Chapter 11: One Way or Another

He knew she'd be on the porch, smoking a cigarette while leaning on the railing. He was a smoker too. He understood. Nicotine was a great friend during times of adversity.

For a few moments he watched her. The silver hoops in her ears glittered in the moonlight, and she kept tossing her long blonde hair over her shoulder with an air of impatience. After finishing her cigarette, she flicked the butt over the railing and reached into her pack for another. Frowning, she turned the pack upside down and shook. Empty.

"Dammit," she muttered. But she sounded more upset than angry.

Chuck took a step forward, reaching into his coat pocket. He pulled out his own pack of cigarettes and held out his arm to her. He took another step forward, then she saw him. Eyes narrowing down to little slits, she glanced from his face to the cigarettes and back again.

"Smokers' code," he explained in perfect deadpan.

"Go away." She turned back to the railing. "I don't want to talk to you right now."

He took out his lighter and lit a cigarette. "Okay," he agreed, "so we won't talk." He took a few puffs then offered it to her.

She glared at him but took it. She leaned her elbows on the railing, looking out into the street, while he leaned back, looking into the house. He lit another cigarette for himself. They smoked.

"You must be thrilled," Angelica said finally, still not facing him. "You finally got your revenge on bad old Angelica Pickles. You got to see me humiliated." Her voice grew bitter. "Did you know he was such a jerk?"

Chuck didn't even need to ask who she meant. "I've always thought Matt's a jerk, but I never thought he'd be a jerk to you. I promise. And I've never wanted to see you get embarrassed." He sighed and concluded, "So, no, I'm not thrilled."

She snorted. "Finster, why the hell are you here?"

He flicked some ash from the end of his cigarette. He wasn't sure how to answer that. He wasn't sure he wanted to. "Because I care," he said, deciding that this answer was as close to the truth as he dared get.

She snorted again and, despite himself, he chuckled. Bad move. She turned to glare at him, and he flinched. Then he perked up again. "Hey! Hear that?"

"All I hear is 'Taps' playing at your funeral," she growled.

"No, seriously." He jerked his head towards the door. "They're playing Blondie's 'One Way or Another.'"

She shrugged. "So?"

"I just … know you like the song," he murmured, almost to himself. He thought about the time, many years ago, she'd taken over a sushi restaurant and sang karaoke. Though at the time he'd been glad it wasn't him getting in trouble, he'd admired her a little for it too. It took chutzpah to sing to an entire restaurant. And even then, Angelica Pickles had it, and Chuck Finster respected her for it.

Not much had changed since then, actually.

He dropped his cigarette butt on the porch and ground it out with his heel. When he looked up, he saw that she'd turned around and was looking at him. Looking through him. He wondered what she was thinking about.

"You know," she began softly, "that was a great trip."

Again with the mind-reading. How could someone who seemed to think so little of him also know him so well? "It certainly worked out well for me and Dad." He paused. "Jury's still out on what Kim and Mom think."

She laughed at that, and he grinned, feeling bolder.

"Angie?"

"Hmm?" She took one last drag on her cigarette then flicked the butt over the railing.

Chuck stood indecisively for a moment, torn between hope and fear. Then he took a deep breath, let it slowly out, and did the bravest thing he had done in his life to date. He asked Angelica Pickles to dance with him.

Author's Notes: So here's where I must confess, shame-facedly, to being A Bad Rugrats Fan™. When I was double-checking to make sure I'd gotten the context right for this song, I found out that in fact I hadn't—"One Way or Another" is from the first movie, while the song Angelica sings in the karaoke restaurant is "Bad Girls" from the second movie. Yikes!

I thought about adjusting things to fit the canon but decided to just leave as-is. "One Way or Another" works much better in context with the rest of this story, and it's even been incorporated into the title. My sincere apologies for the inaccuracy, though.