Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Charlie Logan walked into her favorite Record Store, just a few blocks down from her crap apartment she shares with her best friend Roxi. It’s a frequent stop she makes on the walk home from work at the Elementary School. She’s a Kindergarten teacher. And she loves those little monsters, she does, with all her heart. Almost as much as she loves the adorable record shop that always has her favorite artists on display and an amazing track on the sound system.

The owner of the shop is this gorgeous guy, curly chocolate colored hair, beautiful, mischievous blue eyes, and a sweet but cheeky smile. He’s like 6’4 and his arms are ridiculous, and Charlie does not have a crush on him, because she doesn’t even know his name and that would be ridiculous.

Except that she totally does.

He always talks to her when she’s in the store, and he’s cheeky and funny and super relaxed and it’s unfair is what it is.

She spends way too much money in this store, considering she barely makes anything, she sleeps on the couch in a run down studio apartment with her best friend, who is a bartender, and also doesn’t make anything, and their fridge could die any day now.

Roxi says it doesn’t matter, it’s almost November, they just keep all their food on the balcony and let the snow keep their food cold until March. Charlie doesn’t mention pigeons and rats, even though she knows Roxi sees this as a serious solution to the fridge problem.

It’s just that Charlie has this thing about music.

She’s in love with it.

She has notebooks full of songs, she taught herself to play the guitar when she was ten, and she loves to sing, was born to sing. Unfortunately she’s kind of shy and performing isn’t her thing and crowds make her nervous, so there went that dream. She changed her dream, to becoming a DJ, mixing music is something that she’s really good at, but her parents informed her that, that was not a career path that they would finance an education for, so she became a teacher. She finds it a bit unfair that she couldn’t be a music student, but Jess spent college in a sorority, partying every night, skipping class everyday, undeclared as her major for two years before failing out and telling their parents she wanted to be a model, which they supported a hundred percent. She’s not bitter about it.

She’s also not bitter that her sister lives in a cute little house with three of her friends while Charlie’s sleeping on a couch in a shady part of town. And she’s also totally not sad about the fact that while she hasn’t had a date since the tenth grade, Jess is currently dating a gorgeous, successful music producer [Jess’ favorite singer is Ke$ha, and honestly if Charlie hit her, who would blame her -shut up, she’s not jealous-], who’s father is some sort of ridiculously famous film director, and his mother is a famous actress.

Plus, he’s super nice, so Charlie can’t even hate him.

She sifted through some CDs, she has some papers to “grade” tonight. They’re Kindergarteners, in a crappy second rate school. Honestly, if they wrote something somewhat related on the paper, and she doesn’t have to call a social worker tonight, it’ll be a successful assignment.

She loves her job though. Her boss is some hippie that she’s pretty sure is high half the time, but he really does care about these kids, so she respects him in all his weirdness. Plus she gets to wear whatever she wants to work, so she’s all in. Turns out Kindergarteners don’t’ mind if you’re wearing converses and a Ramones tee instead of a nice pants suit. She readjusted her book bag on her shoulder.

She’d had to walk home again, because her car was stalled in the parking lot for the third time this week.

Her life is a bit of a mess really, but she’s dealing with it.

She saw the gorgeous store owner talking on his cell phone behind the counter. He had on black jeans, a pink Floyd tee shirt and was running a hand through his curls. He’s one of those guys that can roll out of bed, put on anything and look like he belongs on an album cover or something. She’d like to find out if that’s true.

“Yeah, I can meet you for Dinner, where at?” his deep, soothing voice floated over to her.

She was not eavesdropping, and she was not concerned that he may be talking to a girlfriend.

She does not know his name.

 

“yeah, he should be back in town tomorrow night, mommy number 5 has been bugging me about being there for his welcome home dinner for like 2 weeks... She’s my age. It’s weird... Don’t pretend it doesn’t bother you at least a little that you’re older than your stepmom Scott”

She’s not relieved. Shut up.

“I’m supposed to meet Ash and Rian over Bryce’s tomorrow, but if you really want me to be there, I can work something out.. what is this news anyway?... fine, don’t tell me.... yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow night”

 

Finally Charlie decided on the new Imagine Dragons album, and headed up to the counter.

“Hey” he smiled at her with his flawless cheeky smile.

“Hey” she willed herself not to blush. Her cheeks ignored her, as usual.

He opened his mouth as if to say something else, when someone burst in the door and his blue eyes left her. He seemed to recognize the person walking in, seeing how his eyes sparkled and he smiled,

“Hey babe, what’re you doing here?” he asked her. Charlie kept any and all emotions off her face.

The girl was gorgeous, only about 5’4 with long, red velvet cupcake colored hair under a gray beanie, her eyes were big and green, and her make up was smoky and sexy, and she was cute in a funky kind of way.  Charlie couldn’t compete with something like that.

“Wanted to see you” the cute girl shrugged. He bagged the CD.

“was hoping I could stay with you a few days” she added, shifting through some band bumper stickers near the counter.

“Why?” That’s not a question you ask a girlfriend that wants to stay over. Charlie hid her eavesdropping by digging through her bag for her wallet.

“Mom and I had a fight” He rolled his eyes a little

“9.78” he told Charlie.

“So can I stay?”

“yeah, but I won’t be around much.”

“Me either, just need a place to crash. I’ll be with Dameon most of the time.”

“He the reason you and mom were fighting?” His sister. She’s his sister. Charlie’s making a lot of wrong assumptions today. Maybe she should put off any social worker calls until tomorrow.

“You are like insanely gorgeous” the girls voice said, breaking her out of her thoughts. The girl was looking at her, but Charlie was still unsure if she was talking to her. She glanced over her shoulder.

“Um, thanks” she said, pushing her hand through her dark waves. She was definitely blushing now. She could feel those mischievous blue eyes on her.

“Seriously, it’s unreal. Do you model?” Charlie let out a little laugh, the thought of her modeling was laughable. This girl had to be making fun of her.

“No” she shook her head. Blue eyes was leaning on his counter on his elbows now, as his sister stepped closer.

“You have a face for fame, are you an actress? Singer?” she pressed.

“I’m a Kindergarten teacher” she blushed more, taking her purchase off the counter. She started to leave, but the girl stepped in front of her.

“Lucy!” her brother said, sounding surprised by her behavior. It’s definitely nothing Charlie has ever experienced before.

“I’m sorry” Lucy shrugged a little, “I’m Lucy, what’s your name?” Charlie glanced over her shoulder at the guy, as if looking for a warning to not give her name, but he was just looking at her, still leaning on his elbows.

“Charlie” she said, and maneuvered herself around the girl, and out the door.

 

She was about halfway home when it started to rain. The elevator in their building is broken, so she trudged her soggy self up the stairs to the tenth floor. She kicked her converses next to the trash can in the entry way and hung her keys on the magnetized hook on the side of the fridge. She tossed her book bag down next to her desk. Roxi was on the couch watching TV in her pj’s. She doesn't’ have to go to work for another few hours. She’d probably just woken up about an hour ago.

“Did you go see your boyfriend today?” Roxi teased her. Charlie rolled her eyes, regretting the day she ever mentioned the cute guy that owned the record store to her friend. She needs new friends. Maybe rich ones, with a spare room in their apartment.

Charlie went to take a long shower. When she came out, Roxi was dressed, headed to get something to eat with some friends before her shift starts at the bar.

“Come by the bar later?”

“Maybe” Charlie shrugged. Roxi gave her a hug and headed out the door.

 

She was about halfway through a Criminal Minds episode when Jess’ name flashed across her phone screen.

“Hey Jess”

“Charlie! Oh my god, we have to meet up right now. I have something huge to tell you, I’m so excited, meet me somewhere. Where are you?” her sister was talking so fast Charlie could hardly follow what she was saying.

“I’m at home”

“Meet me at that coffee shop we love in 15?”

“Uh, I might need 20, not exactly dressed for the public”

“Alright, see you in 20!” and she hung up.

 

When Charlie walked into the coffee shop out of the rain, she was attacked in a hug by her fraternal twin sister.

“Scott came back from London today, we had lunch” she said. Her green eyes were sparkling, and she looked so happy that Charlie didn’t have the heart to tell her that this wasn’t worth her getting off the couch for.

Then she saw the huge, shiny rock on her ring finger, and yeah she knew where this was going.

“Oh my god Jess” she grabbed her sister's hand to look at the ring more closely. It was gorgeous, and probably worth more than Charlie’s life.

 

 

 

 

Charlie’s excited for her sister, she is. She enthusiastically talked about wedding plans, and honeymoon possibilities, and her responsibilities as the maid of honor for hours. She was really and truly happy for her.

 

But that was last week, and this is now.

 

She was on the phone with Isabella Kingsley, her best friend since she was about 3 years old, when she walked into the record store.

“I am excited for her, I am. She totally deserves this. And he’s so great. It’s just hard not to want to punch her in the face when she’s talking about a Vera Wang gown and a honeymoon in Milan or Paris, when I had to dig change out of my couch cushions to make rent last month” She walked over to the section of albums she knew would have the most bitter female artists in it and started flipping through.

“She called me at like 4 this morning to talk about how sparkly his eyes are. I deserve some sort of award for not hanging up on her. Or lighting something on fire.”

Jessica is one of those people that is in love with love. Charlie can’t even count the number of romantic films she suffered through for her twin.

“I am not a jealous pyromaniac, I am a bitter pyromaniac there is a difference.” She moved on to the next section.

“No my car is still in the parking lot at the school. It’s been stalled for like a week and I can’t afford to get it towed off, much less fixed.” She came across a love song album,

“No, I will not ask my sister’s fiancé to fix my car!” she glared down at the CD in her hand as if it had done something to offend her.

“Because he’s a good person and he’d do it and then I’d feel like shit.” She picked up a Taylor Swift album.

“Taylor Swift should get to work on the forever alone album, cuz I’d definitely relate to that.”

She hates Taylor Swift.

“Of course I’m in the record store. Don’t judge me. Music is how I deal with my ridiculous life.” She picked up Alanis Morrisette’s Jagged Little Pill and went up to the counter where McGorgeous was flipping through a magazine. She tried not to think about the fact that he probably heard every bitter thing she’d just said to her friend.

Her total was only like three dollars, which made her feel better about purchasing an album while her car sits to rot in the school parking lot.

“No, you know I’m not actually upset about it. I love her, and he’s so great. And as soon as she gets back from her honeymoon I’m going to start harassing her about a little niece or nephew.”

Chapter Text

About a week later, Jess had Charlie traveling all the way to upper Manhattan, to meet Scott’s family. All week they’d been running around stores, registering for gifts, looking at wedding dresses and bridesmaids dresses, meeting with the wedding planner to discuss the meal, and the flowers, and a lot of other stuff that Charlie tuned out.

Jess had chosen a date right before Christmas, which is only like 5 weeks away. Charlie was stressing out, and she isn’t even the bride.

If -if- Charlie ever gets married, she’s giving herself like a year to plan the wedding. Or maybe they’ll just sign some papers in a court house and have dinner with the fam, cuz honestly she’s never doing this again.

 

 

The thing is, Charlie doesn’t actually own a dress, and this meeting is apparently a formal affair. So she’s squeezed into something that belongs to Jessica, wearing heels, which, who decided that? And she really hopes they’ll have wine with dinner, cuz she’s going to need it.

She’s in a strapless teal dress, with a champagne colored floral design, and she looked nice, even if she felt totally and completely uncomfortable and out of her element.

The mansion is absolutely freaking gorgeous and does nothing to calm Charlie’s nerves. She’d had Jess drive her, because still no car. Jess seemed to be calm enough, she had met them before after all, so it wasn’t such a big deal to her. She had on a cute green dress with a large daisy pattern on the bottom edge and her blonde hair looked like it had been done professionally. It probably had.

A butler opened the door and led them into a large den, where Scott was having a conversation and a beer with his father. They both had on dress pants, pressed white button down shirts and black ties. Scott greeted Charlie with a warm smile, and a sparkle in his blue eyes.

“Charlie, this is my dad, John Bennett, and this is my mom, Mia York” he introduced her to a gorgeous woman with her brown hair pulled up in a French twist, her make up done perfectly and her obviously toned body poured into a gray halter dress, belted at the waist. Very modest and appropriate for her age, but still young and cute.

“I’m Alicia Bennett” a young woman, who didn’t look much older than Charlie, with gorgeous red hair said, holding out her hand. Charlie shook it and smiled,

“Charlie Logan”

“I’m John’s wife” she added with a smile. Charlie deserved a pat on the back for not reacting to that information because oh.

“Scott’s brother Jordan, and Jordan’s sister should be here soon.” She added. Charlie nodded, although she had no idea who that was, and didn’t particularly care.

“Jordan’s in a band, he’s the drummer” Jess told Charlie.

“He has a show tonight” a younger boy spoke up.

“This is my other son, Josh” Ms. York spoke up, reaching to put her arm around the boy who was probably about 14 years old, and wearing a hoodie and a beanie over his curly brown hair. Charlie wondered why she couldn't have dressed like that.

Before anything else could be said, there was a squeal, “Oh my god! Charlie?!” Charlie glanced up from the champagne glass she was being handed to see a familiar head of cupcake red hair. She smiled at the girl, trying not to look as confused as she felt. The young girl looked cute in a white dress with a black rose pattern and bright red heels. Charlie would never have the confidence to pull off an outfit quite like that.

“Hey Lucy” she said, taking a sip of her champagne because yeah, she needs it.

She promptly chokes on it though when she sees who follows Lucy in the room. Looking like sex in black skinny jeans and a black tee that hugs him in all the right places, black converses and his chocolate curls pushed out of his face was the guy from the record store.

“You’re late Jordan” his father said.

Jordan. Jordan. Jordan Bennett. Scott’s brother who is a drummer in a band, Jordan, is the guy Charlie has been hopelessly crushing on for well over a year.

“Lu wasn’t ready when I went to get her” he shrugged.

“Hey Jess, Charlie” the smile he gave her was cheeky, but she could see a hint of surprise in those ocean blue eyes.

“Just like your mother” john Bennett told the girl, but he simply received a very cheeky smile in return.

"Charlie, right? What is it that you do?” Mia asked.

“I’m a Kindergarten teacher” Charlie felt that familiar blush starting to creep up to her cheeks. She doesn’t particularly like talking about herself. Nothing to brag about.

“How old are you?”

“23, we’re twins” she said glancing over at her sister who smiled at her encouragingly.

“Really?” Josh looked doubtful. Scott pinched him ‘inconspicuously’.

 

Finally the conversation turned to Jessica and Scott and the engagement, and eyes were no longer on her. She finished off her champagne in one drink.

“Bet your students would never believe you could finish off a drink so fast” she heard a familiar deep voice behind her. She turned to see his cute little smirk. She’d like to kiss that right off his face.

“Sure they would. I’m the juice box drinking champion three years running and I Kicked Mr. Winoker’s bum in the water fountain race last month.” Jordan laughed, not expecting that.

The butler brought her a fresh glass of champagne, as Jordan took a sip of his.

“I’d just like to go ahead and admit that you are the last person I expected to see here tonight” she told him, and he smiled, “You’re not exactly the twin sister I expected either.”

“I don’t’ know why not. We’re practically identical” she teased, taking another sip. His eyes were sparkling, and she liked being responsible for the smile on his face.

