Chapter Three Hundred and Fifty One

"I thought they moved out," Joey said.

She and Charlie had gone for a run in the morning, like they tried to do once a week, and then stopped off at the Diner for coffee.

"They did," Leah explained. "But they fell out with the hotel staff and came back!"

As usual, she was complaining about Elijah's parents. On the one hand, she really liked them – especially Song – but on the other, Lijuan's presence was overpowering and it was driving her nuts.

"How long are they planning on sticking around for?" Charlie asked, accepting her takeaway drink from her former housemate.

"Forever by the sounds of it!" Leah said dramatically, handing Joey's drink over also.

"Well, feel free to stop by and offload any time you need to," Joey said brightly.

"But maybe call first next time," Charlie smirked.

Leah giggled as they said goodbye.


Charlie and Joey stepped out of the Diner and into the sunshine. Holding hands, they sipped their drinks and strolled across the seafront.

"I wonder who that is," Joey remarked, nodding down the pier where Xavier was chatting animatedly to a beautiful, dark haired girl.

"I haven't seen her before," Charlie said.

They both jolted when they saw Xavier throw himself into the sea. They were just about to make their way over to check on him when he surfaced, laughing. The girl pulled him back up onto land and the pair of them sat down together.

"I really hope this doesn't hurt Ruby," Joey said, as they continued their walk.

At the mention of her daughter's name, Charlie sighed heavily. They hadn't made up yet. Ruby had pointedly ignored Charlie before they'd gone out and was in bed by the time they'd got back from their 'date' with Alf and Marilyn. And this morning, Ruby had been up and out first thing.

"You'll make up," Joey assured her. "You always do."

"I didn't mean to embarrass her or anything," Charlie said sadly. "I just…

"I know," Joey said softly, squeezing her hand. "And when she calms down, she'll figure it out too."


Nicole's breath caught when she spotted Penn sitting on the beach. She thought he was the second most gorgeous man she had ever met – the first still being Aden. Ignoring the pang of pain when she thought about her ex-boyfriend, she braced herself to approach the newcomer. He was certainly someone she would like to get to know better.


"Now's the time," Joey said, spotting Ruby on an otherwise empty patch of beach.

Charlie froze, too anxious to approach.

"Do I have to do everything?" Joey grumbled affectionately.

She then dragged Charlie down to the sand, calling Ruby's name. Ruby turned around and hesitated but sighed and let them approach. The couple sat on either side of their daughter.

"I'm really sorry about yesterday," Charlie said sincerely. "I swear I was only trying to look out for you. I didn't mean to upset you or embarrass you or anything like that."

Ruby nodded and managed a smile.

"I know," she said unhappily. "I overreacted. I'm sorry too."

They hugged.

"Well now, that was much easier than we all thought it would be!" Joey remarked with relief.


Xavier was thoroughly enjoying spending time with new girl, April Scott. She was his age, very pretty and clearly very into the environment. They'd got talking when she'd scolded him for throwing photographs of himself and Ruby into the sea. Now, Ruby was the last thing on his mind. Admiring April was a far more appealing pastime.


John knocked on Gina's front door. He was surprised when she actually opened up and didn't slam it in his face immediately.

"I'm really sorry about what happened," he said quickly, not wanting to run out of time.

"Did you sleep with her?" Gina asked.

"Yes," he admitted.

"Why?" Gina asked. "I mean, I know we haven't seen much of each other lately…"

"Much?" John said. "Try at all, Gina. I never know where I stand with you."

Gina sighed and nodded, prepared to accept her part in their now messy relationship.

"Do you want to come in and talk?" she asked.


Having made up, Charlie and Ruby were walking back up the beach with Joey with the intention of shooting some pool at the Surf Club.

"Who is that?" Ruby asked, stopping abruptly when she spotted Xavier and the new girl on the pier.

"We don't know," Charlie said, nudging her forward.

"Good to know he's grieving for our broken relationship," Ruby complained.

As if sensing she was behind him, Xavier turned and looked at her. Blushing, he ended his conversation with his new companion and disappeared down the beach.


Nicole's skin tingled as Penn held her hand in order to read her palm. He had already bluntly pointed out that it was obvious she was interested in him and she hadn't been able to deny it. He traced his finger up and down her palm.

"Someone wicked is about to come into your life," he told her, making eye contact.

"Really?" she asked worriedly, although she was still swooning.

"In fact, they might have already," he said. "You'd better be careful about who you let get close."


Ruby was still upset by the time she, Charlie and Joey arrived at the Surf Club.

"How could he just move on like that?" she asked.

"Rubes, at the risk of falling out with you when we just made up, don't you think you're being a bit hypocritical?" Charlie dared. "You broke up because you liked someone else."

"But I didn't do anything about it!" Ruby pointed out.

Charlie reached over and hugged her.

"I know," she said softly. "But we only saw them talking. There might not be anything going on."

"You think Xavier could see a girl that beautiful and not do anything about it?" Ruby asked, shaking her head in disbelief.

"Let's just try and forget about it for now," Joey suggested. "It's the last day of the weekend. I think we should just focus on having fun."

