"No."
Charlie answers before the question gets a chance to leave her visitor's mouth. She moves her eyes from the monitor on her desk to the blue-hair man who is about to knock on her opened door. He comes with the same request he has been asking her all morning and now he is here to take another rejection from one of his directors. He pouts and whines as he feels the weight of the entire universe has just fallen on him and is about to crush him to death.
"But I've never been to a client without an actual person who knows how to talk." The blue-hair man sluggishly crawls his way into Charlie's glass-wall office and dumps himself face-down on the sofa by the door. It is not a big office space but it is definitely better than the one Charlie had in New York city. The natural light can freely travel through huge windows behind her and the neutral activities can be freely seen through huge glass walls before her. It is hard to feel so cooped up in here.
"You don't need to talk to anyone, Glen. Just take the photos and come back." Charlie leans back against her not-so-comfortable office chair and watches their summer intern crying like a baby about the job he is assigned for. "It's a restaurant, isn't it? There will be food. You don't need to talk to anyone. Take pictures. Eat. Bring back some food."
"There are the owner and the chef, Charlie." Glen pushes himself up on the sofa and tries to convince Charlie for the last time. Both of them are practically rookies in this marketing agency. Charlie has started a few months ago and Glen has started early this month. And since Charlie is more experienced in the field and in a much higher position than Glen, she is put in charge of the college kid. "What if they want me to pitch them?"
"Tell them you're there to take pictures. The team will pitch them later." Charlie throws a piece of nicotine gum in her mouth. She has been trying to quit smoking for a while now. Some days she finds success and some days she doesn't. It just has been the later one more lately. "I have enough work here."
"Charlie." A middle-aged lady in stylish outfit with dazzling accessories knocks on Charlie's glass door. The boss lady doesn't notice Glen at first but when she does, she is more than delighted. "Oh good, you're here, Glen. Charlie, Glen is taking photos for one of our new clients. That new Italian restaurant. Can you go with him?"
"Yes!" Glen whispers and holds up his fist like a winner when he hears that the luck has landed on his side.
"Just accompanying him in case they have concerns or you have ideas." Bernette makes her command sound so pleasant to the ears with her smile that always shines so bright. Happiness of waking up and getting to do what you love as a job has this much effect on people. "Buy him lunch also and get the bill to me."
"Alright." Charlie doesn't have much choice when the boss herself asks her to do the exact same thing as what Glen himself asked her. She is not as thrilled as Glen when she gets up on her feet, puts her phone in her pants pocket and smiles politely at the lady boss. She loves this. She loves her job and she can't deny that there are some mornings that she wakes up with regret of leaving that amazing opportunity in New York city. However, she is glad she found this job. Bernette is an amazing boss with energy to spare for everyone. There isn't one morning Charlie doesn't want to be here. There isn't one morning she doesn't want to come to work. And she gives all the credit to Bernette.
"Excellent." Bernette takes off to go back to whatever she was doing and leaves the new duo in the office.
"Do they have cocktail?" Charlie digs through her satchel bag for her car key that is definitely not in her pocket. This is not the first time it is misplaced and she is more than certain that it is not the last.
"It's barely 10."
"So?"
"So you need an AA meeting, man." Glen's remark puts a smile on Charlie's face. He is a lovable young man with talents that can expand a lot more than he can ever anticipate.
"Let's go."
It is a standalone building on State Street with its own parking space and outdoor tables. The building itself looks modern with the feel of rural Italian from all the plants and decorations. There are a lot of windows that allow the sun to shine its light into the indoor area. Charlie takes her time to observe the surrounding while Glen takes photos of the exterior. There are a few cars in the parking lots and by her wildest guess, a couple are possibly the owner's and the chef's. The other one makes her lose her sunglasses. It looks familiar but she is a bit too far away to see the plate clearly.
"Hi!" A solid male voice projects aimlessly since his two guests are not standing together or even close to one another. His male guest is making his way back from the sidewalk in front of the restaurant while his female guest is standing by her own car. So he looks back and forth between the two with the brightest hospitality smile. "You must be from the agency?"
