Tuesday

8:02pm

Philadelphia, PA

Dee was slowly losing control over the situation. Not that she had that much control to begin with. As things progressed, any question of her coming to her senses and stopping had completely gone out the window as she kissed Charlie with a desperate sort of passion.

They were both stretched across the length of the couch, Charlie lying on his back with Dee pressed on top of him. As soon as they had fallen into that position it was as if the truth of what they were doing clicked into place and both began kissing one another with a strong desire thrumming between them.

Both of their bodies began reacting on their own, despite what each of them may have wanted. As the kiss deepened and Dee felt Charlie's tongue caress her own, a sigh escaped her lips and her hips pressed harder against his. This elicited a similar response from Charlie as he felt himself growing hard and he moved his hands under Dee's shirt, exploring the bare expanse of her back and sides.

A groan had just passed her lips when Charlie's phone began ringing in his pocket. The spell broken, Dee leapt off of Charlie as if she had been burned and quickly patted her hair and shirt back into place while making sure that she was standing at a reasonable distance away from him.

Charlie's heart was racing a mile a minute as he fished his phone out of his pocket and brought it to his ear. "Hello?" he asked rather shakily, his voice a bit huskier than usual.

"Charlie? Are you sick? You sound strange," Dee could clearly hear Frank's voice coming through the speaker.

Charlie cleared his throat and ran a hand through his already tousled hair and down his flushed face before responding. "No I… uh… just went for a little jog is all so I'm out of breath. What's up?"

"Mac told me that you left the bar over an hour ago. You really expect me to believe that you went for 'a little jog' for that long? Without coming home first?"

"Yup," was all Charlie said in response.

There was a bit of a silence at the other end before Frank continued. "Where are you anyway?"

"I'm on my way back home right now Frank, ok? Quit harassing me," Charlie exclaimed. With that he snapped his phone closed and stood up, a heavy sigh breezing past his lips.

His eyes flickered to Dee's briefly before the blush returned to his cheeks and he looked away, deciding that picking invisible lint off of the couch would be a better use of his time.

"So that was Frank, huh?" Dee asked, attempting to fake normalcy even though her heart had refused to resume a normal pace and she had to clench her hands into fists to keep them from shaking.

"Yeah he keeps, like, bugging me about where I've been going and stuff," Charlie mumbled as he shrugged his shoulders. "I guess I should head home."

"Right," Dee said, confused as to whether she should feel relieved or disappointed. Her eyes followed Charlie to the door where he finally met her stare with his own.

"So, I guess I'll see you tomorrow?" he said while still looking very embarrassed.

Dee was only able to nod in response before he had left her apartment once more. As soon as the door closed behind him, Dee covered her face with her hands and sat back down on the couch. What on Earth have I done? She thought to herself. She didn't have too long to contemplate what had transpired before her own phone rang.

"Yeah?" she answered, thoroughly irritated with people and their interruptions.

"It's Mac. I decided that I couldn't wait until tomorrow to demand – I mean – ask you what's going on between you and Charlie. First you two are sneaking around and just a little while ago Frank called me asking where Charlie was. I know you guys left around the same time. Anything you feel like sharing?"

Dee's only response was to growl and throw her phone to the other side of the couch. She could not believe the luck she was having today.

0.0.0

Wednesday

10:20am

Philadelphia, PA

That morning, it had been terribly difficult for Dee to drag herself out of bed. Although she had no intention of admitting it to herself or anyone else, she was afraid. Afraid of seeing Charlie after what had happened and afraid of the way she was beginning to feel about him. She really couldn't chalk up all of this to the mysterious alcohol anymore. Although it certainly had helped things along, she found herself being effected by Charlie while sober as well. Last night for instance. She had kept herself up half of the night trying to convince herself that it was all because she had chugged a considerable amount of the bottle in a short time. However, she hadn't really had that much when it came to how much she normally drank. And what about Charlie? He had barely had any at all.

