Chapter 7
Charlie woke up in his warm bed, sweating. He was only wearing boxers, but he was still dying of heat. He had been tossing and turning all night long dreaming of Jody. Cooper had called him the night before to say that Jody had been cheating on him with some weird guy at the party.
Charlie didn't do anything at first, just sat on the couch trying not to explode. Then he called Jamalee to randomly see how Erik was doing. She told him that he was doing fine and that he was sleeping because it was almost 10pm. He then went to bed, but didn't fall asleep for a couple of hours.
It was almost 2pm when he woke up, so he frantically called ABC- Jonathan- to apologize for not showing up. Then he had a small lunch- he wasn't in the mood for much eating- and watched tv for a few hours, waiting. He wasn't waiting for anything in particular, just waiting.
Around 6pm, his phone rang.
"Hello? It's Charlie. Please don't make this long, I really don't wanna talk much."
"Charlie?"
"Oh, hey Jodianne."
"Jodianne? Since when do you call me by my whole name?"
"I, uh, sorry. I dunno. I'm just, uh, tired."
"I bet. Look, whatever Cooper told you-"
"Forget it Jody."
"Really?" She asked, "Do you mean it?"
"Sure. If you don't wanna go out, then forget about it."
"Charlie! I want to go out with you. You are my boyfriend! I love you. I don't know what Cooper said last night, but it's not true."
"He said you were cheating on me with some weird guy at the party."
"Charlie, that's stupid. Adam is a fan and he looked really sad, so I just danced with him. It was just a dance."
"Yeah, and Pluto is just a dog."
"Pluto IS just a dog."
"Also a planet."
"Ok?"
"Nevermind." Charlie said, "I have to go, it's my day with Erik."
"Ok, bye! Tell him I say hi."
"He's just a baby."
"I know, but still. Bye! I love you."
"Yeah, Bye." Charlie said, and quickly hung up. It wasn't his day with Erik, he didn't even have a day. He just was sort of always there to have a day.
He fell asleep in front of the tv after a while, and woke up at 6am the next morning. He had a small breakfast, he still wasn't very hungry, and then went off to ABC. When he got there Jonathan looked at him with raised eyebrows.
Charlie had barely combed his hair, was only wearing shorts and a white undershirt, and still looked half-asleep. Charlie mumbled a hello before going into the bathroom to change into his ballet dancing outfit and shoes and stuff.
When he came out he went into the rehearsal room and sat, trying to remember the steps to his ballet. He began dancing them, and suddenly his head was all clear. He blocked the whole world out and just listened to the peaceful music and danced. Just danced.
When her saw the company dancers watching him from the corner of his eye, he stopped abruptly and started the rehearsal before anyone could say anything.
When it was over everyone left and Charlie sank into one of the chairs next to Jonathan.
"Excellent work today, Charlie. What's so different about your dancing today? You really inspired the dancers."
Charlie shrugged. "I dunno. I'm just really stressed."
"Humph! Usually that makes me horrible."
Charlie smiled weakly and then shrugged again. "What can I say? When I'm this stressed, I, uh, puh, I dunno."
"Why so stressed then?"
Charlie didn't answer at first but when Jonathan shifted in his seat he quickly answered. "Jody."
"Oh really? I would have thought it was Erik or something, baby's always stressed me out, they take so much work."
Charlie nodded. "They do. But Jody takes even more work."
Jonathan chuckled and then said, "So, what did she do this time?"
"I'm not sure. Cooper keeps telling me all this stuff, but Jody keeps denying it. I know I should trust her and all, I mean, I love her, but Cooper always sounds so sure of himself when he talks. As when Jody talks, she makes everything sort of sound like a question."
Jonathan nodded again. "Yeah, I know what you mean. It's so hard to tell. But I know what it's like to have Cooper standing in the way of the one you love."
Charlie smiled and puff-laughed before saying, "Well, I gotta run. See ya tomorrow."
"Bye!" Jonathan called after him.