 

 

After a ridiculously fancy dinner, with French foods, some of which Charlie had never heard of much less could ever pronounce, everyone was sitting in the den with glasses of white wine. Scott’s mother, Lucy and Jessica were discussing wedding plans. Scott and his father were talking business, Josh had disappeared after dinner and Alicia was sitting beside John listening attentively as if she actually cared about whatever he was saying.

Charlie liked the family, she did, but this really isn’t her thing.

She’s football games on the TV, chips and dip and beer. She’s her father’s daughter when it comes to social gatherings.

Jordan was sitting beside her on the sofa. He didn’t look like he was particularly having fun either. He had been just as relaxed and funny as always at dinner, but now he kept checking his watch.

“Got plans?” she asked, when she’d caught him for the fourth time in the last hour. She made sure to keep her voice down. He smiled, his blue eyes locking on her gray ones.

“Bands got a show tonight, have to leave soon” he told her.

“What kind of music is it?”

“You wanna find out?” his smile was cheeky again. She bit her lip and nodded a little.

 

When Jordan made the announcement that he was leaving, Alicia had the butler bring him a cake, said she’d made it and wanted Savannah to try it. Jordan didn’t look like he wanted to take it, but he did. Charlie leaned over to Jess,

“I’m going with him, I’ll see you tomorrow ok?” she whispered. Jess nodded and kissed her cheek.

 

When they got out into the cool October air, Charlie felt like she was breathing for the first time all night. Jordan seemed to notice, because he laughed.

“They can come off as a bit much, but they really aren’t so bad” he told her and led her over to a black SUV. “Dad likes to pretend he’s some big shot, but he’s a total film geek, has probably seen Star Wars close to a hundred times, and Scott’s mom is actually really sweet once she knows she can trust you”

“You don’t’ seem to like Alicia much” she said, and immediately regretted it because that’s none of her business, but he just laughed.

“No, it’s just, it’s weird. Like.. we went to high school together. And the girl that sat behind me in math class marrying my dad hasn’t quite settled in on me yet.”

“You’re right, that is weird” she laughed and he smiled at her.

“We have to stop by my mom’s for a minute, you don’t’ have to come in if it’s too much for you. She’s actually not so bad though.” He turned down a couple streets and pulled up in front of a gorgeous two story house. They walked in, with Jordan calling for his mom. She came from the kitchen and wrapped him in a hug. She was a gorgeous woman, with long black hair, piercing green eyes, much like Lucy’s, and she was covered in flour.

“Mom” he complained, trying to wipe the flour off his shirt.

“What are you even doing? You can’t cook”

“How dare you” she swatted at him, “I’m trying to make something for Miranda's big charity bake sale next week. Trying to join the regular world and all that. You remember?” she had a cute southern twang to her accent

“Yes, leaving the paps behind, I remember” something in his voice told Charlie that he’d heard about this multiple times.

“Alicia sent you a cake. You must have told her about volunteering your cooking services”

“Oh that sweet girl! Out of all your father’s wives, she’s my favorite. Oh hello darling!” she finally noticed Charlie standing in the doorway. Jordan turned so he could see her,

“This is Charlie, Jessica’s sister”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you sweetheart, you’re so gorgeous!”

“oh, um thank you” she blushed, she's never been told she was gorgeous before meeting the women of Jordan’s family.

“I’m Savannah” she held out a flour covered hand but before Charlie could shake it, Jordan stepped in,

“we’ve got to go, show tonight” he told her, kissing her cheek.

“oh. Well come back soon! I miss you! And bring this pretty girl!” she called just before the door closed.

 

“why do you do that?” he asked as they got in the car.

“do what?”

“blush, and shy away when someone tells you you’re gorgeous”

“oh. Well, I, I’m just not used to it.”

“what?”

“People don’t usually compliment me. Jess has always been the pretty one, I’m the smart one” she shrugged.

“is that what you think?” he asked, looking at her after stopping at a light.

“well sure, Jess is the model. And I went to college, became a teacher” she shrugged again.

“do you like it, being a teacher?”

“I love it, they’re little monsters but I love everyone of them”

 

 

The bar they were playing in was back in Brooklyn, in their little part of town. She suddenly wondered why he’d chosen to live down here, to build his little record shop in the crap part of town instead of up in Manhattan since he obviously had the money to do it. But she went ahead and assumed the answer was because Brooklyn is more cultured, more into buying records and listening to music than the wealthy inhabitants of Upper Manhattan. The rich social lifestyle of champagne and dinner parties is Jessica’s kind of thing, where as run down buildings and all nighters blasting music and beer kegs are more of Charlie and quite possibly Jordan’s thing.

Being born rich doesn’t mean you’re one of them.

 

 

He parked in the back of the bar and led her in the back.

“You’re late.” An extremely good looking guy with shaggy brown hair, a red beanie, a white tee shirt and a bunch of ridiculous tattoos, said when he spotted Jordan. Then he spotted Charlie and a predatory smile crossed over his lips,

“well Hell-“

“Don’t even think about it” Jordan cut him off, and really if he could have just said “mine” that would have been great.

Beanie guy raised his eyebrows a little, then smirked. “She yours J?” he asked, and yes, thank you beanie boy, I’d like to hear more on this as well.

“If I say yes, will you back off?” The guy shrugged noncommittally and Jordan rolled his eyes,

“Then yes, she’s mine.” And this escalated quickly and Charlie’s never been more okay with anything in the history of ever.

“’m Ash” Beanie guy said, and yeah, she should probably stop thinking of him as beanie guy.

“Charlie” she said and his eyes lit up with something like recognition/realization, but Charlie really couldn’t be bothered to think too hard about it.

 

“He looks like a douche, but he’s harmless. It’s Rian you have to watch out for” Jordan told her, picking up a set of drum sticks.

“Handsy” Asher mouthed behind him, holding his hands up and motioning squeezing something in each of them, causing Charlie to laugh. Jordan glanced over his shoulder at him, but Ash had put on a look of innocence. She could tell Jordan could see right through him, but he didn’t say anything.

“JJ!” an adorable blonde said, coming up to Jordan and throwing an arm around is shoulder. He had sky blue eyes and a smile that could light up a room. And seriously if all of Jordan’s friends are this attractive, she could see herself becoming a fan of this band.

“Handsy” Ash mouthed again, causing Charlie to smile and let out a little laugh, which brought Rian’s attention to her.

“Well Damn, hell-o gorgeous!” he started to take a step towards her, but Jordan swung his arm up around Rian’s back returning the side hug, which seemed to hold him back.

“She’s here with J” Ash spoke up,

“of course she is, fuck my life” Rian responded.

“This is Scott’s fiancé's sister, Charlie”

“What? No, I thought they were twins”

“they are”

“but, but she’s-“

“I know”

“so, you're a model too?”

“she’s a teacher”

“Fuck me. Do you wear glasses, cuz I have this fanta-“ Asher and Jordan lunged to stop him at the same time.

“Rian!” Asher said, as Jordan looked at Charlie, “Rian’s one of Scott’s groomsmen. The three of us go way back. He’ll hit on you every time he sees you, but try to take it as flattery and not offensive.”

“course I’m gonna hit on her, look at that body! Those eyes could bring a man to his knees” Rian said, Asher was trying to pull him away, and Charlie was blushing.

“I’m sorry, I forgot you’d end up having to meet him when I invited you” “

its ok” she laughed it off. They didn’t get to chat much more since the boys had to perform. She found a place on the side stage, opposite of where they had disappeared, next to the sound guy. She peeked around the edge and the place was packed with people.

They actually had legit fans. Screaming girls, rowdy guys. Mostly college aged. The noise level was through the roof when the boys walked on stage. She could make out a few fans screaming their names “I love you Asher Cole!” “Marry Me Rian!” “Fuck Me Jordan!” and well okay. A few fan girls even had signs: “I’d let you bang on me all night Jordan|” “Singers scream louder, guitarists finger faster, drummers pound harder!” and yeah these girls are dirty.

Is Jordan into that kind of thing, cuz she's not so sure she could handle it.

“How you doing tonight Funky Melon?!” Asher screamed into the microphone, and is that really the name of this place, because no.

“How are my frequent flyers tonight?” Charlie’s ear drums might just burst from the reaction he got.

Frequent flyers?

“We’ve got Rian Blake on guitar, my boy JJ Bennett on the drums, and I am Asher Cole, and we, are PAPER PLANES!” the crowd lost their shit, and she’s been to legit famous bands concerts before and heard less noise. These guys have serious fans.

Then they began to play and they are really freaking incredibly good, and Jordan looked like sex banging those drums and those signs are really starting to make sense, cuz yeah on top of being ridiculously, unfairly gorgeous, having a winning, charming personality and being rich and successful, he’s got a ton of talent, Which, she really didn’t need another reason to be in love with him, thanks.

By the second song she was definitely a fan. When the show was over and they left the stage, Jordan came straight to her and picked her up spinning her around. His eyes were on fire, shining so bright, full of energy and excitement. He’s a born performer.

“That was incredible” she said, and she knew her eyes were bright too.

“WOOO!” she heard a voice she already recognized as Rian’s yelling from somewhere behind her.

He pressed his forehead against hers, “Wait here” he said, and he disappeared through a door.

Chapter Text

It’s been two weeks of Charlie’s life invested in this wedding. When she’s not at work, she’s with Jess and the wedding planner. They’ve tasted like 50 cakes, looked at hundreds of potential designs, been to 12 flower shops looking at arrangements, they’ve been in store after store after store looking at wedding dresses. They’ve interviewed 7 DJs, been to several bridal showers and engagement parties thrown by friends of Jess’ and Scott’s, and basically planned the entire wedding in a week.

They’ve been at this for 4 hours, 32 minutes and 12 seconds and Charlie is a hundred percent done with this day.

Jess is trying on an apparently endless supply of princess style wedding gowns, while Charlie and Jess’ three model friends Mandy, Aubree and Nicole are trying on every style of pink dress in the entire store.

Charlie was feeling a little inadequate seeing how the three of them are fricking supermodels, and look fantastic in everything. She’s starting to regret the double cheeseburger she had for lunch.

She knows she is the reason the other forty seven dresses were unacceptable. Pink is not her color, it looks weird with her skin tone. She didn’t say anything because Jess really wants the bridesmaids in pink and it’s her big day, but 10 dresses later and finally Nicole took pity on her, making the announcement that pink was not her best color. Charlie shot her a thankful smile for taking the hit, because pink looks fantastic on Nicole’s pale white skin, and insulting herself was probably a hard thing for her to do.

“You look wonderful in everything NIcki, but you’re right Pink obviously isn’t working. Maybe a lime green or a yellow would be better?” she turned to the store clerk, who nodded and disappeared. Jessica sighed and ruffled with the huge skirt of her princess gown. The other three girls went back into their dressing rooms and Jess reached out for Charlie’s hand.

“Three weeks Charlie! I have three weeks to pick out the perfect dress!” she had a panicked look in her eyes.

“Almost everything else is done though Jess, you’ve been working hard, you’re doing good.” Seriously, Charlie’s never seen Jess put this much time and effort into anything before. It’s something to be proud of.

“I couldn’t have done this without you, Scott and I are both so grateful for all the work you took on”

“You’re my sister Jess, I’d do anything for you. You can repay me with at least 2 nieces or nephews to spoil”

“Children will ruin my career before it even starts! Can’t I just return the favor when you get married?”

“I might not ever get married Jess, besides, you know Kings won the maid of honor war in the ninth grade. You shook on it and everything, there’s nothing I can do.”

“You’ll get married Charlie, I know you will. You’re too amazing to be alone forever, besides, I’ve seen the way you and Jordan look at each other, there is some serious potential there!” Charlie blushed.

“Jordan flirts with everyone”

“Not like he flirts with you”

”You really think so?”

“We would be that set of twins that falls for brothers wouldn’t we” Jess said with a playful eye roll.

“To be fair, when we fell we didn’t know they were brothers” Charlie laughed.

“You look terrible in that dress Charlie” Jess said with a laugh, hugging her sister.

“You look like a snowman” she hugged her back.

“I know”

 

“I have a few selections her for you girls, in lime green and yellow” the store clerk said reentering the dressing room area, both her and her assistant holding stacks of dresses. Jess glanced through the piles and sighed

“Just try them all on. WE have to find these dresses!” the panic was back in her eyes.

 

Twenty three dresses later, Charlie stepped out in a short, strapless yellow dress.

“Oh Charlie!” Jess gasped when she saw her.

“That one! You look incredible! You have to wear that one!”

“You can’t wear that one.” Charlie replied looking at the monstrosity of a ruffle that Jess had on. She just laughed.

“Girls, try on the dress Charlie is wearing! Man, I hope it looks great on all of you!” While the other girls were changing, Charlie looked down at the price tag on the little yellow dress.

$800.

Eight hundred dollars!

“Jess, Jessica I can’t buy this dress!” she told her sister, but she wasn’t listening, she was oohing and aahing at her friends as they came out wearing Charlie’s dress.

“We’ll be getting these!” Jess informed the store clerk.

“Jess!” Charlie tried again, but she was ignored.

 

It was a few days later when she had to attend the engagement party/bridal shower that her mother was throwing down in Jersey. They’d moved there a few years back, to get out of the city, but still be close enough to the excitement and to their girls, or to Jess really, Charlie knows. She was wearing one of Roxi’s dresses, it was a little bit short and sexy for this, but she hadn’t been able to get to Jess’s to pick one out and Roxi’s dresses are all short and sexy.

It was a fitted crème colored, long sleeve mini dress, barely long enough to cover her tail end and it was covered in a black lace. It’s actually very dark and sexy and kind of gorgeous, and Charlie actually felt kind of good about herself in it.

 

She was outside, her heels had been kicked off and were sitting on the hood of her father’s beat up pick up. The party was still going on inside but she’d needed a break and somehow she and Jordan ended up playing basketball in the driveway.

“..so, we finally find this dress that looks you know, acceptable on me, right, and Jess is so exited I thought she’d burst and she couldn’t hear me when I was telling her that I couldn’t afford it. An eight hundred dollar dress J, eight hundred dollars. That’s three months rent on my hole of an apartment. So now I have this little yellow piece of fabric that’s apparently worth more than my existence, but Jess is happy, so it’s supposed to be worth it or something, right?” she’s not sure at which of these parties she and Jordan had gotten to the point where she felt like she could tell him anything, but he’s the best listener she’s ever met and he never appears to be judging her.

She likes that.

“I’m telling you right now, if I ever rope in some poor sucker to marry me, I’m not going through all this. It’ll be some court house deal. Maybe a small reception with some cake, where all my friends can wear dresses from Old Navy or TJMaxx and tell me how great I look in my Target sundress and flip flops. I’m expecting you to hold me to that Jordan! Don’t you dare let me plan a wedding!” she shot a basket, not noticing the way he was looking at her, smiling.

“I’ve been to eight engagement parties and four bridal showers in the last 2 weeks. It’s such a waste. One shower and one engagement party would have been sufficient, honestly, I mean we don’t’ even know half the people here, but they were all invited and felt obligated to buy her some gift that she doesn’t even need, because obviously somehow she survived the last 23 years of her life without it.” She stopped.

“I’m sorry, I’m not always this whiney, I swear I’m not”

He smiled at her, “It’s okay Charlie, it’s been a rough week for you, I don’t’ mind”

“I sound like a bitch”

“no you don’t. You’ve planned in a week what most brides take over a year to do, and you’re not even the bride. If Scott required that much from me, I’d have bailed.”

