Part VII
Charlie paused as he stared up at the dark pink and green sign above the door. Pink Moon. He took a calming breath and carefully pushed the door open. A bell above the door tinkled softy, seeming to echo through the quiet room. Charlie opened his mouth to call out to her, quickly devising a plan in his head to tell her that Jill was needed at the bar and hoping to God that Randy and John had the presence of mind to force Jill to stay for a bit, but before he could let out a sound, Sophie's voice rang out from the back room.
"I'll be out in a second Jill! How'd the meeting with cute, cuter and hot go?" Sophie called out.
Charlie stood frozen in surprise at the comment Sophie had made. Who the hell did she think was hot?
Sophie, still totally oblivious continued, "Or should I say dumb, dumber and hot...Charlie!" She yelped when she took a step out of the back room and saw Charlie standing by the front door. A deep red blush crept up her cheeks as she stared at him with her mouth hanging open.
He cleared his throat. "Hi Sophie. I just came, to uh, let you know that Jill's staying at the bar for a bit. John's not done grilling her."
Sophie brushed a shaky hand through her hair. "Oh, thanks. Not a problem. Well...see you around." She rushed out waving abruptly and turning around to walk back to the room.
"Hey Sophie wait a sec" Charlie called out walking over towards her.
"Umm" Sophie turned around slowly, her eyes darting everywhere around the store but on him. "Yeah?"
"I've been meaning to talk to you about something." Charlie said quietly. He cleared his throat and took a deep breath. "I was just thinking...that you know, well if you um...well you know."
Sophie finally met his eyes in confusion. "Are you okay?"
Charlie bit his lip and cleared his throat again. Finally he blurted out, "I was just wondering if you would want to go to dinner sometime."
Sophie's eyes grew wide when she heard his question. She blinked.
"Um...Sophie?" Charlie asked unsurely when she didn't respond.
"I...this is such a surprise." She murmured. She couldn't believe that Charlie was actually asking her on a date. It was just, she didn't even know what to say. Sophie felt her heart skip a beat when she looked up at him. He was way too gorgeous for her.
"Well so what do you think?" Charlie said hesitantly
Sophie racked her mind for an answer. She wanted to say yes...but she simply didn't think she could. "Charlieâ€I can't."
"Why not?"
"I uhâ€I haveâ€a" she stuttered.
"Ohâ€a boyfriend?" Charlie nodded. "All right then...I should go...see you around." He rushed out.
"Waitâ€Charlie!" She called out but he had already turned around and walked out of the store.
--
"Wow, so Stacy was a good student huh?" Randy asked eagerly.
Jill smiled wryly. "Wellâ€she wanted to major in psychology. You know, when you're doing something you enjoy it's easy to do well."
Jill had been answering Randy's questions for about 20 minutes now and she couldn't help but feel slightly uncomfortable talking about her best friend as though she was in an interview.
"Wellâ€I think I should go." She mumbled rising from the chair.
"Waitâ€wait. Just one more question" Randy said quickly.
"What?"
"What's the deal with her and Andrew? How serious are they?"
There it was the question she had been hoping he wouldn't ask.
"Umm....What do you mean?" She knew exactly what he meant...but couldn't quite bring herself to respond.
"You know...do I have a chance?" Randy stared at her as he waited for her answer. Suddenly
BANG!
They both looked up in surprise when Charlie entered the bar, slamming the door behind him. He didn't even glance at them as he walked over to the counter to grab the keys to the truck.
"John! I'm taking the car!" He called out.
Randy looked at Jill with eyes wide. He quickly stood up and ran after Charlie, running ahead of him and prevented him from getting in.
"Whoa whoa! Dudeâ€where are you going?"
"Get out of the fucking way Orton. I'm just going back to my hotel room."
"No. Give me the keys Charlie. You're too pissed off to drive anywhere." Charlie glared mutinously at Randy, his hand forming a fist around the keys.
Jill noticed an avenue for escape and immediately stood up. "I think I should go." She murmured as she passed by Randy and Charlie outside..
"Wait, don't go Jill. Just hang on a sec." Randy turned back to Charlie. "Dude, what happened at Sophie's?"
"Don't worry about it. I just want to go. I'm fine all right."
Jill frowned. It seemed that something Charlie saw at the store had upset him. She couldn't understand why, Sophie was always nice to everybody. She knew she just had to find out what was going on.
"Umm, I really think I should go back to the store."
Randy and Charlie both looked at her like she was insane.
"Right, no objections? See you all around." She was about to walk away when John came out of the bar, interrupting the silence with the loud sound of the doors clanging together.
"What's going on here?"
Jill turned around and looked at him. John, who had been working upstairs the entire time was now shirtless. His muscular arms looked slick with sweat and his hair was wet making it appear darker and his eyes a more vivid shade of blue. Jill's breath caught in her throat as her eyes traveled down his wide shoulders, the deep packs of his abs.
"Charlie's mad about something and he won't tell me what." Randy said, his hands still on the door of the truck. Charlie didn't say anything, just heaved a heavy sigh and threw the keys at Randy. He mumbled under his breath as he walked back into the bar.
"Well what the fuck is" Randy began.
"Randy, would you go inside please. I'm sure you've made Jill as uncomfortable as possible and I'm sure she'd like to leave now." John said, his icy blue stare directed at Randy forced Randy not to argue.
"Uh yeah. Fine. Sorry about that Jill. See you later."
John turned around and smiled at her. She looked like she was...blushing, he realized, a pinkish tint on her cheeks. He tilted his head to the side. Her blonde hair had been pulled back in a ponytail and the ends were curling due to the humidity outside. Her dark brown eyes gave her an appearance of shyness and well, softness. It was amazing considering, she had seemed tough as nails inside the bar earlier, with her knowledge and confidence about the bar, her voice had been tainted with superiority. The black wife beater and jeans she was wearing clung in all the right curves and damned if she didn't have the cutest feet in those black flip-flops. It was at that thought that John realized he had been blatantly checking her out for a few seconds.
"I need to go back to work." Jill said tightly. She had noticed the slow perusal John had given her and had come to the conclusion that he was comparing her to Stacey. After all, he had looked her all the way down to her feet before cracking a smile. Certainly not an appreciative glance. Jill couldn't help but become annoyed. Hell, she wasn't Stacey, but she wasn't exactly a dog either. But then again, she wasn't stupid enough not to realize that John, was probably one of the most attractive men she had ever seen in her life. He was just so big and strong and yet his face held a certain boyish appeal that even all his muscle couldn't hide. He was probably a shallow asshole. She made her decision then to dislike him, because he would probably always compare her to hotter people and him, being one of those hotter people, knew that she could never measure up. What an asshole!
"Right. Thanks a lot for coming today Jill. I appreciate it a lot." John extended his hand as he smiled her. She took it and both couldn't ignore the feel of their hands, hers small but almost rough from the hard work, and his, much larger, basically soft but with a few calluses around his fingers. "I'll call you when I know when we're opening. I'll need a lot of help in the weeks before that."
"Sure thing John. You know how to reach me." She said coldly before walking away.