Ruby managed a smile, which made Charlie grin also.

"Let's do it," she agreed.

"Now, you two set up the table," Joey instructed jubilantly.

"Where are you going?" Charlie asked.

"I have to pee!" Joey squeaked, dashing off to the toilet.


Gina had seen John out and although they hadn't made progress exactly, she had hope for the future. On the one hand, it troubled her a great deal that he had had a fling with Jill without so much as communicating with her about where they stood with each other. On the other hand, she loved him and she wanted their relationship to work. Making a firm decision, Gina decided that she would do whatever it took to win him back.


"Oh, Charlie, I was hoping to run into you," Marilyn said when she entered the Surf Club and spotted the police officer setting up a game of pool with her daughter.

"What can I do for you, Marilyn?" Charlie asked.

She was warming more and more to the woman. She was kind and funny and had a good heart. Charlie felt very privileged to have had the chance to become her friend.

"It's more what I can do for you, actually," Marilyn said.

She dug around in her handbag and handed over two gift certificates to Charlie.

"What are these?" Charlie asked curiously.

"I won them in some raffle and I don't really want to go so I thought you and Joey might appreciate a weekend of pampering," Marilyn explained. "They're free tickets to a spa for next weekend. If you want them?"

"Definitely!" Charlie said happily. "Thank you so much!"

When she spotted Joey approaching, she shoved the papers into her bag.

"Let me keep it as a surprise for Joey?" she asked.

"Of course," Marilyn said happily. "I hope you enjoy them."

Unable to stop smiling, Charlie hugged her and thanked her profusely.

"What's going on?" Joey wondered when she caught up with them.

"We have a very special weekend booked next week," Charlie told her.

"We have?"

Charlie nodded.

"Are you going to tell me anything about it?" Joey asked.

"Nope!" Charlie replied.

Chuckling, Marilyn went to the bar to see Alf. Ruby giggled as Joey began to whine about Charlie keeping secrets.


Romeo was distinctly unimpressed when his mother walked back into the house, having stayed out all night. He was still feeling sour about the situation with John and the fact that she very obviously spent the night with him was not helping.

"Before you ask, I did not drink last night," Jill informed him, flopping down on the couch.

Romeo hovered over her anxiously.

"Did you sleep with John?" he asked.

Jill sat up, almost looking embarrassed.

"I don't know if that's anything to do with you," she said.

"It is when you're stealing him off Gina," Romeo replied.

"You favour her over your own Mum, do you?" Jill asked.

"She's been better to me than you have," her son replied.

"I am trying, you know!"

"I know," Romeo said evenly. "But it's still the beginning, Mum. We have to try harder."


"So, you're seriously not going to tell me where we're going at the weekend?" Joey asked incredulously.

"Seriously," Charlie replied, chalking her pool cue.

Ruby had run into Liam and gone off to do some music work together. Charlie had been a little anxious about letting her go but she knew she had to trust both of them to behave.

"But that's not fair!" Joey complained.

Chuckling, Charlie wiped some chalk on her girlfriend's nose.

"Hey!" Joey protested, which only made Charlie laugh more.

Joey swiftly pulled in for a kiss, taking the moment to wipe the chalk back onto Charlie's face.

"So, where are we going?" she tried.

"It's a secret!" Charlie insisted.


Liam continued rehearsing his most recently written verse for their latest song. He tried not to feel too uncomfortable as Ruby took photographs. The last thing he wanted was to read too much into things and complicate their relationship further.

"What's the point of the photos again?" he asked.

Ruby stopped snapping and smiled.

"To document the song writing process," she explained, opting to keep the fact that she was glad to have photos of him quiet.


"You're so mean!" Joey complained.

She and Charlie were strolling along the beach, vaguely in the direction of home.

"I'm mean for taking you away for the weekend?" Charlie asked.

"For not telling me where we're going!" Joey continued to whinge.

Charlie merely chuckled and put her arm around her. They waved when they spotted Romeo coming out of the sea with his surfboard. Spotting them, he dumped his board and approached.

"Hey," he said. "How are you?"

"Charlie's mean," Joey informed him.

Romeo looked confused. Her words weren't quite matching up to her tone of voice or their body language.

"We're going away for the weekend, thanks to Marilyn and she won't shut up about wanting to know where we're going," Charlie explained.

"Oh, the… thing!" Romeo remarked. "I'm sure you'll have a great time!"

"Wait, you know as well?" Joey demanded. "That's not fair!"

She pouted at both of them.

"Patience is a virtue, sweetheart," Charlie giggled.

Romeo laughed.

"I'll try and remember that myself," he said.

"What's up?" Charlie asked, more than happy to change the subject.

"I'm trying to figure out a way to break John and my Mum up and get him back with Gina," Romeo admitted.

"Um… is it a good idea to interfere?" Joey asked worriedly.

"Don't worry," he replied confidently. "I know what I'm doing."

Neither Charlie nor Joey looked convinced.


Next time… Xavier is furious when Romeo tries to break up John and Jill, Angelo faces investigation into Hugo's escape and Lijuan and Song host a dinner at Leah's…