“You would not, he’s your brother and you love him. Plus you’re both too easy going and relaxed to let anything like this happen. It’s Jessica’s fault the wedding is in five weeks. I bet if she told Scott we needed more time, he’d just flow with it.” Jordan laughed, and nodded.

“You’re so calm through this whole thing, doesn’t the best man have any responsibilities? Any stress?”

“Best man is sufficiently easier than maid of honor honestly. I have to plan a bachelor party and rent a tux.”

“are you kidding?” the ball rolled away unnoticed as she looked at him, he smiled and shrugged. Then he laughed

“You look like you’re contemplating my murder”

“It involves fire. And at least one explosion.”

“I always hoped for a demise worth reading about”

“You’re ridiculous”

“I’m not the one planning a murder. While wearing a mini dress and playing basketball barefoot.”

“Are you judging me right now?”

“I would never” he replied with expert dramatic flair. Kissing him senseless seems like a reasonable reaction.

 

She doesn’t.

 

They got called back in to have cake and watch Jess open some presents. Charlie dutifully sat beside her sister, notebook and pen ready, writing down each gift and who it’s from. Oohing and aahing, even when half the time she doesn’t know what the item is used for, and watching as lovely expensive kitchen items get set aside in the boxes, where they will stay. Forever.

Scott was with the other men, not far away, but not really paying attention. Apparently the gift process is a female thing.

Charlie could see Jordan hanging out too, not far from her. Her father loves him, they’d hit it off right away, and he seems to have her uncle wrapped around his finger as well. He’s quite the charmer.

“I’m just so excited. I know it’s the only wedding I’ll get to throw. My only chance for a son-in-law and grandchildren” she overheard her mother tell one of her friends. She tried to pretend she didn’t hear her, and that she didn’t notice Jordan glance over at her because he’d heard it too.

“you’ve still got Charlotte. She may surprise you, bring home a fiancé one day” the friend commented obliviously.

“Charlie is a hopeless cause I’m afraid. I think she and I both gave up when she was 16 and Austin broke her heart. Found out he’d only dated her to get closer to Jessica.” Thanks for bringing up old wounds mom.

“That was the third time it had happened. Jess always was the pretty one, all the boys love Jess. Haven’t heard any news of a boy since.” Charlie chewed on her bottom lip, sketching an elaborate stick figure drawing being crushed by a grand piano.

It was on fire.

She may actually be a pyromaniac, she can’t deny the appeal.

 

“Look Charlie!” her oblivious sister said, her eyes sparking as she held up a set of pink cooking utensils. Charlie smiled at her, pushing her mother to the back of her mind, “Those are great Jess, you’ll have to learn to cook” Jessica made a face at her.

Suddenly, Jordan was beside her, crouched down to whisper in her ear.

“We’ll go out tonight, yeah? Get spectacularly drunk, get kicked out of the bar… I may even let you light something on fire” she laughed softly, just between them and nodded, turning her head to meet his beautiful eyes.

“It’ll be over soon” he promised, his voice low so only she could hear. He pressed his forehead to hers. Just for a second, then he stood up taking a sip out of his beer and walking back to the conversation he had been part of before.

She bit her lip again, this time trying to suppress her smile.

 

 

They sat at the bar and she allowed herself one cheap beer, and laughed and chatted with him. He nodded at the bartender to bring him something else. She shook her head. Jordan made a hand signal at the bartender, who Charlie suddenly recognized as Asher and she gave him a wave. He brought her over a bright pink drink with Jordan’s beer.

“Jordan! Eight hundred dollar dress!” she said, he rolled his eyes and pushed it closer to her,

“And have we talked about my car? It’s been in the school parking lot for three weeks now. I think a raccoon is living in it. Oh! And the heat went out in the apartment yesterday. I get to spend the next couple months of New York winter in a heatless apartment”

“Isn’t that the super’s problem?”

“We dare not speaketh his name” she said widening her eyes dramatically, and yeah this pink drink is powerful as well as delicious. The smile on his face was worth it though.

“That’s illegal or something Charlie, I’m sure of it, you can probably get a lawyer on your side, get him to pay the attorney fees too”

“Treachery, he’ll have us hung.” Her pink drink caught her eyes,

“Fucking pink dresses” she mumbled. Jordan laughed.

As if on cue the radio got a little louder and a song Charlie recognized began to play. Jordan began to sing along, singing right to her,

“You’re insecure, don’t’ know what for. You’re turning heads when you walk through the do-o-or. Don’t’ need make up, to cover up. Being the way that you are is en-o-ou-gh."

“You shouldn’t know the words to this song” she laughed.

“Everyone else in the room can see it, everyone else but you” He sang through his smile,

“Are you already this drunk? How much did you have at the party?” he shook his head as he continued along with the radio,

“Baby, you light up my world like nobody else, the way that you flip your hair” he reached for a curl to tug on, “Gets me overwhelmed but when you smile at the ground, it’s not hard to tell you don’t’ kno-oow you don’t’ know you’re beautiful! Sing with me Charlie!” he poked her rib gently,

“You’ll understand why I want you so desperately-“ and this point she had the full on giggles and yeah she’d had a few glasses of wine at her mom’s party but this was ridiculous.

It was like she was drunk off of him, drunk off his passion and energy.

“Lookin at you and I can’t believe, you don’t kno-oh-oh, you don’t know you’re beautiful!”

 

They spent about another hour in the bar, singing along to the radio and getting ‘spectacularly drunk’ just like he’d promised. Charlie woke up with a ridiculous headache, in a ridiculously comfortable bed. She sat up with a jolt wondering where the fuck she was, and her head started spinning and she groaned. The last thing she remembered was Jordan singing her a One Direction song, so she sent up a quick prayer that she was in Jordan’s house and forced herself out of bed and into the bathroom.

She was still dressed except her shoes, so at least she’d kept her dignity. She helped herself to some mouthwash, and ran her fingers through her hair. Her make up was still in tact which is like some sort of miracle really.

She made her way through the large apartment, trying to find Jordan. He hadn’t been in his room, and he wasn’t in the room full of instruments, records and a pool table so she made her way down the hall. She looked to the right first, a huge living room, with a flat screen TV, but no Jordan.

He was in the kitchen to the left.

“What happened last night, and how many laws did I break?” she asked.

“I don’t’ think we broke any laws, but all I remember is singing along to the bar radio and then asking you where you lived, but you couldn’t get us there. The rest is kind of blurry” she sat on the bar stool at his kitchen island and put her head down. She didn’t glance up until she heard him sliding something towards her. She dared a peek, seeing some Tylenol and a glass of water.

“Thank you” she breathed. “I’m supposed to go with Jess to some more bridal dress shops today. I probably shouldn’t show up in this” she looked down at her dress, which suddenly seemed a lot sluttier looking.

“I have to do the walk of shame in this slutty dress and you didn’t even put out.” She joked. He laughed, surprised.

“I could drive you home, if you’d feel less shamed that way”

“It’d be nice to not have to walk home in Roxi’s hooker heels. Haven’t worked enough corners to break them in yet” she said, pressing her forehead to the countertop.

Chapter Text

The last three weeks have been absolute chaos.

Charlie thought her life was a mess before, but that was nothing. Everything that could go wrong with the wedding plans, did.

Jessica kept moaning about signs and her life falling apart.

Charlie still hasn’t told her about her car, or her heat, or the fact that her couch broke last week and she’s been sleeping on the floor, she hasn’t even gotten the chance to tell Jordan about that one yet. He’d get a kick out of it, she was sure.

She instead focused all of her energy into fixing all of Jessica’s problems and not letting anything get in the way of this wedding.

Today has definitely been the weirdest day, but she’s got a rehearsal dinner to get to, and nothing is going to stop her from getting there, not even this crazy pregnant lady who just jumped in her cab. Excuse me, this cab is occupado! But it’s okay, it’s all good, Charlie knows how to share. Plus the lady is tossing money at the dude, and it’s enough to cover Charlie's fare as well as the trip to the hospital, so sure, she can be a little late to the rehearsal dinner, if Jessica starts to have another panic attack one of the supermodels can take it on.

It’s good. It’s all good.

 

Thirty minutes later and it’s not good. It’s not good at all. Her phones dead so she can’t call for help, the woman is freaking out and squeezing Charlie’s hand so tight she’s pretty sure some of the little bones have snapped. The cab driver doesn’t speak English very well, but really there’s nothing they can do anyway because they are stuck in the middle of a crowded street in bumper to bumper traffic that seriously hasn’t’ moved in 20 minutes. Charlie actually kind of wonders if they are on the same street they picked the woman up on.

The woman lets out another blood curdling scream and gives Charlie’s hand a death grip squeeze. Charlie bites her lip till it bleeds.

“Get this baby out of me!” The woman screams at her. She has crazy eyes.

This will teach Charlie to share.

 

It’s another hour before the cab pulls up in front of the country club and when the cabbie looks at her, she slams the door. Her dress and arms and hands are covered in blood. She’s not sure she’ll ever feel clean ever again.

The woman and her little boy “Garrett” are safely at the hospital and Charlie’s about to check herself into an institution.

 

The security at the door looks like he’s going to stop her but she holds up her bloody hand

“I am the brides sister” he nods like he’s been expecting her although there’s obvious concern in his eyes. As there well should be.

She goes in the building, and heads past the giant room where they are having the rehearsal celebration party and straight into the locker room bathrooms which are supposed to be for club members who have played tennis or golf that day. She picks up all the decorative soaps up off the counter and a roll of paper towels and strips, stepping into the shower.

 

 

“Charlie? I saw you come in here, were you covered in blood? Where have you been?” she heard Jordan’s voice.

“Yeah, I’m in here.” She said. She planned to use all five of these shell shaped soaps until they are gone.

“Your sister is really worried about you. You’re like two hours late and you didn’t answer anyone's calls.”

“My phones dead”

“You want to tell me what happened?”

“I got stuck in traffic”

“ok...” she scrubbed her body, scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed until she was pink all over and the blood was down the drain. She could hear Jordan moving around, knew he was still there.

 

“This, this woman got in my cab with me. She was pregnant and she was throwing money at the driver, so I didn’t mind much. But then we got stuck in traffic. Her contractions got worse and worse and she kept screaming at me, and gripping my hand like a stress ball.”

“Oh my god Charlie, did you deliver a baby in a cab?”

She sighed,“yes”

“Charlie” he said, helplessly.

“It’s a boy”

 

 

She’ stayed in there a good fifteen minutes. By normal standards, she should be clean. She could shower again when she got home. She really needed to go explain all this to her sister.

“Can you hand me the roll of paper towels?” she asked, turning off the water, and squeezing out her hair. The paper towel roll appeared a second later and she started drying off with them.

“Can you pull the trash can over here and hand me my clothes?” He did as he was asked. She pulled on her bra and underwear and the little black shorts she’d had on under her little black dress, but she couldn’t make herself pull on the bloody dress. She chucked it in the trash can with the paper towels and poked her head out. Jordan was leaning against the sinks. His hair was a little messy like he’d run his hand through it a lot, but he still looked ridiculously sexy. He had on a black blazer on top of a black button up.

“Can I have your shirt?” she asked. His eyes slowly moved up from the floor tiles to her face as if he was processing the question. It was understandable to be hesitant. He shook his head, but pulled off his jacket and started unbuttoning his shirt. He had a black undershirt on, so she didn’t feel too bad about the whole ordeal.

“I’ve never met anyone quite like you Charlie Logan” he told her, handing over the button up.

“I know, I’m sorry” she shrugged it on and started buttoning it up. It came down a ways on her thighs much like a mini dress, and it smelled incredible.

“It’s not a bad thing. It’s just, every day with you is an unexpected adventure. Kind of fun actually” She stepped out of the shower stall and picked up her purse, digging through for a comb. She stepped up beside him, in front of the mirror. She combed through her hair, then flipped her hair over, shaking it out and scrunching it a bit before flipping it back and styling it with her fingers a bit. Willing it to dry while she searched through her purse for some eyeliner and mascara.

“I guess it’s my own fault really. If I hadn’t had that fight with the guy across the hall, I would have left five minutes earlier. The woman would have gotten in someone else’s cab. Maybe traffic would have been a little different five minutes earlier” she gave a little shrug, capping her mascara back.

“I can’t wait to hear this. Why were you fighting with the guy across the hall?”

“caught him stealing my underwear, although that’s my fault too, I let him in the apartment”

“Charlie” he whispered, but she could hear the fondness in his voice over the exasperation.

“He’s a repairman, or at least he said he was, and I needed him to fix my couch. My back is starting to hurt from sleeping on the floor.”

“Why were you sleeping on the floor?”

‘”Because my couch is broken”

“Why don’t’ you sleep n your bed.”

“Don’t’ have one. Roxi has the bed, I sleep on the couch”

“Charlie!” there was a little more exasperation this time.

“what?”

“You sleep on a couch in your own apartment?”

“Can’t afford a bed even if there was room to put one. Besides I like my couch. Named him Walter.” He scrubbed his hands over his face.

“Why don’t your parents help you out?”

“They can’t afford to, They’re paying Jess’ rent while she tries to sign with an agency. And now, they’re chipping in on this extravagant wedding”

“So they’ll pay Jess’ way, but you’re on your own?” his voice took on a tone that she hadn’t heard him use before. She nodded hesitantly,

“They sent me to college so that I could make it on my own. When I graduated, I had to make it work. I had saved up enough working at the bookstore while in college to buy my car, I landed the job at the Elementary school and Roxi and I found our little apartment. It was always the deal for me to support myself. I’m the smart one” She made a face at herself in the mirror.

“That’s not fair”

“It kind of sucks. But I eat three meals a day, I have a place to go out of the rain, and when someone asks me what I do for a living, I have a real answer” she picked up his discarded tie and wrapped it around her waist in an interesting belt, held together by two bobby pins she’d found in the bottom of her bag.

“You sleep on a broken couch in an apartment with no heat and a neighbor that steals your underwear!”

“I also have a broken down car, a hippie boss, a mother who is convinced I am destined to be alone, an eight hundred dollar dress and a sister on the verge of a wedding induced mental breakdown who I have to apologize to for being two and a half hours late to her rehearsal dinner. But I like that you care, it’s really cute” she said and kissed his nose before slipping on her black heels and walking out the bathroom door.

She made her entrance as nonchalant as possible. She went up to her sister,

“I’m so sorry Jess, you wont’ believe-“

“Charlie!” her sister looked relieved as she threw her arms around her.

“You’re here! And you’re wet! Is that Jordan’s shirt? And Tie? You look really cute actually. Where have you been? I called you like a thousand times. Jordan and I were really worried about you”

“This woman got in my cab, and we got stuck in traffic and I ended up delivering her baby and it’s the most traumatic experience of my life Jess, I don’t even know where to start. And I’m so sorry I’ve been pressuring you to have kids because you don’t’ have to, I’d never ask you to go through that I’m so sorry! And I wanted to call you and tell you what was happening, but my phone was dead and I’m so sorry!” she rambled not pulling away from the hug.

“I’m just glad you’re ok. Try to be on time tomorrow alright? I can’t start without you” Charlie nodded into her shoulder before they pulled away.

