Chapter 11
"
"Hahaha. Whatever. So, who's Jamalee?
"A girl. She's a ballet dancer, and I was engaged to her. I didn't love her though, so we broke up. And she's also the mother of my soon. Good-bye." Charlie said and hung up. He looked over at Jody. He leaned in to kiss her but she pulled back.
"Who was that, Sandra?"
"Yeah."
"Oh."
"What? Is that bad?"
"No."
"Ok." Charlie said as he leaned to kiss her again.
Jody pulled back again. She looked into Charlie's hurt and confused eyes. "Charlie? Where are we?"
"In our room." Charlie said, beginning to worry.
"No, I mean us."
"Oh. I, uh, well, what do you mean?"
"Us? Where are we? I know I love you. And I know you love me. But now what?"
"What is there to do?"
"Well? Ok, lemme put it this way. Do you love me the same way as when we were engaged?"
"Yes, of course."
"Ok. Now, what are we going to do next?"
"Next? I dunno."
Jody sighed and could tell Charlie was getting uncomfortable. She gave and kissed him. He kissed her back and held her close.
*** Several Months Later***
"Jody?" Charlie asked. He was sitting on his bed across from Jody.
"Yeah?"
"I love you."
"I love you too."
"I love you." He said again.
"You just said that."
"I know. I still love you."
"I love you too."
"Jody?"
"Yes?"
"I love you. Will you marry me?" Charlie asked as he pulled a small box out of his pocket. He flipped it open and the same silver ring he had given her before was resting inside.
Jody looked at the ring. Yes! Yes! Yes! Her whole body screamed to her. She looked up and Charlie's happy, anxious eyes. "I, I can't. I'm sorry." She said. She stood and left the apartment.
Charlie sat there, just sitting for a while/ He looked at the ring and then snapped the box shut. He placed it in the middle of the bed and went out onto the couch and sat. He put his hand on the tv remote and picked it up. He had his finger on the POWER button, but couldn't bring himself to press it.
He put the remote down and picked up a pillow. He stuffed it in his face and tried not to cry. He wasn't going to let himself cry. Sure, he loved Jody, but he was not going to cry over her, no way.
He could feel tears begin to run down his face. "Shit." He thought out loud. He lied down on the couch and cried himself to sleep. When he woke up, Jody was in the guestroom.
Charlie could see her sitting on the bed, the door wasn't closed. He whipped the dry tears away from his eyes and forced himself to not cry.
Jody looked down at her feet. She could feel Charlie looking at her. She got up and went over to the small desk and pulled a letter out of the top drawer. It had been in there for a week. She sat back down on the bed and unfolded it. She placed it down on the bed and read it over a few times.
Charlie walked in and snatched up the letter. He read it and looked up at Jody. "When did you get this?" He asked.
"Last Thursday." Jody said, not daring to look Charlie in the eye.
"Oh. Are you going?"
"I don't know. I was thinking about it. Are you?"
"I dunno, maybe."
"You should. It's really good. They…… He …… even wants you as a principle."
Charlie nodded and looked down at the letter.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Charles Sims and Jody Sawyer,
Hello. You have been requested by Cooper Neilson to join the Cooper Neilson Dance Company. You are being offered two principle dancer spots. If you want to audition, you can, but you don't need to.
Please respond by the end of 1-½
~Allie Monroe, Cooper Neilson Dance Company, Secretary
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Wow. This is amazing." Charlie said, not taking his eyes off the paper. "What are you going to do?"
Jody shrugged. "I'll go if you go."
Charlie closed his eyes for a minute. "Ok. Then we go."
Jody nodded, trying not to smile. Charlie put the letter back down in front of her and went out to the phone in their room. A few minutes later he hung up. He decided he should start packing when Erik entered his mind.
Tears began to form in his eyes again and he stomped his foot. "Shit!!" He yelled.
Jody rushed out of the guestroom. "What? What's wrong?"
Charlie sniffled, puffed, and sniffled again. "Erik. I have to leave my son. I promised myself when he was born that I'd be a good father. I can't see him everyday as it is, and I know that's bad. But now, I'll barley get to see him at all. This stinks. I have to leave him now. This would go into the bad father category."
Jody looked at Charlie, in disbelief at how sweet he was. "No, Charlie! It's doesn't go into that category. It doesn't go into any category. You can't help that. You can't help any of this. If you don't wanna go, you don't have to. It's ok. I can stay here, or I can go by myself, it's ok. Don't worry. Stay here."
"No. No, I want to go. It's ok."
"Are you sure?"
"Are you?" Charlie asked coldly.
Jody bit her lip. "I'm sorry, Charlie."
