CHAPTER ELEVEN
"You are so good, but you'd be better if you played songs that didn't bomb out after Leonardo DiCaprio sunk to the bottom of a giant pool on the movie set."
Charlie smiled and shook his head. Eva sat down next to him.
"I know you don't want to hear this, but I think you have to. You have to move on! Whatever happened between you and Jody, you have to get over it."
Charlie nodded. "I know. But it's so hard. I just love her so much and I really miss her."
"I know. I know." Eva said understandingly.
Eva got up and left, shutting the door to leave Charlie alone.
Charlie sat on his bed and tried not to think about Jody. He had always known they were meant to be together. But maybe he was wrong. Or maybe he was right, and he had just been so stupid and messed up fate. WHY?? Why did he have to drink so much that nigh? Why didn't he follow Erik when he left the party to avoid the dancers? Why why why???
Charlie sighed and put away his guitar. He hadn't played it a really long time. He didn't know why he had dug it out of his closet, he just had. The case was dusty. He had left in there by mistake when he moved to California. When he came back a month ago, it was just laying there in the bottom of his closet. He had unpacked all of his stuff in less than 2 days. He didn't have much. Just clothes and ballet stuff. And a few photo albums and shoeboxes full of stuff, but that was pretty much it. The only furniture he had taken was this long bendy beach chair that has blue and orange strips. It used to be in his closet too, but now it was out on the side of his room. He loved that chair, not for any reason in particular, he just did.
He went and lounged on his chair and closed his eyes. It was made out of metal and plastic, but it was really comfy for some odd reason. He fell asleep for a few minutes until Eva burst through the door again. She went over and shook his until he woke up.
"Charlie! Charlie! Wake up! You will not believe who just called!" Eva screamed in his face.
"Chill out! You don't have to yell in my ear. I'm awake, I'm awake! Who called? What did I miss?"
"Jody!"
Charlie sprang up and grabbed Eva's hands. "What?"
"Jody just called!"
Charlie smiled. "What did she say?" Charlie asked, almost unable to contain himself.
Eva's smile dropped into a frown. "Oh, Charlie, not anything like that."
Charlie dropped Eva's hands and looked down, embarrassed. "Oh."
"She said Cooper Neilson just called him. She's going back to dancing in his company. She's moving back!"
Charlie looked up. "Really?"
"Yes!" Eva yelled, getting more excited as she told him more of the news. "And do you know where she is staying?"
"He old apartment? A different one? With Cooper?" Charlie asked all at once.
Eva slapped his arm lightly. "Are you nuts? No! Ok, apparently you are still asleep. Let me give you a hint! We are gonna have to do some rearranging. Get it now?"
Charlie thought about it for a minute. "I still don't get it. Come on Eva, I don't wanna play games about this. What is it? Where? Tell me!"
Eva shook her head. "Whoa. You really are still asleep. "She's gonna move in with us!"
Charlie stood there in shock for a minute. "Are… are you serious?"
"YES!!! She's coming in less than two weeks!"
"Oh… My… God… This is amazing. She actually agreed to live with me? But she said we had to apart for her to get over me…" Charlie's voice trailed off.
"I dunno." Eva shrugged. "But you mew and Erik have to decide who's gonna sleep together because we only have 3 bedrooms, for 4 people."
"I don't care where I move… but if I had to chose, I want my own room still."
Eva nodded. "Ok. Maybe Jody and me can share a room. Or maybe she can have her own and Erik and me can share a room. We could always get rid of one of the double beds and get two single ones."
Charlie nodded. "Or… I could move in with Erik. I guess I wouldn't mind that to much."
Eva raised her eyebrows. "You don't mind that-"
"No. Besides, he's not really attracted to me anyway… is he?"
Eva smiled. "I dunno. Why don't you ask him yourself."
"Ok, maybe I won't move in with him. I don't even wanna know."
Eva smiled. "I'll go talk to Erik about the rooms." She turned on her heels and left Charlie.
Charlie smiled and flopped down on his double bed. Why had Jody agreed to live with them? Maybe she still loved him… duh! Of course she did, she had told Charlie and wasn't ashamed of it. But she had also told Charlie that they would never get back together. This would be painful, for both of them, and they both knew it.
