Chapter Two Hundred and Twenty Seven
Charlie dropped Joey at work before heading to the police station. Angelo was talking to Watson at reception when she arrived.
"Hey, Charlie," Watson greeted warmly. "Did you have a good birthday?"
Charlie grinned, full of happy memories. She approached, standing beside Angelo and leaning on the counter.
"It was amazing," she confirmed.
"What did you get up to?" Angelo asked.
"I spent the day with Joey," Charlie said, sounding a little swoony.
Angelo narrowed his eyes, convinced she was lying.
"And then in the evening she cooked a big meal for all of us."
"All of us?" Angelo asked, keen for details.
"Well, us two, Ruby, Geoff, Leah and VJ," she said.
She turned back to Watson.
"Speaking of, would you and Monica like to go out sometime soon?" she asked. "Joey and I were thinking of going clubbing in town or something – a group of us."
"That sounds great," Watson enthused.
Charlie caught Angelo's hopeful look.
"It'll be a gay bar," she ventured, hoping to put him off.
The likelihood of Joey being willing to party with Angelo was minimal. She was just glad that they didn't run into each other all that much on a day to day basis.
"I don't mind," Angelo said eagerly.
"Okay, um..." Charlie said hesitantly. "I'll... I'll speak to Joey and let you know."
She hurried off to her office, ready to start the working day.
Joey and Aden were working happily side by side. Joey felt particularly fortunate to have found a job that she both enjoyed and that meant she could spend so much time with her best friend.
"What's on your mind?" she asked, stretching and hopping up on the counter, eager to take a break.
"Nothing," Aden lied.
Joey folded her arms and looked him directly in the eye.
"Aden Jeffries, are you forgetting how well I know you?" she asked.
He managed a smile. Sighing, he hopped up beside her, relieved to have someone to talk to.
"Nicole told me she loved me last night," he admitted.
Ruby felt miserable. On her lunch break from school, she was about to shut her locker and trudge out of the building when she spotted Nicole looking equally unhappy. She felt a little selfish to feel relieved that her friend was repeating the year. It wasn't that she had wanted her to fail but after everything that had happened recently, school felt like a rather isolating place. She was friends with Xavier again but they weren't likely to be hanging out incessantly and plaiting each other's hair any time soon. And Annie and Jai were long gone. Romeo had returned to education but he was Xavier's friend and Ruby didn't know him very well. It was nice to be around someone she felt close to.
"Hey, Nic," she greeted warmly, linking arms with her friend.
"Hey, Rubes," Nicole sighed.
"What's up?"
"Aden."
Nicole glanced at Ruby.
"What's up with you?" she asked.
"Geoff," Ruby admitted.
"Want to go to the Surf Club and trash our boyfriends over a juice?" Nicole suggested.
They grinned at each other.
"Sounds like the perfect way to spend my lunch time!" Ruby declared.
"Hey, Charlie?" Angelo said, poking his head round the door of her office. "I was going to go out on patrol for a bit. Care to join me?"
"I've got a lot of paperwork to do," Charlie replied, wondering why he had even asked her.
Angelo looked disappointed. He shuffled further into the room and sat down on the vacant chair on the other side of Charlie's desk.
"What's up Angelo?" Charlie finally asked, putting her pen down.
"We haven't really talked about the case," he ventured.
Charlie swallowed. The last thing she wanted to talk about was Hugo.
"And I'd like it to stay that way," she said firmly, picking her pen back up.
"I'm sorry about how it went," he said. "And I... I get the feeling that you're blaming me for everything."
Charlie put her pen down and sighed again.
"I don't blame you," she said. "You weren't even there."
"Well, maybe that's what you blame me for? I got you involved in the case when I wasn't meant to and you nearly..."
Charlie held up her hand to silence him.
"I don't want to talk about what happened to me," she said quickly. "I spend enough of my week talking about it. To be honest, I just want to move on and forget it. Hugo nearly killed me. I survived. He's dead. I'm glad. It's over."
Angelo swallowed a little uncertainly. His guilt over lying to her and to everyone about Hugo haunted him. He couldn't help but wonder if that particular decision had been yet another mistake. He was on the verge of getting his life back together and he did not want it to fall apart around him again.
"Well, for the record, I'm sorry if I did anything that led you to get hurt," he managed.
"You didn't," Charlie assured him. "And I'm not feeling bad about anything. Actually, nightmares aside, I'm feeling better than I have in a long time."
She smiled warmly.
"I feel like everything's working out. I'm ready to start the next phase of my life. And I think it's going to be great."
She pictured her future home with Joey and Ruby. He pictured her having sex with who he presumed was a male plumber, on the kitchen table. Smiling back, he silently wondered when Charlie would break the news to Joey that it was over and she was moving on. And after that, he was sure it would only be a matter of time until he won the woman of his dreams back.
"I think you need to talk things through with her," Joey said.