"Yes." Charlie shakes the hand that is politely extended her way by the man who is taller than both of her and Glen. He is not exactly muscular but he is definitely manly-man healthy kind of way. "I'm Charlotte. I'm with the PR team. This is Glen, our photographer. I'm just accompanying him for the pictures. There is no change in your marketing team or anything."
"Alrighty. I'm Shawn."
Charlie is taken back a bit but not enough to be noticed. She knows how stupid it is but somehow the name becomes haunted now. She unconsciously becomes to dislike every Shawns in the world. "Nice to meet you."
"You guys are just in time. My chef is preparing lunch. Eat first, yeah?" The man with the neat slicked-back hair offers with the smile that hasn't left his tan-skin face. He is very well-put-together from the way he stands and the way he dresses with his polo shirt perfectly tucked into his khaki pants. The aura of the man who has just walked out of some girls' daydream is shining so bright out of him that Charlie almost feels the need to put her sun glasses back on.
"Definitely." Glen says with wide eyes of delight as he adjusts the backpack straps on his shoulders. The way he looks now is no difference from those interns from the movies; a camera hanging from his neck, a bag on his back and a spin in his head.
"Great." Shawn smiles with the incredibly sincerity in his eyes before extends his arm towards the huge glass door entrance. "My girlfriend is joining us. I hope you don't mind."
"Of course not." Charlie mumbles as Shawn rushes his steps past her to open the door and lets them in. "Oh, thank you."
Inside, Charlie gets to enjoy the marvelous atmosphere of the modern-looking Italian restaurant for a brief moment. Right when she is appreciating the firewood pizza oven that was built beautifully behind the bar, she sees something or someone at the corner of her eye. Her instinct whispers so soundly for her to look and she complies without any second thoughts. And there she is. The girl with the eyes that are filled with kindness and compassion. She is shining that sight at her without a word of explanation. Her heart instantly feels so warm from the sight but the whole situation between them and around them makes everything turn so cold.
"This is –" Shawn makes his steady steps towards the girl with his adoring gesture.
"Nicole." Charlie interrupts Shawn with the exact information he is about to pass on.
Shawn stops by Nicole who hasn't made a sound and hasn't taken her eyes off of Charlie. Somehow, she feels like she has been caught red-handed of something that is not even wrong. Her feet are grounded and her mind is frozen. She doesn't know what to do or what to say. "You guys know each other?"
Charlie smiles and lets her sarcasm evidently sneak through. "Sure."
"You're in East Haven?" Shawn asks for more as he shoots his bright smile that gradually becomes so annoying at Charlie. He has no idea and Charlie can guess why. The relationship is rather new; new enough for them to address one another differently.
"Hmm." Nicole gently touches Shawn's arm to draw his attention towards her and once he does, he even bends down a bit to listen to whatever she has to say. "We were—"
"We were in high school together. Nicole was also my little brother's teacher last school year." Charlie explains with the perfect cover she has on. Her smile is polite and her eyes are indifferent. "Same neighborhood and stuff."
"Ah." Shawn exclaims with his naïve expression. "That's nice. My sister and I grew up in Philly and as soon as we left our blocks, it was very unlikely to run into someone we knew."
"That happens here, I guess." Charlie shrugs.
"That smells super nice." Glen announces from the bar area where he has been capturing the atmosphere by his camera. His nose makes the obvious sniffing and turns towards where the kitchen area is.
"Sicilian meatballs." Shawn says with such proud in his eyes. "There is absolutely no joint better than this. Let's sit down, shall we?"
As Shawn leads the way to the table for 4 that is set close to the kitchen door, Nicole doesn't follow him right away. She waits. She waits for Charlie to do so because as she does so, she has to walk past her. So she waits. As Charlie follows Shawn's lead just like what she has predicted, she secretly grabs Charlie's wrist.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know." Nicole whispers. "I'm not trying to rub it on your face."
Charlie glances at her with the smile; the kind of smile Nicole knows a little too well that it is rather fake and rather unpredictable. "I know. No worries."
