Thanks once again for reading and reviewing, all your comments are most appreciated :) I just wanted to assure you guys that I'm no Cameron Welsh, and that I promise our ladies are going to find their way back to one another. Always darkest before the dawn, and all of that ;)
Chapter Nine
She was staring at a file on her desk, but the words weren't registering in her thoughts. A sense of relief had settled over her after she'd spoken to Joey. The remoteness with which she'd been treated had been replaced by some of the warmth that she had desperately been craving. Charlie was so grateful that Joey had let her walls down, just a little bit. She had seen Joey again – the one that laughed and teased her – if only for a second.
That didn't mean that she was happy exactly. She wanted to spend time with Joey and she didn't care what capacity that was in. If Joey had accepted her friendship Charlie would have clung to it gratefully. She would do anything if it meant that they could be close again.
She struggled with the knowledge that there was nothing that she could do to change Joey's mind. Joey was perhaps the most headstrong person she had ever met, aside from herself. If she begged her to stay she would go. If she asked for a friend, she would be offered an acquaintance.
Simply put, Joey was too good for her. Joey had always put herself down. She was always highlighting that she had no friends, or that she couldn't hold down a job. But what she couldn't see was her own innate goodness. She never would have hurt me. She never would have let me down, Charlie thought.
When she had held Joey it had felt unmistakably right - she hadn't wanted to let go.
She looked up at the door as Angelo walked through, not bothering to knock. It irritated her when he acted too familiar with her while they were at work.
He didn't bother with preliminaries. "Did you talk to Joey today?"
"Yes, I talked to her," she said testily. It annoyed her that he was asking, and she had to remind herself that she had essentially asked for his permission.
"And?" he pushed ahead aggressively.
She sighed. "And we cleared the air a bit, I suppose. I feel a bit better."
Smiling, he said, "good, good. Do you think you'll be seeing her much?"
"No, not really."
She noted that he was trying not to look too happy about it, but he was smiling slightly. "Listen, I've got a lot of work to do. We can talk later," she cut him off before he could ask for any more details. Angelo nodded and excused himself. Charlie slammed the file shut. Since Joey had come back, it bothered her more than ever – the way she and Angelo were with one another. It was like they could barely manage civility sometimes. Angelo's way of communicating was to get pissy, and she was no better. There was always this tension between them, and she had always mistakenly translated it into passion.
You need to end this soon, she told herself – and not for the first time.
** ** **
They kept to their word. Over the weeks, Joey started to feel like she might be making some progress. Just having that conversation with Charlie, and the determination she felt to move forward, made her feel like maybe it were possible. She was still having trouble sleeping, but she found herself smiling a little bit more often.
Every time Charlie came into the diner it felt like she suffered a setback. They were polite and pleasant with one another, and worked hard at acting like nothing had ever happened between them. The strain of it wore on her. She found herself waiting for Charlie to come, and when she left Joey would dissect every minute of their interaction.
It might be just her imagination, but it felt like Charlie was coming in more than necessary, just to see her. She'd always drunk a lot of coffee but now she came in every day without fail, sometimes more than once. She didn't know whether to be flattered or annoyed. It wasn't clear to her whether Charlie really wanted to see her or was just checking up on her. It was also possible that she was working at wearing down her resistance and trying to manoeuvre them into a friendship. She had never been very good at taking no for an answer.
"Hello Constable Buckton," Joey joked as she approached the table. "Did you come in for some donuts?"
"What?" Charlie said, looking confused. She never ate junk food, Joey knew that.
"You know . . . because cops like donuts?"
Charlie smiled. "Oh right. Just a coffee for me, please." She said, dropping her smile when Joey walked away. She wished Joey would stay and chat to her, just for a little while. Early on she'd asked Joey to join her for breakfast one morning, but Joey had declined saying that she couldn't take a break. Charlie had gotten the message and had never asked again.
"So you've been coming in a lot lately. Is Leah's plunger broken or something?" Joey said as she placed the steaming coffee in front of Charlie. She couldn't resist commenting. If she were honest she'd admit that she liked seeing Charlie so often – but that didn't mean that it should be happening. It was defeating the purpose of their agreement. And making it harder for her to move on.
Charlie looked down, trying not to visibly squirm. "Just lazy I guess. I've been leaving too late in the mornings. It's easier to just buy it." She felt so embarrassed, knowing that her story were paper thin. If she were running late she wouldn't have time to sit around in the diner.
Joey didn't think before she did it. She just leaned down close to Charlie's ear from behind her and said suggestively, "Maybe you just like being waited on." Their heads were close and almost touching; and Joey had laid a hand on her shoulder. Charlie felt Joey's lips and warm breath near her ear, and Charlie's skin broke out in goose bumps. She wished they weren't in a public place – she wished Joey would kiss her neck. Then there was only empty space behind her.
"What was that all about?" Ruby squealed, flinging herself down onto the chair across from Charlie.
Charlie cleared her throat, then picked up her coffee and sipped on it. Not knowing the answer herself, she didn't know what to say.
"You're blushing!" Ruby said accusingly. "What did she say to you? She said something dirty, didn't she?"
Charlie was not about to explain that it wasn't what she'd said, but the way in which she'd said it.
"Nothing."
"What's going on between you two?"
"Nothing," Charlie said emphatically. "I'm with Angelo."
Ruby looked at her sceptically. "Whatever." It was not the first time she'd tried to speak to her about Joey. As usual, trying to get Charlie to talk about her feelings was like getting blood out of a stone. She rolled her eyes when Charlie turned her head to stare at Joey.
Ruby didn't know who Charlie thought she was kidding.
