Chapter Twenty Four

In her room, Joey watched her clock turn to midnight and she breathed an audible sigh of relief. Her bet with Brax had officially been lost and tomorrow, well, today, was her three month anniversary with Charlie and they had planned on a particularly special night.

At nine o'clock in the morning, Joey eagerly knocked on Charlie's bedroom door, clutching a tray containing toast with jam, a hot cup of coffee, a glass of orange juice and a small vase with a material rose in it. The future police officer opened up, looking cute and sleepy in her pyjamas with tousled hair untidily framing her face.

"I was going to put the rose in my mouth but then I decided it wasn't very hygienic," Joey said with a cheeky grin by way of greeting.

Charlie laughed and welcomed her inside, touched that her girlfriend had gone to so much effort. She just hoped that the effort she was personally planning to go to this evening would be worth it.

"Happy anniversary," Joey said, presenting Charlie with the breakfast tray.

"Thank you," Charlie said sincerely. "Help me eat?"

Joey nodded eagerly and bounced onto the bed. Charlie brought the tray over more sedately, placing the vase on her desk and promising to keep the rose forever. Before even considering toast, she leant over and kissed Joey tenderly on the mouth.

"I love you," she whispered.

Joey rested their foreheads together and smiled.

"I love you too."

She had never said a truer word.

"So, what's the plan for today?" Joey wondered.

With the breakfast tray pushed to one side, Charlie and Joey had been making out on the bed for some time.

"Well," Charlie said, lying on her side and facing her partner. "I was going to make us something special to eat and I thought we could spend the evening in here."

"Do you want to watch a DVD or something?" Joey asked.

Charlie pursed her lips and shook her head. Joey giggled as she realised what she meant. And now, Joey knew she could do it with almost a clear conscience. She knew that if Charlie ever found out that the bet had existed in the first place then she'd be terribly hurt. But she hoped that purposely losing the bet would at least count in her favour. Mostly though, she just hoped that Charlie never knew the person Joey had once been. She was utterly convinced that through being with Charlie, she had become a better human being and it was one of the many, many things she loved about her.

"Unless you don't want to?" Charlie added nervously, aware that she had turned her down a couple of weeks ago.

"I definitely want to," Joey said. "And I think tonight is going to be absolutely perfect."

"I hope so," Charlie agreed. "I've been waiting a long time!"

She laughed self consciously. Joey reached out to stroke her hair, gazing into her eyes.

"I know that I'm not even nearly good enough for you..." she said.

Charlie opened her mouth to interrupt but Joey kissed her instead.

"I know I'm not," she said firmly. "But you make me a better person. And if you'll let me, I'd love to spend the rest of my life doing whatever it takes to make you happy. You mean the world to me, Charlie. I never knew I could feel like this about another person."

"Especially me," Charlie remarked.

Joey looked a little bewildered.

"I didn't exactly make it easy for you to become my friend, let alone anything more," Charlie reminded her. "And I honestly don't know why you decided to persevere but whatever the reason, I'm glad. I don't think I could live without you now."

They kissed again and again.

That afternoon, having spent most of the day together, Charlie and Joey had reluctantly gone their separate ways in a bid to get ready for the evening ahead. The plan was a quiet evening in together in Charlie's room, which was always far tidier than Joey ever managed to keep hers.

With Charlie busy sorting things out for the evening, Joey knocked on Brax's door with an envelope of cash. He opened up room ninety seven, on the other side of Charlie's and smirked at his friend. He was a bit annoyed about how Charlie was taking up all his best mate's time but he comforted himself with his belief that it wouldn't last.

"Well, well," he said, letting her in. "Have you come to pay me some money?"

"Here," Joey said, thrusting the envelope at him. "Now, I've lost the bet so let's say no more about it, please."

Brax smirked.

"I can't believe you lost on purpose," he said, shaking his head. "That's just lame."

"Yeah, well I'd lose a hell of a lot more than a few hundred dollars if Charlie found out."

"If Charlie found out what?" said a voice behind her.

Joey spun around in horror. She had come so close to leaving all of this behind. And she had fallen at the final hurdle.

Next time… Charlie finds out about the bet and breaks up with Joey…