“She’ll be there, I’ll make sure of it” Jordan told Jessica coming up behind Charlie and wrapping his arms around her. Jess smiled and her attention was taken by an older family member.

“We’ll stop by your place and get your dress and some of your stuff. You can stay with me, at least until the couch is fixed even if nothing else is. I can’t let you sleep on the cold floor”

“I think you just want to be there for my next adventure” she teased him. She felt him smile against her neck, he pressed a light kiss there and released her going over to his brother.

 

 

Charlie had to stay until the last minute, to make up for the fact that she wasn’t there for really any of it. She stood with Jessica and Scott, saying good bye to each member of the wedding party and any guests that were invited specifically to the dinner as they left. Jordan was sitting at the table behind her, drinking a beer and playing with his phone.

“I’m so proud of you baby! You’re going to look so beautiful walking down that aisle tomorrow” their mom said giving Jessica a hug.

“Stop looking at me like one of those nutter moms on Toddlers and Tiaras” Jess teased.

“Stop watching that show Jess” Charlie said.

“You.” Her mother’s angry green eyes landed on her. “On time tomorrow.” And she left.

Her dad gave her a hug, squeezing her and lifting her off the floor a bit.

“Love you pumpkin” he told her.

“You too Daddy”

 

 

Roxi had given her a very suspicious look when she came in and told her she was going to stay with Jordan for a few days. She hasn’t’ exactly been subtle about her feelings towards him for the last year, so she probably deserved the look.

 

She let him brush his teeth first because she wanted to take another shower. She scrubbed herself until her skin was pink. His tub was wonderful and after her shower, she just soaked in the large tub, taking her time shaving her legs and relaxing into the bubbles. She figured he was asleep by now. She got out, cleaned up her mess and combed through her hair before wrapping it in another towel to get as much water out as possible before she went to sleep. She brushed her teeth, and put all her stuff back in her bag. She didn’t want him to think she was taking over his space or imposing, even if this was completely his idea. Not that she was complaining.

More time spent with Jordan is like… more time spent with Jordan, and she can always do more of that. She braided her damp hair over shoulder, and mentally asked herself why she didn’t pick out a cuter pair of pj’s because seriously, the oversized tee shirt with the little monkey boxer shorts was not impressive.

She grabbed her bag and turned out the light. She was surprised he was still awake, but he was, laying on the right side of the bed, eyes half closed watching a FRIENDS rerun.

“That was the longest shower ever” she could hear the undisguised teasing his voice and she smiled, only blushing a little.

“I delivered a baby with my bare hands. A strangers baby. There was blood from a strangers lower regions on my skin Jordan, I may possibly never recover from this” she said, letting her bag slide to the floor, not far from the door.

He patted the spot next to him, and she went over, the light from the TV lighting the way. She climbed into the bed. It was ridiculous how comfortable it was, soft sheets, perfect mattress, incredibly soft pillows for her to sink into, and an irresistibly gorgeous boy for her to cuddle up against after he’d gone to sleep.

It’s not creepy.

She rolled onto her stomach, facing towards him, hugging one of the pillows under her head. He turned off the TV, the room completely submerged in darkness. She was no longer completely sure of where he was, or which way he was facing. She just knew he was close enough that she felt the heat from his skin when he shifted positions. They were quiet for a few minutes, but Charlie knew he wasn’t asleep yet.

 

 

“I should have brought my laptop. I need to work on my lesson plans for next week after the wedding tomorrow” she broke the silence.

“We can stop by after, grab some more of your stuff.”

“I feel bad leaving Roxi in that cold apartment by herself”

“If she gets too bad off, she can sleep on my couch” he shifted.

“You’re too nice Jordan. Giving up space in your bachelor pad for some pathetic girl you just met like 5 weeks ago”

“I met you over a year ago”

“Technically, but you didn’t know me”

“I know you now” and it sounded so profound and meaningful in that molten chocolate lava voice. She was quiet for a minute, her eyes adjusting to the dark more, allowing her to make out some of the features on his face.

“Is it weird?” she asked

“hmmm?”

“how easy this is, is it weird that we’re so comfortable with each other, and I trust you so much in such a short amount of time”

He seemed to consider it, “No, I don’t’ think it’s weird”

“If you turn out to be a serial killer or like.. a Justin Beiber fan boy, it just might break my heart” He turned his head, burying his laugh into his pillow.

 

 

“I’m still coping with the fact that you know all the lyrics to What Makes You Beautiful” she kind of wants to record that laugh, set it as her ringtone or something.

“Did you always want to be a teacher?” he asked, steering the conversation back towards where they started.

“no. Jess dropped out to begin her modeling thing and I was told to pick a major that would guarantee me a job.”

“So it’s just another sacrifice you had to make” his voice had taken on that tone again.

“They did what they thought was best for me, I guess. Wanted me to be practical.” she gave a little shrug.

“Jess gets a free ride, food, shelter, a huge wedding, while going after her dream job, but you have to work your ass off at a job you didn’t want because it’s practical.” It wasn’t a question, so she didn’t answer it.

“What was your dream?”

“I don’t, I mean, they were right. If I’m barely surviving while working as a teacher, who knows what would have happened”

“What’s your dream Charlie?”

“I wanted to study music. Wanted to be a Radio DJ. I wanted to talk shit to the masses and introduce them to music. Wanted to make my own music, my own mixes and inspire people.” She said, she was blushing and she was glad he couldn’t see it.

“I had a podcast show in high school, and college. Used a secret identity. Called myself Sam, the show was called Green Eggs and Sam. It was a weekly thing, I posted a two hour show every Thursday night. It was so stupid, but I loved it”

“It was popular. Wasn’t it.” Again, not a question. She shrugged. “Charlie” he reached for her, taking her hand.

“The last show, had a million hits before I walked across the grad stage the next night. I haven't’ logged on since.” She shrugged again, as if the success of her show wasn’t something she danced around her room for over an hour about. As if saying goodbye to her podcast wasn’t something she’d been almost depressed about for months afterward.

“Mama always said music wasn’t practical, wasn’t safe, no guarantees”

“And modeling is such a booming market” he replied sarcastically.

“Jess wasn’t good at school. She hated it, barely skated by. Her time in college was sorority events and frat parties, when that catalog approached her with an offer, it was an incredible opportunity for her. School work came easy for me. It all made sense. She’s the pretty one, and I’m-”

“The smart one. Who taught you that?” he sounded disgusted, offended, furious even.

“It’s just always been that way” she whispered, as if she was worried that if she spoke to loudly he’d snap. But she wasn’t afraid of him. He had somehow become one of the people she trusted the most in the world, and there’s no way that’s normal. It can’t be.

“That’s not fair”

“It’s true though, I accepted that a long time ago. I’ll never be pretty, and flirty and sexy like Jess. Guys don’t buy me drinks in bars, or trip over themselves when they see me walking down the street. No one asks me for my number in the subway, or sends me flowers signed secret admirer. I don’t go on dates or-“

“You’re beautiful Charlie, you’re so beautiful” he interrupted, his voice low. It hit her like a bucket of cold water because What?! His sister had said it, his mother had said it, but he never had. No man ever had. It felt good. She bit her lip, glad the darkness was hiding the deep blush that was spreading across her cheeks.

“It’s unreal that you don’t know that” he said, pushing a loose strand of hair out of her face,“It’s kind of ridiculous how hot you are, unfair really” She couldn’t help but laugh a little, because yeah she’d had the same thoughts about him.

“Bet you say that to all the girls. It’s a good line”

“Charlie.”

“Thank you” she whispered, snuggling closer to him. He pressed his lips to her forehead.

 

 

She woke up, her head on his chest, gripping his shirt in her fist, their legs tangled together. He was still asleep, his eyelashes fanned across his cheekbones, his lips parted slightly, his curls were wild, in the sexiest way. She forced herself to detangle from him, partly so she could go pee, but also because she didn’t want to get caught staring. Plus she’d like to brush her teeth, morning breath isn’t the way to a man’s heart, she’s sure. She brushed her teeth, and smoothed her hair a bit. She considered pulling a “Bridesmaids” and putting on mascara, making herself look good before crawling back in bed, so when he woke up he’d think she looked great in the mornings. But she’s not that desperate, plus he’d seen her morning terror look when she’d slept over drunk, so lost cause.

She was cold in her little shorts, and starving. One look out the window told her it had snowed again last night. She went back in his room as quiet as possible, and searched her bag, but she didn’t bring anything warm except the nice coat she was going to wear over her dress, so she went over to his closet. His huge walk in closet that’s the size of the bathroom she shares with Roxi, she thought with a sigh. And she stole an old looking hoodie. Faded red with Washington Heights Trojans written on it around a soccer ball. The back said “Bennett 12” like a jersey and she wondered if he had been on the team in high school. The sweatshirt came down her thighs quite a bit, even more than the dress shirt had the night before and the sleeves covered her hands. She then made her way to the kitchen to raid his fridge.

She’d finished making the bacon and was working on the eggs when she felt two big arms wrap around her from behind. She jumped a little but immediately relaxed against his chest. He buried his face in her neck,

“morning Curly” she teased him, reaching up to run her hand through his wild hair. He mumbled something that sounded a lot like “Hey baby” into her neck. It’s better for her health if she doesn’t dwell on it.

“Made you breakfast” she said instead

“I might just keep you” he said with a yawn, letting her go. She turned to see him rubbing the sleep from his eyes like a five year old. Could he be any cuter?

“The weddings today” she said, to distract herself, turning back around to take the eggs off the burner. “I’m supposed to meet Jess around 1. Hair and make up or something. And I have to be there to get her into the dress and you know, stop any possible panic attacks”

“I’m sure she’ll be fine” He sounded farther away, she turned to see him sitting up on the island. She put his half of the food on a plate and handed it to him.

“She has a tendency to over react. I’m already bracing myself for all possible meltdowns, any and all wedding disaster scenarios, and for her to completely hate either her dress or mine.”

“She picked them both”

“Yeah, but-“ She was cut off by her surprise as a huge dog bounded in the kitchen, looking more like a furry black bear than a dog.

“Well, hello, how have I not noticed you before?” she asked, setting her plate down on the counter and crouching down to the dogs level to rub his head.

“He blends into the couch. Stealth mode.”

“What’s his name?”

“Smuckers”

“Ohh, that’s so cute, you’re a sweet boy aren’t you, yeah?” she cooed, scratching his ears.

“He likes you. He growls at Asher and hides from Rian”

“Well I like you too Smuckers” she told him and let him sniff at her face before she stood back up, grabbing her fork.

Chapter Text

Jessica had been super happy and bubbly all day, talking away to Charlie and “the models” -as Charlie called them collectively because she couldn’t be bothered to learn their names. Jordan had laughed and shook his head at her in fond, amused, fake disappointment, when she’d first informed him of this. But to be fair, one of the blonde ones keeps calling her Carly.

 

Charlie put on her yellow dress and matching shoes. The hair stylist had enhanced her natural curls, making them tighter and wilder, and then she pulled her hair in a loose, fancy up do, and then the make up artist had gone to work. She took forever, but Charlie didn’t think she looked that much different when she looked in the mirror. The strapless push-up bra she had on wasn’t exactly what she’d call comfortable and she’s ditching these shoes at the first possible opportunity, but she felt like she looked nice and she really wanted to see Jordan.

There was still about an hour before guests started showing up. The wedding planner and the twins' mom were both running around. Jess’ dress ended up being more of a Greek Goddess or an Egyptian princess type dress instead of the Cinderella look she had initially been looking towards. It was gorgeous.

The models were entertaining her, while Charlie went on a -non-chalant- hunt for Jordan. She came across Scott instead. He gave her a winning smile, “You look great Charlie” he told her, his blue eyes sparkling much like his younger brother. Something caught his eyes over her shoulder and they took on that mischievous look partnered with a little smirk, which is exactly like his younger brother. She turned, spotting Jordan, just as he spotted her. His eyes widened a little, and then he smiled and came over.

“Hey Gorgeous” he said, resting his hand on her hip, guiding her closer to him, gently.

“Hey yourself, look at you” she said reaching for the lapels on his jacket. Honestly, putting him in a tux should be a crime. It’s a hazard to women everywhere.

 

“What’d they say?” Scott asked, interrupting her thoughts

“They sent him away. He thought he could get a story out of James Bennett’s son getting married, but he couldn’t’ get close enough to get pics. We’re still good” She often forgets that the boys are sort of, potentially, famous. Their dad is anyway, and occasionally the paps like to try to get a story from them. Jordan says he avoids it. Anyone who cares about his boring life can follow him on twitter or come to one of his shows. They don’t need high def pics of him carrying in his groceries. He has a point. He also has a million followers on twitter, but she doesn’t mention that.

 

“Charlotte Grace, is that you?” she heard Roxi’s teasing voice behind her. All three of them looked up to see Roxi and Kingsley approaching.

“Wow Charles, you look kind of hot” Roxi said.

“Hot enough that people will throw money at me? cuz I spent the next three months rent on this dress”

“Yeah we got another one of those stupid letters this morning, we’re going to have to start looking for some place else to live, we’ve got a week to get our stuff out”

“What a douche. It’s not our fault his place is falling apart. Good luck finding someone else to live in that crap hole”

“You got evicted?” Kingsley asked.

“He claims we don’t take care of the place. But it’s his heat that went out, his fridge that’s about to break and his elevator that is broken. We’re responsible for none of it” Roxi said rolling her eyes.

“I guess I'll stop by after the wedding and start packing. How are we going to find a place in a week?” Charlie asked. She felt Jordan’s fingers squeezing her side, and she looked at him. Scott had moved on to talk to a relative that had come in, and seeing that she no longer had Charlie’s attention, Roxi turned her conversation to Kings.

“You know you can stay with me as long as you need to” he said, his voice low, his eyes locked with hers.

“I could never ask that much from you Jordan, you know that. It’s not fair to you”

“You didn’t ask” She reached up, her fingers tangling in the curls at the back of his head.

“Why are you being so generous with me Curly?” she asked

“You know why”

 

 

“Charlie! Charlie! I’ve been looking everywhere for you! Jess is having a meltdown, we need you, right now” one of the models said, suddenly appearing.

“Crap” Charlie whispered. She leaned her forehead against Jordan’s,

“Well talk more later. You need to think about this before you offer me so much”

“Well get your stuff after the wedding” he said, as if he wasn’t going to give it any more thought at all. He probably wasn’t.

“I don’t’ deserve you” she whispered, and then allowed the model to pull her away.

 

Jess really was having a full on melt down. She was sitting on the floor, tears streaming down her face, apparently not worried about her make up at all. Charlie got down on her knees and then adjusted herself to sit down next to her sister in her short little dress. She pulled her into a side hug.

“You want to talk about it?” she asked

“I cant’ do this” Jess sobbed after a minute.

“Of course you can. You love Scott and Scott loves you. You’re going to be so happy together”

“I did something really, really stupid Charlie” she whispered through her tears.

“I’m sure we can fix it, what did you do?”

She sobbed for a bit, “I cheated” she finally got out.

“You what.” Charlie froze. This can’t be happening. She didn’t. She wouldn’t.

“The girls and I went to this party last night after the rehearsal dinner. This new club in town. One last celebration before I got married. I met this guy, his name was Bentley, he’s French and he plays Rugby. He had this fantastic body and this amazing accent and he just kept flirting with me, and dancing up against me. I was drunk, and he was being so sweet, so seductive. I went home with him” Charlie dropped her arm from her sister, and wrapped her arms around herself. This information would kill Scott. Jordan will be furious. She was furious.

