ALRIGHT GUYS, THIS IS IT, THE FINAL CHAPTER! I HOPE YOU ENJOYED READING IT AND I'M THINKING OF DOING A SEQUEL LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK. LEAVE THE LOVE!
Chapter 25: It's never too late
Charlie and Alex were back at school the next day. Alex of course was sitting on the steps outside of Degrassi. Charlie pulled up in her car, got out and walked towards Alex. Alex stood up just to watch Charlie walk by her, she didn't know what to do, should she chase after her or just let her go? Instead the bell rang and Alex just went to class. In class all Alex could think about was what happened the night before…
Flashback
"move in with me…" Alex said staring into Charlie's eyes. Charlie just sat there, frozen with fear. She didn't know what to say, she loved Alex, but she couldn't move in with her, what about her family? She couldn't just leave them.
"uhhh" was all Charlie could say. Alex saw the expression on her face and got up and walked away. She felt crushed, it was as if Charlie told her she didn't love her just by the look on her face. She started heading home when Charlie ran up beside her.
"Alex!" she shouted turning Alex to face her.
"I saw the expression on your face, forget that I even asked. Just go to Chicago and I hope you have a great life" Alex said rudely and tried to walk away, but Charlie pulled her back. Both Charlie and Alex were crying but Charlie was crying harder.
"Alex, come on. I can't just move in with you, I can't leave my parents." Charlie started.
"oh but you can just leave me?" Alex said continuing to walk quickly.
"Alex, it's not like that. My dad, he's making me go with him, he's making me go to the university in Chicago. I don't want to leave. I want to stay here with you more than anything else. I love you so much! But I just can't. Even if I could, I've seen your place, it's a good size for you and your mom, but not for three people. It just won't work."
"we can make it work!" Alex said crying hysterically now. Charlie stopped walking when Alex stopped walking.
"fine come to university with me in Toronto, we can get our own apartment down in the city or something, anything…" Alex said trying to convince Charlie.
"Alex, it's not that easy…" Charlie said she couldn't even imagine how hard this was for Alex.
"no, it is. You're just choosing to make everything difficult!" Alex yelled and walked off. Charlie just stood there tired of following Alex. Charlie was just unsure of everything right now. Unsure of how their relationship would be tomorrow, or in a month, or in a year, she was just unsure.
End of Flashback
Later that Day…
Charlie had math class like usual and was bored as hell considering all they actually did in math, was math. Who would have guessed but Charlie was just kind of lost in her thoughts that was until she saw a folded piece of paper land on her desk as Paige walked by. She looked up and saw Paige ask to go to the bathroom and then walk out of the class. Charlie opened the note
meet me in the girls bathroom
Charlie had had some bad experiences with Paige but was bored, and thought maybe this might be interesting. A few minutes later Charlie walked into the girls bathroom subtly.
"Paige?" Charlie whispered.
"we're the only ones in here hun, you don't have to whisper" Paige said while leaning against the wall on the other side of the bathroom.
"so what do you want?" Charlie asked.
"I want to talk" she said
"about?"
"you and Alex…" Paige said
"Paige, we've talked about this, I'm with Alex and I'm not going to date you" Charlie said like she knew everything
"from what I've heard you're not exactly with Alex anymore" Paige said in a cocky tone.
"that's none of your business" Charlie said starting to get pissed.
"Charlie, look I know your moving…" Paige started but saw the confused look on Charlie's face. "…Marco told me" Paige added.
"so what's your point? I'm moving, no big, I move like every year." Charlie said like she didn't care, but deep down she felt so sad and depressed.
"hun come on, I've learned to read lies" Paige said.
"what do you want Paige?" Charlie asked sternly again, she didn't want to talk about her lying about her feelings.
"look, I know this can't be easy for you leaving your girlfriend and all but you can't just do this to Alex. She loves you." Paige said caringly.
"I know, I love her too, but I can't control what my parents do or what they decide, it doesn't work like that" Charlie said as she slowly started to open up to Paige.
