"Oh my God! Charlie, that's great!" Megan said from across the table. "Isn't it?"
"Yeah," Charlie answered. He took of his jacket and hung it on the clothes hanger by the front door. It would probably take a while before he could get rid of the ridiculous smile he had on his face. Don studied him before he turned around to look at the others. Everyone had a huge grin on their face…no exception for Don.
"Why didn't she take it?" Alan asked while he set the table. He turned around to meet Charlie's gaze. "The job I mean. It would have been a great opportunity for her."
"I don't know…she said that she didn't want to move…that…that she wasn't ready to leave her home yet," Charlie responded without looking anyone in their eyes. He moved across the room and took a seat between his father and David. "So…what's for dinner?" He said trying to change the subject. Charlie never felt particularly comfortable discussing his love interests when everybody had their focus on him.
He remembered the one time when Don took the girl he liked to his prom. That was not a pleasant evening. When his father told Larry about it he felt embarrassed. He shouldn't have been embarrassed about it considering it happened a long time ago. That night Charlie was grounded and Don had to go to his prom with a black eye. No, that was definitely not a pleasant evening.
When he realized that no one responded to his question he looked up and saw five people staring at him.
"What?"
"Was that the only reason she didn't take it?" Don asked from across the table.
"What do you mean?" Charlie now felt really uncomfortable. Why do they always have to be so nosy? I know they are FBI agents and all but come on…it's not like I'm a criminal or anything…leave me alone!
"Charlie, she obviously…"
"Can we like…like…not talk about this right now," Charlie interrupted his brother before he got a chance to finish his sentence.
"Sure, whatever. Sorry Chuck, I was just curious." Don defended himself and put his hands in the air to show him that he surrendered.
"Pass the potatoes, please." Don continued. He was still interested in whatever was going on between his brother and Amita but he knew Charlie and he knew there was no point to push him. He would tell him if he wanted to and that was clearly not the case at the moment.
It didn't take long before anyone changed the subject. In this case it was Megan. She noticed that Charlie was a bit uncomfortable and came up with a topic that she knew would make the others leave him alone for a while, work. Charlie silently thanked her for it. The guys started to talk about a case they were working on. A missing girl was found in the woods a couple of days ago with no memory of what might have happened to her and the FBI still had no suspect. Charlie agreed to come by the office the next day to look at some files and to see if he could help out with anything.
Hours later the dinner was finally over and everybody had gone home. Except for Don who was crashing in his old room. Charlie could hear him snore even though Dons room was across the hall from his and both of their doors were closed. Then he remembered. He promised he would call Amita when he got home. What time is it? Charlie looked at his clock on his wrist. Almost 11 pm. Was it too late to call her? He had a vague memory of Amita telling him she used to be up late at night with her work. She told him it was the only time she could think without being disturbed.
He considered it for a while before he picked up his phone and dialled her number. It didn't take long before she answered and luckily it didn't sound like he had waked her up either.
"Hi, it's me."
"Oh, Hi Charlie!"
"Sorry to call you so late. I didn't wake you, did I?"
"No…no I was up. Did you just get home or…?" She trailed off.
"No. Don had the guys over for dinner tonight. They left about thirty minutes ago."
"Oh."
"Sorry I didn't call you earlier." He felt awfully guilty for not calling her as soon as he stepped into his house and the fact that he almost forgot about it didn't make it any better.
"That's okay."
No one said anything for a while. They fell into an uncomfortable silence and neither one of them knew how to break it. Charlie was the first one to give it a try.
"Ehh…Amita?"
"Yes."
"Ehh…do you maybe want to have lunch with me tomorrow?"
"Lunch? Sure…I'd love to."
"Great. I promised Don I would help him with a case first but after that…does that sound good?"
"Yeah…why don't you give me a call when you're finished and I'll meet you in your office."
"I'll do that."
"Okay…so I'll see you tomorrow Charlie."'
"See you tomorrow. Goodnight Amita."
"Goodnight, bye."
The phone call couldn't have lasted more than a minute. What was that anyway? I totally blacked out there for a moment. When did it become so hard for me to talk to Amita? Charlie put the phone back on his desk and started to undress. His bed was already made since he was in a hurry this morning. Okay that was a lie. It was the lack of motivation that made him not to do it.
Amita woke up the following morning when the bright sunlight hit her face. She never put down the blinds the night before and now she had to pay for it. She turned around in her bed, still not ready to go up. Just a couple of more minutes. At that moment her alarm clock rang. She threw her arm out to switch it off. Unfortunately she hit it a little bit too hard and the clock hit the floor only to break into three pieces. Damn.
A fixed alarm clock and a quick shower later she was ready to go. She didn't bother to eat anything since she was going to meet Charlie for lunch later. It was still early but she left the apartment and headed to school. She needed to go over some notes before she started her new job. That wasn't until next week but she wanted to be well prepared and for that she needed to be thorough.
Charlie wasn't at school when she got there and she suspected he was still helping Don with the case. She found Larry sitting in Charlie's classroom doing…well…nothing.
"Hi Larry, what are you up to?" She went into the room and put her papers on the desk in front of him.
"Amita, Hi. Charles was going to help me with a problem of mine."
"A problem?"
"Yeah." When Larry didn't look at her she became curious. He definitely caught her attention.
"What kind of problem?" She asked.
"Oh…you know…"
"Hmm…Larry, this problem of yours wouldn't happen to involve a tall, good looking FBI agent, would it?"
"Am I that transparent?"
"Well…it was just a lucky guess." She stopped for a second before she continued. "Larry, I don't mean to pry but what happened to the dinner the two of you had a couple of weeks ago. I thought it went well."
"It did, it did…it went very well actually. Megan and I got along just fine but the two of us have been so busy lately that we hardly get a chance to see each other."
"I'm sorry to hear that."
"Yeah well..." Larry got up from the chair and collected his papers. After saying goodbye to Amita he left her alone in the room with her thoughts…and of course the notes. She sighed and sat down in the chair Larry had been sitting in only a couple of seconds ago.
She just finished going over her papers when her phone rang. She took it in her hand and looked at the display only to see Charlie's name in flashing letters.
"Hey Charlie!"
"Hi. Did I call at a bad time?"
"No, you could never call at a bad time" She smiled when she heard him chuckle at her response before she continued. "How did it go with the case?"
"I'm not sure if the information I provided could help them with the investigation."
"I guess it remains to be seen."
"Yeah I guess so."
"So…ready for lunch?"
"Are you kidding? I'm starving. I'm actually outside right now so…"
"Say no more. I'll be right there. I'm just going to pack my things."
"Okay then. See you in a bit."
"You bet!"
What do you think? Good? Bad? Should I continue? Please let me know.