Glen watches the interaction with puzzles in his eyes as he gets a smile from Nicole to kill the awkwardness that is about to form into a hurricane. He follows Charlie who is already at the table; waiting for him to settle on the seat she chooses not to take. He looks at Charlie and quickly sees the misery that covers half of her existence through her eyes. It is obvious and it can be felt. As the colleagues take their seats at the same side of the light wood table, Shawn still stands there by the chairs on his side of the table. He waits for Nicole to join him with the wide smile before pulling out the chair for her. Charlie watches the smiles that are exchanged between the pair and lets the sigh out so loud and so unconsciously.
"Sorry." Charlie mumbles after Glen clears his throat as a nudge of her out-of-the-place table manner. "You have a nice restaurant here."
"Thank you." Shawn sits down and sips some water that has been prepared on the table. "It'll be even nicer with more people coming to eat here. You think you can pull off that miracle?"
"What do you think, Glen?" Charlie passes the question to Glen, the man who automatically gets so panic when work-related questions land in front of him instead of a hearty plate of lunch. She watches him struggle for a bit and giggles quietly. "Sorry, bud."
Glen sighs and wipes his forehead nervously.
"He's our intern." Charlie explains as she pats Glen on the shoulder a couple of times. "But he takes amazing photos. I'm sure we can... pull off any miracles with whatever he took."
Shawn's head chef cuts in the conversation by pushing the kitchen door open with her back. Her hands are full of her specialty and her face is full of her sunshine smile that fails to leave her face even when her eyes meet the familiar stranger. "Lunch is ready."
Charlie looks at the chef before tilting her head and letting the surprise shine through her green eyes. Then, her smile appears. It appears so subtly that no one at the table seems to notice but with what they have shared and what they have known, those smiles they are sharing become a code that only they know the meaning.
"This is my sister, Emilia. She is my head chef for now. I still can't really convince her to stay permanently." Shawn stands up from his seat and walks over to help his sister with the plates in her hands. "This is Charlotte and Glen from the marketing agency."
"Hi." Charlie extends her hand out. "With the E?"
"With the E." Emilia nods and shakes Charlie's hand. While getting so busy with locking eyes with the green-eye girl whose hair now looks a bit more human-like, the plates she has carried has now made their ways on the table; along with a couple more from her sous chef who is right behind her. "Yours is with the C."
"Yes." Charlie smirks lightly as she pulls her hand back.
"Mine is with the G." Glen confusingly says as he extends his hand out to shake the chef's hand like Charlie. He doesn't understand why spelling makes such a scene in this introduction but then, again, he might be too out of the loop in the social settings. "And one N."
"Of course." Emilia shakes his hand politely. "Well, enjoy your lunch."
"Emi, sit with us." Shawn sits back at the chair next to Nicole and gestures his sister to pull a chair to join them. "You can tell Charlotte and Glen about our food here."
"You can do that." Emilia smiles politely to everyone at the table. This is not her place. She is more comfortable in the kitchen where she can breathe a little easier. Also, with the appearance of the girl she had a little too much fun with, she doesn't want to feel so awkward that she can't operate normally. "It's your restaurant after all."
"I'm sure it'll be different from the chef's perspective." Charlie jumps on the convincing train although she is not exactly sure that she wants to join Shawn for anything at all. She knows it will be a bit awkward but what she has now on her hand is too shitty that she doesn't even care anymore.
Emilia smirks lightly before pulling the chair from the nearby table to occupy the empty space at the head of the table. She now has Charlie on her right and her brother on her left. "This is Sicilian meatballs; not like the classic Italian one. There are—"
"Pine nuts in here." Charlie finishes Emilia's sentence; proving that she remembers everything that happened on that Saturday night. Now, she understands why Emilia said meatballs and pine nuts go well together.
"Pine nuts in there." Emilia repeats as she watches Charlie look at her masterpiece with her hesitant eyes while her hand is equipped with a fork. "And currants."
"Charlie doesn't eat nuts." Nicole tries to save Charlie from the suffer she will have to go through while eating the fancy-looking meal.
"Oh." Shawn quickly exclaims. His reaction to the statement is almost the same as the one his sister had at the bar with her hand guarding the nuts from Charlie. "I'm sure Emilia can—"
"It's alright." Charlie smiles at Shawn and steals a quick glance at Nicole who acted like her guardian angel. Then, she rests her sight on the chef who is in her black chef coat and whose hair is tied up in a bun. "I'm not allergic or anything. Besides, I don't want to miss out all the crunchiness."
