Chapter 7: The Breakup
Charlie arrived at his apartment the next day. As soon as he walked in the door the phone rang. He put down his suitcases by the door and picked up the phone.
"It's Charlie." he said.
"Charlie, it's Sergei. I'll pay for first class plane tickets both ways if you come back to see me get married."
"I can't. I'll screw everything up. I know it. You know it. Jody knows it. We all know it. You to are in love. Only I and maybe Cooper can break you too up. I don't want to ruin your life. Especially not Jody's, not again. I can't."
"Yeah, we all know it. We've all known it since ABA. You, Jody, and Cooper are impossible together. But trust me, you won't screw it all up. Please come."
"Ok." Charlie said after a while.
"When can you leave?"
"Now." Charlie said, thinking of how ironic this whole thing was. It was also a big waste of time and money.
"Ok." Sergei said.
They hung up a few minutes later.
Charlie picked his bags back up and left again.
Several hours later, Jody and Sergei waited outside the gate in the airport for Charlie. What seemed like a million people cam out, but not Charlie. They began to panic. Had he changed his mind? Missed his flight? Suddenly Charlie walked out of the door and looked around.
He didn't see them at first and began to panic himself. He saw them out of the corner of his eye and smiled. He ran over to them and hugged them both.
Jody watched him run over and when she hugged him she felt the magic she only felt with him. She quickly shook the feeling off and grabbed Sergei's hand. A shiver ran up her spine, but not the 'magic' shiver. She sighed and picked up one of Charlie's bags.
Charlie grabbed it back and smiled. "That's ok."
Sergei grabbed Charlie's other bag and they went to Sergei's car. They drove to their apartment where everyone was waiting. Charlie blushed and suddenly became very nervous and embarrassed. A few minutes after he got over it, Eva started cracking up and could not stop. Everyone else just looked at her with totally confused faces.
After she settled down everyone asked her all at once what was so funny.
"Charlie!" she said, trying not to start laughing again. She was going to add more, but then she glanced up at Charlie who was looking at her with mad, fiery eyes. She quickly shut up and said, "So, anyone for dinner?"
"Eva, it's only 3." Jody said, looking at Charlie. She couldn't figure out what was so funny about the hot guy standing next to her.
Charlie started fidgeting and suddenly wanted to kill Eva. Instead, he turned to Sergei, too embarrassed to turn to Jody or anyone else. "So, do you have room for me here or should I rent a hotel room?"
Sergei nodded. "You can stay in the guest room because Eva and Erik already are staying in a hotel."
Charlie mentally kicked both himself and Sergei for being such idiots. How on Earth was this supposed to work out? Last time he had stayed in the guestroom, he had broken up Jody and Cooper and broken 3 different hearts, each more than once. He sighed and put his bags in the guestroom.
When he came back out, he saw Eva whispering something to Erik. Erik looked at Charlie and muffled a laugh with his hand. Charlie rolled his eyes and sat down on the couch. Eva put her hand on his knee and patted it. "Sorry." she said apologetic and sympathetically.
Everyone else started talking and Charlie turned to Eva. "What the hell did I do that was so funny?"
Eva took a deep breath and whispered something his ear for almost 2 minutes. When she was done, he looked at her. She nodded and his eyes got as big as tennis balls. He turned away and blinked.
Charlie sat paralyzed on the couch for a while until he could breathe normally again. By then Jody and Sergei had locked themselves in their room. They were having an argument, but no one could tell what it was about, because the door muffled and slurred their voices.
Charlie stood up and strained to hear what they were saying, but like everyone else, all he heard was mumbling.
" ****** married **************** Sergei ******* love *****." Jody said.
" ************ say *********** flirt ********** left ************ you ************ know ********* dated ******** ABA ********* left ********** right ******** again ********** stupid ************* Charlie ****************** fish ************* miserable ********** Charlie ******** twenty ******* day!" Sergei said.
After a while they all gave up on trying to understand the argument. At least the had figured out it was about Charlie.
Charlie sulked around the room for a while, and then went and sat out in the hall. Eva joined him a while later to cheer him up, followed by Erik, Maureen, and then Jim. After a while Maureen went back inside to leave Jody and Sergei a note that said that they were going out for a walk and would be back after dinner.
They all took a walk around the city and talked about ballet and other things. They went by a park and went in. Everyone went on the swings, except Charlie, who sat down on a bench to think. He remembered the day in the park with Jody from the picture. He got lost in his memories until Erik shook him.
"Yo Charlie! We are leaving now. Are you coming?" Erik asked.
"Yeah. Sorry." Charlie said, embarrassed. He got up and they all left the park.
They went to a Burger King for dinner, but everyone except Jim and Maureen (who shared a double cheeseburger) ended up getting salads.
After dinner, they all went back to Jody's place, where Sergei was locked in his room and Jody was locked in the bathroom. Charlie looked around and sighed about the mess he'd made this time. He said good-bye to Eva, Erik, Maureen, and Jim, who were all going to the hotel. Then he locked himself into his room. He changed into boxers and crawled into the familiar bed.
He fell asleep instantly but was woken up a few hours later by a soft knock on his door. He got up and opened his door. It was Jody.
"Sergei is impossible to wake up and he locked the door. I can't sleep on the couch tonight, because I have a big class tomorrow. So, I was wondering if I could crash in here." Jody said.
Charlie took this all in and thought about it for a minute. Eventually he said, "Ok."
Jody walked into the room and thanked him. Charlie nodded and walked out of the room, into the main room. He lay down on the couch and fell asleep within seconds.
Jody sighed and crawled into the bed. The sheet was warm where Charlie had been sleeping, and she moved over to that spot and fell asleep thinking about Charlie and Sergei.
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Two weeks later Sergei moved out of the apartment and back to California, where he later married Galina.
Charlie sat on the couch and watched Sergei leave. Jody came out from the bedroom. She sighed and Charlie stood up and hugged her.
"I told you I'd screw it all up. Not even one day went by before I screwed up your marriage. I'm sorry Jody. I tried really hard not to." Charlie said.
"Charlie! It's not your fault. Really. I saw how hard you tried not to mess it up, you didn't even flirt with me. I should even thank you. If I had married Sergei, we would have found out the hard way that it was a mistake."
Charlie smiled. "Ok, if you say so. Sooooooo…….. now what?"
Jody shrugged. "We could go out sometime." She said, quoting Charlie from years before.
"Don't even joke." Charlie said, smiling at first, but then letting it fade.
"I'm not. Charlie, I….. I….. I love you. Charles Sims, you are the sweetest guy I have ever met. You were sweet to me from the moment we met. At the salsa club, at the park, even just hanging out. From Cooper the first time, and last time, to Sergei. How could anyone not love you."
Charlie turned bright red and looked at Jody's eyes and they were smiling at him. Charlie smiled and kissed her.
