Chapter Thirteen

Cheesy pop music played as Charlie got ready for her date. She tried not to remember the last time she'd got ready for a night out with a potential love interest. Back then, she had been innocent and carefree. She'd had no concept of the horrors of the world. And by the time she'd got home, everything had changed.

Now, she was nervous in a different way. She liked Joey. Perhaps she liked her too much. And she was worried about losing control of herself and her feelings. But for the first time, she had the desire to open herself up to someone and let them get close. She cared for Joey and she was eager for her to feel the same. She just hoped that for the first time in her life, something would work out well.

In the room next door, Joey dressed in front of the mirror, careful to check that her outfit looked okay. She applied a little makeup and fixed her hair before destroying part of the ozone layer with a hefty amount of body spray. The last thing she needed was to smell bad when she was trying to get close to Charlie.

Glancing at her watch, she realised that she was ready five minutes early. Sinking onto the bed, she sighed, wondering if this whole thing was a bad idea. Over the last week or so, she had truly come to care for her neighbour. She felt terribly guilty about making the bet, even if she had decided quickly that she wasn't going to go through with it.

But asking Charlie out on a date was only going to fuel Brax's insistence about seeing the bet through. What if she did end up with Charlie? Wouldn't she be fulfilling the bet anyway? Shaking her head in confusion, Joey decided to forget all about Brax and his ideas and go and knock on Charlie's door.

Charlie counted to ten before she opened the door to Joey, for fear of looking too eager.

"Wow," Joey said, looking her up and down. "You look beautiful."

She had opted for a flattering red dress that showed off her cleavage. It wasn't something Charlie was used to wearing. Usually, she worse clothes that would detract attention from her and help her fade into the background. But tonight, she was keen to impress.

"You look pretty amazing yourself," Charlie said.

"I feel a bit under dressed," Joey admitted.

She was wearing all black – a smart pair of trousers and a shirt.

"I think you look great," Charlie said.

They smiled shyly at each other before Joey pulled a small bouquet of flowers out from behind her back. Charlie beamed at her.

"You're making a habit of this!" she remarked, remembering the apology flowers Joey had presented her with a few weeks back.

She accepted them and put them in the same vase that previously homed the other ones. Cautiously, Joey entered the room and smiled when she saw that Charlie had taken one of the old flowers, pressed it and put it up on the wall. Realising that Joey had noticed, Charlie blushed.

"Nobody ever brought me flowers before," she explained. "They um... they made me happy."

Joey smiled.

"Well then I'm even gladder that I got them for you," she said. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yep," Charlie said.

Grabbing her bag, she accepted Joey's hand and followed her out of the room, down the corridor and out into the world. Charlie was surprised to find a taxi waiting outside the building. Everyone always got everywhere by bus and she'd expected the same tonight.

"I thought I'd splash out a bit," Joey said. "If you've only ever had one date and it was horrible then you need to be treated with extra special care."

Charlie couldn't stop smiling as Joey politely opened the door for her and then moved to climb in the other side.

"Where to?" the taxi driver asked.

"Alessandro's in town," Joey said.

Charlie's eyes widened a little. It was hardly a cheap venue. Joey smiled, reiterating that if they were going to do this, then they were going to do it properly.

"I'm not going to end up in your bed tonight, you know," Charlie remarked with a smirk.

Joey laughed and put her arm around her.

"I know," she said. "Tonight isn't about that. I swear."

Settled at the restaurant, the waiter poured two glasses of rose wine from the bottle. Joey had booked a candlelit table for two in the corner of the room.

"Order anything you like," Joey said when the waiter had departed. "It's on me."

"Are you sure?" Charlie asked. "I mean, I know how small a student loan is."

"It's fine," Joey said. "I wanted tonight to be special."

"Why?"

Joey licked her lips, considering her answer.

"Because it sounds like you've missed out on a lot of things," she said.

"You feel sorry for me?" Charlie queried worriedly.

"No," Joey said. "If anything, I admire you. But I think you deserve someone to treat you because it sounds like you haven't had much of that."

"I haven't," Charlie agreed a little anxiously. "But why would you admire me?"

She looked and felt genuinely baffled.

"You've got so much ambition and drive, Charlie," Joey said. "It's impressive."

"It's boring," Charlie sighed.

Joey shook her head.

"It's brilliant," she said. "You know exactly what you want to do with yourself and you'll achieve it no matter what. You've got a plan. I don't."

"You're more carefree than I am," Charlie agreed. "I'd kind of like to be a bit more like you."

"Well if you're organised and determined and I'm flighty and whimsical then maybe somehow we can meet in the middle," Joey suggested brightly.

Charlie lifted her wine glass.

"I'll drink to that," she said.

Next time… Joey has a confession to make as her date with Charlie continues…