Falling For Charlie

Part 17- Figuring Some Things Out

Charlie could smell the coffee perking from the front hall as she looked out the big picture window, watching the beautiful sunrise kiss the sky. How peaceful this moment was, Charlie was not thinking about how her life was in a terrible mess but instead just focusing her energy on the glorious sight before her. Standing there she said a prayer of thanks that Briana was out of the hospital and that all the lying was over. Closing her tired eyes briefly that stung from not having a good night's sleep for days Charlie wondered when Mary Anne would tell her to bug off and that she was officially fired. A lump forming in her throat she wondered why she even cared, she was back here in Jersey now so she should just send after Butterscotch and stay here she thought, knowing that she couldn't but she should. Things had gotten better with Charlie and Daniel, he was actually more supportive of her now and his anger was only in the fact she had kept these things hidden but he understood and took some of the responsibility for that as well, Daniel was a new man seemed like, but she seen the old Daniel too, Charlie smiled, knowing he would be sticking it to Andrea as much as he could. Charlie pondered though, Andrea had been through a lot and yes she had not handled it in the right ways but what she did was out of grief more than anger. Andrea had lost a part of herself so she created within her a person that cared about nothing at all, in a way it was like she was more dead than Daniel's father, in a way Andrea's grief killed her soul, her spirit. Charlie would try and get Daniel to calm down a bit she decided. It was time to heal not create more pain, they all needed to quit living in the past and focus on the future. There that word future hung out in Charlie's mind like a neon sign, but where was it pointing for her to go?

Mary Anne woke up deciding today was the day she was going to have the talk with Charlie and let her know everything about how she was feeling about her, about what had happened and see if there was any way to get past all the drama and just start over. Charlie had told her the truth, finally, but she had told her so Mary Anne believed her when she said it was not something she had planned on doing, that Charlie had wanted to tell her she was a girl so many times but her fear had kept her from doing so. Mary Anne had to find out if that fear was only about losing her job or had Charlie started to feel these things for her as well. To be honest Mary Anne was starting to think Charlie's lying was a good thing, that it happened for reasons the universe had already figured out, Mary Anne never would have fallen for Charlie had she known that she was a girl, what would have happened that day Charlie  walked in for the interview the second time?  Mary Anne pondered it mindfully, and she reasoned that she would not have gotten close with her, she would probably not of even  hired her. Fate had a different plan for Mary Anne, so the truth she been given deserved the truth to be given from her, Mary Anne was gonna bite the bullet and spill out all her feelings, whether Charlie was ready or not wasn't relevant to her, it was happening regardless, Mary Anne leaving it  up to fate which seems to know what's right a lot better than her lately.

Making the coffee was stalling, yes she knew it, Mary Anne was not a big coffee drinker but as she sat in the kitchen chair with the hard back and held the boiling coffee in her two dainty hands blowing on the steam that was rising an image formed in her mind of falling into Charlie's arms, and just feeling that it all was right, that everything was going to work out. How could it though? Mary Anne didn't know how to love a woman and did not know if Charlie was attracted to women or if she was if she was attracted to her. Remembering the kiss they shared at lunch that day was no help to her, she had felt Charlie's surprise turn into something else as it had deepened but she wasn't sure if it was attraction, love or just confusion.

So many questions left unanswered and here she was making coffee, being a coward. She did not even know how she would feel being completely intimate with her but she had a longing to find out which surprised her a great deal, in fact she had quite a few fantasies about finding that out after she learned Briana was going to be alright, seeing how Charlie worried and fussed over Briana at the hospital only made her fall deeper and deeper in love with Charlie, she had no doubts about that. Mary Anne's face flushed hotter than the coffee she held with a shaky grip, so she slowly put the full cup down on the table gently so as not to spill a drop of it on the light tan oak eating table. She shook her head in disbelief at how she could not even know that Charlie was a woman as close as they had became to each other. Working with Charlie she had gotten to see all the odd things about her she loved, like the way Charlie's hair always stuck up slightly on the left side, Mary Anne tried to pat it down before the big meetings at work but halfway through she would glance and see it still astray and her heart would jerk violently in her chest. Then there was Charlie's loving, compassion towards that mutt of hers, Butterscotch was quite the troublemaker, and spoiled rotten cause she had that look of, what me? did I do that?? she started giggling softly thinking of the furry face and the messes that it made, often. There goes her heart again. Pursing her lips tightly Mary Anne takes a sip of the now cooler coffee as her ears pick up two familiar voices talking to Charlie from the hallway. Then footsteps coming toward the kitchen, now what Mary Anne thinks with a sarcastic smile, what does the universe have planned for her now?