"just talk to them, they might understand…"
"Paige, aside from all of this drama and what not, why are you being so nice to me? Did you forget about last weekend?" Charlie asked.
"no I didn't forget, but I'm in my own relationship now, I no longer feel the need to steal my ex-girlfriend's girlfriend." Paige said
"is that all it took? Why didn't you tell me that before, I would have set you up on like 10 dates" Charlie said
"okay that's not the point, you need to talk to Alex and sort this out, maybe you guys can work out a deal or something. Don't tell Alex this but I still love her… not in a romantic way, don't worry… but I used to date her, I know her just as well as you know her. And right now I know that she is in love with a girl who is leaving her. She can't deal with that sort of stuff, she's not a problem solver, she's more of a problem thinker." Paige said sincerely.
"I know… I know… but I can't deal with this either" Charlie said quietly as she walked out of the girls bathroom. Paige had tried to help her which was nice, but it didn't really do anything. Charlie was back where she started.
A couple of days after Charlie and Paige's rendez-vous in the bathroom Alex found something in her locker. She was originally getting some books for class but when she opened the squeaky door a piece of paper fell out with a note. Alex opened the note and read
I'm sorry
-Paige
Alex put the note down on her shelf and looked at the other piece of paper, it was a page from today's newspaper. Alex looked it over again and again just to double check what it was. Just when she finally fathomed what Paige was doing she saw her in the hallways. Alex grabbed the papers and closed her locker.
"Paige!" Alex yelled out to Paige who was walking with Marco and Hazel at the time. She said goodbye and walked over to Alex.
"hi" Paige said quietly.
"what is this?" Alex asked holding the papers up.
"listen, I just thought that this could help a little, I know we've had some problems lately, and I was just trying to redeem myself." Paige said not making eye contact with Alex, she was still scared, after all she had been punched by this same girl only a few days before.
Alex was speechless for a moment, she looked angry though. She kept trying to get words out of her mouth but nothing was working. Alex finally gave up and was about to walk away when she was finally able to get something out.
"thank you" Alex said and walked away. After all that, Paige thought she was going to get an ear full from Alex for budding into her life but instead she got a thank you. Paige may have been a bitch before but she really did redeem herself.
For the entire week now, Alex and Charlie had gone to extreme measures to avoid each other but Alex had enough. During Lunch Alex went outside to find Charlie and Marco sitting together eating their lunches. Every day Marco would take turns on who to eat lunch with, today it happened to be Charlie. Alex walked over to them to talk to Charlie who started to get up but Alex just pushed her to sit back down.
"we need to talk" Alex said facing Charlie who was facing Marco. "get lost homo" Alex said not even looking at Marco, usually she would make a joke but today she was in a serious mood.
"you do realize, you're gay too right?" Marco asked back. But now was not the time to make jokes. Alex shot Marco a quick glance and he left.
"we need to talk" Alex repeated as she was trying to get Charlie to look at her.
"no we don't" Charlie said quietly as she once again tried to get away from Alex, but she just pulled her back down.
"Charlie wait. This whole moving thing… it's just become one big mess. And I don't want it to be this way." Alex said. But Charlie just continued to ignore her.
"you know I'm going to stay here until you talk to me, even if it take all afternoon. And I'm going to keep you here with me" Alex said slyly but seriously.
"Alex… I.. I don't even know what to say" Charlie said looking down at the table.
"then let me help you. Say you want to finish your year at Degrassi, say you want to go to University here, say you want to stay with me" Alex said.
"I do, I want all of it, but I just can't. My-" Charlie said being cut off by Alex.
"no buts, why is there always a but?!" Alex shouted. "if you want it, go for it. What if your dad said to become a lawyer just like him, would you listen?" Alex asked trying to prove a point.
"well, no-" Charlie started
"then how is this any different?" Alex asked.
