Reflections Of The Past-Chapter 22

The delectable aroma of steaming hot coffee mixed with a sweet French vanilla and hazelnut creamer filled the tiny kitchen. That was just the thing she needed to cheer her up after sifting through a pile of unpaid bills. Not tonight. Charley now sat with her cup of coffee at the tiny table. But she wasn't drinking it. She sat dejected. She picked up one bill that read OVERDUE in red block letters. She glanced at it for a minute then just tossed it aside. She covered her face with her hands.

"I wish I hadn't said what I said." She thought, "Why oh why did I say it?"

She couldn't forget the look on Vinnie's face. The white mouse had gotten really angry. No. Not just angry. Hurt. Oh, how she wished she could just take it all back and make everything the way it was before.

Back to the first sweet moments of their kiss. How it deepened her longing for him. How he needed her and wanted her. How much she had wanted to step out of the friend zone as much as he did.

But instead, she ended up ruining everything.

Way to go, Charley. The first guy to finally tell you how he feels about you and you jinx it.

She let out a heavy sigh.

She never did have any luck with relationships. It all went back to high school. The last guy she dated, Rod Van Ham, stood her up at her senior prom. She remembered it like it was yesterday. There she was, all dressed up in a beautiful prom dress that her mother had loaned her with white pearls and pumps. It had belonged to her mother when she was a teenager. She had gotten her hair and nails done for the occasion. She stood on her porch for more than an hour only to find out that he had taken another girl to the prom.

She later found out that he had become an actor. An action star. Throttle, Vinnie, and Modo had gotten jobs as stuntmen on the set of his latest movie. They later found out that the movie director was really Limburger in disguise. The Big Cheese was using the movie as a front to damage buildings and as a trap to kill the mice. Limburger had altered Rod's DNA to transform him into an invincible cyborg. The mice were in serious trouble till Charley came on the scene.

"Hey, Rod..." She singsonged.

Arrayed in a bandana and armed with a missile launcher, Charley stepped out.

"Remember me? You dumped me for Cindy Moore. On prom night!" She yelled, "It's payback time!"

Then she fired destroying the large glowing button on his chest transforming him back into the wimpy bad actor he was. He then fainted.

"Whoa. Remind me never to get on her bad side." Vinnie commented.

Rod's selfish actions had kept her from letting any guy get too close to her except for maybe Asphalt Jack Mccyber. He was the computer genius that she almost married. But like all her other relationships, it never worked out.

Maybe that was why she thought things wouldn't work out with Vinnie. He was the universe's version of Fabio. A super cute adrenaline junkie who's dated more girls than a dog has fleas. Someone who shamelessly flirts with any cute girl he sees including her. Of course, she would be put off by that.

But lately, over the years, Charley has seen a different side to him. She's seen his warm, caring side. The side that he normally has buried under all of his overinflated ego. A side she's seen more than once. Like the time Modo's cybernetic arm was so badly damaged she couldn't repair it. She found out from Throttle that Carbunkle created Modo's arm.
"Carbunkle made his arm?" Charley asked.
"Keep it down, sweetheart. Modo is totally touchy about this stuff." Vinnie told her.

She saw how considerate he was of Modo's feelings. He knew the big guy didn't like to talk about Carbunkle's replacing his arm with a robot arm. Vinnie had a plan to snag Modo a new arm from Carbunkle by conning him into creating a new one. Unfortunately, Limburger and Carbunkle ended up creating a whole new robot with the same cybernetic arms that Modo had. The robot also was controlled by Vinnie's brain which means it had Vinnie's personality. It was a good thing because it also had his feelings for Charley which stopped him from killing Throttle and Modo.

Suddenly, the cb radio came on.

"Come in, Throttle! It's me, Modo." Modo cried out on the cb radio.

Charley got up in a hurry but Throttle had already grabbed the radio.

"Go ahead, big guy." Throttle replied.

"Vinnie's in trouble! I'm gonna go help our bro."

"Not without me. I'm coming, too. Do you know where Vinnie is?"

"Sending the coordinates now." Modo replied.

"Bingo." The beige mouse said, staring at some numbers on the computer console of his bike.

Throttle now put on his helmet and hopped on his bike.

"Wait. Let me come. Vinnie and I..." Charley began.

"I know..." Throttle said, taking her hand in his own, "And I'm happy for both of you."

He now helped her onto the back of his bike.

"I heard voices. Is everything ok?"

Both Throttle and Charley looked up to see Vivica now walk into the room. She was holding what looked like a baby bottle.

"I have to give Velo his bottle." She said.

"Modo just called about something that's come up with Vinnie." Charley replied.

"We're gonna go help Vinnie. Look after Carbine..."

Vivica gave him an annoyed look.

"And...our son." He said.

Vivica's annoyed look vanished. She simply nodded.

"Be careful of Ondine. I know somehow she's behind what happened to your friend." Vivica said.

Throttle waved and now rode off down the road with Charley.

"Hang tough, Vinnie. We're comin', ya big adorable lug." Charley said, under her breath.