When the time came, I had slipped into the living room to flip on the sterio on the entertainment center. The music of the 70's filled the living room and right on cue, Rhett was pulling dad into the living room.
"I thought Charly didn't want us to be at this party? It's her birthday party." He said.
"She just wants you to see something." Rhett replied.
"Mom!" I called to her. She stepped down the staircase after a few moments.
"What is it, hon?" She asked me softly. She turned her eyes towards my father as she heard the music. "I remember this song," Her eyes landed on me, surprised.
"It's for you." I said with a smile. I crossed over to the light switch on the side of the room and flipped it on. The tiny white christmas lights dangling from the railing near the staircase lit brightly. It was just as the sun had started to go down but they still looked beautiful despite darkness hadn't come.
"Charly? What's going on?" My dad asked.
"Oh, nothing." I said playfully. I crossed over to my dad and Rhett and grasped his hand with mine and pulled him out to the middle of the floor in the entrance room. He smiled at me as I tried to dance with him. Rhett crossed over to mom on the stair case and took her hand and pulled her to the entrance where we were dancing. I let go of my father's hand and he was looking straight forward at my mother who was laughing as Rhett danced with her. Rhett let go of her, right on cue and her eyes caught my fathers.' She walked towards him and my father took her hand and smiled and pulled her towards him. My mother giggled and pressed close to him, leaning her head on his shoulder. I grinned.
"Told you it would work." I said to him. He had a grin on his face.
"You don't have to hook me up with Emma." He said quietly.
"Hey, we had a deal." I replied. He glanced at me and smiled lightly.
"Thanks, Charly." I nodded.
Vinny took a spot next to me, folding his arms and watching my parents. My friends were all around too, leaning against the stair case railing. My parents were the main event in the entertainment.
"See, your parents are still way in love." Vinny exclaimed. I looked up at him.
"Yeah. They are." I agreed.
"Why don't you get out there and dance with your boy toy?" He asked me.
"Well, it's not really for me. I planned this for them." I said with a shrug.
"Nah, I'm sure they would be cool with it." He said. He took my hand and pulled me out to the entrance room where my parents were still slow dancing.
"Vinny!" I cried with a giggle. He crossed over to my friends by our staircase.
"Are you crazy, get out here dude!" Vinny called to Joey. Joey's eyes landed on me and I saw Ella glance up at him as he took a step down the stair he was sitting on. He walked over to me with a smile and took my hand and place it on his shoulder and he slowly put his hand on my lower back. I looked over his shoulder and Ella was staring at us. All of our friends were, actually. But they were grinning and laughing. But there was a look of sadness washed over Ella's face. When her eyes captured mine, she quickly glanced away, trying to look casual. Maybe I should break off my date with Joey.
"So, nobody told me this was a dance party." Joey exclaimed.
"Well, it was a surprise." I said with a smile.
"I think it's awesome that you did this." He told me.
"Thanks." I replied. I was quiet for a moment and he was too. But I decided I wanted to start something to help Ella. "Joey, what do you think of Ella?" He laughed.
"I think it might be a bit less awkward if she actually liked me."
"I think she does." I said casually. "Maybe you should spend more time with her."
"Why?"
"Well, because she's my friend. And we hang out a lot together. I just want us all to get along."
"Okay. I'll try to get along better with her." He said. "
"Good." I said with a smile. The song suddenly stopped and I glanced at my parents. They had stopped dancing and my father was staring into my mothers' eyes.
"I forgot how great our wedding was." He exclaimed. She grinned and nodded.
"Me too." She said. I separated from my friends as they all continued to eat and talk in the dining room and I approached my parents. I glanced back and forth between them and I took a deep breath.
"Mom, dad, I'm sorry. This was my way of trying to fix things and I'm sorry. For being such a pain in the ass, before. And I'm sorry I made you fight the other night." I said quietly. My parents both turned to me.
"What?" Dad asked with a confused glance.
"Charly, we argue a lot. But it's not your fault. We work things out, we work through it as best as we can. But it's not because of you. We appreciate that you did this, we haven't had a romantic dance like that in years but there's nothing to fix." Mom exclaimed.
"Your mother and I will always love each other, even though we've had really rough patches. A lot of people may not have pulled through, but we promise you we did." My mother's eyes flickered to my dad and he glanced back down at her for a few moments. Suddenly they were the only two in the room and I smiled softly and turned back towards the dining room, my thumbs hooking to the pockets of my jeans.