She and Aden were still seated beside each other in the bait shop and she'd listened to him panic for quite some time about him and Nicole being in different places emotionally.
"What am I meant to say?" he asked. "Sorry Nic, I think you're great and everything but I'm not in love with you and I never will be?"
He shook his head, cursing himself for daring to get involved with someone he cared so much about. He should have known it would only lead to disaster.
"Well, I wouldn't put it quite like that but, yes," Joey replied.
Aden looked startled.
"Look, she's probably really panicking right now," Joey said. "She's told you that she loves you and far from saying it back, you freaked and ran out and started dodging her calls. Even if you can't say the L word, then just explain to her how you feel. Tell her how much you like her. Tell her how much you care. But tell her that you never thought you'd say that particular phrase to another person. Say you're still healing from losing Belle and that you're not quite there yet. She'll understand, okay?"
"You think?"
"It's not like you and Belle broke up," Joey said. "She died. If anyone had had a choice about it, you'd still be together. Nicole gets that. She probably gets that more than anyone because you've always been so close. She helped you through everything that happened this year. She's not going to abandon you now just because she feels differently about you than you do about her. Cut yourself – and her – some slack, okay? Trust her."
Aden nodded. He reached out and hugged her.
"How would I ever live without you being my sense of reason?" he wondered.
"You wouldn't," Joey smirked. "Now, it's quiet and I can cope. Nicole will be on lunch from school so why don't you go and find her."
Nodding and thanking her, Aden dashed out of the shop.
The evening rolled around. Aden had made up with Nicole only for Liam to walk in on them making out. He'd left quickly and ended up at the Surf Club, chatting to Martha about his misery. Engulfed in her own pain, she'd offered him a place to stay. She could do with the company and she understood that he didn't particularly want to live in a house where his ex-girlfriend was all over his housemate. Encouraged by Nicole's success with Aden, Ruby had gone round to see Geoff but unfortunately, he was still moody and snappy. She didn't know what to do other than sending him round to Joey. She was clearly good at sorting people out when they were in trouble or being difficult.
Arriving home from work, having let Aden disappear early to make up properly with Nicole, Joey let herself in, desperate for a shower and a nap. As soon as Aden had left the second time around, things had got rather busy and she was exhausted. She paused when she saw Leah hunched over on the couch.
"Hey, are you okay?" she asked worriedly.
Leah sat up quickly and wiped her eyes. Even more concerned, Joey moved round and sat beside her.
"Leah?" she said gently.
Her housemate burst into tears all over again.
Charlie arrived home an hour later and was surprised to find Leah curled up in Joey's arms on the sofa. She was crying.
"What's wrong?" she asked kindly, approaching them.
Leah broke away from Joey and rubbed her eyes.
"I'm not trying to steal your girlfriend, I promise," she joked, trying to smile.
Charlie laughed.
"Don't worry," she said. "I wasn't afraid."
Joey beamed at her but kept hold of Leah's hand.
"Leah's been really struggling after the riot," she explained. "She's not finding it easy to leave the house and stuff."
Leah felt ashamed but Charlie met the news with concern, not judgement. She moved to sit on Leah's other side, taking her other hand.
"You should have said something," she told her, feeling instantly guilty for practically kicking her out of the house the day before so that she and Joey could celebrate her birthday privately.
"I didn't know what to say," Leah said. "And I managed yesterday. I coped when I was out with Martha and Rachel but..."
She sighed heavily.
"I don't understand what's happening to me."
That night, having spent the evening cheering Leah up to the best of their ability, Charlie and Joey curled up in bed together.
"Charlie?" Joey ventured.
"Yes?" her girlfriend replied a little sleepily.
Joey turned to face her, taking her hand.
"I think we should put off moving out for a bit."
"What?" Charlie asked, immediately upset. "Why? Don't you want to? Don't you want us to live properly together? Don't you love...?"
Joey interrupted her with a kiss. She let it linger for a few moments.
"I love you," she said firmly. "I love Ruby. And I love the idea of us getting our own place. I think it's the right next step and I'm really excited about it. I've actually been thinking about it for most of the day. But seeing the state Leah was in tonight, I think maybe it's not the right time for her to live on her own."
Charlie sighed and nodded.
"I guess you're right," she said unhappily. "It would be selfish. She'd probably feel like we were abandoning her or something."
"Yeah," Joey agreed. "I'm not saying no. I'm not even saying to wait a few months. Just a few weeks. We just need to wait until she's back on her feet and then we can go and build our house of dreams."
Charlie grinned. She captured Joey's lips again.
"I love how much you care about people," she said honestly.
"Well, I care about you the most," Joey told her.
Charlie's grin widened. They kissed again, melting heir bodies together. Suddenly neither of them felt very tired.
Next Time... Charlie tries to help Mink, Joey tries to help Leah and Ruby and Geoff fall out...