*****
Jody sat in her car, which was parked outside her apartment building. She was supposed to meet Adam for lunch, but she felt more like Cameron in "Ferris Buller's Day Off", when he can't decided weather or not to go to Ferris's house. Cameron gave in and ended up going at the end of his fit. Jody didn't have a fit, but she did end up driving to the Italian restaurant to meet Adam.
It wasn't a fancy restaurant or anything, so Jody was only wearing a pair of flare blue jeans and a small tee shirt. When she got there, Adam was standing outside wearing jeans and a blur tank with a white button down shirt over it.
Adam watched her hop out of her car and walk over to him. He could feel his heart skipping random beats left and right. He had fallen in love with Jody several years ago when he first saw her dance in the first company ballet. He had made it a point to find out all her could about her. By just hanging around the company a lot, he found out quite a lot.
He knew that when Jody was 19 she moved from Indiana to New York to attend ABA for a year. She dated Cooper Neilson for a small while there, but he had broken her heart. Then she dated Charlie, and almost married him. She got pregnant with Cooper and dumped Charlie on their wedding day. The pregnancy test had been wrong, but she never spoke to Charlie again for 2 years after that.
He knew that she then briefly got back together with Cooper, but then quickly broke up with him. Jody went to visit Charlie and they got back together. He knew that Charlie had a son with Jamalee- his ex-fiancée- and he even knew that Jody and Charlie had had a fight last night.
"Hey!" Adam said when Jody reached him smiling, "Are you ready?"
"Yep." Jody said, and they went inside. They both ordered pasta, though Jody ordered a small one, with a salad on the side. She ate more of the salad then the pasta, but Adam didn't seem to notice.
"Look." Jody said, "I know you're really nice and all, and you'll probably get nicer and cuter as we spend more time together, but I have a boyfriend."
"I know."
"You do? How?"
"Oh, I know a lot. I hang around your company a lot, and I know all about you and Cooper and Charlie and everything." Adam explained.
"How much do you know, exactly?" Jody asked.
Adam told her all he knew, in complete detail as Jody sat there, totally speechless. When he was done, they talked a while longer before Jody announced she had to go. They said good-bye and left.
When Jody got home she called Charlie right away.
"Hello?" he answered, sounding a little less depressed.
"I love you."
"I love you to Jody."
"So then, are we still together?"
"Yes, Definitely."
"Ok." Jody said.
"Hey, did you have lunch yet?"
"Well, yes. But Charlie, we live so far apart we are two different time zones." Jody reminded him.
"Oh yeah. Opps." Charlie said, laughing.
After they hung up Jody took a long, relaxing shower. As she let the warm water rum all over her body, she thought about Charlie. Adam popped into her head several times, but she blocked him out as much as she could.
Jody could not believe herself! She had finally gotten totally over Cooper so she could finally really love Charlie, when she goes and meets Adam. Maybe, she thought, nothing will happen between us. Though she knew that was very, very, very doubtful. After her shower, which was a little over an hour, she called Charlie again.
"Hello?"
"I love you."
"You too."
"I miss you."
"You too."
"I have to move."
"Huh?" Charlie asked.
"I have to move to New York."
"What???"
"I have too. See, I love you, and if I don't move, then this will never work out."
"Um, ok then."
"So, can I move into your place?"
"Uh, sure."
"When can you have me?"
"Whenever." Charlie said.
"Is two weeks okay?" Jody asked.
"Sure, that's great."
"Ok. Bye! See you then. Love you Charlie."
"Bye." Charlie said. He hung up and sighed. He looked at the girl sitting on his couch.
It was the petit redhead from his ballet- also the one Jody had seen with Juliette before. She was only wearing a small red and blur bikini.
"Ok then, sorry about that. Uh, come stand here." Charlie said, pointing to a spot on the floor next to him.
Kellsea- that's the redhead- stood up and went next to Charlie. He took her in his arms and began to dance. He could not believe that he had agrees to help Kellsea learn the ballet at his own apartment. Everyone in the whole company knew that Kellsea was in love with Charlie.