Then there was the dream. When she had finally managed to fall asleep, she had envisioned her and Charlie taking things a lot further than they had. She had sat bolt upright in her bed, heart pounding from either lust or absolute repulsion. She liked to think that it was the latter but it remained yet another thing that she was trying to understand

As she made her way slowly to the bar, she tried to think of what to do. Pretend everything was normal? Take Charlie aside and tell him everything was a huge mistake and could never happen again? That second option made her chest tighten in a way she didn't understand. Great. Something else she would have to figure out. What was the count up to now? Five?

A screeching of tires made her look up suddenly. She leapt back up on to the sidewalk right as a pick-up truck came to a halt where she had been standing in the street.

"Hey lady, watch where you're going! You wanna get killed or something?" the large and surly looking man yelled from his open window.

Dee didn't even have the motivation to curse at him so she flipped him off half heartedly and continued on her way.

Her thoughts were still racing by the time she turned the last corner to get to the bar. Just then all of her thoughts came to a dead stop, as did she. Charlie was walking down the sidewalk on the opposite side of the block.

Is this some sort of sick joke? Dee questioned while looking up at the sky pleadingly. God, if you're up there, do you think you could cause a sinkhole to swallow me right now? Thanks.

They arrived at the door to the bar at the same exact time. Of course.

"Oh hey Dee," Charlie said as he shoved his hands in his pockets sheepishly.

"Hi Charlie," Dee bit out quickly as she practically lunged for the door handle. Unfortunately for her, Charlie reached out at the same time and their hands hit one another.

Dee jerked her hand away as a shadow of the spark she felt last night shot up her arm. "Sorry, sorry you go first," she said as she rubbed her hand absentmindedly.

"No, really. You go," Charlie said as he held the door open for her.

Dee sighed and wondered whether things could get any more awkward. Her question was about to be answered as she moved forward. The way that Charlie was holding the door open meant that Dee had to walk under his arm to go through. Or, rather, force her way under his arm.

"Goddamnit Charlie!" she growled as she shoved her way past him.

Still grumbling to herself, she stumbled into the bar to see Mac, Dennis, and Frank staring at her and Charlie with very confused expressions on their faces.

"What the hell are you two doing? Attempting to choreograph some sort of illiterate bird dance?" Dennis quipped.

Dee chuckled humorlessly. "Your brilliance astounds me, Dennis."

"Dee, could I see you in the back office? Now?" Mac said as he grabbed her arm and all but dragged her after him.

As the door to the office slammed behind them Mac let her go and crossed his arms, staring at her questioningly.

"What? What is so goddamn important?" Dee said as she rubbed her arm where Mac had grabbed her. It would probably bruise. Maybe I could sue him for it. Yeah, yeah that's good

"What the hell are you smirking to yourself about?' Mac asked, breaking into her thoughts.

"Nothing. Don't worry about it," Dee said.

"Ok… So what was that all about?"

"What are you going on about now? I don't have time for this shit."

"Dee, first of all you have nothing but time so shut up. Second, I'm talking about the fact that you and Charlie 'just happen' to leave the bar last night at around the same time. Then you 'just happen' to show up at the bar at the same time this morning. Standing very close to one another I might add," Mac said as he raised his eyebrows at her and linked his arms behind his back.

"Who are you my mother? Anyway, yes, we 'just happened' to leave last night at the same time. We also 'just happened' to get here at the same time and Charlie was being his usual stupid self and got in my way." Dee said as she mimicked Mac's finger quotes when she said 'just happened'. "That's all, alright? Now leave me alone." With that, she spun on her heel and walked back out the door, slamming it behind her.

As she made her way back into the bar, she looked up and met Charlie's eyes where he was sitting next to Frank at the bar. "What were you doing in there with Mac?" he asked as he furrowed his eyebrows at her.

"Oh my God! What is with everyone giving me the third degree lately? I almost miss when all of you just ignored me," Dee said exasperatedly.

"Don't worry Sis. I still try my hardest to forget that you exist," Dennis said from his position behind the bar.

"Well thank you. At least someone around here is acting normal," she said. Judging by how her morning was going, today was going to be a long day.

A/N: Ok so this chapter is a bit shorter than usual but I couldn't find a better stopping point. Hope you enjoy! Leave a review?