Chapter 3

It had taken a very short time for Charlie to find the perfect song. She had to find a song that was just about how she had felt when she had believed she had found her 'Prince Charming', and she knew exactly where to search for it. Nyaga was good at writing songs, but none of them managed to describe exactly how she had felt. There was a good friend of Nyaga's, on the contrary, who used to write a lot of love songs. Charlie really liked this other singer too, so she was able to find the perfect song, one that seemed to talk about her, amongst this singer's songs.
She took a guitar, available for the students in the choir room, and, while the other Glee club members were staring at her, she started to sing.

"Took a deep breath in the mirror:
He didn't like it when I wore high heels, but I do.
Turn the lock and put my headphones on:
He always said he didn't get this song, but I do, I do."

While she was singing, all her ex-boyfriends came back to her mind. No one of them ever really liked her, for many different reasons.

"Walked in expecting you'd be late,
But you got here early and you stand and wave. I walk to you.
You pull my chair out and help me in,
And you don't know how nice that is, but I do.

And you throw your head back laughing,
Like a little kid.
I think it's strange that you think I'm funny cause
They never did.
I've been spending the last eight months
Thinking all love ever does
Are break and burn and end,
But on a Wednesday, in a café,
I watched it begin again."

She remembered the first and only boy who had treated her as a human being. She remembered that afternoon, at the bar, trying to make a good impression. She remembered it had seemed strange to her to meet a boy like Kurt, but nevertheless she had madly fallen in love with him.

"You said you never met one girl who
Had as many Nyaga Roxas records as you,
But I do.
We tell stories and you don't know why
I'm coming off a little shy,
But I do.

And you throw your head back laughing,
Like a little kid.
I think it's strange that you think I'm funny cause
They never did.
I've been spending the last eight months
Thinking all love ever does
Is break and burn and end,
But on a Wednesday, in a café,
I watched it begin again."

They would have been great together, since they had many things in common. Their love for Nyaga was just one of them.
For the first time in her life, Charlie hadn't been afraid to talk about herself, maybe because she had the feeling she had found someone to trust.

"And we walked down the block, to the car,
And I almost brought him up,
But you start to talk about the movies
That your family watches every single Christmas,
And I want to talk about that.
And for the first time
What's past is past…"

That boy had made her forget all the past disappointments. Finally, the only thing that mattered was the present, and not a bunch of idiots that were only living in her past.
While she was singing, Charlie was looking at the Glee club members, one by one. Someone already knew the song, someone else was listening to it for the first time, some were asking themselves which was the meaning of that performance, and some thought that was a wonderful song, despite never having listened to it before. Instinctively, she gazed at Blaine. As soon as she realized it, she looked down: in a certain sense, it was as if that song was a little about him too. She couldn't look at him right when she was singing a song that meant he was just another moron she had met!
Charlie's eyes filled with tears, both for the memories that the song brought to her mind, and because she thought she was making a fool of herself.

"And you throw your head back laughing,
Like a little kid.
I think it's strange that you think I'm funny cause
They never did.
I've been spending the last eight months
Thinking all love ever does
Is break and burn and end,
But on a Wednesday, in a café,
I watched it begin again.

But on a Wednesday, in a café,
I watched it begin again."

Right after the song ended, while everyone was cheering at her, Charlie put the guitar against a wall and ran out of the room, to prevent others from seeing her crying. While everyone was wondering why she had acted like that, Blaine followed her.

