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Perfectly Ever After?
CHAPTER THREE
2 Years Later…
"How did rehearsal go?" Eva asked.
"Ok. A least Jonathan wasn't in one of his bad moods today."
"He has good moods?" Eva smiled.
Ryan laughed. "Well, Juliette had us cleaning the mirrors after Jonathan left in stead of rehearsing."
Eva smiled. "Yeah, I had to that once… it was punishment."
Ryan raised his eyebrows. "What happened?"
"It was a few years ago when we were all in ABA. It was me, Charlie, Jody… Erik… and Sergei, but you don't know him. We had all gone out to a salsa club and we were so beat the next day. We were stiff and had pretty bad hangovers. Steve kicked us out of class and had us clean ALL the mirrors as punishment. But we all ended up getting into a huge water fight. So it was ok. But then we got in trouble for that…" Eva smiled.
"Sounds like fun!" Ryan kissed Eva again.
On The Other Side Of The Country…
Sergei sat at the small table at "Phil's Barbecue" across from Galina.
"I can't believe we are FINALLY getting married!" Galina shrieked.
Sergei smiled. "I know. This is going to great…what next?"
"Um… oh I know! We have to decided who's gonna be like the Best Man and Maid of Honor and stuff. Any ideas?"
Sergei thought for a while, eating his lunch. "Yeah, I think so." He said. "How about for the Best Man… Charlie Simms. And then for Groomsmen… how many?"
Galina shrugged. "2 or 3 I think."
"Uh…Todd Jones and… I don't know. Ryan Anderson maybe… or Jim Gordon… or maybe just Cane Walters. I'm not sure."
"What about Erik?"
Sergei looked at her.
"Oh right! I'm sorry. I forgot. Whoops! Well, all those people would have to come anyway."
Sergei smiled. "Yeah. So, do you have any ideas?"
"Sorta. For the Bridesmaids, Jody and Eva, because we are still good friends. And for the Maid of Honor… Sarah Henderson maybe."
"Yeah, that would make sense, considering you guys are best friends!"
Galina smiled.
In Miami, Florida…
Charlie stood in the middle of the small kitchen in his apartment. He was looking around for some peanut butter. He had just found some when there was a soft knock on his door. Charlie pulled a knife out of the drawer and went to open the door.
"I'll get it!" He called to his roommate, who was in his room.
Charlie opened the door and looked at Jody. She was crying.
"Jody! What… What's wrong?"
Jody sniffed. "Did you hear about Erik?"
"No… what happened?"
Jody sniffed. "He's… dead." Jody's exploded and began to sob.
Charlie felt as if he had just been run over. How could Erik have died? He couldn't have. He was Charlie's best friend… was. "What?" Charlie managed to squeak.
Jody shook her head and looked sadly up at Charlie. Charlie dropped his peanut butter jar and knife and hugged Jody tightly. They stood there for a while, just hugging each other. Charlie's roommate came out of his room and looked at them. Jody opened her eyes and saw him standing behind Charlie and pulled back out of Charlie's grip.
"Who's that?" Jody asked through her tears.
Charlie spun around. "Oh, uh, that's my roommate." Charlie said fighting the urge to cry. "Sam Robinson, meet Jody Sawyer. Jody, meet Sam." Charlie said quickly.
Jody sorta waved before turned back to Charlie.
"Jody Sawyer? The Jody Sawyer? Never thought I'd meet you!" Sam said nicely, apparently oblivious to the fact something was wrong.
Charlie gave Sam a look. Sam shrugged and went back into the room. Charlie led Jody over to the couch and they sat down.
"What happened? When? Why? What?" Charlie exploded.
Jody sniffled and tried to calm down. "He… it was a car crash. Someone… I'm not sure exactly what happened. It was about a week ago I think. Eva said she going to call you a few days ago, but I wanted to tell you… in person. So I took a train down here… and Erik's dead."
Charlie nodded. "Wow. I… I don't know what to say. I always thought if I'd see you again… It wouldn't be for my best friend's death."
Jody closed her eyes. "I'm soo sorry." She started to cry again.
Charlie leaned forward and hugged Jody again. They sat their for a while hugging some more.
"Did you have lunch yet?" Charlie asked looking at his watch.
"No, I skipped it. I'm not to hungry."
Charlie nodded. "Yeah, me neither. Not any more."
Jody nodded. "Yeah…" Jody abruptly stopped crying. "So, how's… life?"
Charlie sighed. "Pretty good. I'm… a principal, I live with my… other… best friend, and he dances too. Uh… you?'
Jody shrugged. "Ok. Nothing really big. We just finished a really big ballet… oh my God. You'll never guess what!"
Charlie smiled. "What?"
Jody bit her lip. "Cooper told me the other day that we are going to do our ballet next!"
"Our ballet?"
"Yeah, you know, from ABA!" Jody said excitedly.
Charlie smiled. "Wow. Who's in it?"
"Me," Jody smiled. "Cooper unless he decided to let someone else do his part… and Bryce Robinson."
Charlie nodded. "Oh. Well, you'll have to tell me when you guys perform it, so I can come and see it, ok?"
"Sure… so… Sam seems nice. Did you meet him in the company?"
"Yeah… he is nice. When do you have to go back to New York?"
Jody shrugged. "Not for a while. Cooper let me have off a while because of Erik and all."
Charlie nodded. "On no, I just realized… I missed the funeral."
Jody bit her lip. "No you didn't. It's tomorrow. They were holding it off… for you. If you can get off for a while to some up just for like a day."
Charlie smiled. "That's great. I mean… oh you know what I mean."