"Maybe you'll love it." Emilia fights Charlie's stare and notices how bright Charlie's green eyes are. They met when the working hours ended for the sun and the moon didn't shine enough light for her to witness it. They left when the working hours started for the sun but they didn't let it do the work. Now, when everything is nice and bright, they are seeing things they didn't.
"Maybe I will." Charlie picks one of the meatballs from her plate into her mouth and raises one of her eyebrows sneakily. She hates it but she doesn't want to be rude. She wants a glass of beer to kill the weird taste of the nuts in her mouth but she doesn't want to appear like an alcoholic like Glen already thinks she is.
Emilia smirks. It is on Charlie's face and she doesn't have to be an expert to see it as clear as day. "Would you like some beer or something?"
"No." Charlie shakes her head. "I'm fine."
Emilia touches Charlie's arm gently and briefly as she stands up from her chair. She chuckles lightly in her throat before making her way back to the kitchen. "I'll fix up something else for you."
After a while, Charlie gets a new dish that is made specially for her. Emilia puts a plate of super cheesy risotto in front of Charlie and notices that Charlie's meatballs has fallen into Glen's possession. She is too busy talking about a PR plan she has just come up with to care what has just landed in front of her but that doesn't stop her from expressing her appreciation to the cooker of the food. She says thank you softly as Emilia sits down. Charlie spins the pen around her thumb and lets her eyes sparkle along with the words she says. Charlie loves what she does with every piece of her and it shows so obvious on every inch of her expression. Before Emilia could admit that she is a little bit struck by the passion that has turned into charm, she notices another pair of eyes that look at Charlie with such proud and admiring. Nicole listens to Charlie so attentively with a smile that occasionally peaks through. Since Nicole is dating her brother, her best guest was that Nicole and Charlie are friends but now, as she witnesses those eyes on Charlie, she knows they had or perhaps have something more. Then, she looks at her brother who is too invested into what Charlie is saying to see what is happening next to him. He is too dumb sometimes but she can't say that he is dumber than her.
"Thank you for stopping by." Shawn shakes Charlie's and Glen's hands as he is sending them off in the parking lots. "See you at the picnic then?"
Charlie nods with a faint smile. It felt like a good idea half an hour ago but now she is regretting proposing that they should make food for the school picnic next week. Sure, it will be a great exposure for them to the neighboring neighborhood. Sure, parents are great at word of mouth. However, it means she has to meet Shawn again and the worst part is she has to meet Shawn with Nicole again. "Sure."
"I should probably leave too." Nicole announces hesitantly from Shawn's side and looks at her watch. "PJ probably wants lunch too."
"Oh, right. Sure. I'll stop by later." Shawn smiles brightly at the girl next to him and for a second, he is drawn into the world where there are only him and Nicole. He looks at her and places his hand on her back gently. He leans in close enough for Charlie's heart to scream in pain. He leans in close enough for Charlie to feel the need to look away before she would burst into pieces. What Charlie doesn't see when she turns away and heads to her car is how Nicole sees that. She sees that Charlie turns away almost instantly as soon as she sees what is about to happen. So she dodges the kiss on the lips and settles for the one on the cheek.
"Sure."
Charlie gets into the driver seat and lets out a deep sigh just to feel the tightness in her chest turn to pain. It hurts her enough that she feels the need to touch her chest with one hand and hold a fist in another; hoping it will cure the excruciating she is experiencing. Then, she tries to act as normal as she possibly can when Glen takes the passenger seat after landing his gear and bag in the backseat. He is fastening the seatbelt with his eyes looking out the window to Nicole and Shawn bidding their temporary goodbyes.
"There is this... vibe telling me that you and Nicole are not just friends." Glen makes his observation heard. He has never been an expert on this but he is taking his chance anyway.
Charlie ignites the engine and clears her throat. "Is that very obvious?"
