Chapter three

Charlie woke up feeling horribly tired. It had been a long night trying to get his father into bed which had proved not to be an easy task.

He got up went straight for the shower and realized his father was already awake. Charlie was surprised. If it were him in that condition he would have needed at least until noon to recuperate from a night a of serious drinking. He decided to hold off on taking that shower and see how his father was doing first.

"Good morning dad" Charlie asked.

"Oh it's morning all right, but there is nothing good about it." Alan replied rubbing his eyes. He looked awful.

"What are you doing up so early?" Charlie asked.

"I'm old, as both you and your brother keep telling me. And old people don't need much sleep, not even when they had too much to drink apparently" Alan said with a sigh. "So... be honest. What happened last night? I can't really remember much"

This was jus the information Charlie was hoping for. He didn't expect his father to return so early but hen he did with Amita still over he was afraid that his father was going to want to know the insides and outs which he wasn't ready to share yet. Especially since his father managed to drop in just when he felt he was starting to get somewhere with her.

"You were a bit hard to handle, but nothing serious. I managed to get you into bed while you were singing what I believe were Beatle songs" Charlie said.

"Oh lord… Beatle songs. You know the last time I was this far gone I was with your mother. She was drinking too you know, but wasn't nearly as drunk as I was. She actually put on a tape recorder and taped me singing which she threatened to pull out whenever she felt I had enough to drink. That was the last time I can remember ever being drunk… Not counting last night."

Charlie snickered. It was so like his mother to tape her drunken husband and use the tape as blackmail.

"Do you still have that tape somewhere? It seems we might need to use the same measures mom used to prevent you from drinking too much" Charlie joked.

"Don't you get any funny idea's Charlie. This was the first and last time you will ever get to see me in that condition. Do me one favor though. Don't tell Don or anyone for that matter about last night. Let's just keep this our little secret."

Charlie nodded. His father had a reputation of being a very responsible man knowing his limits. And Charlie knew exactly what to constantly being reminded of made errors felt like.

"Just one thing Charlie, was Amita here last night or was I hallucinating" Alan suddenly asked.

"You were hallucinating dad." Charlie quickly decided. "I'll make you a solid breakfast with some fresh orange juice. You look like you could need some vitamins"

"Thanks Charlie" Alan said while resting his head on the kitchen table his arms leaning beside his body.

Charlie shook his head. His poor father must feel dreadful. But he apparently wasn't as drunk as Charlie thought, as he seemed to remember Amita being there. He just hoped that his father would buy that it must have been the booze that made him see her… Hoping that he wouldn't have to tell his father the truth. Yet.

---

Amita was pacing in front of the campus. What was taking Charlie so long? She had sent him a text message to Charlie earlier asking him if he wanted to go for a quick walk around campus as she didn't have time enough to go to the park. She really needed to see him after last night and as their classed overlapped each other she had to wait until his classed were over before she could see him. Which was over ten minutes ago.

Finally she saw Charlie and the butterflies surged like never before. Since last night, right before Alan had interrupted them she had fallen for him when he looked into her eyes. And she had fallen hard. She always had a week spot for Charlie but until their walks in the park she wasn't quite sure of how she felt about him. But after last night she knew. She was falling in love with Charlie.

"Hey" Charlie greeted her.

"Hey, how is your father doing?" She asked.

"He's ok. A bit hung over, but otherwise same old dad." Charlie said with his hands in his pockets staring at the ground.

There was a tension between them that neither had felt before. This new feeling of involvement threw both of them off as they had to find a way to deal with how they felt about each other.

"I enjoyed last night" they both said at the same time.

Charlie smiled shyly and Amita fidgeted with the zipper on her bag looking equally bashful. They both fell quiet for a minute.

"I'm sorry we had to cut the evening short" Charlie said breaking the short silence.

"That's ok. We can finish the movie some other time. Perhaps tonight if you don't have any other plans." Amita replied hoping that Charlie didn't mind her forwardness.

Charlie looked up at her. The last thing he expected today was to see her again so soon let alone the evening as well. Truth be told, he couldn't wait to see her. He had cursed the day for passing by so slow and almost jumped for joy when she sent him the text message asking him to meet her. He knew that today their classes would overlap and she had more classes to attend after he would have finished. But he reckoned he would have to settle with the ten minute walk they were about to have. Not that he was able to see her again this evening.

"Uhm, my dad will probably be home tonight not feeling all to well. We could finish the movie some other time" Charlie said not telling the truth about him not wanting to take her home because his father would be there and would start to ask questions.

"Oh. Ok" Amita said not making an effort to hide the disappointment in her voice.

"But we can go somewhere else instead? Charlie quickly added feeling bad as he heard the disappointment in her voice.

Think Charlie, think. Where else can you take her?

"We could go to the cinema and watch a movie in the theater? I haven't been to the movies in ages. This way we can compensate a little for not finishing the DVD" Charlie offered.

Amita smiled. Going to the movies was something she hadn't done in ages as well being preoccupied with her study. And getting to spend time with him was all she wanted so she agreed.

