Sorry for such a long delay! Enjoy and share the love!
Josh
"Looking pretty sharp for a divorced dad." Claire is playing with Oliver on the floor as Josh is getting ready for his date with Charli. Finally! "Calm down bro, Charli is going to want to jump your bones the second she sees you. I'd bet you two don't even make it to that fancy-schmancy joint, you'll head straight to the hotel I've got even money on it with Maggie and Lauren." Josh shook his head as he headed into his bedroom to change tie yet again. He sincerely doubted Claire knew anything about gambling and having even money on anything...then again Maggie could teach anyone anything. There he thinks as he takes a step back to examine the new tie in the mirror yep this is the one. "Isn't that the first tie you tried on?" Claire is standing behind him in the doorway Oliver on her hip, she's smiling at him and taking far too much glee in his discomfort. He scowls softly and turns to face her. "Why'd you let miss fancy pants pick the restaurant in the first place? I figured you'd take her to some low key Brooklyn hidden gem and then make your move to turn the date horizontal...you know to a bed."
"Yeah, but after all the push back and time I thought it best that I just let her run the show, and pick the place for our first official date."
"In other words she went full lawyer lady on you and you didn't know what you'd agreed to till after the reservations had already been made?" Claire smirks at him and Oliver claps his hands in infantile joy.
"Maybe...but it's kind of a special place. It's where her dad took her mom on their first date. It's kinda sweet she wants us to go there...and well you know Charli isn't always sweet."
"Char-charee" Oliver sputters Charli's name from his animal cracker encrusted lips and squeals in excitement that someone brought up his girlfriends name in conversation. Claire swipes at his mouth in a mom move that she's perfected and rolls her eyes at her sons undying adoration of Charli Brooks. Josh closed the space between them and tickles his sons bare foot causing him to uproar in intoxicating baby giggles.
"Looks like you may have some competition for Charli's heart, and let's be real how could she not choose this face?" The baby leans over and wipes his grubby mouth and nose on Josh's tie. Claire suppresses a laugh as she says "well honestly that tie was shit anyway-go with the blue one it makes your eyes pop." Josh nods and kisses Oliver's head as Claire ushers him off to begin their bedtime routine.
Josh changes his tie again, and rushes out the door to meet the girl that has consumed and eluded him for so many months. He can't hide the smile that creeps onto his face as he rides over the Brooklyn bridge into the city. Tonight is just the beginning he thinks wistfully.
Later the pair enter the French restaurant part of The Carlyle. Josh was in awe, he'd only ever seen pictures of the New York landmark and had no idea that it was more than just a hotel with a fancy bar. Charli's sharpness cuts through his visual exploration of the restaurant and he refocuses his attention on her.
"Charli Brooks." Charli gives the maitre d her name and steps back to Josh's side.
"I'm sorry, but we do not have a reservation for a Charli Brooks. Are you sure that's the name you reserved the table under?"
"Of course I'm sure, and I triple checked that reservation today. Please look again-Try Charlotte Brooks." Again nothing and Josh can feel her frustration bubbling up, he rests his hand on the small of her back to calm her, but the reality of the situation is that his touch ignites her skin and makes her even more anxious. As the maitre d is checking the list for the fourth time he stops and asks
"I see we have a reservation for a Charles Brooks could that possibly be it?" He looks up and meets Charli's eye.
"Charles?...can you look over that list and see if maybe a Charli Brooks has already been seated?" Josh looks at her quizzically but she stares straight ahead.
"Oh yeah, right here it is. Charlie Brooks and his date were seated twenty minutes ago."
"No Charli Brooks and her date are standing in front of you. You seated the wrong Charli Brooks...that's fine we'll just take the reservation for Charles Brooks then." The guy looks up genuinely confused but ultimately just shrugs it off and seats the two.
"I can't believe that ass-munch took my reservation!" She hisses as the maitre d walks away.
"Well uh it worked out all right huh? Hey did you know that Charles and Liza were going to be here?"