“All day I’ve been trying to convince myself, that I was just drunk that it didn’t mean anything, that one day I’ll be able to forgive myself but I can’t. It was another sign Charlie. To make me look and see that I’m not supposed to marry Scott today or Ever. Scott is such a good guy Charlie. He’s loving and sweet, he does charity work and helps old ladies across the street. He makes me feel special, buys me flowers, takes me on romantic dates. He’s perfect, but I don’t think I’m in love with him” Now Charlie was definitely furious.

“What?!”

“Scott and I have been together over a year, we’re engaged, we have super hot sex, all the time. We should fit, everything should be perfect but…”

“But what?”

“Scott’s never looked at me like that”

“Like what?”

“The way that Jordan looks at you. Like you're the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen. Like his world revolves around making you laugh, like he wants you so bad that he’s starving for it. Like he’s scared if he looks away, you’ll disappear”

“What are you talking about?”

“The way Jordan looks at you Charlie, that’s love, true love. True, passionate, forever love. Like a fairy tale or a movie. That’s the kind of love I’ve always wanted. You two should be the ones getting married today”

“I’ve only known his name for 5 weeks!”

“He’s your best friend and you’re in love with him” That’s true, but she didn’t think it was obvious. She really hoped he didn’t know. Of course he didn’t, otherwise he wouldn’t be letting her live with him indefinitely. That’s not what she should be focusing on.

“How can you say that you don’t love him? I can’t, I just, but you said” she was having trouble focusing on the problem at hand because her mind kept wandering to “the way Jordan looks at you Charlie, that’s love, true love” which is really unhelpful right now.

“If you don’t love him, then why did you say yes? Why did we plan this wedding? Why did it have to happen so fast?”

“I thought that I did, I mean, I do, just not, just not enough… if you take away the flowers, the dates, the sex, what do you and Jordan have?”

“We don’t’ do any of those things”

“You have friendship, a deep, endless friendship that is so easy, so natural, so perfect that nothing is going to break it. What do Scott and I have?” Jess looked so broken, and Charlie didn’t know what her emotions were doing.

“We don’t’ have anything Charlie”

 

There was only half an hour left before the wedding when Jess stopped comparing the two relationships and sent one of the models to go find Scott and bring him to her.

They were screaming at each other. He was hurt and furious, and she’d gone on the defense and was making it worse. Charlie was torn between being a hundred percent on Scott’s side on this one, and still wanting to be there for her sister. She was crying as she paced outside the door of the bridal room. She could hear Jessica crying too, her voice breaking, even through the door. Scott’s heart had to be in a million pieces.

Their mother came to check on Jessica, make sure she’s ready for her big moment. She shot Charlie an angry look when she heard the shouting, “The bride and the groom aren’t supposed to see each other before the wedding Charlie, what’s going on?” she demanded.

“Jess is calling it off” Mrs. Logan burst through the door. Charlie started biting on her thumb nail. A nervous habit she hadn’t done since she was a kid.

 

15 minutes to the wedding and Jordan came looking for her. He spotted her and her tear stained face before she spotted him.

“Charlie?” he asked gently, quickly making his way over to her, reaching out to pull her into his arms.

“What’s going on baby, why are you crying?” he pressed his lips to her temple and held her close.

“They aren't’ getting married” she said, just before the door jerked open.

 

“You did this, you send them away” Scott said and he slammed the door, taking off down the hallway, fury in his eyes.

“What the hell is going on?” Jordan asked just before the door swung open again and her mother stormed out, grabbing a hold of Charlie’s arm.

“This is your fault” she spit.

“I’m sorry” Charlie whispered. Jordan’s eyebrows furrowed more. Mrs. Logan went back into the room, and Jordan attempted to meet Charlie’s eyes.

“Go home with Roxi Charlie, pack up your more important stuff, we can get the rest later this week. I'll meet you at home later and we can talk about this” he said, pulling his key off his key ring and handing it to her. He pressed his lips to her wet cheek and squeezed her hand before taking off in the direction his brother had gone.

 

Charlie had been sent home with a huge chunk of wedding cake, a ridiculous amount of food and flowers and a lecture from her angry mother. Roxi helped her carry it all up to Jordan’s refrigerator before they drove to the old studio apartment and she began packing her stuff. She didn’t have any boxes or anything. Just some grocery bags and a suitcase. She fit as much as she could into the suitcase and the bags. She could come back later for what was left. It wasn’t much, she can’t afford to own too much. She brought about half her clothes, her entire record collection, her laptop and everything from the bathroom and kitchen that belonged to her. And left behind some clothes and shoes, her art supplies, her guitar, and a few assorted items she could live without for a few days. Roxi is going to stay with Kingsley until they find a place, or until they find separate places with new roommates. They have to be realistic.

She didn’t really want to unpack, because that felt too much like imposing and moving in on his territory, so she just set her stuff neatly on the floor by the bedroom door and went into the kitchen to eat a ridiculously fancy wedding meal from a wedding that didn’t happen.

She’d washed her dishes and was digging into a massive piece of cake when Jordan came in. It was late, after 11. She’d worked on her lesson plans while she ate. Trying to distract herself from all the drama that went down today. Trying to distract herself from what Jordan might say to her when he came home. He looked a little drunk, but he didn’t seem like he was angry or about to yell at her. He was still wearing that tux, because life really isn’t fair to Charlie, when he threw his keys down on the island and looked at her.

“Why’d you apologize?” was the first thing he said and what?

“What?”

“Your mom said this was your fault and you apologized, why did you do that?” but before she could answer, he barreled on. “Scott said that Jess told him she cheated on him last night, and that she wasn’t in love with him. How could that in any way, possibly, be your fault?” his hair was wrecked, like he’d been running his hands through it all night. Charlie set down her cake, leaning forward on her elbows on the island, looking at it’s pattern as if it was something interesting. Anything to avoid looking at him.

“Jess only decided she couldn’t spend forever with him after comparing their relationship to ours”

“Ours” he repeated. It wasn’t a question

“She said that when you take romantic dates, and gifts and sex out of our relationship, you find an easy, natural friendship, where we can talk about anything, and laugh about everything, but when you take it out of theirs, they don’t’ have anything left” She hoped he didn’t find it weird that her sister was comparing her potential marriage to their five week friendship. Didn’t read anything into it. He is a little drunk, that could work in her favor. He just nodded.

“She said we were the ones that should be getting married” she blurted out, and wtf is she doing?

Luckily he smiled, “I’ve only known your name for like 6 weeks. I know we’ve sort of known each other for a year, but marriage seems a little sudden” he teased her. She blushed.

“Something about the way you look at me, I don’t know, she was rambling” she shrugged helplessly. He came around the kitchen Island and hugged her, kissing her nose and then pressing his lips against her forehead. Then he stole her cake and went to sit on his huge couch, still in his tux. She grabbed another fork, the piece was too big for one person anyway, and went over to him.

“I understand if you need some space, from me, I know you're mad at Jess for what she did, I am too”

“What she did has nothing to do with me and you.”

“I know, but she is my twin sister. I don’t know, anger through transference or something” she shrugged, “Besides, I don’t want to invade your space”

“Seriously, who did this to you? Is it your mom? Jess? Who made you think so little of yourself?” he asked, setting down the remote roughly.

“what? I don’t..” she stopped seeing the look in those blue eyes.

“You’re fun, and interesting and exciting and gorgeous, and I want you around all the time. The sooner you catch onto that, the better this will be” his words were a little slurred, but she knew he meant it.

“Ok” she nodded.

Chapter Text

It’s been about three weeks since Jess broke up the wedding.

Roxi’s moved in with two friends from work, and Jordan rolls his eyes every time Charlie talks about meeting a potential roommate or checking out a place.

She always comes back.

No matter how great the person is, they’ll never be as great as waking up next to Jordan every morning, and she’s somehow become his live in girlfriend without actually giving him any of the good girlfriend bits. She’s scared to ask him how he feels about that.

They’ve spent every day together, even more time while she was on winter break, except for Christmas day where they separated to be with their families. Charlie hasn’t told her parents she’s living with a boy, or that she’s no longer living with Roxi and is looking for an apartment. That's a lecture she'd rather not deal with right now, thanks.

 

“I’ve kind of accidentally become your flat mate.” She said, throwing herself on the couch and closing her laptop so she wouldn’t have to look at the apartment listings anymore.

“I’m alright with that” he said, sitting next to her with a plate full of the lasagna she’d made them for dinner last night.

“I should be paying rent or something”

“Just keep making me dinner” he said, flipping the station.

“Isn’t it weird to you though? I mean I sleep in your bed, that’s got to be seriously throwing off your game with your groupies” She expected him to laugh, but he didn’t

“You really don’t get it to you? Like, you’re actually oblivious to this whole thing?” he asked, leaning forward to set down his unfinished plate.

“what?” this must be serious, he never sets food aside.

“I like that you’re here Charlie, I want you here. I like spending all my free time with you, I like eating all the ridiculously good foods that you cook, I like hearing you sing in the shower and I like waking up beside you. I like you. Is any of this sinking in? Does it mean anything?” He had turned to face her and had reached for her hand. She looked in those incredible blue eyes.

“If you're saying that I’ve obliviously been your girlfriend for the last two months and we haven’t been making out constantly, I’m going to punch you in the stomach and then kiss you senseless” He smiled and his eyes sparkled,

“That’s not exactly, but yeah” he laughed. She started to move forward to kiss him, but the phone ringing interrupted her. She heard Jordan sigh as he got up and went to get his phone off the counter.

“Lo?.. yeah, I’m Jordan Bennett... ... how bad is it?... yeah, I’ll be there” he hung up and disappeared down the hallway, reappearing wearing a hoodie and shoes. She got up off the couch going over to him as he picked up his keys off the kitchen island.

“Asher broke up a fight in the bar. He’s in the hospital, they wouldn’t tell me how bad it was” he explained and she nodded. He ducked his head down, pressing a soft kiss against her lips, but it obviously wasn’t enough because before she could take a breath, he’d grabbed her hips pressing her body against his and was kissing her harder. She responded immediately, their lips moving together. It was hot and passionate and too much but not enough.

“Fuck” he breathed, his forehead pressing into hers. They were both breathless.

“I have to go” he said, but he wasn’t moving.

“I’ll be here” she promised, even though she didn’t need to. He shoved her against the wall, kissing her with a deep, desperate hunger, his lips pressing hard into hers, his hard, solid body against hers and then suddenly he was gone. His lips ripped away from hers and he was out the door before she had the chance to open her eyes.

 

While he was gone, she called the auto shop, had them pick up her car at the school and fix it. She still didn’t have the money, but if she didn’t have to make a payment on an apartment any time soon, she could scrape it together. Then she called Kings on the phone and told her about it while she opened her suitcase and started hanging things in his closet like he’d told her she could do three weeks ago. She moved all her random items and records into the empty suitcase, still not completely comfortable with spreading them throughout his apartment.

Moving in together is a huge step, and she just became his girlfriend an hour ago. If he showed any signs of being uncomfortable with living with her, she would leave. Moving in together is something that couples that are deeply in love and have been committed to each other for a long period of time do. But they’ve never been exactly conventional in their relationship. And she’s pretty much on it with the whole deeply in love thing. He’s her best friend, she can talk to him about anything (except for how she’s in love with him, but they’ll get to that), he listens when she talks, encourages her dreams (he’s been on her about sending her podcasts into radio stations), dismisses her insecurities, informing her how great she is... seriously he was right, she was totally oblivious, they could have been making out that first night, when he took her to his concert. Plus, he loves her cooking, let’s her watch whatever she wants on TV and he’s an expert cuddler.

She’s jealous of anyone who has ever cuddled him.

 

“He’s like sort of famous too, like his dad is this big time director and he’s in this really successful local band, and he’s gorgeous. What if he’s like super experienced, what if he’s been with like a hundred girls Kings?” she asked.

“I’ve only met him like twice, and you know him best, but he doesn’t seem like that kind of guy honestly.”

“You should have read what some of those signs at the concert said”

“Fan girls are always dirty Charlie, that doesn’t count. The girls that write them have never even done that stuff”

“I have no idea what I’m doing though, like he’s going to be really disappointed when we get to that point in our relationship”

“First off, you’re kind of at that point, you know you get along, you live together, you’re in this for the long run. Prepare yourself, it’s coming in the next few days” Charlie almost dropped the phone.

“Second, he’s probably gong to think that it’s hot that you’re a virgin. You know that possessive guy thing, mine all mine, no one else. Guys like that. I don’t’ think being your first is going to intimidate him, he’s probably going to love letting you experiment with his body.”

“That sounds really nice actually, like I think I’m ready. I know it’s a huge step, but it’s Jordan. I mean it was a silly crush for almost a year, but I think I knew, when he walked into that house and was introduced to me. I think I knew”

“Your life is some sort of whacked out rom-com Charlie, it really is”

“It's a comedy, i'll give you that. Better than the porn that is Jess’ life recently. Have I told you about her new weird relationship with the rugby player? It’s fifty shades of not okay Kings, and I’m actually legit worried about her”

 

After hanging up with Kingsley, she took a quick shower, shaved her legs again. Something she’s started doing daily since she started sleeping in Jordan’s bed. (When his leg brushes across hers in the night, she wants him to feel nothing but soft smooth skin.) She pulled her hair into the messy, curly side braid she always does, so it didn’t look like she was trying too hard. She did put on a bit of mascara, she just hoped he didn’t catch on to what she was doing. She pulled on a “sexy” pair of underwear which for her just means they’re black, and sit low on her hips. She doesn’t do sexy. She pulled on one of his tee shirts, a long sleeve black one, the sleeves covering her hands. It was snowing outside, but the heat was on and the apartment was warm. She pulled out a pair of pajama pants, and set them on the end of the bed, but she didn’t feel like putting them on. Didn’t want to get too warm, or maybe her subconscious didn’t want her to be fully dressed when he came in. She didn’t dwell on it. She brushed her teeth and was searching for the bedroom remote when she heard the front door close.

“Hey J? Where’s the remote?” she called,

“And how’s Ash, is he alright?” He didn’t answer, but she heard him come in the room and she turned around, just before he grabbed her. His lips met hers, melting together with a kind of heat that seemed to be melting her bones. Her legs felt practically useless as his lips moved against hers, his hands on her hips, sliding up the tee shirt she had borrowed to burn against her bare skin like fire. He took her bottom lip between his teeth pulling gently, pulling an unexpected moan of pleasure from her. His hips pressed into hers harder. His fingers left a burning trail down the black material of her underwear and the outside of her thighs, before his hands gripped her, pulling her legs out from under her, causing her to fall backwards onto the bed. He wasn’t far behind, crawling on top of her without putting any of his weight on her, His lips founds hers again. She reached up, running one of her hands through his curls, accidentally gripping them tight when he tugged on her bottom lip again. This time it was him who moaned and Charlie would quite like to set that sound as her ringtone, please and thank you. He pulled his lips away, still on top of her, pressing his forehead to hers. His eyes were down cast, seemed focused on her lips. They were both trying to catch their breath.

“Been wanting to do that since you tossed that Journey album on the counter” he admitted, his voice raspy. Charlie smiled, that was the first album she’d bought at his shop.

