Being Alive [Charlie Barber]

Chapter 4: Dirty

Charlie swallowed hard. God, you were so cute. "No, I wasn't. But thank you." He said to you, eyes lingering for a little too long before he turned his attention back to the paper. He jotted just a few things down before setting the pen down. "I'm almost done here, we'll head downstairs in a second."

"Sure." You shrugged, glancing around the office. He shared it with a few other people who had spaces rented in the building but you had yet to see anyone else. You assumed Charlie probably used it the most anyways, he always seemed to be working on something.

After a few minutes, Charlie stood up from behind his messy desk, straightening his shirt as he did so. He walked around and paused at the chair you were sitting in, taking a moment just to look at you.

You shifted in your seat, blinking as you looked up at him, at the way his hands went to hips.

"Ready?" He asked you simply, as if there wasn't a suffocating amount of tension between the two of you. As if he didn't spend his time in the shower that morning touching himself to the thought of you.

You stood up, though you still felt so much smaller than him. "Yeah." You agreed.

You were more ready for Charlie than he realized.

For the majority of the day, you hadn't done anything too difficult. You just sat next to Charlie during rehearsal and followed along with the script, ready to give out the next line if the actor needed it. Every now and then Charlie would tell you to underline something or circle something but didn't explain why, he'd tell you later, he told you.

The hardest part (pun unintended), was just being so close to each other.

During lunch, you were almost too shy to pull out the food that Charlie gave you the night before, his leftovers from dinner. You felt like somehow everyone around you would know that he was the one who gave them to you and they would somehow know all the dirty thoughts that you were having about him as well.

But, nevertheless, you were currently sitting on the ground of the rehearsal space, finishing the container of pasta that he had given you while scrolling through your phone. Most of the others had gone out to lunch again but you stayed behind.

"How was it?" The voice in front of you made you sit up straighter in surprise, looking up to see Charlie staring down at you with a gentle smile. You wondered how you always found yourself in this position, on the ground and staring up at him.

After a moment, you realized he was talking about the food he'd given you and you smiled in response. "Oh, it was great. Thank you again for that." You told him. You were surprised when he began moving so that he was able to sit next to you, sliding down the wall so that he was beside you.

"You're welcome. I can't take credit for it, honestly. I didn't make it." He said, shrugging.

The realization hit you that you were eating food that his wife made and you felt like an asshole for having the terrible thoughts that you were having about her husband. You had a little bit left of it but you closed the lid, suddenly losing your appetite.

Charlie was oblivious to your inner turmoil but what he was fully aware of was the closeness that you two were experiencing once again. If he moved just a little your legs would be touching, he noticed.

"I was gonna go over the notes I had you make, if you're okay with it." He explained, motioning towards the script that was laying on the ground next to you. "So you know what I'm having you mark for in the future."

"Oh, sure." You said, trying to get your mind back to the job in front of you instead of thinking about your attraction to the married man next to you, your boss.