"No" she hisses under her breath "but he had to know this is where we were going I told him it was a special night!" Josh smiles pleased to know that she thinks that tonight is special, suddenly he doesn't feel so silly for changing his tie so many times earlier. "I swear he is obsessed with me I can't get away from him for ONE night uggghhh." She's scanning the restaurant looking for her big brother, Josh takes her hand and squeezes it to get her attention. "What?" She asks bluntly and he can't help the warmth that radiates through him or the smile that spreads across his face. A small part of him had been worried that the date version of Charli would be different from the best friend version of her that he knew so well, but she couldn't be anyone but herself if she tried.
"Come on lets just focus on us tonight, I don't even see Charles. Just me and you." He squeezes her hand again and watches as her tough exterior softens a smidge, then suddenly the scowl is back and deeper than ever. Josh looks over his shoulder following her gaze and sees Liza laughing hysterically at something Charles had just wishpered in her ear.
"Son of a bitch he got their table!...my table!" Josh looks back at Charli and watches as literal steam escapes her ears. "That's the table my parents had on their first date. The table dad proposed at, the exact spot mom told him about being pregnant with Charles and then the miracle of my own conception." Charles stands and excuses himself to the bathroom and Charli shakes his arm. "You go tell that giant asshat that I want my table. Rough him up a little if you have to." Josh looks at her as if she was joking and wonders if she's lost her damn mind.
"I'm not going to rough up your brother in the bathroom of a 5 star restaurant. I'm pretty sure the Mayor is having dinner with Lin-Manuel Miranda or something because there's a shit ton of extra security at that end of the restaurant."
"Fine I'll go then, not the first time I checked Chuckie's ass in a public bathroom...probably won't be the last." She stands ready for action her small frame is as proud as any soldier standing on the front line about to meet certain death.
"I'll go." He stands and looks at his date and says "you're a special kind of crazy, you know that right Charlie Brown?" She nods and urges him to hurry.
He sighs and makes his way across the room towards the bathroom careful to slip past Liza without detection. He reaches the bathroom door and he has no fucking clue what he's going to say to Charles. He sucks in a breath of clean non bathroom air and pushes trough the door.
There he stood, all 6'5 of him-Charleston Andrew Brooks. He was bent over washing his hands in the too short sink and he did not notice Josh when he walked in. Please don't look up and see me...maybe I can convince Charli I 'roughed him up' without actually getting my ass kicked in the bathroom of a five star restaurant...on a first date. He hesitated a moment too long and Charles catches sight of him in the mirror and turns on his heel, his older more distinguished face laden with confusion.
"Josh?"
"Huh? Oh-Yeah...hey...Charles..." could this be anymore awkward? Josh looks down and fidgets awkwardly.
"What are you-...did Charlotte bring you here for your first date? Tonight?" He says this more to himself than Josh but the younger man answers.
"Yeah, I had this whole Brooklyn night planned, dinner at a random pop up and then we were going to see this band my buddy Gabe manages. Well, I say manage, but really he's more of an overzealous super fan. He's spent the last two years with them touring all over the country." What in the world was he blabbering on about Gabe for? "Ugh but you know Charli when she has her mind set on something...so yup...we're here on our first official date...with you and Liza..." Josh shifts slightly and brings his head up to make direct eye contact, he opens his mouth to speak but Charles interrupts him.
"Did she send you in here?" Josh drops eye contact and focuses on a particularly funny smudge on the bathroom mirror. "Look I had no clue Charlotte would want to bring you here for your first date. You know it's our parents anniversary today. It was always a well celebrated day in our family, and no matter what was going on or wherever we where they always came here on their anniversary. They were crazy about each other and The Carlyle was their longest held tradition. That's why I wanted to bring Liza here tonight, to in some small way keep their tradition alive. I had no clue you meant so much to Charlotte that she'd want to share our family traditions with you." Josh looks back to Charles, suddenly very interested in the old guy. Charli really was as in to him as he was her! His heart swelled and he lost the battle to suppress the smile that was overcoming his face.
"It's cool man, but uh can we wait a beat before heading back out there? And if you could look emotionally beaten that'd help a lot too...like you're ashamed of yourself for stealing Charli's reservation and table and that you're regretful? Just pitiful and broken in general, it'd really help me score some points."
