Chatper 3: Getting to Know You Better
Charlie was walking down the halls the next day and saw Ruthie. "Hey." Ruthie said.
"Hey. Ruthie Camden right?" Charlie smiled, and Ruthie nodded.
"Yup. And you're Charlie." Charlie nodded. "So, what class do you have next?"
"It's my free period." she said as she glanced at her schedule. She didn't have it memorized yet.
"Cool, same with me. You wanna hang out?" Ruthie suggested. She guessed that Martin would want them to be friends, and plus, she sounded pretty cool from what Martin had told her.
"Sure." Charlie said, she was glad that she had the chance to make some new friends, other than Martin. She didn't even know if he wanted to be friends again.
"Okay, so, you wanna come to my house? We have an hour and a half, we can get to know each other better." Ruthie suggested.
"Sure." she said, and followed Ruthie towards the front of the school.
"It must be cool living with your sister." Ruthie said, trying to spark up a conversation.
She shrugged, "it's alright. I've lived with basically everyone in my family now, and it gets kind of boring. Believe me, I'd rather be living with my dad."
"How many siblings do you have?" she asked curiously.
"I have three brothers and two sisters." Charlie replied, "what about you? Martin just said you had a big family."
"I have four brothers and two sisters." Ruthie said, "you have a big family too. Doesn't it get annoying?"
"Oh, I hear you." she smiled.
"What about your mom? If I can ask, I haven't heard about your mom. You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." Ruthie said, afraid that she had crossed a line.
"My mom's a drunk." Charlie said, just coming right out with it. "She left mebout ten and I haven't and my dad when I was about ten and I haven't really heard from her since. So, I've never really had a mom before."
"Well you can borrow my mom whenever you need to." Ruthie joked, trying to lighten up the mood. Charlie laughed.
"Thanks." she smiled. "So, how did you and Martin meet each other?"
"It's a long story." Ruthie replied as she walked inside her house and started to tell her.
--
It was the end of the day and Ruthie was walking out of her classroom when she saw Martin, "hey." she said as she walked up to him.
Martin turned around, "Hey. Listen, my dad heard about Charlie being in town and he's throwing this whole backyard party thing, so you want to come?"
"Uhh...sure. I'll tell my parents, also." Ruthie said.
"Okay great, see you tonight at 6 then okay?" Martin said as he closed his locker. Ruthie nodded, and he headed off to practice, and she headed to her locker.
--
Charlie was standing in her room, after just hearing about the party that Martin's dad had decided to throw for her. She was excited for it, and surprised, but she just couldn't find anything to wear. She decided to just wear a pair of ripped jeans and a black band t-shirt with a white dress jacket over top. She brushed her hair and put it into a pony tail with her bangs styled to the side, then did her makeup and was on her way with her sister to Martin's house.
When they reached his house then rang the doorbell, and Martin answered the door.
"Hey." he said as he let them in.
"Hey, are we early?" Charlie's sister, Stephanie asked.
"A little bit, my dad's in the back cooking burgers." Stephanie resembled Charlie a lot, you could tell they were sisters. The only thing that was different was their height and the length of their hair. Stephanie's hair was down to her waist.
"With extra cheese?" Charlie asked, closing the door behind her. She loved hamburgers with extra cheese.
"Yes, surprisingly, he remembered." Charlie laughed and followed him with her sister, out the back door.
"Charlie!" Martin's dad said. "How nice to see you again." he gave her a hug.
"You too." she smiled and looked around the backyard. It was decorated with hanging lights and a table full of food. Charlie headed straight for the chip bowl, "you have a great house, and backyard, Mr. Brewer."
"Thanks." his dad replied.
--
A few minutes later, everyone was piling into the backyard. Charlie saw Ruthie and walked up to her with her family.
"Hey." Charlie smiled.
"Hey." Ruthie said, "I would like you to meet my family. This is my mom, Annie, my dad, Eric, my twin brothers, Sam and David, my sister Lucy, her husband, Kevin, and their daughter, Savannah."
"Nice to meet you." Charlie smiled, shaking everyone's hand, "I'm Charlie."
"Nice to meet you Charlie." Annie said. "So, what brings you to Glen Oak?"
"Well my dad's in the Marines, and he got sent out again." she explained.
"Oh, so you and Martin have some things in common." she replied.
"Yeah." she said, not really wanting to talk about it.
"Well, lets get something to eat then." Annie said, taking the hint.
"You guys go ahead." Ruthie said as her family went off, and she stuck behind and started to talk to Charlie.