"Alex, it's just that if I stayed here, I would need my own apartment, I would need to find one, and move all of my stuff in there in less than a week all while doing homework and spending time with you. Not to mention, how would I pay for the apartment? I don't have enough money for an apartment in downtown Toronto. I don't even have a job. And just to add to that, my parents would never let me live alone downtown." Charlie said glancing at Alex every so often.
"then here" Alex said as she pulled out a newspaper page from her bag.
"what's this?" Charlie asked opening it up. She saw several red circles on the page.
"it's a list of apartments in Toronto all for low prices." Alex said pointing them out.
"but how did you know…" Charlie started.
"that an apartment in Toronto would become an option? I didn't."
"But I don't understand…" Charlie said confused
"it doesn't matter right now, just look" Alex said pointing to the newspaper again.
"Alex, it's great, it really is but I still don't know. My parents would never agree to something like this." Charlie said staring at the paper.
"listen, just ask them. They might go for it, after all your parents did buy you a jaguar as a guilt trip when you moved, and plus you're going to have to move out one day." Alex said
"yeah, but it's not just that. My parents already think Toronto is a dangerous place, and an 18 year old living by her self wouldn't thrill them too much."
"so I'll move in with you. I mean I've got to move out of my mom's place sooner or later."
"Alex…" Charlie started to say but the bell interrupted her.
"just think about it, would you?" Alex said getting up from her seat to go back into the school. Charlie didn't even answer, she just folded up the newspaper and put it in her pocket and went back to class.
Later that day Charlie was sitting at home lying face down on her bed, propped up on her elbows just reading over the newspaper ads. Would she actually be able to pull it off? She could finally live with Alex and live like a real person, instead of staying with her parents forever.
"Charlie, do you have any laundry that needs to be done?" Mrs. Barker asked walking into Charlie's bedroom unannounced. Charlie quickly hid the newspaper under her pillow, not wanting her mother to see it.
"uh yeah, over there" Charlie said pointing to a basket in the corner of her room. "mom, can I ask you something?"
"sure Charlie, what is it?" Mrs. Barker said sitting down on the bed next to Charlie.
"…" Charlie, couldn't find the words to talk to her mother, how was she supposed to tell her that she wanted to move out? To move in with her girlfriend, while her family moves away to Chicago. "never mind, it's not important" Charlie said getting up.
"where are you going?" she asked.
"just out for a drive" Charlie said exiting the room. Charlie drove out to the spot where she and Alex usually go to look at stars. But seeing as it was still sunlight out she didn't bother getting out of the car. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed Alex's number.
"hello?"
"did you really mean what you said?"
"Charlie?" Alex asked.
"yeah, did you really mean it?" she asked again
"of course I did" Alex said convincingly "why? Have you talked to your parents yet?" she asked eagerly
"no. I've got to go" Charlie said.
"wait, whether or not you choose to stay here with me or move to Chicago with your parents you should know, I'm moving into one of the apartments circled on the list. I want you to be my room mate, but if you leave I'll find someone else. I'm moving into the apartment at 1421 Queen street, in a couple of days. It's apartment 3C" Alex said and hung up the phone. Charlie thought for a second she could either move to Chicago or move in with Alex. Sometimes Charlie wished that someone would make the decisions for her, the ones that she just couldn't decide on, the ones… like this one.
The day had finally come, it was the day that Charlie was moving. Charlie and her family were all packed up and the house was empty. Marco had come by to say his farewells to Charlie.
"I'm going to miss you Charlie" Marco said hugging her.
"I'm going to miss you too, my gay friend" Charlie said.
"I'm going to miss the way you make fun of my sexuality, even though you're gay too!" he said making Charlie laugh. "Have you talked to Alex?"
"no." she replied bluntly.
"Charlie…" Marco said accusingly. "You haven't said goodbye to your girlfriend yet?"
"she doesn't even know I'm leaving right now."
"what? Are you crazy?" Marco asked
"Marco, I can't, it would just be too… hard" Charlie said.
