Chapter Five
Charlie stood at the bar covered in the smoothie stuck to the spot unsure as to wither Joey had intended to splash her with the drink, Joey was stuck to the spot exactly like Charlie unsure of what had just happened when she eventually snapped herself out of her daze she saw Brooke standing just in front of Charlie and Georgia standing behind Charlie, they were both trying unsuccessfully not to laugh at the situation that had just played out in the bar. Joey moved over towards Brooke nudging her towards where they were sitting minutes before;
"Please do something Brooke?"
"Like what Jo?" Brooke said finally composing herself
"I don't know get her a cloth and tell her I didn't mean to do it"
"Why me? why don't you tell her yourself?, I mean she don't even know me"
"You know why I promised Fra..."
"You promised who what Jo..?"
"Nothing I just don't wanna get involved in Charlie's life again it's too messy,"
Brooke paused for a second looked at Joey then answered "Fine, I'll do it because it's you"
"Thank you so much" Joey pulled Brooke into a hug
"Yeah yeah" Brooke went to walk away turned to Joey again "Oh and Dinners on you tonight"
"Sure no problem just go help her"
Brooke slowly moved over to the bar shaking her head as she walked over, she got a cloth from the bartender and walked over towards Charlie, She handed over the cloth and began a conversation she never thought she would have.
"Umm, about what just happened, Joey's really sorry she wasn't aiming for you"
"If she didn't mean to do it then why isn't she the one apologizing?"
"You know full well why"
"So she's still angry at me for that?"
"Yeah, I guess she is I don't know, Maybe she's one of those people who doesn't like being lied to?"
"I never meant to hurt her"
"Well then maybe you shouldn't have slept with someone else while you were with her"
"I don't have to explain myself to you, and this isn't exactly the best apology I've ever heard"
"Your lucky that I didn't hit for what you did to her"
"Is that a threat?"
"A threat no no no it's a promise, you give her more trouble then I'll follow through with it"
"You really can't be that smart threatening a police officer?"
"Intelligence is nothing to do with it, your title as a copper is only that, the only things that make you different from me is a uniform, a certificate and a badge, without that your just like everyone else...Normal"
"Your right we are different, I can arrest you for abusing a police officer"
"You could but I don't think you will"
"Why exactly wouldn't I?"
"Well you obviously want to make up with Joey, wither sexually or otherwise, arresting me is only gonna make her hate you even more than she does"
Both of them remained silent for numerous minutes letting themselves calm down, after a couple seconds Brooke looked over to Joey whose expression resembled that of a lost child looking for their parents, She closed her eyes and took a deep breathe, then she turned to face Charlie again, she waited a couple of seconds before speaking,
"Look I'm sorry, it's just when it comes to Joey I'm a little protective"
"It's fine, I know how you feel whenever we were together I just wanted to protect her from getting hurt..." Brooke raised her eyebrows in somewhat disbelief, seeing the look Charlie explained "I know why you're looking at me like that and I don't blame you what I did to Joey was terrible and I understand why she hates me, but when we were first together when nobody knew it was so easier for us to be ourselves around each other and for me to ..."
"Keep her safe" Brooke finished sensing that Charlie couldn't find the right words
"Yeah, but then everything got thrown into public by Brett and then I cheated"
"Can I ask something?"
"Yeah, but I can't say I'll be able to answer it"
"If you loved her so much and all you wanted was to protect her then why cheat, why do the one thing that would make her leave you?"
"Honestly, when Brett made a complaint about me, the look on her face when Watson took her to be interviewed it tore me up inside, all I wanted to do was to hold her and tell her it would be okay but..."
"You couldn't because of the investigation" Brooke again finished for Charlie seeing the tears starting to swell in her eyes
"Yeah and when I saw Hugo on the beach he called me the one thing that seemed to cause me the most pain"
"I don't get it how can calling you Gay be the most painful thing"
"Because it felt like I was being punished for being in love with the someone because of their gender"
"So you slept with him to what reaffirm you sexuality?"
"I don' know maybe, I guess part of me wanted to be the old Charlie the one who wasn't being punished for being in love"
"I guess that kinda makes sense, but it still doesn't make what you did to her better"
"I know I just wish I could take it all back so she'd forgive me or talk to me at least"
Brooke looked at Charlie's shirt which was wet from the cloth she had used to get the juice out she looked over at Joey and motioned for her to come over to where her and Charlie were standing she say Joey mime to her "No" so she motioned again mouthing to Joey "Bite the bullet". Joey finally made her way over to to bar and gave Charlie a quick smile
"Hey Jo" Charlie said while motioning to Joey with a small wave
"Hi Charlie, Brooke we better go, the hotel remember"
"Jojo, don't worry look wait here I've just got to get something out of the car"
"Wait what have you got to get out the car" slightly scared at the thought of being alone at the bar with Charlie
"I'm gonna get Ch... Sergeant Buckton a shirt to wear"
"Its fine you don't have to I'll be fine in this" Charlie replied seeing the look on Joeys face
"That shirt is ringing wet you can't wear it all night it'll make you ill, I'll just go get one of the spare shirts out of the trunk"
"Thank you" Charlie said politely
"Its no problem, I'll be two minutes" With that Brooke walked out of the bar leaving the two former lovers sitting alone together...