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Perfectly Ever After?
CHAPTER ONE
Jody saw his happy face and ran to greet her friend. "Hey! So what happened?" She asked excitedly.
"I got in, here." Charlie said.
Jody hugged him tightly. "Oh my God! That's amazing!" She stepped back ad looked into Charlie's eye.
"Jonathan said you're joining Cooper's company." Charlie said, a little disappointed. He thought Jody was finally his, when Cooper goes and gets his own Company.
Jody nodded happily. "Yep. I'm starting out as a principal!" She smiled.
Charlie saw how happy she was and couldn't help but smile himself. "Whoa. What more could a girl want?"
Jody looked at the attractive guy standing in front of her. "Well, a date for the party tonight, for one thing."
Charlie smiled. "Are you asking me out?"
"Yeah. Are you saying yes?" Jody asked nervously.
"I guess so, yeah." Charlie grinned.
Jody smiled and stood on her toes. Charlie leaned forward and kissed Jody.
Jody smiled. "Come on!" She grabbed Charlie's hand and pulled him into the crowd.
Cooper saw them. "JODY SAWYER!" He said loudly, and began clapping.
A large circle formed around Jody and Charlie, all of the people clapping.
Jody stood in the middle of the circle smiling as people came up and handed her flowers. She hadn't thought she had been this great. She was amazed. She couldn't wait to start dancing for Cooper again. Cooper was great. He might not be great as a boyfriend, but as a dancer and friend, he was fine. At least for Jody. Charlie was another story. Charlie absolutely hated Cooper. He hated the fact that he'd be with Jody every single day, dancing with her, touching her, being there for her. He would have joined Cooper's company, but it had been his dream for the longest time to dance for ABC. He finally got his wish, and his girl, no thanks to Cooper.
Later that night at the part Charlie stayed by Jody's side the whole night. He loved her, and didn't want to spend anytime without her. Cooper hung around Jody a lot as well, and that was really bugging Charlie. Everyone could tell except Jody. She just went right on talking to Charlie and Cooper as if they were best friends.
Jody saw her parents sitting at a table on the other side of the room. She excused herself and Charlie from Cooper and dragged Charlie over to them.
"Jody!" Her mom exclaimed as she saw her daughter approaching.
"Hi Mom, Dad. Having fun?"
"Sure." Her father shrugged.
"Who's this?" Her mother asked, looking over Charlie.
"Oh! Mom, Dad this is my…"
Charlie leaned over and whispered something in Jody's ear.
Jody grinned and tried really hard not to laugh. "This is my date, Charlie Simms. He was in the ballet. Charlie, these are my parents."
"It's nice to meet you Charlie." Mrs. Sawyer said nicely as she shook his hand.
Mr. Sawyer simply smiled at Charlie. "Good job today!"
Charlie smiled. He was glad Jody's parents liked him. "Thank you."
"So, Charlie, where are you from?" Mrs. Sawyer asked.
"Seattle." Charlie said.
"Oh, really? Well… did you get in to the company you wanted?"
"Oh yes, I got in here, at ABC."
Jody's mom nodded and then her eyes lit up. "Oh Jody! I cannot believe I forgot, did you get in?"
Jody shook her head. "No. But Cooper Neilson, he was the other guy in the ballet, just got his own company and I'm staring out as a principal in it!" Jody exclaimed happily.
"That great Jody!" Mr. Sawyer said.
"Jody! Charlie!" Someone called from behind them.
"We'll talk more later, ok?" Jody turned to her parents.
"It was nice meeting you." Charlie said quickly before Jody dragged him off again to find the voice.
"Jody! Over here!" The voice shouted again.
Jody turned around to see all her friends standing in a small clump in the middle of the room. "Hey guys!" She said as they walked over.
"Where have you guys been?" Eva asked.
"Oh, you know. Talking to Cooper. Charlie met my parents… just stuff."
Sergei nodded. "Oh! You didn't meet Galina did you? Jody, Charlie, this is my girlfriend Galina. Galina, these are my friends, the lovebirds, Charlie and Jody."
Charlie gave Sergei a look before shaking Galina's hand. "It's great to finally meet you."
Jody stepped back a little from Charlie and closer to Eva and Erik. Charlie gave Sergei another look and Sergei looked back, apologetically. Charlie's frown only turned down more when Coop joined their small cluster with a friend. Jody recognized him from the jazz class she had taken once with Cooper.
"Hey guys, this is my friend Bryce Robinson. He'll be joining my company too. Bryce this is Jody Sawyer."
Bryce looked at Jody and smiled. She was beautiful. "Hi Jody."
Jody smiled back. "Hi." She said uncertainly.
Charlie looked at Cooper. He was about to say something but thought better of it when he realized it might insult Erik. Cooper looked at Charlie and smirked.
"Uh Bryce, this is Eva, Erik, Sergei, and Charlie and…" He looked at Galina.
"Galina." Sergei snapped.
"And Galina. Erik's the guys who was originally supposed to do my part."
"What happened to your leg?" Bryce asked.
"I sprained my ankle about a week ago."
"Bummer." Bryce said sympathetically.
Eva rolled her eyes. "Come on guys, let's go get some punch." She said, making a point to not look at Cooper or his cute friend.
Everyone except Cooper and Bryce moved over to one of the punch tables. Jody stayed next to Eva and Charlie tagged behind.
"What was that about?" Charlie glared at Sergei.
"Sorry. I was playing…"
"Tell her that!" Charlie looked up at Jody.
"Ok."
"NO! Don't! It's fine."
Sergei shrugged. "Ok." He went up to his girlfriend and put his arm around her waist.
Charlie was the last to reach the table. He quickly got a cup and went over to Jody. "Hey. Sorry about what Sergei said earlier."
Jody took a sip of her drink and shook her head. "It's fine. So, can you believe we finally met the lovely Galina?"
Charlie smiled. "I know. She's like all Sergei ever talks about."
"Yeah." Jody mumbled dreamily. "He loves her so much…"
Charlie smiled nervously. "Yeah… he does… hey. You… wanna go out again sometimes this week… or soon?"
Jody looked up at Charlie and smiled. "Sure, I'd love too."
Charlie looked around, desperate to change the subject. "Hey, is Maureen or Jim here?"
"Uh, I think so. I heard they were coming for a while." Jody glanced around, not wanting to look away from Charlie. "They might have left already."
"Oh." Charlie nodded. "So, did you know that Brian guy or something?"
"Bryce. And yeah sorta. I went to this jazz class once and he was… there… that's probably how Cooper knows him because Cooper was there and… nevermind." Jody blinked.
Charlie sucked in a deep breath though his tight lips. He knew exactly what happened. Eva had told him many times before. But Jody didn't know that he knew. "I know." He said nervously.
Jody looked back up at him. "You know what?"
"I know… about the jazz class and Cooper and his motorcycle and the wine and… the desert…"
Jody's face tuned red and she looked down. "…Oh…" She quickly turned on her heels and walked away. In a few seconds she was running through the crowded ballroom.
Charlie stared after her for a split second before running faster than he ever had to catch up. The faster he ran, the faster Jody ran, though she didn't even know he was following. And the faster they both ran the thicker the crowd got. Jody eventually made it to the door. She thrust it open and ran out into the night.
