Becoming Ready

Chapter 15 - She Seems Nice

By Friday night, Charlie was so happy to see Shawn she practically knocked him over when he answered his door. He laughed as he staggered backward, catching her in a hug. After a quick glance around the apartment, Charlie saw no one else was there. They kissed as they made their way to his room, where they made out for several minutes before they said a word to each other.

"Well hello to you too," Shawn said a little breathlessly when she finally pulled away.

"Hi," Charlie returned, smiling. "I missed you."

"I missed you too," he said, kissing her again.

Charlie noticed something about him seemed... muted. Like he was upset, but trying to not show it.

"What's the matter?" she asked.

He sighed. "It was just a rough week."

She nodded. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Actually," he said, with a pensive look, "Would you maybe want to go to a meeting with me? I hate to say it, but I feel like drinking. I figure I should do the opposite."

"Of course," Charlie agreed. She was a little bummed because they had the apartment to themselves, and it seemed like a shame to waste that alone time, but she understood. "Sobriety comes first."

Shawn drove them to a place that was just outside of Beachside, more toward Charlie's old neighborhood. She hadn't been to this meeting before, but there were hundreds of meetings around Bridgeport every week, so that wasn't surprising. This one in particular was held above a beauty salon, in an airy loft. Charlie decided she liked this spot better than the typical meeting location, aka a church basement.

When they walked in the room, several people said hello to Shawn right away. He had explained to her in advance that this used to be one of his regular meetings. Charlie had never been to one with him before, she always just went with Courtney, because she hadn't wanted to be distracting in any way in Shawn's recovery.

"Shawn!" she heard a girl squeal, before seeing a small set of arms wrap around him in a hug.

Charlie narrowed her eyes, but didn't say anything. The girl couldn't see her standing behind him, until Shawn turned to her.

Charlie recognized her instantly. It was Kaley Kato, the beautiful girl she had seen at the callback audition earlier that week.

"Kaley, this is my girlfriend Charlie. Charlie this is Kaley," Shawn introduced them.

"Hi," Kaley greeted her. "You look familiar, do you go to the Art Institute?"

"Yes, I just saw you at Professor Roth's callbacks," Charlie answered politely. There was no reason to be rude to this girl, yet. "It's nice to meet you."

Shawn smiled. "That's cool! Kaley, I didn't know you went to A.I.!"

"You never asked," Kaley smiled back, pushing him slightly. Charlie's eyes followed Kaley's hands as they touched her boyfriend.

"And I didn't realize you were in AA," she said to Kaley, her tone rapidly becoming less polite.

"Well, it is Alcoholics Anonymous, isn't it?" Kaley responded.

Shawn cleared his throat. "Okay, we're going to go get seats. Good to see you though!"

Charlie gave Kaley a forced smile as Shawn took her hand and led her away. "See you around."

Once they sat down, Charlie turned to Shawn and gave him a closed-lip sarcastic smile, blinking a few times for emphasis.

"What?" Shawn asked, but she could hear from his tone he already knew what.

"She seems nice," Charlie said, her voice dripping with fake sweetness.

He laughed at her playful display of jealousy. "She's my friend."

"I'm sure," she joked, but she let it go. She wasn't worried about Shawn's behavior in the slightest. Kaley's behavior however, that was a different story.

Right as the meeting was about to start, Charlie saw River duck in the door. What was with this guy, was he late to everything? She watched as he found a friend in the crowd and made his way to a seat. Just before he sat down, he scanned the room, making eye contact with Charlie.

And then he winked.

Charlie looked away, not acknowledging his flirty behavior. He and Kaley really were two peas in a pod.

The leader asked those who identified as alcoholics to raise their hand. Charlie did not. River twisted in his seat to look at her, checking to see if her hand was up. She ignored him once again.

After the meeting, Charlie stood in the parking lot with Shawn as he smoked a cigarette and chatted with people. His AA friends were really nice. No one asked her any questions about what she was doing there, or how much time she had sober. She was perfectly comfortable until River and Kaley wandered over.

"Hey man, I'm River, what's your name?" he stuck his hand out to Shawn, cigarette hanging out of his mouth.

Shawn accepted the handshake warmly. "Shawn, good to meet you."

Before Charlie could even open her mouth, Kaley interjected, "And of course you already know Charlie, River."

"Yeah, we're old friends," River said suggestively.

Shawn looked slightly confused, so Charlie explained, "River goes to A.I. as well. But we met at a Sunday night meeting I go to with Court, sometimes." She wasn't about to let this devious pair create friction in her relationship.

"Is that why you had so much chemistry at the callbacks?" Kaley asked.

"No," Charlie answered coolly. "I think I'm just a pretty good actress."

Kaley didn't have a comeback for that.

Charlie turned to her boyfriend. "Shawn, I'm starving, wanna go eat?"

"Yeah," he said, throwing his cigarette into a butt can. "Nice to meet you, dude. Bye Kaley."

Charlie looped her arm in Shawn's and they headed out. She was so grateful to have him. He seemed unshaken by that little display.

When they got in the car, however, she knew something was wrong.

"What is it?" Charlie asked, her stomach sinking. She waited for him to accuse her of something, just like Cassius always used to.

"Nothing," Shawn shook his head.

"Shawn..."

"Ok," he agreed. "Yes, something's wrong. I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but maybe we should go to meetings separately in the future? The last two hours have been a little more... dramatic than I personally would have liked."

"I'm so sorry," Charlie apologized. "I totally started it with Kaley. I didn't mean to make you feel bad for the way she acted."

"It's ok. But I trust you, so you're gonna have to trust me. She's actually become a really good friend of mine, but you don't have to worry about her, it's not like that," he reassured her.

Hearing that made her feel slightly sick, but Charlie nodded. "I do trust you. I don't mind keeping our meetings separate. I don't even know if I have to go to meetings."

Shawn gave her a look. "Listen, Charlie. No one but you can decide that you are an alcoholic, but I do think meetings are good for you. Please don't stop going."

She sighed. "Okay, I won't."

**So Kaley knows Shawn... do you think she was too flirty with him? Or was Charlie overreacting? Also, Shawn trusted Charlie to go see Cassius, so should she trust him to be friends with Kaley?