Charles looks at him perplexingly. "I did not steal Charlotte's reservation." Josh sighs and breaks down the confusion of the name mixup from earlier.
Liza
Liza was having the best time. She'd finally made it to The Carlyle with Charles. He'd been filling her in on the history and the importance of this special place, and she now knew how big of a deal it had been for him to invite her to have drinks here so long ago. She sighed at the lost time they could of been together, but she doesn't dwell on it because in her heart of hearts she knows they came together at the most perfect moment. She sat there alone with the biggest goofiest smile just thinking about how amazing the past 15 months have been. Her career was thriving, and her love life never seized to amaze her. Just then she caught a small familiar ball of anger charge by going towards the bathroom. Charli? Liza followed her and could tell by the determined gait something was amiss. She stood and scurried after her, she turns the corner and Charli is gone. Poof! Just like that! Liza is about to enter the ladies room in search of the wild girl when suddenly Josh is ejected from the men's room.
"Josh?"
"Oh hey Liza...what's happening?"
"Maybe you should tell me?" She points to the closed door. "Is Charles still in there?" He nods and adds that Charli just barged in seconds earlier. "What is going on?" Josh fills her in on the reservation mix up and sending him to shame Charles into leaving the restaurant. Liza just stares and asks. "Is she really this upset over a simple mix up?"
"I dunno but if I had to guess I'd say it's a compound of a lot of little things. There's an expiration date on them living together and maybe the milk is about to sour." Liza rolls her eyes at the dramatics of Charli, but then when she looks back at the past few months Charles and Charli have been squabbling more and more. She'd just chalked it up to sibling stuff and ignored it most of the time. "You sure you're ready to be in a relationship with Charli? She can be..." she doesn't know how to finish that sentence so it's almost a good thing when she hears Charles' voice booming from the other side of the door.
'Lay off of it Charlotte I had no clue it was your meatball sub, and I've offered to replace it multiple times!'
'You can't replace it! Besides it the principle of the thing you may not have known it was mine but you had to know it wasn't yours!'
Liza and Josh both lean forward to listen. "I can't believe she's still harping on that sandwich, that was three weeks ago." Liza whispers to Josh.
"Ohhh so that's what happened to my sandwich. Yeah three weeks ago we were debating who had the best meatball sub and she went all the way to Jersey to get the best in her opinion. No wonder she's still sour about it, she lost the bet and you know how she hates to loose." Just then they hear Charli yell an obsinity. They both lean in closer to hear better.
"I can't live with you anymore brother!" Her voice gets softer and she continues. "It time Charles, I was only going to stay 2-3 months tops and it's been over a year." When Charles speaks his voice is almost muffled at first as if he's running his hand down his face. Something Liza recognizes to be one of his nervous habits, if she could see through walls she'd probably see him tapping his leg with his right hand. She stops herself from bursting through to door and engulfing him in a loving calm hug.
"You don't have to move Charli."
Liza and Josh both bring their heads up to make eye contact. It was rare that Charli called her brother Charles but even rarer that he call her Charli. Josh looks to Liza as if to ask if they should be listening, she was sure that they shouldn't the Brooks brew where so private it did seem wrong. But there was no way she was going back to her seat, so she leans in and gently pushes the door open a hair so they can hear better.
"It's as much your home than mine. I like knowing you're home safe under the same roof. The girls love having you there...I-I love having you home. You left so abruptly at 16 and-and I guess I'm trying to say please don't go...again"
"Dating Liza has destroyed you...when did you get so mushy? Blah." The words are harsh and rude but Liza can tell it's of the highest compliment, and she fights the urge to run in and embrace Charli in a hug as well. "It's time for me to go Chucky, we can't live in the same house or I might murder you." Liza feels a shiver run down her spine as she remembers a very vivid dream where Charli does snap and kills Charles.
"Ok. I assume you'll need to give Kelsey fair enough warning before moving back to your place? 2...3 months?" Oh snap Kelsey! Josh must have been thinking the very same thing. Liza had forgotten that Kelsey and Lauren were currently renting from Charli.