When I headed back into the dining room, Joey glanced over at me with a smile.
"I thought that was nice." He commented. I gently smiled.
"Thanks."
"You're pretty involved with your parents, huh?" I shrugged.
"I was just trying to fix things." I said. He nodded.
"That's cool." He told me sincerely. I bit my lip and nodded, as I pulled out my cell phone to order pizza for my friends.
We had to wait thirty minutes for the pizza. In the meantime, we hung out at our dining room table, sitting in our same spots. Mostly we were just talking. Joey tried to talk to Ella more but she still seemed reluctant to get closer to him. It was frustrating me.
About fifteen minutes after ordering the pizza, the doorbell rang. I got up from the table with the twenty dollars my parents left on the table. I crossed over to the door and swung it open.
"Hi, how are-" I started, but I stopped as I looked up to see Keith Carlisle. In his regular attire of a brown leather jacket and skinny jeans. His bronze hair perfectly quaffed. Immediately, I pushed the door back to shut it tightly but his hand slammed on the wood to shove it back open and he overpowered my attempt to shut it.
"What the hell," I growled at him. "What are you doing here?"
"I just came to wish you a happy birthday. We've spent every single one of your birthdays together since ninth grade."
"Well not this year." I snarled.
"You have every right to hate me. I know I've been a jack ass. But I just came to wish you a happy birthday."
"You're a psycho path. I seriously think you need help, Keith." I told him. "One day you call me a slut and the next you want to wish me a happy birthday? What's the deal?"
"I know, I know. I've just been frustrated and mad. I didn't mean what I said. You're not a slut." He said quietly. I sighed.
"Thanks for stopping by." I muttered, starting to shut the door. He pushed it back open with his hand.
"Can't I at least come in for a drink or something?"
"What's this?" Ella's voice cut in, stepping in behind me. "Keith, why are you here?"
"Ella." He greeted calmly. "I just came to wish Charly a happy birthday."
"That's funny. You called her a slut the other day." Ella snapped.
"Is there a problem?" Joey's voice interveined. Joey came up behind Ella and me, and stared at Keith. "What do you want, Keith?"
"Like I said, I just came to wish Charly a happy birthday. I really don't think it has anything to do with you, Quinto." Keith hissed.
"Okay, I'm closing the door on you now." I said.
"Douche bag." Ella insulted him.
"Charly, please." He begged me. "All I want is another chance."
"It'll have to be another time, Keith. My parents are home."
"Oh. Well, I'll see you at school." He said, turning his back. I closed the door and groaned.
"You're not seriously going to give him another chance, right?" Joey demanded.
"No." I said. "Maybe if he changed his attitude completely around."
"He won't. He's a lemming." Ella said.
"Good point." Joey said.
"Yeah." I said with a nod. "Let's go back to the kitchen."
After the pizza came, we all had a pretty good time laughing and just hanging out at the table. When truth or dare rolled around, I was reluctant to play but I didn't disagree. After all, it was a way to get to know people better.
"Charly, truth or dare." Izzy said.
"Dare." I challenged myself.
"I dare you, to kiss Joey on the lips. For five seconds." She said with a grin.
"Oh, damn." Penny said with a laugh.
"This ought to be interesting." Clark exclaimed. I glanced over at Ella and she was staring at Joey from across the table who was staring at me as I sat next to him. My eyes locked with Joey's.
"Well, you gonna accept the dare or not?" Izzy asked. I could feel my cheeks growing hot as I locked onto his gaze. He was staring at my lips. Goodness, he was pretty. I inched closer and closer and finally I felt my lips crush to his. He cupped my face with his silky smooth hand. I was closing my eyes and actually sort of enjoying the kiss. It was soft, and a nice kiss. But when I kissed him, I couldn't feel that special something. I didn't know much about relationships but I felt as though there was something missing during the kiss. I know I didn't know him well enough, and I knew I would give myself more of a chance to know him but at the same time, it didn't feel right.
"So Charly, how was it?" Izzy asked me.
"Nice." I said quietly. My eyes couldn't help but find their way back to Ella who was still staring at Joey. And then she tore her eyes from him to look at Will.
"Ella, truth or dare." Penny said.
"Truth."
"Where's the farthest you've gotten with a guy?" She asked.
