CHAPTER EIGHT
"Jake, do you have any idea how stupid of an idea this is?"
"Why? Will Charlie object or something?"
Jody looked down.
"You broke up again?"
Jody noted that he sounded truly sorry and concerned for her. She didn't care. She didn't answer.
"Oh, Jody, I'm really sorry. What happened?"
"If you don't get out of here right now, I'll call the cops on you for trespassing!"
Jake stepped back. "Whoa, chill out. Look, can't I just come in for a while? We don't have to talk about Charlie. Look, I just moved here yesterday and I don't know anyone. It took me an hour to find your place, even though you only live 10 minutes away from my apartment building. Are you really going to waste an hour of my time?"
Jody sighed. "No. Ok, you can come in for a while."
Jody opened the door and let him in before slamming it. They sat down on the couch and faced each other.
"So, if you don't want to talk about Charlie, then what do you want to talk about?"
"It's his fault?"
"What?"
"Charlie. It's Charlie's fault I dumped him!"
"What did he do?" Jake put his hand on her arm.
Jody jerked her arm away. "He was born!"
Jake looked at her sympathetically. "I'm sorry. I really am. When I saw you two together in Indiana, I have never seen any two people happier."
Jody smiled.
"I'm sorry I hurt you. But I swear, I don't have a girlfriend now."
"Really?" Jody looked into his eyes.
"Yes." Jake leaned into kiss Jody and she didn't pull back.
They kissed for a while until Jake pulled away. He looked at his watch.
"Well, thank you for the gift, but I have to go."
"Gift?"
"Yes."
"What gift?"
"You, my new girlfriend."
Jody forced herself to smile as Jake left. She didn't want to be anyone's girlfriend at that moment. She saw a piece of paper on the small coffee table and lifted it. She opened it up and it had Jake's new phone number on it. Jody smiled and waited a few minutes before picking up the phone and dialing.
"Hello? and lifted it. She opened it up and it had Jake's new phone number on it. Jody smiled and waited a few minutes before picking up the phone and dialing.
"Hello?"
"Hi."
"Jody?"
"Yeah."
"Oh, hi!"
"Hi. Look, just, about the gift. I never gave you a gift."
"What?"
"Look, I just dumped Charlie a week ago. No offence or anything. And when I am ready again, I won't be calling you."
"You won't?"
"No. I'll be calling Dirk."
"Dirk?"
"Yeah, he's my other ex, the one I had before I had Charlie back again."
"Oh. Ok, bye then." Jake said sadly.
"Bye."
Jody hung up and fell onto the couch. She thought about the moment when she fell in love with Charlie.
~~~*~~~
She had just had her little blow out with Cooper during rehearsal and she ran out into the hallway crying. Charlie followed her and she turned away.
"Don't look at me. I'm too embarrassed."
"You were saying how you felt. What's embarrassing about that?"
"How a dancer feels doesn't matter to a choreographer."
"No. But how a woman feels should matter to the guy she's seeing."
Jody looked at Charlie. "Do you think I'm an idiot for getting involved with him?"
"No. I think he's an idiot for not treating you well. Come on let's go back."
"I can't."
"Sure you can."
"No. I'm all splotchy. I feel…"
"So use it."
"What?"
"Whatever you feel, just dance it. And you're not splotchy."
Jody smiled and they went back to rehearsal.
~~~*~~~
She felt like crying. Then she remembered what Charlie had told her when she asked when he had fallen in love with her. She asked if it was at the salsa club, and he said no.
He said that it had been the day after. It had been during the water fight. She had chucked one right in his face. He went to throw one back and he saw her. She had the cutest smile on and her hair was all drenched and soapy. She looked beautiful.
Charlie sat on his bed thinking about the same water fight moment. He'd rather die than go through this pain. It just hurt him so much. How could he be so stupid? It just hurt so much. He missed her face and her eyes and her laugh and her… everything. Charlie sighed.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ * * * ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ * * * ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ * * * ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Charlie and Jody had never been more depressed in their lives. They woke up every morning, went to work, ignored each other, went home, and slept. Charlie hadn't eaten anything in a few days and he was losing his color pretty fast. He was getting as skinny as ever and had everyone worried about him. Jody on the other hand was eating non-stop and had the director mad at her.
Sergei and Galina were doing the best they could to help their best friends, but it wasn't helping. Charlie's stomach was in a permanent knot and just the sight of Sergei made him sick. Why did he have to suffer if Sergei didn't? But Sergei had a guilty concehince, which was almost just as bad.
Galina came over to Jody's place a lot, but she could never get much out of her until…
"Come on Jody! It will make you feel so much better if you just tell someone what happened!"
Jody sighed. She was about to burst, so she just blurted it out. "I… Charlie slept with someone else."
Galina stared. "WHAT???"
"I know! I know! And he kept on saying 'I was drunk! I was drunk!' like that was supposed to fix the damn thing!"
"When, when did this happen?"
Jody shook her head. If she went into to much detail, she'd end up hurting Galina and Sergei.
"I cannot believe Charlie would ever do that to you! I was just talking to him, and he said he'd rather die than lose you. I just cannot believe… arg!"
"Galina, calm down! It didn't happen to you!" At least not that you know of, Jody thought.
"I know, but still!"
"Galina, you know I only cried once after I found out…" Jody began to cry.
Galina hugged her best friend.
~~~*~~~ 3 Days Later ~~~*~~~
Jody sat on her couch, eating some chocolate pudding when there was a knock on her door. She put down her food and whipped her mouth on her sleeve before standing up. She opened the door.
Charlie was leaned against the doorframe. He had one eyebrow cocked up and Jody could tell he was drunk.
