Chapter 30

"Okay..." Charlie mumbled quietly "Just calm down Charlie...Breathe..." she took a deep breath and released it shakily before turning her gaze back to the mirror in front of her. She was wearing a knee length white dress, her hair held up with two tendrils hanging at either side of her face "Okay...I can do this..."

A knock at the door caused her to jump in surprise "Uh...Who is it?"

"It's just me" Ruby responded quietly from behind the door "Are you okay Charlie? You've been in the bathroom for almost an hour and a half"

"I'm fine...Sort of"

"Can I come in?" Ruby questioned in concern at the nervousness in the other girls' voice "I don't think I believe you..."

Charlie walked over to the door and unlocked it with a soft click before moving back to allow Ruby to open it.

The door opened and Ruby walked in, shutting the door behind her. Her eyes widened slightly as she looked at Charlie "Wow, you're sure out to impress aren't you? You look great Charlz"

"Thanks" Charlie replied softly as she sat on the edge of the bathtub, wringing her hands nervously in front of her.

"What's wrong?" Ruby frowned as she observed her "You seem like you're freaking out"

"I am"

"Right...Why?" Ruby asked in confusion "You're not nervous about the date are you? Because you've done this loads of times with Joey..."

"I'm not nervous about the date" Charlie corrected. She leaned forward and placed her head in her hands "It's something else"

"More secrets?" Ruby questioned anxiously "I thought we had gotten past all of that stuff"

"Not secrets" Charlie sighed. She looked up at Ruby thoughtfully "You know that I love Joey, right? I've never loved anyone like I love her Rubz..." her eyes became unfocused and she smiled dreamily "She makes me feel so much that I never thought I could feel. She makes me so happy..."

Ruby appeared baffled "But? There is a but right? You guys aren't breaking up, are you?"

"Check my jacket pocket" Charlie said hesitantly motioning towards her jacket which lay on the ground next to Ruby.

"Uh...Okay" though confused at first the teenager picked Charlie's black leather jacket up from the floor and began rifling through the pockets. Charlie watched her apprehensively.

Ruby frowned thoughtfully as her hand came into contact with a small box. She pulled it out and stared at it for a moment. She opened it and released a gasp as her eyes settled on the diamond ring inside "Oh my God...You're going to ask Joey to..."

"Yeah" Charlie nodded slowly "I know that it may seem a bit fast and all but..."

"That's great!" Ruby rushed towards Charlie and engulfed her in a huge hug.

"It is?" Charlie asked as she returned the hug tentatively "You don't think I'm going too fast? You're not going to make U-haul jokes?"

"No" Ruby pulled back to look at the older girl and grinned teasingly at her sigh of relief "Toaster ovens however are a whole different story..."

"What?"

"Y'know" Ruby said clearly "Joey gets a toaster oven because she 'recruited you'" when Charlie continued to gaze at her blankly she sighed and shook "Never mind Charlie...Check it on the internet"

"Erm...Right" Charlie said quietly "So anyway...Back to the issue at hand"

"What's the issue?" Ruby sat on the bathtub next to Charlie and gave her, her undivided attention.

"What if she says no?" Charlie fretted "What if she thinks it's too soon?"

"I highly doubt that she'll say no" Ruby smiled wrapping an arm around Charlie's shoulders "She loves you. Like...Really loves you!"

"I know" Charlie smiled to herself "I know she does but I'm still not sure that she'll say yes. She's been feeling really insecure since she ran into Brett yesterday..."

"There's no way Joey will say no to you" Ruby grinned as she stood up "Especially not if you're wearing that. I'd say Joey will be struck utterly speechless"

"Thanks" Charlie blushed brightly at the teenagers compliment and glanced down at herself self-consciously.

"C'mon" Ruby held a hand out to Charlie who took it and allowed herself to be pulled up from the edge of the bathtub "Joey will be here soo..."

"Charlie?!" Joey's voice sounded from the living room "Ruby?!"

"Told ya" Ruby grinned at Charlie's slightly panicked expression and squeezed her hand comfortingly "Calm down Charlie...It'll be fine. Are you coming?" she motioned towards the door.

Charlie shook her head "I need to get ready"

"Aren't you already ready?"

"No. I'm still a bit of a mess"

"Okay" Ruby shook her head in amusement at the older girl "I'll go and keep Joey entertained" she turned around and walked toward the door.

"Ruby?"

Ruby turned around at the sound of Charlie's voice "Yeah?"