When they got to the part where Charlie (who was taking Miles Deemond's place) held Kellsea and ran his fingers through her hair, he reluctantly did so. Kellsea smiled and began to kiss Charlie. After a few seconds Charlie violently pulled back.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Charlie screamed.
Kellsea looked at him, hurt and confused. "What? Don't you like me?"
"What? No!" Charlie yelled.
"Well, why not?
"Well, geesh! I have a girlfriend."
"Oh." Kellsea looked depressed, "Who?"
"Why does it matter?"
"I dunno. Please??"
"Jody." Charlie said softly.
"Jody?" Kellsea looked confused for a moment before her eye lit up, "Jody Sawyer?"
"Yes."
"She that blond girl that came to rehearsal like a year ago, right? The one that broke-up you and Jamalee?"
Charlie cringed. "We would have broken up anyway.
"Huh?"
Charlie sighed and rolled his eyes. "It's a long story."
Kellsea sat down on the couch and crossed her legs. "I've got time."
Charlie sat down on the couch next to her after pausing a few seconds.
"Ok." Charlie began, "I went to ABA for a year before I went to, er, uh, got accepted to, ABC. I met Jody there and fell in love with her before we were even really close. She loved Cooper Neilson, but he totally broke her heart. We went out after that and were, uh, in love." Charlie completely forgot Kellsea was there and started pouring his heart out. "I loved her so much. She was just so nice and funny and……… well, perfect. I loved so much. I would have died for her. She loved me too. So, I proposed and we were about to get married, but-" Charlie stopped, suddenly remembering Kellsea.
"But what?" Kellsea asked eagerly.
"But……… we didn't. I was gonna marry Jamalee, but we broke up and now I'm back with Jody." Charlie explained quickly and in one short breath.
Kellsea tilted her head. "What happened?"
"Nothing."
"No, really." she insisted.
Charlie stood up and glared at her. "Go him already! This is my personal life, God! It is not an open book for everyone to read whenever they please! Go!" he turned and locked himself into his room.
About five minutes later he went back out and saw Kellsea sitting on his couch looking at a small photo album. "OUT!!!!" he yelled.
Kellsea left in a hurry, still only wearing her bikini (she thought it would be easier to dance in- and to impress Charlie), and taking the photo album with her.
She drove to her small apartment and took got dressed. She lay down gracefully onto her bed and took out the photo album and opened it.
The first picture was of only Jody. Kellsea flicked the picture and flipped through the rest of it. There were some pictures of Charlie and Jody during and after ABA. There were one or two pictures of Jamalee towards the end, but Kellsea ignored those.
The last pictures was of Charlie and Jody standing in front a tall building in New York about a month before their wedding.
Charlie had had his arm around Jody and she was holding out her free hand to show the engagement ring. He was kissing her on the cheek and she was smiling sweetly at the camera.
Kellsea examined the photo carefully before slamming the album shut. She placed it gently on a small table in front of the couch. She gave it back to Charlie the next day, trying to ignore the fact that he was totally pissed at her.
Charlie didn't know how he was going to teach that day, he was just so mad at Kellsea he could hardly stand it. Though he managed to do ok, he was still way too tense do to any major dancing himself.
After the class he rushed home with the photo album and fell asleep.
*****
1 month later Charlie walked through the door of his apartment and looked around for Jody. She was sitting on his bed, flipping through a magazine. Charlie plopped down next to her and they began to kiss.
Jody had been accepted into ABC, and was now also helping Charlie finish up his ballet. Kellsea was really jealous and truly hated Jody. Jody tried to push that aside as she helped her dance, though with Kellsea's dirty looks directed at her all day, it was really hard.
After a few minutes Charlie's doorbell rang. Jody pulled away and went to answer it. After fixing her hair in the mirror, she opened the door.
Both Cooper and Adam were standing there, ignoring each other and waiting for Jody to do something.
