"Sweetheart," His mom popped her head into his room where he was leaning against the headboard, shading in his sketchbook. He glanced up at her. "Would you mind getting us some dinner? Your dad has to work late and I don't feel much like cooking."
"Now?" Charlie didn't feel like going anywhere to be honest. He was comfortable and in no mood to deal with anybody.
"If you wouldn't mind," She said kindly to him. "Unless you'd rather wait."
Charlie reluctantly slid off his bed. "I guess."
She smiled, her hand reaching out to ruffle his hair affectionately but stopped at the last minute. He didn't acknowledge it, trying to avoid them both feeling embarrassed. "You need to fix your hair," She started to fix it herself. He grimaced and moved his head.
"Mom! I'm just getting food. I'll put a hat on."
"You never know who you could run into," She lectured him.
He rolled his eyes. As if he'd care. Not like he'd run into anyone he knew. No one probably remembered him anyway.
"Don't you roll your eyes at me, Charles David," She said with faux sternness. He knew she wasn't really upset; he saw the amusement in her eyes. She adjusted his shirt and he let her. "What if you meet a pretty girl today? You don't want her seeing you looking like this, do you?"
"Thanks," he said sarcastically.
"You know what I mean," she said with a smile. "You're handsome but it wouldn't kill you to comb your hair or put on another shirt."
He listened to her give advice but knew it wouldn't matter. Girls had never so much looked his way twice. He knew he wasn't exactly what they considered good looking. It didn't bother him. He was over it.
/
Charlie could hardly believe who he'd seen as soon as he entered the burger joint.
It had been six years but he would recognize her anywhere. She'd grown taller. Her hair was up in a high ponytail and she wore a uniform, which meant she must have worked there. She wasn't facing him but was stepping backwards. He didn't have time to move when she bumped into him and a strong aroma of bleach hit his nose. She whirled around, starting to apologize when her blue eyes of hers widened. He felt a thrill of hope surge through him; she obviously recognized him. It had been six years, after all. He wouldn't have been surprised if she didn't.
But she did.
She did and a glimmer of happiness crossed her face that caught him off guard. The last time he'd seen her, prior to her finding out about his dad, she'd regarded him as a complete pest, having been put off by the fact they were paired together in the first place.
But now?
Things were different. She gave him a beaming smile that he wasn't used to seeing directed towards him. All in all, he was honestly just blown away that he'd come across Stephanie Tanner once again. He hadn't forgotten her, of course. How could he forget about the person who changed his life? She'd been on the forefront of his mind ever since his dad announced that he was getting relocated and that location was San Francisco. Still, he didn't think he'd see her so quickly or even at all. It was certainly possible she might have moved.
But she didn't!
They talked for a minute or so; he felt so freaking stupid for almost getting tongue tied, just barely pushing his words out. It was just Tanner. He had no reason to be that way. But he was. Ever since everything went down, he'd just gotten worse at trying to talk to people, especially without insulting like he was used to doing at school. His social life, not that he'd had much of one in the first place, had taken a hit when he stayed home-his real home, his new home-from school for a year to catch up. By the time he was attending his new school, people weren't really interested in him. A couple made attempts to talk to him but he hadn't truly understood their intentions and it was all awkward so they eventually stopped trying.
It was Tanner who suggested they get together later and catch up. He couldn't believe that came from her mouth but in the end, he agreed. He went home in a sort of daze, telling his mom that he was going out again-who was unheard of for him. He'd winced when she squealed.
"Oh, you've met someone haven't you? Oh, this is wonderful! I can't wait to tell your father. What's her name? What does she look like? How will you be gone-"
"Mom," Charlie cut in with a groan. "Please."
"I'm sorry," She was grinning. "I'm just so happy for you!"
"There's nothing to be happy about," Charlie grumbled. "I'm just catching up with someone, that's all."
She sat down beside him, nodding slowly. Her eyes shifted elsewhere as she casually remarked, "I wasn't aware you had a friend here. You should've told us. We would have let her visit, you know."
"You mean hitting? My dad never hits me."
"Does yours hit you?"
"Maybe you should tell someone."
"But Charles!"
"Okay...I swear."
He shook his head to rid himself of the memories. "Nah. She's too busy for that." He started to rub his hands along his thighs. "Do you...do you mind if I go? Her shift ends at ten."
"Of course not," She told him. "Just be back by eleven-forty, twelve at the latest."
He'd only just made it. Dad was back; they sat at the kitchen table with cups of tea, talking quietly about their day. Charlie approached them, apologizing for nearly being late. He explained the situation and to his relief, they understood. His mom had gushed, calling him a gentleman and a sweet boy. He hadn't known what to say or do other than awkwardly smile.
"Don't baby the boy, Rae," Dad shook his head.
"I'm not," Mom shot back before pressing a kiss to his head. It sent a warm feeling that fluttered through him.