"Don't say anything to Joey, Okay?" Charlie said imploringly "And no dropping hints either...I know what you're like at keeping secrets"

Ruby rolled her eyes "I'm not entirely stupid. I can keep secrets if I want to!" she walked out of the bathroom, shutting the door behind her and walked into the living room where Joey was sitting on the couch.

"Hey Jo" she greeted as she sat across from her.

"Hey" Joey smiled softly at the teen "Is Charlie ready yet?"

"Still getting ready" Ruby answered "You know what Charlie's like...Takes hours. You look great by the way"

"Thanks" Joey glanced down at her pale blue dress self-consciously.

"Hey, Joey?"

"Mmmhmn?" Joey looked back up at Ruby.

"Are you okay?" Ruby leaned forward slightly in the chair "I mean after what happened yesterday...Are you feeling better?"

"A little bit" Joey answered honestly "Charlie's been amazing...She's really helping. I honestly don't know what I would do without her"

Ruby gazed at her with a knowing grin.

"What?" Joey narrowed her eyes suspiciously at Ruby's grin.

"Nothing" Ruby forced herself to sober up and attempted to change the subject "Just a heads up...I think your jaws gonna like hit the floor when you see Charlie"

"Doesn't it always?" Joey smiled dreamily.

The sound of a door opening caught their attention and Joey stood up as Charlie entered the room. She gaped at her speechlessly for a moment "Wow..."

"Hey" Charlie smiled softly "You look...Amazing"

Joey didn't often wear dresses but when she did (And even when she didn't) Charlie always found herself stunned by her beauty.

Joey moved over to her and took her took her hand, gently entwining their fingers "Thanks. You look...Absolutely stunningly beautiful"

Charlie shrugged and blushed "Thanks" she cleared her throat and glanced away from Joey's intense gaze towards where Ruby sat on the couch "So we're going to head off now..." she pulled her hand from Joey's and moved towards the teenager. She leaned down and placed a kiss on her head "Don't stay up too late Rubz"

"Good Luck" Ruby whispered inconspicuously. She glanced at Joey "Keep her out of trouble, Okay Ruby?"

"Will do" Joey nodded as Charlie took her hand and pulled her towards the door "'See you later Rubz"

"See ya" Ruby's response sounded faintly.

"So..." Joey smiled at Charlie as they walked towards the car "Where are you taking me?"

"That's a surprise" Charlie grinned as she opened Joey's door for her.

"Thank you" Joey released her hand and got in the car. Charlie closed the door and moved quickly around the car to climb into the driver's side. She glanced at Joey as she put her seatbelt on and started the ignition.

"Can't you just give me a clue?" Joey asked suddenly "Just a little clue..."

"No" Charlie answered "It's a surprise...Oh and put your seatbelt on"

"Oooh Bossy aren't we?" Joey grinned.

"You got it" Charlie reached across and squeezed Joey's hand gently.

---

"Are you sure..."

"I'm sure" Charlie smiled affectionately at Joey "It's my intention to wine and dine you tonight miss Collins and that is exactly what I'm going to do, Okay?"

"But..."

"As I've said ten times already" Charlie reached over the table and tangled her fingers with Joey's "I can afford it and you are so completely worth it"

"Okay" Joey smiled happily "If you're sure..."

"I'm very sure"

"You do look really amazing tonight by the way" Joey said softly.

"I'm glad you think so..." Charlie offered Joey a lopsided grin.

"Oh I know so..." Joey said huskily.

They were interrupted a moment later by the waiter walking over to them and asking them what kind of wine they wanted.

"The best" Charlie answered immediately her eyes never leaving Joey's.

"Wow" Joey said as the waiter walked away "You sure seem to be in the mood for splashing out tonight...Any special occasion I should be aware of?"

"Nope" Charlie smiled "Not yet..."

---

"Sooo..." Charlie said as they walked down the beach hand in hand "Was tonight okay?" The date had gone great but so far, Charlie hadn't gathered the courage to ask the question.

Damn it she thought to herself frutratedly How hard could it possible be to say I love you Joey, Will you Marry me?!

"Are you kidding?" Joey grinned "Tonight was amazing" she stopped and pulled Charlie into her arms kissing her soundly "Thank you...For being so wonderful"

"Joey..." Charlie started softly feeling her courage returning to her at the safe feeling of being in Joey's arms.

"Uh-huh?"

"I've been searching for the right words to ask you all night...I've been planning this for a while but I realised I have no idea how to ask you"

"Ask me?" Joey repeated in confusion "Ask me what?"

