Thanks for the words of encouragement. Ale you made me laugh - Charlie really does have it bad!
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Charlie drops her coffee into a holder, her hands tremble lightly. Pushing back into her seat, she listens to the sound of the pounding surf and her idling car. Visions of Joey run rampantly through her mind: the exposed hip; the long dark hair; the tight toned legs; the cute little shorts; Charlie knows exactly what she wants to do with all those things.
One hand hesitantly reaches for the door handle, she contemplates going back inside the diner; nerves get the better of her as she feels a hot flush crawl slowly upwards.
Charlie gently shakes her head, a vague effort to release the girl from her mind, she makes a mental note to herself, 'it does not work.'
Her phone rings, she looks at the screen - work. She doesn't answer, reluctantly, throwing her car into drive she heads slowly, carefully to the station.
***
Later, frustrated, Charlie sits at her desk. Eyeing the mountain of papers before her. She is keenly aware she has been there for over three hours, completed a lousy two reports and is only sat staring at the third, unable to complete it. Unable to get the mysterious, beautiful, brunette girl, out of her head.
"This is pathetic" she hears the words fall from her lips before even realizing she has thought them.
Moments later Charlie watches her pen as it drops noisily onto the table, loudly exhaling, she leans heavily back in her chair, rubbing furiously at her temples.
"I don't even know who she is, I haven't even spoken to her" Charlie's lets her inner turmoil be spoken out loud.
She knows she has not been this affected by a woman since Emily; the sudden thought of that name makes her smile; memories come back to her.
***
It had been almost two years ago. Charlie had been reassigned from the city, to Summer Bay. A place she hadn't even heard of. Her sister Ruby had had to come with her. Charlie remembers how traumatic it had all been; Ruby not at all pleased to be leaving her friends. There was no choice, Charlie has been Ruby's guardian since their mothers death.
Charlie and Emily were in love, they had been together just over a year at that point. Emily was Charlie's first.
An interesting year, that first one, Charlie now admitted to herself, remembering Ruby's initial reaction to her coming out.
"Sort yourself out Charlie" she had angrily yelled the morning Charlie had tried to explain.
However, she hadn't taken long to come around, she understood how it hadn't changed anything; only Charlie's happiness.
After that first blissful year together Emily had made the commitment easily to relocate with Charlie. They were inseparable.
It had been the Bays initial reaction to them that had not been easy. It was like they were the first gays in the village, although they later learned that that was not the case.
Charlie feels her hands run roughly through her hair, a dry laugh escapes her throat, she remembers Colleen:
"But, they're; they're both girls; I don't; how, how can they?" Colleen had often been heard stammering, mumbling to herself.
Alf, never far behind, "stone the crows woman, would you put a sock in it, it's none of your flamin' business"
However, even Colleen had come around, well, at least got use to the idea Charlie found herself thinking. She still caught Colleen rolling her eyes some times.
Charlie knew some people still looked at her oddly, but at least all the school yard antics and bullying had stopped.
'It certainly had been, and still is, different from the city' she hears herself mumble.
***
For Emily though, Summer Bay became too much. She had lovingly watched for over a year as Charlie built her career, at the same time, however, Emily quietly found herself needing more.
By the end Emily had felt suffocated a little in the Bay, the town so small. She longed for the anonymity of a city and for a choice of good gay bars, "even just one gay bar" she had often joked to Charlie.
So nine months ago, Charlie had tearfully driven her to the airport and watched as Emily left for a new life in London. It had been sad and heartbreaking for both of them at the time but it was also the right thing to do, they had loved each other and neither had wanted to hold the other back from their dreams.
***
Wiping a single tear from her cheek, 'wow, it's been a while since I thought about all that.' Charlie acknowledges, slowly returning to the present.
More frustrated and annoyed, Charlie pushes back from her desk, she finds herself standing not sure what to do; she paces briefly, then staring at the pile of papers, returns to her desk.
The afternoon drags by slowly. She struggles to concentrate. The mysterious brunette never leaves her mind.
