"I knew you and lovely Daria were fans of pizza".
"Upchuck, everyone is a fan of pizza" Jane pointed out ". By the way, thanks for letting me stay here, this is the most normal thing of the day and I appreciate that, my brain needed to rest".
"There is no problem".
"By the way, can I make a phone call?".
"Go ahead" Charles told her.
Jane waited until the person on the other line picked up the phone. She was anxious, trying to figure out what to say and how to say it. She couldn't completely understand what had she done wrong to begin with. How does one apologize to someone when you don't understand what are you apologizing for? Charles stared at Jane curiously while biting a slice of pizza. Without Jane's knowledge, Charles was thinking about her. Despite of being a self-proclaimed Casanova, this was the first time a girl was going to sleep in his house, a girl that wasn't related to him or that wasn't there for other of the Ruttheimers. Jane was quite a pretty girl, he had to admit, and he had always thought so. What she had told him about Lawndale and everyone acting strange sounded so insane he almost wanted to believe she had invented everything just to have an excuse to spend the night around him, but even for him that sounded like something Jane wouldn't do.
"Quinn?... yeah, yeah, it's lovely to hear your voice too, I guess. Is Daria around?... yeah but I didn't mean to... I'm about to tell her I'm sorry... thanks".
"Lovely, huh?" Charles commented with a smirk.
"Shut up" Jane bitterly replied ". Oh, no, I wasn't telling that to you... yeah, well, I'm sorry I said you aren't enthusiastic, Daria, you are the most enthusiastic cheerleader I've seen" Jane had to keep herself from laughing or puking while saying that ". That's okay, no hard feelings, amiga. I'll see you tomorrow at school. Bye".
Jane hung up the phone and began to laugh uncontrollably. Charles joined her, confused yet amused.
"What's so funny?" He asked her after they calmed down.
"Charles, my mind is so tired and this whole thing is so ridiculous that all I can do right now is laugh".
"Wow, you just called me Charles. That is unexpected".
"Oh, I guess I did" Jane seemed surprised ". I am indeed very fucking mentally tired. You know what? If you don't mind, I think I need to go to sleep. Do you have any aspirins? This whole day gave me a terrible headache".
"Uh, sure" he said and grabbed a small box that contained a lot of white pills ". Here" he said as he gave one of the pills to Jane.
Jane swallowed the pill with some soda and then yawned.
"I'll take you to the guests room" he offered.
Jane raised an eyebrow.
"I am not flirting as much anymore, am I, sweet Jane?".
"Fine, c'mon, I'm tired".
Charles helped Jane to get up after she grabbed her backpack from the floor. Jane had sneaked inside her own house, trying to avoid Trent or any other family member, but for her own amazement she had found a man in a suit coming out of her parent's room.
"Hello! It's so nice to see you, darling. I just came back from taking lovely pictures in India. Look how you've grown in the last few months. Where is your mother, sweetheart?".
"Dad?" Jane asked confused.
"Well, of course it's me, who else would it be?" He laughed loudly.
"Uh, well... mom's out with Summer and the kids... and by the way, I have this... school project and it's for tomorrow and it's really long, yeah, so since mom isn't here I wanted to ask you if I can stay at Daria's tonight, you know, my best friend, so I can finish the project".
"Let me think... I shouldn't allow you to stay at someone else's house on a school night without asking your mom first but I guess if you need to finish a school project there shouldn't be a problem".
"Thanks, dad. I guess I should go now. See you later".
Jane entered her room with the same astonishment on her face she had that morning. Wondering why the hell was her father in the house, she took her backpack from the floor and put some notebooks in it. She opened the closet and added some clothes for the next morning. She took her toothbrush and felt ready enough to leave that terrifying version of Casa Lane.
By the time Charles and Jane had arrived the guest's room, Jane had seen how big Charles' house was. She felt some nostalgia when she noticed how she could hear Charles' parents but they didn't seem to pay much attention to Charles, close enough to her own relationship with her parents. As a child, she had wished them to be around more often, but now her wish was true she had to recognize that their neglect was indeed benign.
"Here we are" Charles informed when they stood in front of a room. He opened the door and entered the room, with Jane following him ". This one has a bathroom so you can shower here in the morning".
"Thanks, Upchuck. Hey, thank you about letting me stay here. I really can't stand being surrounded by all that weirdness out there. Not anymore today, at least".
"It's no problem, now I'll leave you so you can sleep. Good night, sweet Jane".
"Yeah, good night to you too, Ruttheimer".
Charles exited the room and closed the door. He stayed for a minute standing next to the door, thinking again. Jane had started to be much less hostile towards him, he dared to think that now he was treating her in a different way, it could have something to do with the change in Jane's attitude. Could he have a chance... with someone like Jane if he changed his behavior? Could he receive a nice greeting from her when he approached her at school instead of a 'beat it, creep' if he changed the way he talked to her?
Meanwhile, behind the closed door, Jane was changing her clothes and then brushing her teeth, getting ready for a deserved break. She actually felt really grateful towards Charles. He had not only allowed her to stay at his house spontaneously, he also had been decent all night long, as decent as he could be, at least. Of course, Jane's threats had helped, but after a while he had started to act less annoying by himself.
If he acted like this more often, I could even talk to him without feeling sickened, Jane thought while lying on her bed in the middle of the dark room.