"Uh, no...I bought a new place."
"Really? Did you get the Johnsons town home two blocks over?" Liza can hear the glee at the prospect of keeping his sister that close to him.
"Nope...Brooklyn actually."
Liza looks at Josh and silently asks 'Did you know?!" He shakes his head and pushes the door open another centimeter.
"Brooklyn? Are you moving in with Josh? Charli I don't think that's a-"
"Oh my god Chucky no... we are on our first date and I've spent most of it in the men's bathroom with you so no we aren't picking out drapes and moving in together! I bought a building as an investment property. Three stories and a basement. I've converted the top story into my apartment. The second has been converted into a three bedroom apartment. The first floor is being set up as my office for my new law firm. The basement is just a cute little two bedroom space I'm thinking about renting out to a friend-" Charles cuts her off.
"Law Firm?!"
"Yeah I'm leaving Bobby's office. My contact was up months ago but I stayed while things were getting set up in Brooklyn. I told I was leaving and starting my own firm I know that I did."
"No...no you did not!"
"I'm sure that I did. I told you when I told Bobby...right? I did tell Bob didn't I?" There's a pause and then. "Oh well he knows I'm unhappy and that I'd be leaving soon. But that's not what I want to focus on. Come live with me. You and the girls will have plenty of room, and we'd be under the same roof without living in the same space."
Liza's heart flips Charles without his Brownstone in Manhattan? Then she thinks of how nice it could be to have him in Brooklyn close to her and she smiles as she leans in more.
"I don't think Brooklyn is a good fit, and the girls are in school in the city I don't think-"
"You think too much Chuck, but you aren't thinking about the right things. Pauline lives here so the girls won't have to change schools. You can sell the house and make some serious cash. You don't need that big of a place any way right? You'd be closer to Liza...and me."
"I don't know...this is a lot and I'm going to need a lot more information before I can make any kind of decision."
"Understood. Just promise me that you'll think about it, seriously think about it?"
"Send me the details and any information you have on the building and the area it's in, and I'll discuss it with Liza." Discuss it with Liza She smiles at just how much she loves this man and his inclusiveness. "Now can we leave the bathroom now? There must be a line, and I'm sure my date has left me."
"Please, if you don't think that both of our dates are on the other side of that door straining their ears to hear us you're dumber than I give you credit for." At Charli's words Liza jumps back letting the door close the small bit she had it propped open and looks down to Josh. Just then the door swings open and Charles is standing there.
"Oh hey, there you are." Liza is ashamed of you lame cover up. Josh is the complete opposite when he finds Charli's eye.
"Charlie Brown, can we eat now?" She shoves past Charles and grabs Josh by the hand.
"Come on I know a great hot dog stand we can eat at now. This place is too fancy for me. Then I've booked a suite upstairs. I hope you're properly hydrated, because later tonight-" she leans in and whispers in his ear and Liza sees Josh blush for the very first time ever in all the years she's known him. She looks up at Charles who is trying to focus on anything but the couple directly in front of them. Charli steps back satisfied with herself, punches Charles in the arm and says her goodbyes as she and Josh rush off into the night. She turns back to Yell at her brother one last time "Brooks kids take Brooklyn...or Brooklyn Brooks's? Huh? Think about it, but just know I'm right you'd be so much happier without that Manhattan high society BS." With that she and Josh are gone. Liza looks up to Charles and slips her hand into his.
"I wouldn't turn down street food right now." She says as she squeezes his hand. He smiles and chuckles as he nods his head in agreement and they leave. He'd brought her here to share his parents anniversary with her and she suddenly feels bad for suggesting they leave and when she expesses this to Charles he replies
"My parents spent every anniversary here, rain or shine. Then they'd always end up eating street food later in the evening, we are following tradition." He kisses the back of her hand as they walk down the street in comfortable silence smiles on her faces. Tomorrow she knew he'd be stressing over a potential move to Brooklyn but for tonight he was all love and joy. Her heart flutters and she's nearly walking on air.