"Yeah." Glen sighs with a chuckle. He loved the food and the atmosphere at the restaurant but every time he looked over at Charlie, it was just so uncomfortable as if the oxygen was sucked out and there wasn't enough air to breathe. "And her. Man. She constantly looked at you as if she was seeking for your permission before she would do anything that included him."
"Good." Charlie responds plainly and provides nothing more. She has become such a chilly winter amid the sunny summer. Glen feels that so he holds back every word and every question he has more regarding the pair. He doesn't want any more of it. He doesn't want the rest of the afternoon to go as a free trial to hell.
After bidding his goodbye to everyone who wants one, Shawn makes his way back into the restaurant with a matter that is lingering on his mind the whole lunch. He needs some answers although he is more than certain that he will get none. He knows his sister. She will beat around every bush until he is too tired to chase. He pushes the kitchen door open and grasps his sister's attention right away. She looks up from all the vegetable chopping that is not exactly her job as the head chef but she figures that since she is already here, so why not?
"What is going on between you and Charlotte?" Shawn asks as he stops next to Emilia with both of his hands in his pockets and his height hovering her. "It felt like my introduction was a bit unnecessary."
"Nothing is going on between me and Charlotte." Emilia mumbles as she continues showing her excellent knife skill. "The question should be 'what is going on between Nicole and Charlotte?'"
"What do you mean?"
"Oh, Shawny." Emilia puts down her knife and wipes her hands on the white apron on her waist. She looks at him to see that he is genuinely puzzled by her statement. "Seriously? It was right before your eyes. Seriously, Shawn, you're helpless without me."
Shawn closes his eyes for a second; just to process the implication his sister has thrown at him, before deciding that he won't let her get the upper hand in the battle he intends to win. "About you and Charlotte. Look. I know you're a big girl now and I know you know exactly what you're doing—"
"I'm not doing anything –"
"You can't go around hurting someone because you're hurting." Shawn says calmly and fills his voice with compassion and love he knows Emilia wants more than anything. This is his job. This is his responsibility as a big brother. He needs to protect her from herself and everyone else. "I know you flew over."
"I don't want to talk about it." Emilia whispers. She doesn't low down her voice out of the defeat to her brother's words of truth. She lows down her voice because what they are getting into keeps falling down on her and now, she is too exhausted to dig herself up to see the light. "Please."
Shawn sighs and wishes that he could take half of whatever Emilia has been carrying; whatever has been hurting her. "I'm sorry."
"Yeah. Me too." Emilia sniffles as she turns back to her chopping board and knife. She doesn't want to talk about it. She doesn't want to even think about it. Chopping these vegetables is now the only thing that can distract her and she will keep doing it until the memory fades. She doesn't care if her hand bleed as long as her heart heals. "You should talk to Nicole. They definitely have some sort of history."
"Alright." Shawn caresses Emilia's back gently before leaning in for a kiss on her cheek. "I love you, sis."
"I love you too." Emilia says with a tiny crack in her voice. "Thanks."
Charlie gets home that day and feels like she has been to war. She is beat emotionally but not so much on physically. The light on the porch is already turned on although the sun is still making its way out. It has become a routine for her mom now. She would walk over after dinner to turn on the light on the porch for her so that it will be a signal that she is now home. Today is another day that she follows that light to the porch after getting out of the car with her bag and a bag of takeaway. A tiny creak is sounded as she steps onto the porch where the rocking chair is placed without the owner. She takes a second to look before getting inside. Once she makes it, she immediately brings herself to the couch in the living area. Everything is put down on the coffee table and every bone of her is rested on the couch. She doesn't even bother to turn on the light. She chooses to briefly brighten up a spot in front of her eyes with the brightness from her phone that she is dialing someone. She meets darkness again when she puts the phone to her ear and knows that her call will be sent straight to the voicemail. As soon as she hears the beep, she goes.
"He is tall. Very tall, actually. Super polite. Super nice." Charlie puts her hand on her forehead and closes her eyes to describe Shawn from her memory. She sighs. "He is the kind of dude we don't hate... which is really bothering because that means I cannot really hate him. That just sucks. Well, I'm hanging up now. Yeah. Bye. Oh. And. I'm going to apologize to Blake when I get a chance. I really made a scene at his game."