"Sure, do I still get to pick?" she asked with a slight tease in her voice. Amita felt like she was in high school again.

"Considering we didn't get to finish last nights movie you still get to pick" Charlie said silently hoping there would be romantic movie playing she would chose.

"Good" she said and reached for his hand. "I'll see you there at eight?" and she enlaced her fingers with his.

Charlie had stopped breathing at the touch of her hand. When she had enlaced her fingers with his, his brain simply just broke down and instinct took over completely. Every fiber in his body wanted to pull her into a tight embrace and kiss her. More than anything in the world he wanted to kiss her. But the noise of chattering students walking by broke the spell and he quickly regained control over himself.

"Yeah, eight 'o clock." Charlie said in a grated voice and with pain in his heart he released his hand from hers as they started their quick walks around campus.

---

Eight 'o clock sharp Charlie stood in front of the movie theater. He had quickly looked up on the internet what movies were playing and to his relief there were plenty romantic movies they could watch.

He had again struggled to find something nice to wear but to his great relief his hair caused him no trouble today. As he looked in the mirror expecting to see tangled and frizzy curls he was pleasantly surprised when his own reflection showed a soft and shiny perfectly in place hairdo.

His father was still pretty hung over and wasn't really in a talkative or inquisitive mood making it easy for Charlie to leave the house without his father asking where he was going. He merely waved goodbye.

Charlie didn't have to wait long for Amita. She was a very punctual woman she arrived just one minute after the time they had arranged to meet.

"You're right on time, that's a first" Amita joked.

"Practice makes perfect, and I keep trying." Charlie joked back.

"I checked the internet earlier to see what movies played and I chose Date Movie. It has some great reviews. It's a comedy"

"Like I said before, you get to chose. I'll just have to go along with the choice you make" Charlie said smiling and offered her and arm as they walked over to the ticket counter.

Charlie paid for the tickets and bought some sweets and two bottles of water before going to find their seats. As they waited for the movie to begin Amita made slurpy noises again sipping her water making Charlie laugh.

As the room filled up with people Charlie notice there was only one empty seat left in their row right next to Amita. He silently hoped no one would occupy that seat giving them a bit more privacy. The lights dimmed a little announcing the movie was about to start in a few minutes and Charlie went to make himself more comfortable.

Amita seemed to do the same by leaning against Charlie as closely as she could with the armrest in between.

Charlie looked at her as he put his arm next to hers on the armrest, the backs of their hands touching. She glanced back at him stretching her fingers a little to find his. As they both played with each others fingers they slowly moved in on each other both wanting the same thing. Everything else around them faded away into nothingness as their faces closed in.

At that moment Charlie was pulled back violently into reality when he heard a familiar voice. It couldn't be. It just couldn't.

"Charles, Amita I thought I recognized the two of you!" Larry's voice cried out causing Charlie to jerk back his hand onto his lap.

Larry shuffled himself past the people that had already been seated onto the empty seat right next to Amita where he sat down.

"Larry, what are you doing here?" Charlie asked

"Same as you two I presume. Only I go to the movies alone quite often, I love motion pictures. Funny meeting you here I didn't think you were the kind of person to go to the movies Charles" Larry replied.

Larry knew that Charlie wasn't exactly waiting for him to show up at the movie that he had taken Amita to. But there was no turning back. The room turned dark and the movie was about to start. Larry cautiously looked over his shoulder to see if there was another empty seat, but every chair was occupied. Larry decided to stay put and try to enjoy the movie although the guilt of knowing he had unwillingly crashed their date placed a dark cloud over his head.

Amita turned to look at Charlie and gave him a sympathetic smile. This had been the second time someone they knew had interrupted their evening together. He smiled back at her and shrugged while leaning back in the chair carefully placing his arm back on the armrest. His fingers quickly found hers again gently playing with her fingers. As the movie progressed the butterflies in their stomachs fluttered vigorously but neither felt at ease to go to the next step with Larry sitting right next to them.

When the movie was near to the end Amita looked over at Larry who seemed quite disconcerted. He was staring at the screen not having moved position even once. She leaned in on Charlie to ask him something.

"Charlie, I don't think Larry looks ok. I'm worried. He looks terribly guilty as if he ruined our night out together." She whispered.

"He did" Charlie whispered back as he took her hand and started playing with her fingers again and kissed her quickly on the cheek. "But I'm a patient man. We'll go for a drink after the movie and ask him to come along if that would make you feel better"

Amita's cheeks turned completely red after Charlie's kiss on the cheek and her heart raced a mile a minute. Charlie had said it. Not in so many words, but the message was loud and clear. If Larry hadn't shown up this would have been the night. Corny as it may have been she wanted nothing more than for Charlie to kiss her, at the movies. She wanted nothing more than for her to call Charlie her own. But she also knew that she couldn't enjoy the rest of the evening knowing that Larry felt miserable. So she agreed.

"I'd like that." And she let out a long deep sigh.

---