"Joey I love you"

"I know" Joey smiled "I love you too Babe"

"I know this isn't a very conventional way of doing this" Charlie started unsurely "But to hell with it...What about our relationship is conventional?"

"I'm lost" Joey stated in bewilderment.

"Okay" Charlie took a deep breath and focused on Joey "I highly doubt I'm going to be able to get on my knees with this dress on but I'm going to give it a go..." Charlie dropped to her knees in front of Joey and pulled a square box out of her pocket without releasing her grip on Joey's hand.

Joey gazed at her in shock.

"Jo...All my life I've wanted to meet the right person and fall in love, wondered how it would feel to love someone and know that they love me just as much...but I've always seemed to shut myself off from people who try to get close to me. Then I met you and you changed that. You wouldn't let me push you away. You fought for me. You came back to me and above all else you loved me even when I probably didn't deserve it. I stopped wondering how it would feel when I met you Joey because I had that feeling. And now...I've realised that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want to go to sleep with you next to me every night and I want to wake up next to you every morning so... What I'm trying to ask you is...Will you marry me Joey Collins?"

Joey tearfully dropped to the ground with Charlie and wrapped her arms around her tightly "Of course I'll marry you!"

Charlie pulled back from the embrace long enough to slip the ring onto Joey's finger before she pulled her into a deep kiss.

"I love you so much Jo..." she whispered with tears in her eyes.

"I love you too" Joey beamed tearfully.

---

The slam of the bedroom door opening against the wall echoed throughout the house but neither Joey nor Charlie could bring themselves to care as their lips were locked in a passionate kiss as they stumbled backwards into the dark room. Joey kicked the door shut behind them and leaned back against it as she slid Charlie's jacket from her shoulder.

"As amazing as you look in this dress..." she said huskily "I've been dying to get you out of it all night..."

"Joey..." Charlie panted softly as Joey reached around her back and unzipped her dress excruciatingly slowly.

"Shhh" Joey soothed gently as she pushed Charlie backwards onto the bed "Relax..." she moved forward and kissed the other girl slowly allowing her tongue to sweep briefly against the older girls lips. Charlie immediately parted her lips and when Joey's tongue met her own shockwaves cascaded through both of them. Her hand trailed down Charlie's chest to her breasts her thumbs brushing lightly against the nipples which strained against the fabric of the dress.

Charlie immediately arched into the younger girls touch and released a soft moan "Jo..."

Joey gently removed the dress from Charlie and kissed her gently as her hand moved down the soft skin of her side to her centre.

----

"Hey" Charlie beamed happily as Ruby walked into the kitchen.

Ruby grunted tiredly in reply and sunk down into the chair at the table. She looked up at Charlie and Joey through half lidded eyes, taking in their ecstatic appearance. Charlie had her arms wrapped tightly around Joey from behind "Last night go well?"

"Yep" Joey grinned "Guess what?"

"What?" Ruby smiled at them. She swiped a hand across her eyes and sat up giving them her full attention.

"We're getting married!"

"Am I supposed to act surprised?" Ruby asked her eyes focusing on Charlie.

"Huh?" Joey questioned.

"She already knew" Charlie placed a kiss on Joey's shoulder "I was freaking out last night and she talked me down"

"Told you she would say yes!" Ruby stated smugly "When am I ever wrong?" she stood up and hugged both girls tightly "I'm happy for you guys. Really happy"

"Thanks Rubz" Joey smiled at the teenager.

"Hey, Joey?" Charlie shifted slightly to look at her girlfriend curiously.

"Yeah, Babe?" Joey responded.

"What's the thing with the toaster oven?"

Ruby burst into giggles and slumped down onto the nearest seat. Joey joined her a moment later in her laughter.

"What's so funny?" Charlie asked in bewilderment.

"Did Ruby tell you that?" Joey asked trying to hold back her laughter.

"Yeah..." Charlie nodded confusion clear in her eyes "I still don't get it..."

"Google it" Joey giggled at Charlie's confusion.

"You made fun of me the last time I Googled something" Charlie pointed, a blush spreading across her cheeks.

"But" Joey stated as she moved forward and wrapped her arms around Charlie's waist "That turned out to be a very good use of your time" she leaned forward and kissed Charlie softly "Speaking of which..."

"Get a room" Ruby rolled her eyes at them.

"That's exactly what I was going to say!" Joey exclaimed as she grabbed Charlie's hand and pulled her out of the kitchen and towards their bedroom "Thanks Rubz!"

Ruby gazed after them in shock before a smile formed on her lips.

TBC