Being Alive [Charlie Barber]

Chapter 24 : Happy Halloween

But finally, you found the correct terminal and you waited with the rest of the crowd for your suitcase to make its way around the belt of bags.

There was a television screen that displayed that you were in the right spot for the plane that departed from New York. You smiled as you pulled your phone out of your purse and snapped a photo of it.

You decided to send it to Charlie, your way of telling him that you were in LA.

When you were both back in New York, Charlie usually took a while to respond if you weren't in an active conversation. You saw the way that he left his phone all over the theater at work when he got distracted. It took hours to get a simple text back when he got caught up in something.

But somehow, after getting that photo from you, he replied instantly.

Your phone rang in your hand, alerting you that Charlie was calling you.

You giggled briefly before holding your phone up to your ear, answering it. "Yes?" You asked him in a sing-song voice, the excitement clear in the tone.

"Sweetheart," Charlie hummed, nervous and almost cautious. "I think I'm going crazy. I just opened that photo you sent and I must be looking at it wrong."

You grinned, keeping your eyes on the moving parade of luggage, making sure you didn't miss yours going by. "Well, what does it look like, Charlie?" You asked him innocently.

You could hear the frustrated chuckle leave his lips, the slight pause as he attempted to compose himself. "Well, honey, it looks like you just got off of a plane from New York. And if I'm really looking at it, it seems like you might even be at LAX."

"Well..." You trailed off, letting him fill in the dots. You were used to him doing thoughtful and unexpected things with you, you enjoyed it being the other way around.

"Well, what?" Charlie asked quickly and if you couldn't hear the grin in his voice, you might even think that he was angry with you.

"Well, I just got off of a plane from New York. And I'm at LAX." You told him, giggling excitedly as you said so, standing on your toes to see over the shoulders of the person in front of you.

"Don't lie about something like that," Charlie said, scared to be let down if you were joking. Nothing on this trip was going well for him. It was a giant shitshow. The idea of seeing you seemed too good to be true.

"I'm not lying, I promise. I wanted to surprise you." You told him, ignoring the way that a few people around you were eavesdropping, finding the conversation you were having to be interesting.

There were a few short moments of silence before you heard Charlie's laugh ring out through the speaker. It brought an instant smile to your face. "I feel like I'm dreaming." He said, in between thrilled chuckles.

"You're awake. I hope so, at least." You smirked. You then squeezed past people, seeing your suitcase coming by on the moving belt. You mumbled an 'excuse me' as you did so, keeping your phone by your ear.

Even as you huffed out a small grunt while picking up your luggage and squeezing back through the crowd, you could hear the way that Charlie was moving around on the other end. You could hear him mumbling to himself in the way that he did every time he left the house, patting his pockets to make sure he didn't forget anything.

"I hope you didn't call an Uber, angel girl. I'm leaving right now to get you. There's gonna be traffic but it shouldn't take long. Is that alright? Can you wait for me?" Charlie asked you, the sound of keys jingling in the background.