Chapter 28

"Are you sure that he can get this equation done in under two hours?" Doug asked either Joe or Jack, whoever could answer, while looking at the clock. It had been an hour and a half already

"I'm sure" They both answered. Jack had heard of THE Charlie Eppes by reputation and Joe because well you can't teach a college class at age sixteen in Calsci and not be beyond the label of genius

"What if he can't?"

"He can and he will, especially if his lover is injured" Joe laughed afterwards which angered Terry. She glanced down to see how Amita would react but she had passed out again

"Amita" Terry tapped her cheek "Come on Amita, wake up" Amita reluctantly opened her eyes. The light was beginning to hurt them

"Terry, please let me sleep" Amita begged of her. The darkness and painlessness of sleep was calling her

"You can't. I know it hurts but you have to stay awake. How about you tell me about your date? That was the original plan before all of this" Terry said uselessly gesturing to her surroundings

"Still interested huh?" Amita tried to laugh and ended up coughing. Its getting awfully cold Amita thought

"Of course. How did he ask you out?" Terry asked not letting her slip away

"A note. But it wasn't established as a date until afterwards. Mary was shopping…"Amita faded out and closed her eyes

"Amita" Terry said tapping her on the cheek again

"Sorry. Mary was out window-shopping and bumped into Charlie, he wrote me a note and um and" Amita faded out again but this time kept her eyes open.

"Gave it to her to give to you?"

"Yeah" She answered snapping back "I tore my wardrobe apart and found the cutest outfit" She paused and Terry thought she had lost her again when she came back "I was a little late because of traffic and Charlie looked so nervous, like he was afraid I wouldn't show up"

"I remember how nervous he was. I helped him get dressed" Terry said smiling

"I thought you had. We were seated and as we were walking I swear he was watching me. The dinner was fantastic. Charlie even fed me a piece of food" Amita looked up to see Terry's reaction

"Wow" Terry said putting on a face of surprise. Amita smiled weakly back and continued with her story

"Desert came and Charlie got nervous. He- he started tracing numbers. I knew he wanted to say something, so I reached out and took his hand" Amita drifted off again, closing her eyes, so Terry gently shook her. Amita opened her eyes and continued, "He said that he had been thinking for a long time and he decided it was time to tell me. He got as far as 'Amita I' when my phone started ringing"

"Oh no. Who was it?"

"Orlando, a friend that I had recently started going out with. Between you and me it was to kick start Charlie into saying something about his feelings. How did he react?"

"He went into the garage and worked on P vs. NP"

"Oh my god! I didn't know, I didn't think he would-" Amita started getting flustered and fidgety. She hated it when Charlie went into his P vs. NP world and now she had caused him to make another trip

"It's ok Amita. Relax. It wasn't anywhere near as long as he's done before. Continue with the date"

"I tell Charlie to continue, he insists I pick up the phone, says what he wants to say can wait. Orlando answers hey baby, I ask who it is, he says its Orlando and asks how many people call me baby, I said twenty four, ten that are men but all gay, Charlie gives a questioning glance, I laugh. That's where it all goes kinda downhill"

"What? Downhill? I thought you had a good date"

"I did, in the end. I got into a fight with Orlando. He made fun of Charlie and told me to choose between him and Charlie. I chose Charlie. He said thank god, he was only going out with me cause he thought I was easy and now he could go after some skinny blonde" A tear rolled down Amita's cheek at the memory of the extremely offensive comment. Terry wiped it away for her and waited for her to continue "Well I did start to cry and I just wanted to go home. I walked to the table and Charlie rushed to my side. I told him that I just wanted to leave and he dropped the amount of money for the bill on the table and we left" Amita stopped to rest for a moment and Terry let her. After a minute Terry her nudged her

"Amita don't stop now, I'm dying of curiosity" Terry joked lightly

"Ok, ok. We got into the back of my car because Charlie can't drive and I was too upset. I was so embarrassed to let him see me like that. He asked me what happened so I told him and that just made me cry harder. He held me then" Amita smiled and while Terry was glad to see her smile, she was also worried at the pain in her eyes

"Well don't stop there" Terry urged. She was really curious now. She wanted to know why they walked into the office holding hands

"He took my head in his hands, wiped away a tear and basically told me that everything Orlando had said was a lie. I kissed him-"

"Aw!" Terry interrupted

"-But then I panicked and pulled away cause he froze"

"Aw" Terry repeated but with a different tone

"I panicked! But hold on. Charlie took my hand and pulled me back to him. He looked me in the eyes and kissed me. I felt foolish because I couldn't stop crying. He seemed to understand because he pulled me into a tight hug and I rested against his chest while Don came with Alan to pick us up. When they got there they insisted that I sleep at Charlie's, that I was too tired to drive or something" Amita paused as she tried to hide the pain from Terry. Terry squeezed her hand "I'm sorry, it just hurts. So um Charlie and I got into Don's car and Alan drove my car back to the house. Me and Charlie went upstairs to his room, curled up with each other and fell asleep"

"Sounds like an amazing night, sparing Orlando"

"Terry can I rest now? Please?" Amita sounded on the brink of tears. Terry nodded and Amita got up and laid down in a booth and quickly fell asleep. Terry's anger flared only imagining what pain she was in and knowing that Amita wasn't going to be able to stay conscious much longer, if she did indeed wake up after just laying down now

"Aw, such a touching story" Joe quipped laughing

"Shut up Joe" Terry spat at him

"Getting angry much?" Joe answered raising his eyebrows at her

"Not really, more disappointed. I can't believe you went from planning to be a social worker to a being a thief"

Joe looked surprised for a moment and then smiled "Took you long enough"

"Damn it, Joey what happened?" Terry asked softly

"No money for college happened. I was forced to work day in and day out at the local supermarket. After a year or two, I saved enough money to take some summer classes. I failed out. Social work was apparentlynot my thing. So I worked another year or two and took some classes in computers. I got a degree. I realized however after a few months of trying to get a job that no one would hire me. So I said screw doing it the honorable, correct-"

"Legal" Terry added bitterly, Joe just smirked

"-Way. I called a few friends of mine to help me pull of the plan and, well here I am"

"I-" Terry started but then her phone rang

Author's note: I added a little bit of Joe's history because I realized that he's turning out to be a lot…meaner then I had originally intended. I wanted to write him more like Jack but well that didn't work out. I just wanted to show that there was a reason why he's the way he is, show that he's slightly human.