"Rea..."
"Oh," She realized and looked at him with a regretful look. "Sweetheart, I'm sorry. I forgot you-"
"It's okay," He said quickly. It was still difficult, even after a few years-six to be exact-had passed for him to be physically affectionate with his adoptive parents. Or anyone, honestly. It was just...strange. He'd only ever been exposed to pain from an early age. There were no hugs given to him by his biological dad or hair ruffles or clasps on his back; he was never comforted after a nightmare or reassured or anything.
And this home, his new permanent home, was unlike anything he'd ever known.
And that night, as he laid in his bed, staring up at the ceiling, his mind drifted to Stephanie Tanner. He was curious to know more about her, to find out how she'd been during the six years they were apart. He hoped she wouldn't end up in trouble like she feared for being late. He hadn't even realized how much time had passed from when they'd started talking.
He'd gotten there a bit early, having nothing else better to do. He found a spot in the back that was vacant and so he sat down and continued on his drawing that he'd momentarily stopped from earlier. Sometime later, Stephanie came to him with a bright smile. It was downright awkward at first. Charlie struggled to come up with something useful and interesting to say. She was trying, too. Although, she seemed to take his teasing well. She could give it right back to him and he liked that.
As he rolled over on his side, burrowing under the blanket, his sleep riddled brain made a vow to make their conversations more interesting the next time.
/
He took a walk after lunch. The sunshine was warm on his back. He adjusted his hat to keep the light out of his eyes as he came up on the burger joint. He hadn't originally planned on going in; however, he remembered that Tanner would give him some free food. The only possible issue was that he didn't know if she was working today.
He found out that she was. She was up at the front counter with that other girl-whatever her name was-shaking and dancing to the song that was playing overheard. He raised his eyebrows at them.
"I don't know whether to laugh or bleach my eyes out."
They stopped abruptly at the sound of his voice.
"Oh, look, Steph. It's-" The girl started to say, only for Tanner to cover her mouth with her hand.
"What do you want?" Tanner had a blush on her cheeks which intrigued him. Although, he deduced it to be from him catching her dancing in the act.
He held his hands up. "I just came here for your part of the bargain. That's all."
The girl was interested. She looked from him to Tanner. "What kind of bargain?"
Tanner ignored her. "Right," She said, nodding. "Uh, sure. What do you want?"
He shrugged. "Just a shake is fine."
"Strawberry?"
"Sure."
She got to work on it and he called back, "No cherry this time."
"You didn't say anything last night," She grumbled.
"I was being polite."
"Somehow you and polite being in the same sentence doesn't sound right."
"You wound me, babe."
The girl looked like she was on the verge of a breakdown. "Babe?"
"It's nothing, trust me," Tanner rolled her eyes as she sat it down in front of him. "Here you go. You're lucky I didn't spit it in it."
"I love it when you talk dirty," He teased her.
"Oh, sit down and shut up."
"Gladly," He smiled cheekily as he plopped down at the front counter.
"What are you doing?"
"Sitting," He said innocently. "I'm doing what you said."
"Not here."
"Why not?" He looked around-most of the other customers were sitting elsewhere. He turned back to Tanner. "I thought you could use a lively presence."
"It's lively enough."
"We could use more," The other girl said with a smirk.
"No, we don't," Tanner said through grit teeth, her face scrunching up like some kind of signal to the other girl that she was supposed to understand.
He certainly didn't.
"Yes, we could," The girl said and turned to Charlie, beaming. "I'm Lacey, by the way; Steph's brilliant, gorgeous...available co-worker."
She winked at him.
"Charlie," He said. He was surprised by her, namely because he wasn't used to that kind of attention on him.
The girl, Lacey, was giving him a flirty look. He was quite thunderstruck, honestly.
Then Tanner butt in. "Don't you have to clean the bathrooms? Satan will be in soon so I'd get started if I were you."
Lacey made a noise of disappointment. "I thought he wasn't coming in until tomorrow."
Tanner shrugged. "I dunno. That's what Marvin told me."
"And with our luck, he'll be here soon," Lacey snorted. She turned her attention back on Charlie for a moment. "If you'll wait, I'll come back. Won't take me long."
"Yeah?" He was a bit amused. "Sure. I've got nothing else to do."
Lacey was satisfied as she went to grab the cleaning supplies and head off towards the restrooms that were located on the other side of the place. It left him and Tanner alone. She was frowning.
"She's a bit of a...flirt."
"I noticed," He grinned. "Ah, well. She's not my type anyway."
She raised her eyebrows. "And what is your type?"
"Stick around long enough, you'll find out," he said smoothly. "So, Tanner, how'd the other night go? I guess since you're still walking around, your dad didn't kill you."
"Funny," She said flatly. "No, he was actually asleep on the couch."
"So, you got away with it," Charlie said approvingly. "Nice job."
