Chapter 8- A Little Too Late

Jake parks in front of Penny's apartment. As he climbs out of his car he sees a moving van pull away, but its significance didn't register with him. He climbs the steps and knocks lightly on her door. No one answers so he knocks louder. Still there is no answer so he starts pounding on the door. Finally Charity opens the door and Jake can hear Sixpence None the Richer's "I Can't Explain" playing.

C-"Can I help you with something?"

J-"Yes, I really need to talk to Penny."

C-"I'm sorry, she just left."

She pushes the door open to show him the emptied apartment.

J-"Where'd she go?"

C-"Back to Greenwich. She's gonna live with her parents for awhile."

J-"Dammit!"

C-" As much as I've enjoyed talking to you I have no idea who you are, so would you mind giving me that information?"

J- "Sorry. I'm Jake Silver."

C- "Oh hey you're Jake. I'm Charity Margelise. Umm, I have something here that belongs to you."

She reaches into her pocket and pulls out the two halves of his credit card. She hands them over to him. He stares at them for a while before pocketing them.

J-"Okay that's unusual."

C-"Yeah, whatever. Anyway why are you here?"

Jake leans against the door and sighs. "Well I came here to tell her that I love her." Charity comes over next to him and says, "Wow, you have horrible timing."

J-" It seems like with her I always do. I've never realized that I have feelings deeper than friendship for her until it's too late."

C-" Yeah. I'm gonna give you a bit of advice and a bit of help."

She rummages through a box of junk and pulls out a pad of paper. She reaches into Jake's shirt pocket and pulls out one of his pens. She scribbles something down on the paper, rips off the sheet, folds it and slips it and the pen back into his pocket.

C-" That's the address at her parents house. The advice I have to give you is this: don't wait anymore and don't keep changing your mind about who you want to be with. Penny is sick of bending to suit your needs. She's not gonna wait for you forever. Now go get her."

J-" Thank you so much."

With that he turns and runs out the door. Charity calls after him, "Good luck Jake. You'll probably need it.