“Wish you would have introduced yourself. We could have started this months ago” she rubbed her nose against his playfully.

“I like it when you wear my clothes” his deep voice seemed to have dropped even lower, as he slid his hand up her stomach a bit. She tugged on his curls a little and watched as his pupils dilated a little. She’d have to remember this little kink. But she needed to slow things down, this is their first night as a couple and this is not a rom com this is her life.

“Is Asher okay?” she asked. His eyes immediately shifted back to normal and he nodded a little, “He’s fine, he’s an idiot.”

“You were gone a long time” she was playing with his curls now, and reveling of the feeling of some of his weight starting to press down on her.

“He’s got a broken rib. I drove him home, and stayed for a bit, let him milk the injury for as long as I could stand it. I wanted to be here”

“You’re a good friend, that’s more important. We have plenty of time.”

 

 

And if her mind screamed FOREVER at the top of it’s lungs, he never has to know.

Chapter Text

Getting up to go to work has never been harder.

They’d stayed up half the night, tangled in each other, kissing gently and sharing funny friend stories in the dark.

She was exhausted, but more than that, she wanted to lay with him forever. Spend the day in his arms, listening to him talk about anything and everything. Anything to hear his voice.

She got up and got ready as quietly as possible so she wouldn’t wake him up, but just before she left, she couldn’t help herself. She climbed over him, pushed a wild curl out of his face, and leaned down pressing her lips against his. Holding herself up so she wouldn’t squish him awake, she let her lips do the work. She felt the second he woke up, his chest jumping a little at the inhale of breath, and then the soft pressure of him kissing back, his hands going up to her hips.

“Why are you dressed?” he asked in his sexy sleepy voice. He hadn’t opened his eyes, she knew he could feel the clothes with the hands he had on her hips.

“Have to go to work”

“No, get back in bed” he’s really good at sounding like a five year old.

“I’ll see you in a few hours.” She promised him, pressing one last gentle kiss to his lips, which he chased when she pulled away, and deepened, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her down on top of him.

 

She was about ten minutes late for work.

 

She sighed when she walked in the classroom to see Mr. Lawrence leaning against her desk. His daughter Penelope sitting in the reading circle with a book. They always come in earlier than everyone else, and distract her from setting up. He’s married. He has a ring on his finger and Penelope talks about her mother, but apparently that means nothing to him. He’s been flirting shamelessly with Charlie since day one. He insists that she call him Antonio, therefore she refused, but now she’s starting to see that he loves the authority being called Mr. Lawrence, and no matter what she refers to him as, it’s a lose/lose for her.

She greeted Penelope, but made a show of not greeting him and skirting her way around her desk as far from him as physically possible. He didn’t notice.

“Charlie” he said, a shiver went down her spine. How is it that one man saying her name can make her weak in the knees but another can make her feel so afraid.

“How about you and I have dinner tonight? We can take a stroll through the park, there’s a nice little motel right on the edge, I could show you what you’ve been missing”

“Please stop propositioning me, Mr. Lawrence. It’s inappropriate and makes me very uncomfortable” she said for probably the hundredth time this school year.

“You want to Charlotte, I can see it in your eyes.”

“My students and their parents call me Miss Logan. I have no desire to go anywhere with you. I am your daughters teacher, and nothing more”

"If I took her out of your class would you be more comfortable?” he leaned farther into her space.

“No.”

“For a single woman you put up quite a resistance to an attractive male taking an interest in you Charlotte” Blatantly disregarding her request as he always does.

“I am not interested and I am not single. And my boyfriend is very possessive and jealous and would not likely take this kind of behavior from you in stride Mr. Lawrence.” She didn’t actually know if that was true, and honestly she doubted it. She couldn’t imagine calm, relaxed Jordan Bennett getting worked up about anything.

Finally another parent walked in with their kid, and the buses would be getting here soon.

“I’d fuck you so hard you forgot his name” he said, his voice low.

 

 

 

 

She walked back to the apartment, swinging the door open with dramatic flair, ”Smuckers, my love, where are you? You will not believe the day I had” The gorgeous dog popped his head up over the back of the sofa. She kicked her shoes off, and began pulling off her coat.

“Wait till you hear what Mr. Lawrence said. I’m taking you to work with me tomorrow so you can bite him”

“Who’s Mr. Lawrence?” she heard her favorite voice from the direction of the kitchen, and turned her head spotting Jordan at the kitchen island making a sandwich.

“You’re here!” she said, smiling and going over to hug him. He held her back, pressing a kiss to her hair.

“Why aren’t you at work?”

“Late lunch break, who’s Mr. Lawrence?” he asked again.

“His daughter is in my class”

“Why do you want my dog to bite him?” she could hear the laughter in his voice and see the amusement and mischievousness in his blue eyes.

“He comes in early every day and hits on me. He doesn’t care that I’m not interested, or that I’ve said no to various dinners and motels and quickies in his car. He’s married and his daughter is always in the room and he makes me really uncomfortable.”

“uh-huh and what did he say this morning that was particularly awful?” he was teasing her, but she didn’t care.

“I told him I was taken and he said he’d fuck me so hard I’d forget your name” His eye brows rose a little but he was still smiling. So much for a protective, jealous boyfriend.

“With his kid in the room?”

“yeah, and another child and his mother”

“Have you talked to your boss about it?” he asked, his eyes roaming over the various stains on her white tee shirt from lunch time this afternoon.

“I broke up a food fight, stop laughing at my shirt, and yes I told my boss. He invited me for a three way in his office” At that, Jordan laughed. Obviously he won’t be fighting for her honor. But that’s ok. She loves him anyway.

 

 

 

 

 

“Have you seen my Beatles tee shirt?” he has a show in about an hour. Charlie’s in the bathroom putting on her finishing touches.

“Which one?” she called back.

“The Abbey Road one”

“The black one or the gray one?”

“The black one”

“I think it’s in the laundry basket” she tossed her mascara back in her make up bag and left the bathroom, coming into their bedroom. He was leaning in the closet door wearing black jeans, low slung on hips so she could see the tight fit of his black boxers. He was pulling at one of his socks, and he was shirtless, his paper plane necklace dangling from his neck, his untamed curls looking just as effortlessly amazing as they always do.

“You could just do the show in that. Your fan base and twitter followers would probably double overnight” he laughed turning back into the closet. He came back out wearing a Stabbing Westward tee shirt that stretched across his chest and hugged his biceps. Charlie felt significantly less sexy in her blue-gray Breaking Benjamin tee with black skinny jeans and black high tops, but she did love the way his eyes sparkled when he looked her up and down as he came towards her.

He pulled her hips against his, pressing his lips to hers. Her arms automatically went around his neck, pulling herself closer to kiss him deeper. Their lips slid across each other, melting together like they belonged. Like they were made to touch. Like they should always be kissing. Always. He forced himself away to put on his shoes and then disappeared back into his closet. She heard his phone ringing from where it was laying next to his wallet on the bed.

“Can you get that?” he asked. The Caller ID was a frowny face.

“Hello, Jordan Bennett’s phone, you’ve reached his personal answering service, how may I help you today?” she asked in her best fake distinguished voice. She heard him laugh a little from the closet.

“Who the fuck is this?” a pissed off sounding female voice demanded.

“I’m Charlie, would you like me to relay a message?” she asked as she pulled on her tight fitting gray ‘leather’ jacket.

“Put Jordan on the phone”

“I’m afraid Mr. Bennett is unavailable to take your call. May I ask who is calling?”

“My name is on the caller ID. Why are you answering Jordan’s phone?”

“Because he asked me to” Charlie dropped the polite phone service voice, this girl obviously had no sense of humor. He came out of the closet wearing a gray zip up hoodie underneath a black leather jacket, His drum sticks were sticking up out of his back pocket.

“would you like to leave any sort of message?” she asked again, losing interest in this whole conversation pretty quickly. she reached out, fisting Jordan’s jacket, preparing to pull him into a long kiss as soon as she hung up. He slid his hands over her hips and to her lower back, gently pulling her closer.

“Tell him that his girlfriend wants to talk to him and to answer the phone right now” the girl had an edge to her voice, and Charlie almost missed what she said, but she didn’t,

“I’m sorry, his what?” she flattened her hand against his chest and pushed him back a little. He was obviously surprised, and a look of confusion came across his flawless features.

“Is that like some sort of weird joke? Who are you?” she kept her voice calm as if a million alarms weren’t going on right now.

“Put Jordan on the phone” the girl sounded about a hundred percent done with this conversation. Charlie shoved the phone into Jordan’s chest, he didn’t take it, his eyebrows furrowing.

“It’s your girlfriend” she said, her voice and features portraying her as much more calm then the meltdown her heart and brain were currently having. Realization seemed to cross his features, which, what. He took the phone and hung it up, tossing it on the bed, and pulling her to him, pressing his forehead against hers. She immediately started to feel some of the tension leaving her shoulders. He kissed her nose.

“Who was that?” she kept her voice quiet, as if asking too loudly would give her an answer she didn’t want to hear.

“Her names Layla” she looked at him waiting for more.

“She’s what you like to call a ‘groupie’” he rolled his eyes a little.

“She was a mistake from our first sold out show we ever did, high off adrenalin and cheap beer. It was over 2 years ago, she comes to almost all our shows, and I’ve changed my number four times, but she’s harmless.”

“Sometimes I forget that you’re kind of famous. Like you have fan girls that actually believe that they’ll marry you one day.” He smiled, his eyes sparkling.

“Just so you know, one day I am going to ask you how many of them you’ve slept with. Go ahead and start working on your head count. I’ll work on bracing myself for the ans-“

“2”

“Two?” a mixture of disbelief and uncertain relief,

“Yeah, but I don’t’ think the first one counts” he was looking a little off to the side as if thinking,

“I think she had red hair, I have no idea what her name was. I’m pretty sure Rian put some sort of drug in our drinks, cuz Asher doesn’t remember the performance at all. Ri denies everything because of course he does. Never accept a drink from him. Ever. I mean it Charlie. Then Layla, I’d really rather she didn’t count either. I was ready to completely swear off girls until you walked into my store” his fingers brushed against her cheek and she couldn’t help but smile.

“Thanks for having such a low number” she said softly. He smiled, looking a little confused,

“What’s your like, total?” she pressed a little further, seeing her chance and taking it.

“Three” he looked more curious than confused now.

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah, just putting together what I’m up against” she shrugged, trying to come off nonchalant.

“You’re not up against anything.” The clock on the bedside table caught his eyes

“Shit, we’re late. I want to talk about this later, alright?” she nodded.

 

 

 

 

Before he went out on the bar stage, Jordan turned to Charlie, grabbing her and kissing her fiercely. She returned the kiss just as deep, just as passionate.

“Come On JJ, Fuck your girlfriend after the show” Rian said, pulling Jordan by the hair.

“I will” he murmured, sinking his teeth into her bottom lip. His blue eyes were blown-wide with excitement, pre=show adrenalin, and were dark with lust. She recognized the preshow excitement in those bright blue eyes from the last show, but the lust was new.

He kissed her again, then followed Asher and Rian out on the stage.

“What’s up my Frequent Flyers!” Asher yelled into the microphone, Jordan smiled, taking his seat behind the drums. He licked his lips, and Charlie’s tongue copied the motion. She could taste him on her lips.

 

They were halfway through their set list when Asher started talking to the crowd, keeping them pumped while they each rehydrated with water bottles.

“I like your sign” he said, pointing out into the crowd. He took a sip, then choked a little and laughed,

“That sign is dirty! His girlfriend would not approve!” he teased. Jordan looked up from where he was setting down his empty bottle, searching the crowd for the sign. Rian spotted it first and laughed,

“I don’t know mate, she might think it’s hilarious, what do you think JJ?” Charlie couldn’t see the signs, but she saw the moment Jordan spotted it. His smile lit up the entire room and he laughed a little.

“Now I’m going to be imagining Charlie doing that the rest of the show” Rian said. Jordan threw his empty bottle at him, and Asher splashed him with his.

 

 

After the show, Jordan grabbed her, pushing her up against the wall, she gasped with the force and he dove in with his tongue and all Charlie could think was yes yes yes please yes. She slid her fingers into his curls, gripping them, ripping a moan from his throat.

He ripped his mouth from hers “home” he breathed, “home now” she nodded and let him lead her out the back without saying goodbye to the guys, who had disappeared into the over crowded bar.

If she thought the ten minute drive home would calm him down at all, she was dead wrong. As soon as the elevator door closed, he was on her again, holding either side of her face, prying her lips open with his tongue and she was putty in his hands.

The elevator bell rang and he walked her backwards through the doors and down the hall, pressing her into the front door as he stuck his key in the lock. She stumbled backwards into the dark apartment, but he caught her, kicking the door closed with his foot, turning the lock and pulling his jacket off, his lips not leaving hers. He pushed her jacket off her shoulders as he walked her towards their bedroom. He flipped on the light switch, His lips left hers, sinking into the soft, untouched skin on her neck, kissing and sucking, leaving a bruise and making her head spin. He kicked his shoes off, and his hands moved to her hips, his warm fingers sliding under the material of her shirt, skimming softly across soft, smooth skin.

“Jordan” she whispered, unable to make her voice any louder,

“Jordan” she tried again, forcing her voice to work, “Can we finish the conversation, the one we were having before” she said. She knew he wasn’t going to like this, but she had to tell him. He hesitated, then moved his head to look at her,

“really?” he asked incredulously, but then his eyes softened, “I mean, yeah, of course” he ducked his head a little, squeezing his eyes shut, as if mentally pulling himself back together. She liked that she had that affect on him. That he wanted her.

“You said, three yeah, that two didn’t count, didn’t really mean anything, what about the third?” she finally asked, “You’re first, yeah? Was she your girlfriend?” he opened his eyes, she could see so much confusion there, not quite disguising the desire he was still feeling. She hated herself a little. He shook his head, his eyebrows furrowing together,

“We met at a party, we hooked up a few times, but she wanted a relationship, and I didn’t. She didn’t mean any more to me then the two groupies. You’ll be the first that actually means something to me.”

He ran his hand through his hair, “What’s this about? Why does my number matter? How high is your number?”

“It’s not that my number is high..” she said You’ll be the first that actually means something to me was running through her head on repeat.

“It’s just, I can’t, I” she took a deep breath, “I don’t have a number” His eyes widened a little, and she expected him to take a step back. To panic a little. But instead he smiled and leaned his forehead against hers, reaching up with one hand to cup her cheek, he other sliding around her hips to pull her closer. His eyes were focused on where she was biting her lip.

“That’s what this is about, you're nervous” again, not a question. He does that a lot.

“Terrified” she whispered.

“We can go slow. I won’t do anything you don’t want me to do”

She shook her head, “I want everything” she whispered, “I want everything with you, I just, I needed you to know” he looked up to her eyes, but she was focused on his necklace,

“I don’t want to disappoint you” so soft that if he hadn’t been less than 2 inches from her, he wouldn’t have heard it.

“impossible” he whispered back.

“Jordan” she breathed and he kissed her in response, soft and sweet.

She kicked off her shoes too, trying to not so subtly tell him that yeah, she wanted this, let’s get back to where we were. He took the hint, but still did everything much more gently then he was before. Just as much heat, and passion, but less of the fire, the desperate want.