"Yeah, well, me too. One question though. Why? Or why not rather?"
Jody looked at him with sad, hurting eyes and saw her feelings mirrored in Charlie's eyes. "I can't explain it. I just couldn't say yes."
Charlie looked at her. "I have to go pack." He said and went into his room.
Jody followed him. "Me too."
They both sat down on the bed, not looking at each other.
"We don't have any boxes." Charlie noted.
"Oh yeah." Jody said, looking around the room. "When do we have to be there?"
"Next Saturday." Charlie said, remembering his phone conversation.
"Oh."
Charlie stood up and left with out and explanation. He returned over an hour later with about 40 cardboard boxes. They started packing and by the end of the day, they had everything but some clothes, furniture, and a few other things packed away.
The next morning Jody got up extra early and left for ABC before Charlie was even up. He was at ABC half and hour later and they both went in and told Jonathan the news. After that, Charlie went to find Jamalee and Jody went into the rehearsal room to warm up. Tomorrow- Friday- would be their last day.
When Charlie walked into the rehearsal room and saw all the dancers warming up. Jody, Jonathan, and Jamalee were sitting against the mirror wall. Charlie walked to the middle of the room and clapped his hands. Everyone turned to face him.
He motioned for Jody to stand up and come over to him, and she did. He announced the news to everyone and then they all got up and clapped. They all started screaming to thank them. Charlie took Jody's hand and squeezed it. She squeezed back and then let go.
Later that night they were packing and Charlie made a point not pack the small ring-box. Jody noticed and tried not to stare at it. She said they should take a break, so they did. They had lemonade and some pretzels while sitting on the couch.
Jody turned to face Charlie and for the first time in 2 days looked into his eyes. She noticed they were still hurting. "Yes." She said.
"What?"
"Yes."
"Yes what?"
"Yes, I'll marry you."
Charlie sprang and got the ring. He came back and kneeled down on one knee. "Jody Sawyer, will you marry me?"
"Yes!" Jody said, smiling uncontrollably.
"Jody, just don't-"
"Charlie! Don't worry about Cooper, ok?"
"Ok."
"Ok."
They finished packing and went to bed.
After ABC, Charlie rented a U-HAUL mini-truck and loaded almost all of their stuff into it. He was going to drive it to Chicago. Jody was going to drive their car, which had the rest of their stuff in it.
***
3 days later Charlie and Jody walked into the Cooper Neilson Dance Company holding hands. Cooper ran up to them and Charlie let go of Jody's hand. Cooper hugged Jody tightly and ignored Charlie. He started kissing her.
Charlie didn't think. He just moved. In less that 5 seconds Charlie had Cooper pinned to the ground and was sitting on top of him.
"If you ever touch her again, you will die! Do you hear me? Die! I will personally come and kick your ass until you are dead! Okay?!?"
Cooper sprang up, flinging Charlie to the floor. "What asses!" He said, and walked off.
Charlie lay on the floor when he had been flung, rubbing his shoulder. Jody looked over at him, totally surprised. She had never seen Charlie get this angry before. He was usually the sweet guy in the world.
She looked off in the direction Cooper had gone, back at Charlie, and then at her hand. She looked at the ring and smiled. She held out her hand to help Charlie up, but he pushed it away. Jody held her hand and looked at him.
Charlie got up on his own and went into the bathroom. Jody watched him leave, not knowing what to do. She saw Cooper coming back over to her and she tried to shrink but it didn't work, he still came.
"Hey Sweets! How are you?"
"Go away Cooper." Jody said firmly.
"No, why should I?"
"Because I don't love you."
"So? Can't we be friends?"
"No, Cooper, we can't. You still love me. I don't."
"Then why did you come back to my company?"
Jody looked down at her feet.
"That's what I thought." Cooper said smugly. "You do love me!"
"No, Cooper, I don't! I love Charlie!"
"Prove it!"
Jody held out her hand. Cooper looked at the ring and smirked.
"Ha! That didn't prove it last time, if you'll remember. It won't prove it this time either."
Jody glared at Cooper. "Stop it Cooper!"
"No!" Cooper dared her.
"Damn it Cooper! I don't love you! I never did."
"You did too! You may not like admitting it, but you did! And somewhere you still do! Try denying it!"
"Cooper-" Jody said quietly.
"Save it for Charlie, Jody. You're gonna have a lot of explaining to do once you realize what you are really doing here!"
Jody looked at Cooper and started to cry. She went off in the directions of the bathrooms and got a drink out of the water fountain. She was about to go into the girls' bathroom when she saw Charlie standing, hidden in the shadows of the corner.
"He's right you know." Charlie said
"What?"
"You still love him." Charlie said, and walked off into the main office.
