Being Alive [Charlie Barber]

Chapter 26 : Los Angeles

The waiter gave him an embarrassed smile. "My apologies." He mumbled before passing the glass over to you.

Your eyebrows raised, confused. You'd never ordered a bottle of wine before while out eating and didn't know this was the protocol. Your mouth parted in question as you took the wine glass.

Charlie could see your hesitation and gently squeezed your hand. "Taste it and decide if you want the rest of the bottle, honey." He explained in a soft tone. He would be lying if he said it wasn't adorable that you didn't know that was what was going on.

"Oh," You said sheepishly, giggling awkwardly, "Right."

You took a small sip, tasting it. You pretended to consider it as if you wouldn't tell the waiter that you wanted it, no matter how true or false that was. "I like it." You said, looking at Charlie as you said it.

Charlie squeezed your hand again and gave you a grin. He turned to the waiter. "It's perfect, thank you."

The waiter nodded and took the glass from your hand so he could pour an average amount of the wine in it before doing the same with Charlie's.

When he asked if the two of you were ready to order, Charlie gave you a little wink and nodded. "We are." He answered, ignoring how you tensed because you hadn't spent much time looking over the menu.

Before you had much time to panic over the fact that you hadn't decided on a meal, Charlie took the menu from your hands and ordered for you. Somehow he knew exactly what you wanted and what you would have picked if you had more time to view the options.

When the food order was secured, the waiter walked away.

Charlie gave you a sheepish look, somewhere between a frown and smile, his eyebrows raised. "I hope that was okay." He said cautiously. "I wasn't trying to decide for you, I just thought-"

You interrupted him with a smile. "I liked it."

Charlie relaxed and reached for his wine. "Good." He glanced at you as he took a sip.

After taking the drink, he glanced towards the window, watching the people crossing the street outside of it. He seemed happy, but he also seemed distracted, like he had something on his mind.

You would understand if he was thinking about the divorce or Henry or anything related to that. Charlie had a lot going on right now.

"The movie earlier made me cry." He said, laughing a little as he thought back to it, looking back over to you.

"I know," You said with a slight smirk. "We cried at the same part."

While you were watching the movie and a particularly sad part happened, you had been embarrassed by the way you were attempting to hide your sniffles. When you glanced over at Charlie and saw the way his lips were pouted and his eyes were watery as well, you were instantly comforted.

"Yeah?" Charlie grinned, elated.

He loved having all of these connections with you.

"Mhm," You giggled. "Why do you think I held your hand so hard?"

"I thought you just liked me." He said playfully, eyes twinkling.

"I do." You said simply, genuine regardless of the amused look on your face.

If someone were to walk by your table, they'd assume that one of you had just told the other a hilarious story or joke. But really, you two were just on cloud nine, enjoying each other's company.

The food that was served was incredible.

You spent most of the dinner attempting not to make jokes at the bug bites that Charlie was taking.