Jody smiled and nodded. Sam came out of his room and sat down next to Jody on the couch.
"So, you're Jody Sawyer, huh?" He said.
Jody gave Charlie a weird look before smiling at Sam. "Yeah… why?"
Sam shrugged. "Well, Charlie just used to talk about so like non-stop, so I just wanted to met you. And now I have. So, what brings you here?"
"Well, our friend died…"
"Oh, I'm so sorry. Who was it?"
"You remember Erik Jones, he came down to visit once?" Charlie asked.
"Yeah… it was him? Oh no, that's horrible. I'm really sorry."
Charlie nodded. "Yeah… so, I'm gonna go call… see if I can get off tomorrow." Charlie got up and shut him self in his room.
"So, you and Charlie huh?" Sam smiled.
"What?" Jody asked.
"You and Charlie… you guys used to date, right?"
Jody nodded. "Oh, yeah."
"What happened?"
Jody her lip and sighed. "Well, he got an offer here… and I told him he should take it. So he did. But I live in New York… and I dance there at the Cooper Neilson Dance Company. Charlie never really liked Cooper… we have this weird history… and he didn't want to me alone with Cooper and this other guy he doesn't like, Bryce. But I made him go… this was a great opportunity. And then… the long distance thing never works out anyway so… now here we are."
Sam nodded. "Wow. So, you dance at the famous Cooper Neilson Dance Company huh? What's that like?"
"It's interesting. You… you'd have to know our history to get it. It's just Charlie and me and Cooper and then Bryce… well… Charlie hates Cooper."
"I noticed."
Jody smiled and Charlie emerged from his room.
"I get a whole week off. Yahoo." Charlie said sarcastically. Charlie looked at Sam and Jody on the couch and frowned. Sam always talked the life out of Charlie's friends. He flirted the life out of himself if his friends were girls. It's not that he really minded that… it was Jody. He like Sam all right, he was a good guy. He'd be a good guy for Jody, but Charlie was jealous already. He could tell Jody liked Sam, even if it was just like a new friend. He went and sat between them. "What are you guys talking about?" He asked.
"Jody was just telling me that you have a history… that I need to know in order to understand you… or something." Sam said.
Jody smiled and shook her head. "Not really… but close."
Sam smiled playfully at Jody and she giggled. Charlie closed his eyes. Not only had he just lost his best friend, he was about to lose the girl he loved to his other best friend. "Excuse me." Charlie said as he went back into his room. He locked the door and fell on to his bed. He suddenly began to cry.
He hadn't cried in the longest time. Charlie might have been a sensitive guy, sure, but he was still a guy. And guys didn't cry. At least that's what everyone thought. That's how Charlie was. His father had been like Mr. Macho Man and he left a strong impact on Charlie. He used to hate the fact that his SON danced BALLET. That's just not what guys did according to his dad.
Charlie forced himself to stop crying. He sat up on his bed and thought about Jody. He hadn't realized how much he still loved her until he saw her again. And now he wanted her back. But leaving Jody alone with Sam was a sure-fire way NOT to get her back. Sam was this good-looking guy who was really nice and funny. He got all the girls he could ever want. And right now, he wanted Jody. Charlie wanted to go out and stop him, but knew it wouldn't work. Even when Charlie was out there Sam would flirt. And Sam knew exactly who he was dealing with. Jody Sawyer. He knew Charlie still loved her, he would have to be blind and deaf not to know that, but he also knew Charlie.
Charlie wouldn't try to get Jody back that fast. Though, with Erik's death, he might either try sooner, or not at all. But Sam liked Jody too, and when it cam e to girls, Sam didn't care if she was his best friend's ex. He would get her anyway. And somehow he always managed to keep his friend as well. Sam was just weird that way.
Charlie broke out of his thoughts when there was a soft knock on his door. Charlie opened it a crack, enough to let Jody in. Then he slammed it and locked it. Jody sat on Charlie's bed and Charlie went to sit next to her.
"So… you like Sam?" Charlie asked, not sure what else to say.
Jody shrugged. "I guess… he seems nice… and he's cute… doesn't he have a girlfriend?"
"Not right now."
Jody nodded. "… Do you?" She asked nervously.
Charlie shook his head. "No. I haven't had on in… since you." Charlie admitted quietly.
Jody smiled. "Really?"
"Yeah. Do you?"
"Not now…"
"When?"
"A while ago… and then a few weeks ago… but they ended." Jody explained.
"Who?"
"I don't wanna say…"
Charlie nodded. "You don't have too. If it's that bad then know who it is."
Jody looked into Charlie's eyes. "How can you know who I've been dating? We haven't talked in a year. That's like… impossible or something."
"No it's not. If you won't tell me then… It's Cooper."
Jody looked down. Charlie was right and they both knew it. "Yeah… a while ago."
"Who was it a few weeks ago? Cooper again?"
Jody shook her head. "No, of course not. That would be… even stupider than the first… two… times." Jody smiled.
"Then who was it? You can tell me, I won't get mad."
"You promise?"
"Sure."
"Ok… Bryce."
Charlie frowned. "Oh."
"No! You promised you wouldn't get mad!"
Charlie smiled. "I'm not mad, see." Charlie couldn't get mad at Jody. He hated that she could date Bryce. He hated even more that she could date Cooper. He hated Cooper. He always had. He treated people badly and though he was a great dancer… he wasn't a very great person.
Charlie still loved Jody. He knew he probably shouldn't because it was pretty obvious she had moved on. Charlie still loved her. But had she really moved on…