She wanted that back, it made her feel sexy, and she needed as much confidence as she could get. So she took it into her own hands, she pulled away, pulling on his bottom lip with her teeth a little, and moved her lips down, kissing his throat, sucking a bruise there, while her fingers found his curls, tugging hard.

“Fuck Charlie” his voice was breathless and gravelly like it had been when he first pulled away.

“Yeah” she breathed and went in for his lips again, her tongue wrestling with his, pushing, pulling, dancing. He started pulling at her shirt, sliding it up, she raised her arms so he could remove it.

She kept breathing, trying to remind herself that it’s Jordan, it’s just Jordan, her boyfriend, the man she loves, he cares about you, it’s just Jordan. But OMG it’s JORDAN, and she’s shirtless and breathing became a little hard to do.

She kept kissing as his hands skimmed up her bare sides, over her bare back. He pulled back from their kiss just long enough to roughly tug his shirt over his head, and yeah. YES. She reached between them, allowing her fingers to brush over those rock hard abs. She wanted to lick them.

She saved that idea for later.

She didn’t notice when his fingers had made their way to her bra clasp, but she felt when it popped open, and gasped softly. She felt him hesitate and kissed him harder, tugging his curls again. She could feel him smiling against her lips. His chest pressed against hers, bare skin to bare skin, hot. So hot.

He continued to kiss her, her lips, her cheeks, her neck, her throat, her shoulders, for what felt like an eternity, until she felt the button on her jeans pop open. She reached for his belt, she wanted his pants off too,. She’d barely popped the button open before she felt his hands grip her thighs, lifting her from the ground. She smiled against his lips, wrapping her legs around his waist, and he carried her the rest of the way to the bed. He dropped her on it and she barely had time to bounce before he was on her again, fingers dipping into the waist band, jerking both the jeans and her underwear off her hips as he sucked on that bruise he’s started on her neck.

He tossed them carelessly across the room, and she was now completely naked underneath him. But it felt okay. It wasn’t weird, or embarrassing or awkward. It was exciting and new, and she was so ready for this.

His fingers were brushing over every inch of her exposed skin, greedily. She felt him pushing at his jeans, and then kicking, then he was pressed against her, warm and naked. She felt him move against her thigh, long, thick and hard and she moaned into his mouth, spreading her legs apart to tell him she was ready.

He pulled away, burying his face into her neck, just breathing, as if he was losing control and needed a minute to get it back. She loved having that affect on him.

They’d been kissing, and stripping and touching for well over half an hour and she wanted him inside her. She wanted it right now.

“Jordan” she moaned, “Please”

“Fuck” he breathed quietly into her neck. He finally brought himself back above her, he reached over, digging through the drawer, pulling out a condom. She was a little disappointed at the thought of it not just being him inside of her. But she also was not prepared for any sort of consequences so she swallowed that thought down.

She watched him rip it open, and slip it on, reaching down as he started to roll it up his length, to do it herself. She heard him inhale as her fingers touched him. She worked slowly, rolling the latex over his long, thick length, refusing to question how that would fit, and just trusting that it would.

“Charlie” he breathed, sounding a bit broken. She finished and looked up into his eyes. They were almost completely black, the blue barely showing around the edges of his severely dilated pupils. She’d done that. She was responsible for the way he was looking at her.

She laid back down, one hand gripping the sheet in preparation, the other reaching up to caress his cheek as he looked down at her. He leaned down, kissing just below her belly button, causing her to suck in a surprised gasp of air. He worked a hot trail of kisses up her stomach, to her chest, where he licked across one of her nipples, sucking on it gently, nibbling and then running his tongue across again, working it until it was hard, and then moved to the other one. She wasn’t even sure if she was breathing at this point.

He kissed his way up to her face, pressing his lips to her cheek, her eye lids, her forehead, and then he gently rubbed his nose against hers, a playful gesture, he’d done a few times before. She smiled and pulled him into a crushing kiss, both her hands gripping his hair, spreading her legs farther apart. She felt him reach between them, without breaking the kiss. His tip brushed across her entrance and she willed herself to not tense up at the contact, he pressed in that first inch, and it was a stretch and burn that she knew to expect, but still hadn’t prepared herself for. He held himself there, waiting for her to let him know it was okay to go farther, after a few seconds she nodded, biting his lip a little, and he pressed in another inch.

It was painful, but it wasn’t a bad pain, underneath it was quite a bit of pleasure, a feeling she wanted to explore. He kissed across her jaw pushing in another inch, and she wanted to feel him, all of him. Right now.

He was being careful and gentle and absolutely perfect and she loved him for it. Absolutely loved him.

She wrapped her legs around his hips, changing the angle a little, causing a small moan of pleasure to come from him. She knew that this was hard for him, this patience thing, going so slow when he wanted to be inside, when everything in his body was screaming for him to thrust, and pound into her.

She lifted her hips and pressed down with her heels, causing his body to move, impaling her completely, pushing him all the way in.

“FUCK” he moaned in pleasure. She squeezed her eyes shut to will away the tears, the pain was intense, but her body was adjusting, once the first shocks of pain faded away, it was actually kind of wonderful, having him pressed into her as far as he can go, their hips touching, their chests pressed together.

“Charlie” he moaned, “so good baby, so good” he mumbled, burying his face into her neck again.

She never realized this would be such an overwhelming experience for him as well and she was overjoyed.

“You can, you can move” she didn’t care if it hurt, she didn’t want him to hold back any longer.

“You sure?” his voice was muffled against her neck,

“Yeah, m ready” He shifted his hips a little, experimentally, looking at her face, judging whether or not he was hurting her. Then he rolled them, and yeah, yes, that felt good. Her eyes drifted closed, he lifted himself up a bit, her hands sliding from his hair, one settling on gripping his bicep, the other resting on his waist. He pulled out, just a few inches and thrust back in, doing that a few times, creating a rhythm before he started pulling out farther and thrusting back in harder.

I love you I love you I love you, she thought in time with his thrusts, until thought became too much.

Charlie was in bliss. Her back arced with each thrust, her moans were out of control and her eyes were rolling into the back of her head. Her nails dug into his bicep but he didn’t seem to mind. Thought at this point was impossible. Anything more complex than “Yes” “Jordan” “Please” and “So good” didn’t matter and those words slipped past her lips over and over without permission. She felt it in her spine first, the tingling, it shot straight up, her toes curled her thighs flexed and her entire body shook as an intense pleasure completely overtook her. She cried out in pleasure.

He thrust into her just two more times before biting down on her shoulder, and shaking through his own orgasm. He came hard and she felt the warmth filling the condom, as the waves of pleasure pulsed through both their bodies.

His arms gave out and he collapsed on top of her, but she didn’t mind, she found the heat and the weight comforting.

They were both still breathless when he lifted himself off of her and gently pulled himself out, throwing himself onto the open bed space beside her, tossing the condom in the general direction of the trash can without even bothering to look.

“You alright?” he asked, his voice sounded almost as wrecked as she felt.

“Amazing” she breathed out, rolling over, resting her head on his chest, tangling their fingers together. They laid there, trying to catch their breath, basking in the after glow of their passionate rendezvous.

“Was that alright?” she suddenly asked, feeling nervous, wondering if he’d ever want to do that with her again.

“Yeah baby, was perfect” he breathed out, sounding on the verge of sleep, he squeezed her hand reassuringly and rolled onto his side, facing her, wrapping his arm around her.

Chapter Text

When she woke up the next morning, it was to pleasantly sore legs, a feeling of completion and peace deep in her bones, and Jordan’s warm body underneath her, his heart beat matching the steady rhythm of hers.

She looked down at her beautiful boyfriend. Beautiful seems like a weird word to use for a man, but he is, he's beautiful. His cheekbones and jaw line look like they’ve been chiseled from marble, his soft lips a shade of pink she’s never seen anywhere else, his flawless, tan skin, with just a hint of stubble showing through, his eyelashes fanned across his cheeks. Her subconscious decided to wake up at that moment and be an evil little bitch, making her wonder is this it for them? Will he be done with her after last night? Was he disappointed?

She was just about to untangle herself from him, go hide in the shower so she wouldn’t have to see the disappointment in his eyes when he realized she was still here, but he shifted underneath her, his hands slid up her sides and around her back before he’d even opened his eyes. When those pools of blue finally braved the light of morning, she was the first thing he focused on, and a slow, lazy smile made it’s way across his features.

“G’Morning gorgeous” he mumbled, his voice still sleep heavy and raspy. Basically the sound of sex. He moved his head to connect his lips with hers, prodding at her lips with his tongue until she opened up and proceeded to make love to her mouth with his tongue.

He isn’t acting disappointed she told her subconscious with a smug smile.

She felt him underneath her, pressed against her thigh, not hard yet. She wanted to change that. She rolled her hips down, slowly. Running her fingers lightly up his toned abs, across his chest, and then tangled them in his curls, repeating the action with her hips several times. It didn’t take long before he was hard, and his fingers were gripping her hips tighter. She rolled off of him, and reached over, blindly fumbling for the condoms in the drawer next to her. She found it pretty quickly, and set it on his chest.

She caught sight of his length, laying heavily on his stomach. She wanted to touch it, and wondered if he’d mind.

She crawled back over him. Better to ask forgiveness than permission she decided, pressing her lips to his.

He seemed to be letting her control this, which isn’t exactly what she wanted. She wants him to lose control over himself and take her again, but she doesn’t want him giving her the control, she still has no idea what she’s doing, and she likes the way it feels when he shows that he wants her.

She moved her lips to his neck, pressing light kisses down until she got to a sensitive spot, where his neck meets his shoulder. She began to suck on it, and she felt his dick twitch a little. She shoved her insecurities and doubts to the side and tried to breathe in some confidence, reaching between them.

She tentatively, and gently wrapped her fingers around him, and he bucked his hips up, a deep gravelly sound getting caught in his throat. Yes. She tightened her grip a little bit and began to slide her hand up and down the length. This time that noise didn’t get caught.

She continued her trail of kisses across his throat and collarbones as she began a steady rhythm with her hand. She could feel the length growing harder in her fist. Maybe control wasn’t so bad. Bringing him pleasure, taking care of him, making him lose control, seems to be a pretty wonderful way to start her morning.

She worked him over, his thighs flexed, and he reached up with one arm, gripping the top of the headboard, anchoring himself. His eyes were closed and he was biting down on his bottom lip. She briefly wondered if this is what Kings meant when she said he’d be glad to let her experiment on his body. But all thoughts of her friend disappeared as quickly as they’d appeared, when her thumb slipped, pressing into the slit on the tip. A moan escaped him, even with his teeth biting so hard he could soon draw blood, and his hips bucked up again. A little spurt of pre-cum came out, and she pressed her thumb in again, getting the same reaction.

She continued her up and down motions, occasionally using this new information to her advantage, and pressing her thumb in.

“Charlie” he gasped out, “Charlie, Charlie stop, m’ gonna cum” his voice sounded truly wrecked and her brain and heart did a little tango while her evil subconscious sulked in the corner.

She didn’t stop.

Her mission had become to please him, and she was going to follow through. She stroked twice more, her thumb pressing into the slit one more time before his body arced off the bed, his thighs flexed around her and he groaned. He came hard, painting her hand and stomach and his own chest in white. His chest moved up and down as he tried to catch his breath, he threw his arm across his eyes in some impressive dramatics.

She wanted reassurance that she’d done alright, that he enjoyed it, but she had a feeling he’d just laugh. Seeing how he’d just cum everywhere, she could just assume she’d done it right, so she told her subconscious to just go ahead and fuck right off.

She wiped her hand off on the sheets, she’d have to do laundry later, but it was worth it. She went ahead and wiped off her stomach too, and was working on cleaning him off, while he worked on breathing, when she heard the doorbell.

It was nine in the morning, on a Saturday. Neither of them had friends that would get up before 10, much less show up here.

She got up, picking up her underwear where they had landed on his side of the bed on the floor, stepped passed her jeans, there was no way she was pulling jeans on while her legs felt like this. She spotted his Stabbing Westward tee on the floor and pulled it on.

The doorbell rang again and she rolled her eyes, “if this is that Jehovah’s Witness again, I’m rubbing my cum covered hand all over his face", she heard Jordan laugh behind her as she made her way down the hall, pants less.

 

 

She opened the door just a little to see who was on the other side. It was Jess and she looked wrecked.

Charlie swung the door open, “Jess?” she asked, she looked like she hadn’t slept in days, bruises were forming on her face, her hair was a mess, she didn’t have make up on. Charlie had never seen her like this.

She saw the blood drying on her arm and hand, and on her dress, that was on backwards.

“Jess, what the hell is going on?”

“I left Bentley” she whispered.

“Did he do this do you?!” Charlie demanded, pulling her sister into the apartment and closing the door.

She shook her head, “Can I have some tea or something?” she asked. Charlie’s eyebrows furrowed, because what? But she nodded and went into the kitchen, washing her hands and heating two mugs of water. Jess sat down on the sofa.

 

Carrying the two mugs, Charlie took a seat on the coffee table across from her, leaning her elbows on her knees. They sat in silence for a minute, Charlie waiting for Jess to start talking.

“Jess” she finally said.

“He got really drunk after his game last night. He and his friend came back to the apartment. He was rough with me, like he always is, I, I’m used to that, the rough sex, But then he let Nathan join in, and he, he did some things that I, I don’t want to tell you about”

“he r-“

“Please don’t say that word, please. I just, I just need a place to sleep for a few days until the bruises go away. I can’t let anyone see me like this”

“You need to tell the cops Jess, you can’t let them get away with this”

“I’m not telling anyone Charlie! I don’t ever want to talk about it. Ever. I just, if you won’t let me stay here, I’ll find somewhere else”

“Jessica”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry Charlie, I know. I know I should tell, but I can’t, I can’t go through that. I can’t tell anyone. You have to promise you won’t tell anyone. Don’t even tell Jordan. I just want to forget all of this”

“I’m not going to lie to Jordan, Jess. I’ll ask him not to tell anyone, but I won’t lie to him. And you need to talk about this. Maybe not right now, but after you’ve cleaned up, gotten some sleep. I’m here for you, ok?” She nodded.

“You want to go take a shower? I’ll get you some clothes” Jess nodded again and let Charlie take her mug and lead her to the bathroom.

 

She went into the bedroom and was immediately wrapped up in Jordan’s arms.

“What do I do?” she asked his chest. He didn’t answer, he just held her tighter, and pressed a kiss to her hair.

“I can’t believe he’d do this to her. I mean, I knew, I knew that he was rough with her, that their sex life was a little.. frightening, but this, bringing in another guy, covering her in bruises, scarring her for life.. how could someone do that to another person?” He held her for another few minutes.

“I hope you don't mind that I told her she could stay”

“Charlie”

“Right, sorry” He kissed her nose.

 

Charlie set some clothes in the bathroom and went in the kitchen to make breakfast. She was shaking though, and almost dropped the batter for the pancakes, almost burned herself on the pan, and almost dropped the milk. Finally she just leaned her hands on the counter, hanging her head and trying to breathe through it. Jordan came up behind her, hooking his chin over her shoulder, pressing his chest to her back, and rubbing his hands up and down her arms in an attempt to comfort her, pressing his lips into her shoulder.

“You ever heard of twin telepathy?”