"Charlie, trying to forget someone you love is like… trying to remember someone you've never met, it's just impossible. Listen, you and I both know that you love her and she loves you it's just meant to be, it's fate." He said with his whole heart.
"no. If fate comes into play we'll end up together in the future." Charlie said walking towards her parents.
"Charlie, sometimes you have to make your own fate." Marco yelled out to Charlie who just kept walking away. Charlie got in the cab with her parents and started to drive. Charlie started tearing up at the fact that she was leaving everything and everyone behind.
"mom, dad, can I ask you something?" Charlie said.
"you're only allowed 1 carry on bag on the plane sweetie" Charlie father said.
"no, actually that's not what I was going to ask. You liked Alex right?" she asked looking at them both.
"of course we did, Charlie" her mother said.
"would you ever let me… move in with her, you know just me and her… here in Toronto?" Charlie asked slowly to make sure their were no complications. Charlie's mother was about to say something, but Mr. Barker beat her to the punch.
"absolutely not" he said plainly.
"what? Why not?" Charlie asked surprised.
"Charlie, you are too young to be living by your self in Toronto" he said.
"but I said I'd live with Alex"
"Charlie, you and I both know that your relationship with her wouldn't last." Her mother, of all people, said straight to her face. Charlie just looked hurt, her parents didn't think that she would end up with Alex, even though they knew she loved her. Charlie just couldn't believe it.
Mean while at Alex's apartment she got a call from Marco on her cell phone.
"hello?" she answered.
"Alex, she's leaving today!" he said frantically.
"Marco, calm down. Is she going to Chicago?" Alex asked calmly.
"well she got into the cab with her parents and she's on the way to the airport the last time I checked" he said.
"okay" she said and hung up the phone. Charlie was on her way to the airport at this very second, but Alex had hope. She thought that it's not too late, not until she gets on that plane. Until then Alex would sit there in her apartment, on her couch waiting for her. She would just sit there staring at the door waiting for Charlie to burst through.
Her plane would take off at 6:00pm. Alex looked at the clock, the bright, red numbers, 5:49 it read. She still had 11 minutes. After that Alex would finally know if Charlie chose her, or Chicago. Every minute that passed by Alex would worry a bit more. 10 minutes left she thought to herself, that was plenty of time for one person to walk in and change her life. The more Alex thought about it, the more she would convince herself that she would walk in any minute, but at the same time she knew, the more she built it up the bigger the let down would be if she didn't show up. What was she supposed to do without Charlie, she had spent the last 3 and a half months with this girl, it was weird just sitting here with out her. Imagine how weird it would be living with another person for the next four years, if not more. A few more minutes had gone by, it was 5:57pm now, and Charlie had three minutes left. Alex looked down at the cell phone in her hand, no new messages Alex read. If Charlie tried to call her she would be ready, but she would much rather see her than call her. Just then her phone rang.
She looked down at the screen to see who it was, and to her disappointment it wasn't Charlie.
"what is it Marco?" Alex asked sadly.
"so listen, I was thinking, I could come see your new place, and we could pig out on some 'my girlfriend AKA the love of my life just left me' food and talk about it."
"Marco!" Alex said in an angry tone.
"I'm sorry. Listen I'll be there in like two minutes just hang on." Marco said and hung up the phone.
"bye to you too" Alex said to a dial tone knowing Marco had already hung up. She looked back up at the clock. 5:59pm, it was now or never. Then she heard her phone ring again. This time it wasn't Marco.
"hello?" Alex answered as if she was about to cry.
"so I was in the cab with my parents and I finally got up the courage to ask them if I could move in with you in downtown Toronto. And they flat out said no. So, picture this me, sitting in an airport with my carry on bag on my lap and I started to think. My parents have always told me what to do, where to go, what to become, but then it hit me. I have never told my parents what I think, what I want, so I turned to them and I said 'mom, dad, I am 18 years old and I think I am old enough to make my own decisions in life.'" Said Charlie.