Jody sat on her bed. She had a few boxes packed up with her clothes and a few other things sitting around on her floor. She had just gotten off the phone with Eva. She would be moving in with her, Erik, and… Charlie in less than two weeks. She was really excited about that, even if it meant seeing Charlie everyday… in his boxers… Jody shook her head. Why was she doing this? Why had she even agreed to go back to Cooper's company in the first place? Sometimes she just got so confused.
~~^*^ 8 Days Later On A Train ^*^~~~
Jody sat in her seat and rested her head against the window. She was jolted awake by the sudden halt of the train. She gathered her stuff and got off the train she got her luggage and waited inside the small train station. She had had to change trains 2 times to get to the station in New York City. She looked around for any familiar faces. She didn't see any. Someone tapped her on the shoulder and she stiffened up. She started to walk away fast, but the warm hand grabbed her shoulder and spun her around, causing Jody to drop her stuff. It didn't hit anyone, she was pretty much the only person in there.
"JODY!!" Eva cried as she hugged her friend.
"EVA!! Thank God it was you, I was scared half to death. Don't ever do that again!" Jody laughed.
Eva stepped back and looked at Jody. She looked thinner, but healthy. She had on some flared blue jeans and a small blue spaghetti strap on. She always dressed that way. Jody looked at Eva. She was still tall and thin and looked a little tough. She had on a green tee shirt with a small jeans jacket over it. She had on what looked like golden cotton sleeping pants on. What on odd combination, Jody thought to herself. She looked past Eva and saw Erik, grinning at her.
"ERIK!!" Jody exclaimed as she hugged him.
He hugged back and smiled. "It's so good to see you Jody, we've missed you!"
Jody smiled and took in Erik's appearance. He was still shaving his head, but had a small goatee. It mad him look pretty rugged, but still nice. He had on an orange tee shirt (was that the only color he owned or something?) and black jeans. He outfit looked pretty familiar to Jody, but she didn't say anything.
"I missed you too." Jody said quietly.
She looked around but couldn't see anyone else she knew. She wasn't sure who she was expecting to see, maybe Cooper… or Charlie.
Erik caught her glance and smiled. "He's not here."
"Which one?" Jody said, caught off guard.
"Huh?"
"Oh… I just meant… who's not here?"
"Charlie. He's back at our apartment. He got a phone call right before we left and he had to take it. He really wanted to be here though. I think it was Jonathan or his mom or something. He said to tell you he was sorry."
Jody nodded. "That's ok. It probably is better off this way, it would have been weird."
"…Yeah…" Erik mumbled. "Let's go!"
"Ok." Jody picked up some of her bags and Erik and Eva picked up the rest.
"Geesh! Is this all your stuff?" Eva asked.
"No. My dad's coming up in a few days with a U-HAUL that he rented for me. It only has a few things, but he insisted. I think he's insane. Don't worry. I don't have too much stuff. I gave most of my furniture to this charity thing or something."
Eva nodded and led them out to her car. They piled Jody's bags into the trunk. Eva drove and Erik and Jody sat in the backseat, listening to Eva's punk rap music. It was giving Jody a headache so she was glad when they pulled up in front of the tall apartment building in less than 10 minutes. But that also meant only a few minutes until she saw Charlie. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
They grabbed her bags and stumbled inside and over to the elevator. Erik pressed the up arrow button and they waited a few minutes for the door to open. When it finally did, a very pregnant woman stepped out before the three went in.
"Hello Ms. Crawben." Erik said nicely.
"Hi Eva, Erik." She said quickly as the door shut.
"Who was that?" Jody asked.
"Jamie Crawben. She's having a baby, but her husband died a few months ago." Eva explained.
"Oh." Jody nodded.
Eva pressed the button for floor four, and the elevator rose. Jody tapped her foot. The bell rang and the door opened. They stepped out and walked down to apartment 42. Eva pulled out her key and opened the door. They threw Jody's bags down.
"Welcome to your new home." Erik said warmly.
Jody smiled. "This is so great, thank you so much you guys." She looked around the room. Why was Charlie never there? "What are the new rooming arrangements?"
"Charlie's in that room." Eva said pointing to the one furthest away. "You are in that one." She pointed to the next one. "And me and Erik are in that one." Eva explained, pointing to the one on the other side of the room.
Jody nodded and waited for something to happen. She could hear a phone hit the phone cradle and she smiled. Charlie's door cracked open and he stepped out.