"Penny!" Ella scolded.
"The library." Clark joked. Izzy, Penny and Joey all laughed and Ella grew red.
"I don't make the rules," She said with her hands up in surrender. All eyes were on Ella, waiting for her answer.
"Penny, I don't want to answer the question." She said seriously.
"You have to. Those are the rules." Izzy cut in.
"She doesn't have to," I pointed out.
"Then what's the fun of this game?" Penny demanded.
"Penny, you really shouldn't push it. She doesn't have to-" Will started to say for his sister.
"Come on, answer the question Ella. It's not hard." Clark said.
"Yeah, come on. Answer." Joey joined in.
"She doesn't have to if she doesn't want to." I cut in.
"Fine, you really want to know?" She snapped, suddenly angry as her voice overcame mine.
"Ella, don't." Will said seriously. "Don't answer the question."
"The farthest I've gone with a guy is all the way." She spat, ignoring her brother. "When he pressured me into it in the back of a car and he succeeded in the bet with his friends that he could get into my pants. Happy?" She stood up from her spot and shoved the dining room chair towards the wood of the table and hurried towards the front door. Everyone had dropped to silence.
"I didn't know." Penny stuttered.
"She's never mentioned-" Clark started.
"She just needs to be alone. If she thinks about it too much, she'll cry." Will said sadly.
"I better go talk to her." I said, standing up.
"I'll come with you." Joey offered.
"No, that's okay. You don't have to." I replied.
"You're the one who said I should spend more time with her." He said in a low voice. "This is my way of getting to know her." I hesitated for a moment and then I nodded.
"Okay. We'll be right back."
Ella was sitting out on my front porch. Looking out at the suburbia of the same type houses all clustered together. I was slow to approach her.
"Ella?" I started. "Are you okay?" She turned her head slightly towards me and nodded, biting her lip.
"Yeah. I'll be inside in a minute. I just needed a second. I'm sorry I lost it in there." She said quickly.
"It's okay." I said.
"Sometimes it helps to talk about it," Joey said softly. She jerked her head back to look at Joey.
"I don't want to talk about it," She snapped.
"Okay," I said. "Then we'll sit." I sat on one side of her and Joey sat on the other. She glanced back and forth from us both.
"You two are the last people I expected to be out here." She said.
"Well, we're best friends right?"
"Used to be, Charly. Things are never going to be the way they were before. When are you going to realize that?"
"I know that. But I can try to make things better for us both. If you let me." I suggested.
"Charly's really trying, Ella." Joey chimed in. "She wants to be your friend again."
"I didn't say we weren't friends. I just said we weren't best friends. Things aren't as they were before." She repeated. "And who the hell are you, Joey? You're new at school. You don't even know me. Or Charly. But then again, you sucked face with her quick enough."
"He's just trying to help," I added.
"Yeah? Well, don't. Just leave me alone. I'll be in in a second, I swear." She said.
"Okay, look Ella." Joey said firmly. "We're friends now. Okay? And in order to be friends, we have to be able to talk to each other about stuff. I get the whole, shutting people out thing. I got it, that you want to do that. But we're trying to be your friends here. If you don't want to talk about it, that's okay. But we're your friends. And we're trying. So cut us a break, would you?" She sighed.
"Thank you for being at my side." She said quietly. "I know I'm not easy to get along with sometimes."
"Hey, it's understandable." I told her gently. She nodded.
"Thanks."
"You're actually a good kid, Ella. You have your sweet moments, believe it or not." Joey said with a cute crooked smile. He wrapped one arm around her in a side hug and I grinned. She giggled.
"Okay, okay. Don't go getting a big head thinking you can hug me." She said as she lightly pulled away from him.
"Okay, do you feel better now that you have your snarky attitude back?" I asked with a playful smile.
"Oh, shut up Charly." She laughed, starting to stand up. "Okay, let's go back inside." Joey headed in first and as Ella was going inside, I caught her arm and she turned back to me.
"Ella, if you ever need to talk about it, I'm here." I told her. "I will always listen." She nodded slowly.
"Thanks, Charly. I appreciate that."
"Ella, when that happened, I didn't have anything to do with it did I?" I asked her, praying for her answer to be no. She lowered her eyes.
"I'll tell you later, okay? I guess you do need to hear it."
Oh no... oh no... I guess I'll be taking that as a yes.