He found her in the auditorium, snuggled in one of the seats of the first row. He got closer to her.
"Why did you follow me?" the girl asked, almost offended, without even looking at him. "You shouldn't be here."
"Why?" the boy asked.
"Because I'm an awful person," said Charlie.
"Why? What did you do?"
"Gosh, I knew you were stupid, but I didn't believe you were so stupid!" the girl said, finally turning towards Blaine. "You didn't understand a word of the song I sang a few minutes ago, did you?"
"Yes, it was about the first time you actually fell in love..."
"...and about the person who made me forget all the morons I had fallen in love with, before I met him! And that includes you!"
"Really?"
"It's practically impossible that you didn't understand that! I had spent months trying to get noticed by you, and the only thing that I got was... moving another time! Being far from you had been a relief: I had almost managed to forget you completely, but then I came back to this city, and I was terrified to the thought of meeting someone who could have made me remember those months spent at Dalton Academy! Then I met Kurt, who has been the first to treat me as I deserve to be treated, and from that moment, all the wrong guys I had fallen in love with were no longer important."
Blaine sat next to her.
"Did I actually treat you that bad?" he asked.
"I'd always tried to get noticed by you," answered Charlie. "I was always around you, I was basically stuck on you more that the gel on your hair, I always tried to spend as much time as possible with you, I even sang a Christmas song with you once, and I almost got kicked out of the school when Joe caught me singing, with my real voice, a song about the fact that I was secretly in love with you. At first I thought you were being really mean to me, or that you were just stupid, but then I thought about it, and I came to the conclusion that you were just a confused boy that never noticed me, maybe because he was too scared of falling in love with someone..."
The boy laughed.
"So you're not mad?" he asked.
"Let's say I resigned myself to it," said Charlie. "You are the one who should be mad, since now you know why I sang that song..."
"Why?"
"Eight months after leaving Dalton, I met your boyfriend... And I'm still obsessed with him... Doesn't this make you mad?"
"No."
"A girl you know, who had a crush on you, is madly in love with your boyfriend, and may want to see you dead, just for the pleasure of having him all for her... And doesn't it even bother you?"
"Why should it? I know Kurt won't ever leave me for you..."
"Also despite the fact that, when I told him I was a girl, he tried to tell me that it could've worked anyway between us?"
"Charlie, he sees you as a friend!"
"Then, I guess it's not the same for me! I've been trying for two years not to think of him as 'Prince Charming', or 'The perfect boy', but it's impossible!"
"And do you think that staying away from him or avoiding him will help? He has changed his mind about you, but you used to call each other almost every day!"
"What if talking with him makes me feel even worse?"
"Chatting with friends has never made anyone feel worse!"
Charlie hugged Blaine. Maybe he wasn't as stupid as he seemed to her.
"I guess you found the ultimate proof to many girls' theory..." said Blaine.
"Which theory?"
"That Prince Charming is gay!"
Charlie laughed. There were very few people who always managed to make her laugh.
"You know, maybe I couldn't forget Kurt because it is impossible to forget real friends..." she said. "And, speaking about friends, it's good to have some, even if they're living in another city and I can see them basically once a year..."
"Will you go and see Kurt in New York, then?"
"I don't know yet... For now I'm happy to be back here, and to have found a new best friend!"
Blaine smiled.
"I don't know why I could barely stand you at first..." said Charlie. "No one would like to see an ex-boyfriend again, not even an ex-almost-boyfriend! Then I discovered you were dating Kurt, and I felt... not really jealous... I was envious! I felt happy and sad at the same time... It was as if I knew I would never find my soulmate, that I would never be happy... like you two!"
"Do you really think so?"
Charlie didn't answer. She brought the boy in the choir room, now empty, and asked the piano player to play a song. She started to sing, while Blaine was looking at her.

"So let go all of these mixed emotions,
Forget all your hesitations.
Together entwined inside this feeling,
Feet off the ground, head hits ceiling.

Then he whispered in your ear
He's absolutely falling:
The words he said are clear,
So don't insist on stalling,

Because he's tailor made for you,
With stunning golden hues,
And one sweet tone to soothe.
Your persistent beating heart it's just a start,
And I have seen you everyday:
You've never been like this before.
He's tailor made, tailor, tailor made…"

Charlie felt that each word of that song was true. Finally, her obsession with Kurt had completely vanished. She was letting go a very special person, and she didn't seem to regret it: someone else's happiness was more important than her own, for once in her life.
When the song ended, Blaine hugged Charlie.
Many miles away from there, in the meanwhile, Kurt was reassuring a doubtful Rachel that Finn was tailor made for her.

That evening, after having prepared her things for her forthcoming departure, Charlie decided to follow Blaine's advice, thinking that she had survived worse things. She phoned Kurt, determined not to hang up, as soon as she would have heard his voice.
"Hi, it's me, Charlie," she began, as Kurt answered. "I'm really sorry for my behavior... I mean, when I didn't answer your calls, or when I called you just to hang up right after... I did it because I was trying to forget you, but I never did! Then I realized that I was trying to do something impossible... I mean, you're the first true friend I've ever had... and it's impossible to forget true friends, isn't it? I understood that I was just envious of your happiness... and I believed that I would never be happy like you and Blaine... I remember when you told me that soon I would've found my soulmate: I hope I'll find him soon, although I've decided that I won't think about falling in love with someone else for a while... How are you, by the way? I haven't heard from you for months..."

Hi readers!
So, in this chapter we see Charlie taking a great step forward in the field of human relationships: not only has she stated that she can let go of Kurt, and feel ok seeing him happy together with Blaine, but she has also overcome her sort of 'hate' towards Blaine, letting him become her new best friend.
We also have two songs here: the first one is "Begin Again" by Taylor Swift (I slightly changed the lyrics so that they would fit better in the story) and the other one is "Tailor Made" by Colbie Caillat (actually it's half of it, because I wanted to use it to link two scenes, the second of which is described in the last line in the paragraph after the song).
I hope you like this story, and I would be very happy if you let me know it: leave a comment, a message, whatever! I would really love to hear your opinion! :)