"and what did they say?" Alex asked hanging on to every word that came out of Charlie's mouth.
"they said when we get to Chicago I can have first pick at what ever room in the house I want" Charlie said jokingly. "but I had something else in mind"
Just then someone knocked at the door. Alex was angry as hell that someone was interrupting her conversation with Charlie, but she thought it would probably just be Marco with his comfort food.
"hold that thought just for one second" Alex said into the phone as she got up to answer the door. She opened it to see someone who was not Marco. She was absolutely speechless. It was Charlie, standing there a suit case in one hand, a duffel bag in the other and a shoulder bag wrapped around her body. She still had the phone to her ear, and tears in her eyes.
"I told them I had something else in mind, the person I loved was here in Toronto" Charlie said and closed her phone. Alex was in so much shock she couldn't move, she still even had the phone to her ear.
"but I thought your plane left at 6:00pm" Alex said looking at the clock, it said 6:01pm.
"it did, but a good friend reminded me that it's impossible to forget someone who you truly love. And plus Paige, kind of convinced me." Charlie said closing Alex's phone for her.
"Paige?" Alex asked.
"yeah, she kind of talked to me in the bathroom one day and it got me thinking, well that and the newspaper you showed me" Charlie said with a sigh.
"uh, confession" Alex said as she let out a heavy sigh "Paige kind of left that newspaper in my locker and yeah…" Alex said like she felt a little guilty.
"I guess we have Paige to thank for saving our relationship" Charlie said with tears of joy streaking down her face. She took a step closer to Alex who was still in the hall.
"I guess so…" she said stepping even closer while smiling, but still with tears in her eyes. Just the sight of Charlie crying was enough to get Alex going.
"but I don't get it, what happened with your parents?" Alex asked confused.
"I told you, I had something else in mind… you were that something" Charlie said now only inches away from Alex's face. Alex couldn't help but stare into her eyes, it just felt right.
"I love you" Alex said pulling Charlie in closer to her body. Alex had tears going down her face, it wasn't because she was sad or anything. But they were tears of joy, her girlfriend finally came back to her and now they could be together. She was crying because she loved Charlie so much.
"I love you too" Charlie said as she and Alex kissed in the hallway, like they had never kissed before. It was one of those kisses where you see in the end of every great romantic movie. The best of the best kind of kisses, the ones that people in 50 years would still remember. They didn't care who was around or if the building was burning down. Nothing was going to stop them from being together right now.
"aww, look, it's a couple of gay kids making out in the hallway" a familiar voice said down the hall.
"you're gay too" Alex and Charlie said at the same time finally breaking the kiss. They were so caught up in the moment they didn't even bother breaking eye contact.
"what are you guys doing?" Marco asked as he saw the two girls as if they were in a trance.
"we're just… enjoying the moment" Alex said still staring into Charlie's eyes.
"Well so much for comfort food. I went down to the market to buy all this ice cream, whipped cream, chocolate and various fruits and came down here just to see you two making out." He said holding up a paper bag.
Charlie and Alex just looked at each other slyly.
"whipped cream?" Charlie asked.
"various fruits?" Alex asked.
"yeah, why?" Marco asked.
Alex grabbed the bag from Marco's hands and Charlie grabbed her bags out in the hallway and they both quickly ran into the apartment.
"oh I see how it is!" Marco yelled to a now closed door. "…gotta love being gay" Marco said as he walked away. He knew what they were doing on the other side of the door, he just smiled. Not at the fact that they were 'enjoying the moment' but the fact that they were together, that they were meant to be together, and they would last. To Charlie and Alex 'enjoying the moment' could mean different things. Yes one of them was sex, but it was also sitting in each other's arms during that perfect sunset, or sitting in a mess of cookie dough, but what ever they meant by enjoying the moment, it always turned out that they enjoy that moment together. And if they could, they would enjoy the moment forever.