The restaurant I chose was right on the river, a little ways away from her house. We chose our seats at a table right next to the large windows that gave us an excellent view of the river and its surrounding scenery. The walls were papered in white with pink and purple-y flowers, the floor was a greasy deep, deep blue. The tables were maroon. Charlie slid off her jacket self-consciously. I kept mine on.
Charlie started nervous-blabbing. I was about to do the same thing. Thank God she saved me. "I've never actually been here, but I've driven past it quite a few times. I always would think, This is the place where everyone gets their pizza for parties, but now here I am and it's even nicer than I thought...
"We didn't have to come here, you know," she continues. "There's plenty of pizza joints and other cheaper restaurants that won't make you cut off a limb to pay for your meal." She paused, looking into my eyes.
After a second of being unsure what to do, I smiled. "It's not a problem," I said truthfully. She looked at me skeptically. "Really," I assured her, then added with a smirk, "it's not that big a deal: I don't really need my left arm. And it's not expensive." Really, it's not. It's certainly not cheap for what I'm used to, but definitely not expensive. It's a pizza place, for crying out loud.
She smiles shyly, ears turning a bit pink. I think I might go crazy, though. The beer was like a million dollars per bottle, and Charlie refused to drink any anyway. We settled for two Cokes (though I pulled the waiter aside and told him to 'spice mine up' a bit).
He read us the specials, but it was more directed to Charlie, which made me want to put my arms around her and hold her hand to make a point to the guy.
When he walked away and my silent fit of seething was over, I glanced up at her. She was staring at me, but quickly looked away. Why the fuck is this so weird?
"So," I began, grimacing because that's such an awkward word. Charlie grimaced, too, I think. "What'll it be?" I ask, "Anchovies, mushrooms, onions, what?"
She giggled a little when I made a face for anchovies.
"Well," she started slowly. She winced. I guess well is an awkward word, too. "Since I don't see any offerings for Spaghettios..." That made me laugh. I don't know why, though. But she sighs all of a sudden. "I don't know; are you sure it's okay?" she asks.
I lean forward so that I'm on the edge of my chair. "Yes. It's okay. Get whatever." I smile, hoping she'll return it because I love her smile. Thankfully, she does.
And so, when the waiter returns, we order our food, and talk some more while we wait. I found that the more we talk, the more comfortable she seems. I had a feeling she was a rather comical person, and the more I get to know her, the more right I seem.
However I still know nothing about her. She seems confused when I voice this opinion. "Okay, fine," I admit, taking a sip of the Coke that I made the waiter put some whiskey in, "you like Janis Joplin, you love Aerosmith, you like me–" she laughed a little bit. Yes, I'm making fun of her use of the word like "–and... That's about it. Other than your name, Charlie Flannery."
The red she had turned when I said the thing about liking me deepened at the mention of her name. I paid no mind, but decided to fire off questions. At the mention of her last name, I thought of her mom. Not like that, but now that's been mentioned, I was wondering where mister Flannery was during the little episode. And where her wedding ring went.
That's why I asked the question. It was thoughtless and stupid and I shouldn't've said it, but I did. And I regret it. "So your mom answers the door, your sister answers the phone; where's your dad throughout all this? I was really looking forward to a lecture with a shotgun." Actually, I would've preferred it over what I really got.
Charlie's face was–for the first time ever–not pink in any sense. In fact, it paled, and she looked a little sick. She quickly composed herself, though. I was still worried. "He's in Boston," she said evenly. A little too evenly.
"Sorry," I mutter, still feeling like I should jump out the window to my right and swim away in the river. Maybe take up home under a rock somewhere. Never be seen again. I'm such an idiot! What kind of person just asks that? Would it look strange if I slammed my head down on the table a few times?
She knew I felt bad. I guess it was kind of obvious. I was staring out the window, feeling sick. "He's been in Boston since I was twelve. With my step-mom."
I don't know what else to say so I just say, "Oh."
She laughs. A tinkling little laugh that's sweet and melodic and all around mood-brightening. I love her laugh, too: not just her smile. "But you want some facts?" I nod. Yes. I want some facts. "I'm Charlotte Grace Taggart–I kept my dad's name, though Jess and my mom didn't–I'm, as of rather recently, eighteen. Obviously I go to high school and yada yada yada. Let's see... Favorite band is Aerosmith, I play guitar–kinda–...hmm..."
I take it all in, actually listening. I'm honestly intrigued to say the least. She can't seem to think of anything, so she says, "What about you?"
"Hmm, yes, what about me?" I ask. "Whaddya wanna know?"
She giggles. "Anything."
I consider this. "I suppose since you told me your real name..." I begin slowly. She leans forward. She must be intrigued too. "Actually not Tyler. I changed it 'cause it's easier to say and spell than Tallarico is." And before I know it, I'm telling her about what it was like to be me as a kid, what it was like to be in a band, and all this other boring shit that she for some reason thought was interesting.
And then we were back on the topic of bands that we liked. We had gotten our food and began to eat at some point but I don't remember it being given to us. "Yeah," Charlie was saying, "there used to be this band–they only had like four songs–a few years ago. Their last record was the first forty-five I bought. Those two records–among many others–helped me through... well, you know.
"My favorite song out of them all was one... It sounded like something the Beatles would do, actually. And the guy's voice on those records is so familiar, I just can't figure out where else I've heard it! Anyway, it's probably my favorite song, it's called You Should Have Been Here Yesterday by the Chain Reaction."
She was halfway through the word yesterday when I nearly choked. "Yeah, I think I've heard of it," I manage.
"Really?" She seems surprised. "Because I didn't think that they were ever that popul–"
I hold up a hand. "Whoa now, they were very popular, may I just say. You just compared them to the Beatles!" I was in awe and something else too, but I couldn't quite place the feeling. I feel like I should fess up though: "the Chain Reaction was my band in the sixties."
Now it was her turn to choke. "No shit!" she said relatively loudly. I laughed, because I still don't expect her to curse but she ends up doing it anyway.
I like when she's surprised. Her eyebrows shoot up and her mouth kind of hangs open for a second. She gets the sparkle in her eye and then she tries to knock logic into the surprise and her eyebrows knit together, forming a vertical line at the beginning of the right one. And she gets this frown and a little dip on the left side where her lips curve down. It's really adorable. I love it.
--
By the end of the night, after the vanilla ice cream and chocolate cake was–for the most part–devoured, Charlie had loosened up significantly and I learned a lot. The time seemed to actually fly by.
I paid the bill, without letting her see it because she seemed genuinely worried and that bothered me a bit, and led her outside. It had grown steadily darker outside, and now it was completely black. But there were street lights and twinkly stars.
Also by the end of the night, I realized that I liked–no, loved a lot of things about Charlie Taggart. Too many things, almost. But that was shoved to the back of my mind because for the first time in a long time, I was not high and having a great time.
No, check that. I was high, but not on drugs. I was high on life and Charlie's perfect smile.
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A/N: Ooh, two chapters in one day. I've got several more already written, it's just a matter of proofing and posting now. I'll update as soon as I can! Things're gonna get interesting real soon...