throbbing and even Watson had commented that she looked rough.
"Uh... is Senior Constable Charlie Buckton here?" a young man asked at reception.
Hearing him, Charlie left her office.
"Hi," she said, wondering who he was.
The man swallowed, looking terribly nervous. Anxiously, he held out a bag, swallowing again.
"I'm really sorry," he said. "I hate doing this but... um, these are from Joey Collins."
Charlie looked into the bag. All she could see was a mess of petals, stalks and thorns.
"She says she doesn't want anything you have to give."
Charlie closed her eyes, aware that everyone was walking her. The delivery man apologised again and hurried away. Charlie stormed into her office and slammed the door.
"Jo, I still think that was pretty harsh," Aden ventured.
She glared at him.
"Harsher than her screwing a guy behind my back?" she snapped.
"I'm just saying..."
"Well don't," Joey instructed. "I don't care about stupid little gestures. Does she really think that a few roses..."
"Fifty four," Aden interrupted.
"Fifty fucking four roses will make up for what she did?" Joey said, not losing her flow. "I hope everyone was watching when she got them back and I hope she feels absolutely humiliated. Then maybe she'll come even a little bit close to how I feel."
By the time Charlie arrived home from work, she was in an even worse mood than when she'd left. Ruby was waiting for her, desperate to know how things had gone with Joey and if she had liked the flowers. Charlie merely handed over the bag of mulch and stormed into her room.
The next day, Joey was back at work. She'd been working in a sailing store for the last few weeks, selling equipment and booking trips for customers. It was fun but she'd had to request a couple of urgent days off in order to move house and sort her head out, although the latter was going to take far longer. At this point, she didn't think she would ever really recover from losing Charlie. Her anger was doing well to mask her pain but in those moments she spent alone and thoughtful, everything hurt.
At lunch time, Joey met with Aden for food. He was still working for the trawler, although spending time with his boss, Gibbsy, wasn't something he particularly enjoyed. They were just leaving the Diner together when they spotted Charlie, hovering anxiously outside.
"Joey!" she called.
Joey rolled her eyes and attempted to walk past. Aden hung back to give them a little privacy, even though Joey was storming ahead and insisting that she didn't want to talk to her ex.
"I bought you this," Charlie ventured, offering out a teddy bear.
Joey turned and looked at it. Then she stared up into Charlie's face.
"Did you not get the message with the roses because this poor little thing could be facing carnage," she said.
Charlie chewed her lip.
"Sorry you didn't like them," she said.
"Well, I didn't," Joey told her. "And I don't like this."
She moved to walk away. Charlie watched her go, clutching the bear. She should have known that it wasn't enough to get her and Joey talking again.
"I'll keep him for you," she called.
"Don't bother!" Joey yelled back over her shoulder.
Aden glanced almost apologetically at Charlie and then raced to catch up with his friend.
The following morning, Charlie was exhausted and glad of a day off. Still, she was waiting for the Diner to open so she could get a coffee and sit outside, keeping a close eye on the beach. She just hoped that Joey would show up soon and that her latest gesture would make some kind of difference. Against Joey's advice, she had kept the teddy bear and she desperately hoped that she might get the chance to give it to her another day.
Joey headed to the Diner for a coffee before work. She was perplexed by a crowd gathering by the beach, talking. Amongst them were Martha and Rachel. They looked at her and smiled.
"What's going on?" Joey asked.
Martha and Rachel pointed. Written across the beach in huge stones was 'I love you Joey Collins'. Joey stared, open mouthed for a long time. The whole thing must have taken hours. Feeling eyes on her, she turned and saw Charlie hovering behind the Diner, clearly wanting to see Joey's response but wanting to stay out of the way. The two women gazed at each other for a moment. Joey felt her heart begin to pound. A fluttering of love broke out inside her. All she wanted to do was fling herself into Charlie's arms and tell her that all was forgiven. Then she remembered what she had to forgive her for. Turning cold, and angry with herself for even considering taking her back, Joey turned, charged onto the beach and trashed the display in tears.