"Not nice, I ended up telling him when he woke up."
Charlie put his head in his hand. He looked at her, speechless. "You told him?'
"I felt bad lying," She shrugged.
He laughed. "I forgot what a goodie goodie you are."
"I am not!" She was offended.
"Oh, you definitely are and I'm assuming since you told him, he knows it was me who took you home."
She made a face. He was interested in this. "Well..." She trailed off. "You never really came up."
"So I'm your dirty secret, huh?" Charlie was having way too much with this. It had been a while since he'd been around someone he was familiar with and Stephanie Tanner was too easy to rile up. Her eyes widened and she gaped at him.
"Don't say it like that," She hissed.
"Why not?"
She glared at him. "You are such a pest!"
"Now, now, Tanner," Charlie spoke as if talking to a small child, "is that any way to talk to someone? You're going to hurt my feelings."
"As if you have any," Tanner's face melted into a grin. He'd made her smile. "And quit calling me, Tanner."
"What else am I supposed to call you?"
"My name," She said pointedly. "I'm not answering you if you don't say it."
Oh, really?
Well, challenge accepted
/
"Tanner."
She deliberately ignored him. Wouldn't even look at him.
"I know you can hear me."
She hummed or so she pretended to do to make him think she was.
/
"Tanner, can I have another?" He gestured towards his empty milkshake cup.
Still nothing.
"Hellooo."
Lacey appeared; a few pieces of hair had come out of her ponytail and fell in front of her face. "Did you need something?"
"Uh, yeah. Just another one of these, please."
She glanced from Tanner to him. "Are you two fighting?"
"No," He shook his head. "Just in a battle of some sorts."
She giggled. It was kind of obnoxious. The kind that Charlie was familiar with; girls would laugh at a guy's jokes even if they weren't funny in the least. He refrained from rolling his eyes.
Barely.
/
"Tanner."
She was returning to the counter just after handing out some food.
"Tanner."
He was beginning to annoy her, he noticed with internal glee. Oh, how he loved this part.
"I know you're listening."
He saw her hands clenched into fists. How feisty.
"Tanner, Tanner-babe!"
"What?" She snapped.
He grinned widely. "Funny how that's the one you respond to."
She crossed her arms over her chest, turning away.
/
"I'm cutting you off," Tan-Stephanie announced. "You've had enough of these."
"I've only had two," He protested.
"Four."
He took a peek into his long metal cup. "Four and a half," He corrected sheepishly. She stared at him and he defended, "I'm hungry."
"You aren't kidding," She said. "Besides, you've used up enough free food for today."
A twinge of guilt seemed to manifest within Charlie. He wasn't even thinking about it. He'd sort of, kind of, taken advantage of it.
"I'm sorry," He muttered, shaking his head. He rummaged through his pockets. "Look, I'll-"
"Hey," She frowned. "It's okay. I was just joking. Don't worry about it."
A flush came over his face. He ducked his head.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah," he cleared his throat. "I'm fine."
She didn't seem like she believed him. "Okay, well, do you wanna stick around? I'm on break soon."
"No thanks," He plastered on a fake smile. "I have to get home. My mom was calling me anyway."
He was lying. She hadn't. She knew where he was and she'd told him to have fun.
He'd done it before. To a lot of people. This time, however, was different. He didn't know why it felt so strange to lie to Stephanie.
"Oh." Was she disappointed? "Okay, yeah. That's fine. I'll see you later, I guess?"
"I guess," He agreed and then added, "If I'm mistaken, I would think you actually like being around me."
"Must be the side effects from the bleach," She retorted.
"Must be," He agreed. He got up to his feet. She never got the chance to say goodbye because someone came up without even a greeting at the counter to order. He slipped out of there quietly and went home.
/
Being back in San Francisco was hard.
He'd put on a brave face when his dad-adoptive dad. He's not your dad-said they were relocating because of his job. They'd both been concerned for him, even so far as his dad offering not to take the job at all. But Charlie felt guilty. He felt like it would be incredibly selfish of him to ask that. So he didn't. He'd shaken his head and told him to go ahead with it. They were skeptical he was really okay with things as said he was; Mom had said she could set up an appointment with a therapist so he could talk it over with someone if he'd liked.
He shut that down real quick.
He hated therapy. Despised sitting there and expected to spill his feelings like a little girl.
It's okay to cry, his last one had said over and over when he sat in her office, stone faced.
Sure, maybe not. But Charlie wasn't comfortable with crying. He tried to make that abundantly clear but she seemingly was having none of it.
He was so glad to be out of it.
The night before they arrived, Charlie had laid in his bed, wide-awake. He was flooded with flashbacks, with memories he'd rather suppress. At one point, he did fall asleep-only to sit straight up in bed an hour later, heart pounding in his chest and a thin trail of sweat on his skin.
He couldn't even get away from his father in his dreams.