“um.. yeah”

“It’s real. It’s real and I can feel it. She’s in pain, so much pain, and she’s crying, and there’s nothing I can do, what can I do Jordan? What do I do?” tears started streaming from her eyes and she covered her face, curling in on herself. He spun her around and held her in another hug as she cried. They stood there, wrapped around each other for a long time, when they heard Jessica enter the room.

“Hey Jess, you want some pancakes?” Charlie asked, wiping at her eyes quickly, and turning back to the bowl she had been stirring, turning the burner back on to heat up the pan.

“I didn’t mean to interrupt-“ Jessica started.

“You didn’t, you want them with blueberries or no blueberries?”

“Without”

 

That’s how they spent the rest of the week. Charlie doing things for her sister, cleaning up all the little messes she left behind, working and cleaning and cooking while Jess took naps, cooking Jess’ favorite foods, letting her watch what she wanted on the big screen TV, making her as comfortable as possible. She did anything Jess asked her to do, and Jordan knew why, but that didn’t mean it didn’t bother him watching his girlfriend slave away for days, and push away any attempts he made to help her, or stop her.

 

Finally he couldn’t take it anymore, he pulled Charlie into a fierce kiss, and told her he was going to work, to call him if she needed anything. He came home late, after work Asher had called, wanting to meet him at the bar. He only drank one beer, but he was there for awhile. He had tried texting Charlie a few times all day, but after the first “Yeah, I’m ok” she stopped responding to anything. He came in, Jess was asleep on the couch.

Confused Smuckers was curled up by the fireplace. Jordan gave him a good rub down before he went to the bedroom to check on Charlie. When he walked in, he immediately felt awful for being gone for so long.

She was curled in on herself in the middle of the bed, her hand reaching out in her sleep as if searching for him, and that tugged at his heart in the best and worst way. She was wearing his old red soccer hoodie and her own blue plaid pajama pants. He went and brushed his teeth quickly, and then closed their bedroom door, stripping as he made his way to their bed, turning off the bedside lamp and crawling under the covers beside her, pulling her into his arms.

“Jordan?” she mumbled sleepily.

“Yeah baby, I'm here” he kissed her nose.

“I missed you” she mumbled, still half asleep.

“I missed you too baby. I tried to text you”

“Meh phones dead. Jess borrowed it to call one of her friends”

“To tell her about-“

“No, she still won’t talk about it”

“You’re taking good care of her baby, that’s all you can do”

“I know it bothers you” she suddenly seemed more awake, “I can see it in your eyes. You don’t like me cleaning up after her, doing everything for her. But it’s all I’ve ever done, and I don’t know how else to help, I don’t know the right thing to do”

“She’s been through something traumatic. Anything you do is the right thing. Just because I don’t like you playing maid for her, doesn’t mean you aren’t doing everything right”

“I had my doctor’s appointment today” she said changing the subject.

“What? What Doctor’s appointment?”

“I thought I told you about it. Maybe I just told Kingsley” she shrugged, “Doesn’t matter, I went to get the prescription”

“Prescription for what?”

“Did I really not talk to you about this at all?” she laughed, and she reached up to caress his face. He could see the moon reflecting in her eyes where it was coming in through the blinds.

“Charlie”

“Birth control pills. I was kind of hoping, you know, if we ever get any time alone ever again, that we could do it again” she shrugged again and looked away from his eyes, playing with his necklace instead. “If you want to” He lunged forward, kissing her hard.

“If we ever get a moment alone, you won’t be able to get me off of you” he said and pulled on her bottom lip with his teeth. She giggled.

“I look forward to it” she said in what she hoped was a sultry voice. He groaned,

“Charlie” success, she smiled.

“I’d ask if you thought you could stay quiet, but I don’t know that that’s fair to either of us” his voice was taking on that raspy quality he gets when he’s turned on. He nibbled on her ear lobe and then nuzzled into her neck.

She giggled again, “Jordan! My sister is here” she playfully pushed at him, not hard enough to actually make him move.

“Can’t help myself” he murmured against her skin, nibbling gently on her neck, his hands sliding up the sweatshirt fingers burning on her skin.

“Go to sleep Jordan” she smiled against his skin. He sighed, and she snuggled against him, kissing his cheek in apology.

Chapter Text

She was making muffins the next morning, when he came up behind her, kissing and biting playfully at her neck, making her laugh. Making her happy. That’s all he’s ever done. Saved her from herself.

He had her pressed against the counter, kissing lazily, giggling happily into each other’s mouths, muffins long forgotten when Jessica came back in the room from the shower she was taking.

“I see those muffins are baking quite nicely” she said. It was supposed to be teasing, but Charlie caught the edge to her voice.

“I’ll go.. get dressed..” Jordan said, obviously having heard it too. He pressed one last kiss to Charlie’s lips and disappeared down the hall.

“Is that how you pay rent for this place?” Jess asked, picking up an apple from the basket on the island.

“what?”

“I know what you make Charlie, you could barely afford your half on that shit hole you shared with Roxi. Are you making up for the lack of funds with sex? Do you submit payments daily or weekly?” this was malicious, and out of character, even for Jess, who could play mean girl pretty well when she wanted something.

“Jess!” “Oh come ON Charlie. You can’t expect me to believe that he’s letting you live here because he likes having you around. Guys want one thing, and one thing only.”

“This is low Jess. Even for you.”

“What makes you think Jordan is any better than any other guy out there Charlie? All Guys want is sex, they don’t even care who it’s with”

“How dare you. How dare you talk about him like that. After he let you stay here for a week. He took you in, let you stay on his sofa, let you watch his TV, and use his shower and eat his food, and didn’t ask a single question. Didn’t ask for a reason why, didn’t ask how long you’d be here, didn’t ask for anything in return. How DARE you. And how dare you think so low of me. After all I’ve done for you, after all I’ve been through, after knowing me for 23 years, how dare you think that I’d ever use sex to get anything” Jess looked a little ashamed, but Charlie wasn’t done yet. “All week.. all my life, I have taken care of you. I clean up your messes, I cook your meals, I hide in the shadows so that the spotlight only shines on you. I’ve kept secrets, I’ve supported ridiculous decisions, I’ve taken your side, even when you were wrong, and I’ve allowed you to walk all over me. My ENTIRE LIFE Jessica!” she threw the dish rag she’d been holding onto the counter, “Is this how you’re thanking me for that? Make your own damn muffins. Don’t burn down my kitchen.”

She stormed out of the apartment, grabbing Jordan’s keys off the counter. She didn’t have shoes on.

She was wearing her pj pants, and a long sleeve white tee shirt she’d had on underneath the sweatshirt last night. She did have socks on at least, seeing how it was snowing outside.

She climbed into his SUV, but she didn’t have anywhere to go. She put the keys in the ignition but didn’t turn the car on, she just pulled her knees up to her chest, and hugged her legs, burying her face to hide her tears. It was less than a minute before the passenger door opened, and then closed and familiar warm arms wrapped around her, lips pressing into her hair.

She leaned into his touch.

“I’m really proud of you Charlie” he said, keeping his voice low, as if talking too loud would break her, “I know how hard that was for you, to stand up to her. To defend yourself. I’m so proud of you”

She hadn’t meant to was the thing. She was just going to defend him, but she was so angry, so frustrated, so offended.

“I couldn’t let her say those things about you. Not after everything you’ve done for her, not after everything you’ve done for me. And you were nothing but nice to her, even after what she did to your brother. You could’ve told her to suck it up and face her friends but you didn’t”

“She’s your sister Charlie, and I’d do anything for you”

“Why?” it came out as a whisper, but he still heard it.

“You know why”

 

“She’s right though, I should be paying rent. I could never pull together half, but I can’t live with you for free Jordan, that’s not fair”

“I haven’t asked for your money because I don’t need it Charlie. But you do, you need to buy a new car, and pay off your student loans, and pay off that credit card you used to buy that dress”

“We haven’t been together long enough for you to support me. We're doing everything in the wrong order”

“It works for us though” he shrugged.

“I should pay for groceries or something” she sighed.

“If that will make you feel better” he said, smiling into her shoulder. She rested her forehead on her knee again.

“When I told Kings I had a pathetic crush on the cute guy at the record store, I can honestly say I never imagined any of this” He laughed. She tightened her grip on his hand.

 

 

They stayed in the car a little longer, clinging to each other. When they went back inside, Jess was in the bathroom, and the house smelled like muffins. They sat on the sofa , practically sitting on top of each other, sharing a blanket. Jordan had his feet propped up on the coffee table, flipping stations, his arm around her, Charlie had her legs pulled up to her chest, her head on his shoulder. Smuckers had joined them, resting his head on Jordan's lap.

Jessica came in the room. She had on the dress she’d come in, and she'd put on all her make up. She sat down on the coffee table in front of Charlie.

Jordan started to get up, but Charlie stopped him, pressing her hand to his chest. He settled back, pressing mute on the TV and tangled his fingers with hers.

“I’m sorry” Jess said. Charlie didn't respond, she just waited for her to continue.

She took a deep breath, “I didn’t mean any of it. I'm just so jealous of you Charlie. All I’ve wanted since I was little, is to fall in love. I’ve seen the way you guys look at each other, when you think no one else is around. The way you whisper, and laugh. You found more than love, you found your best friend, and I’m so sorry that I tried to make you doubt that” she turned to Jordan,

“You’re a great guy Jordan, and I’m so thankful for everything you’ve done for me and for my sister. I know you know more than I’d like for you to about what happened, but I, I trust you. Thank you so much”

 

“Why are you wearing that dress? I thought I threw that away” Charlie finally spoke.

“You did, and I ought to bitch slap you, this is designer”

“So why are you wearing it?”

“I’m going back home. I’ll just tell the girls I was with Bentley, but we broke up. I’ll call him a cheater or something, I haven’t fine tuned the details yet”

“And you couldn’t wear something not designer to do that?”

“I have my pride. The girls would never let me live it down if I showed up in jeans and a tee shirt Charlie. I love you to death, you know that, and you look hot in anything, but I can’t rock the comfy casual look.”

“You’ve never tried it”

“I’m concerned about the lack of sexy mini dresses in your closet Charlotte Grace, you’re legs are far to hot to cover with jeans. Also, we’re going shopping some time next week. I’ll introduce you to yoga pants. They’ve got the comfort and the sexy. You’ve got a body that will bring men to their knees, and i'm willing to take on the responsibility of making you own it.”

“you could have borrowed the little yellow dress. I’ll loan it to you, $750 a day”

“Oh my god that dress was so expensive! You should have said something!”

“I did”

“And you didn’t even really get to wear it. I’m so sorry”

She stood up, “So I’m going to go. Thank you for everything, both of you. I don’t think I’d have survived this last week without either of you. And can you wait until I’m at least in the lobby before you pound her into the coffee table. Seriously, the sexual frustration in the apartment this week was unbelievable” and with that she picked up her purse, kissed her sister’s cheek and walked out the front door.

 

Jordan got up and pulled her to her feet.

‘”Where are we going? Are you not going to pound me into the coffee table?” she teased.

“Please” he rolled his eyes, “I do have some self control” he pulled her closer so she was pressed up against him, and gripped her thighs, his blue eyes dark and unreadable, “I’m going to pound you into the mattress”

He wrapped her legs around his waist and kissed her hungrily, carrying her into their bedroom. They stripped each other quickly, hands and lips going wherever they could reach, groping, teasing, and tasting each other, as if it had been years and not days since the last time they’d been able to touch. He didn’t slow down until he pushed that first inch inside of her, then he breathlessly grasped for control of himself so he wouldn’t hurt her. She was having none of that. She grabbed his ass and pulled, pushing him all the way inside of her. It didn’t hurt. It was a bit of a stretch, maybe a slight burn, but he fit. Her body was already adjusted to accept him. She tugged at his hair, left scratch marks down his back, gripped at his biceps. He shattered her completely with two orgasms before allowing himself to cum.

He rolled his sweat soaked body off of her, his toned chest rising and falling as he tried to catch his breath.

A few waves of his orgasm were still pulsating their way, through his body.

Her heart pounded to the same words it always does I love you, I love you, I love you.

 

 

 

“So have you blown him yet? Have you ridden him? Come on Charlie give me something here” Roxi teased.

It’s been three weeks since Jessica left. This is the first time Charlie’s left the apartment for something other than work since.

The nearly constant sex is wild and exciting for Charlie, although she had a feeling it wouldn’t excite Roxi too much.

“No, I haven’t done either of those things. We’re taking it slow, I have the rest of my life to try new things with him”

“The rest of your life? Has he told you he loves you?” Kings asked. They were shopping at the mall, although the only one who had bought anything was Kingsley.

“No, he hasn’t. But we live together, we share everything and he can’t keep his hands to himself when we’re alone, so I like to pretend that the feelings are mutual”

“I’m sure they are Charlie, that’s not what I meant”

“They’ve only been together a month. You can’t tell your girlfriend you love them after a month” Roxi defended anyway.

“He’s been encouraging me to follow my radio DJ dreams. I submitted a few of my podcasts to some stations, and I’m waiting to hear back. I haven’t told him yet.” She changed the subject, because any thoughts about Jordan possibly not loving her back, are thoughts that she does not want to have.

“That’s so great Charlie!”

“You’ll totally get it!”

“How long have you been waiting to hear back?”

“Where did you apply?”

“Are you Charlie Logan?” she heard a voice behind her. She turned coming face to face with a very pretty, tall blonde.

“Um yes”

“I’m Layla Connor, Jordan’s girlfriend. His real girlfriend”

“Excuse me?” Roxi asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Jordan and I met at one of his concerts, a little over two years ago. We’ve been together ever since. I don’t appreciate you making moves on my man”

“Jordan’s my boyfriend Layla. We live together” Charlie said calmly. Layla’s eyes flashed with fury.

“That’s not true! We’re engaged! He proposed to me last night!”

“Jordan was with me last night”

“Did he tell you about the night we met? How he’d seen me in the crowd night after night and was dying to know my name. We made love all night long, and he told me he loved me”

“Seriously Charlie, who is this bitch?” Roxi asked.

“We spent two weeks in Maui together last summer. He promised me Paris for our honeymoon”

“You’re not dating Jordan, Layla, I am. And you need to stop making up stories, you need to stop calling him, and you need to stop coming to all his shows. You are not getting married, you’re not going to Paris together, and he did not tell you he loves you. I know this is hard to accept, but you need to move on” Charlie kept her voice calm, this girl is obviously insane, right?

“Jordan is mine” Layla said and she shoved Charlie, knocking her to the ground before storming off.

 

 

Roxi dropped Charlie off a few hours later, and Charlie came into the apartment with her two shopping bags and spotted Jordan at the island, making a ridiculously large sandwich. He had meats and cheeses and condiments spread all across the countertop.

“I’m not cleaning that up” she told him as her greeting, setting her bags on the floor and climbing up on one of the bar stools.

He just smiled, “Hey baby, have fun?”

“I met Layla today” He tossed his mayo knife in the sink and screwed the lid back on.

“Yeah?”

“She approached me in the mall. You’ve been dating two years, you proposed last night, and you’re going to Paris for your honeymoon.”

“I’ve always wanted to go to Paris” he said thoughtfully.

“I know that everything she said to me was a lie. A ridiculous, elaborate, actually quite impressive lie, but my insecure subconscious is telling me to ask you about that night”

“Why?” he asked, placing the ham on top of the turkey slice.

“Probably because she was gorgeous. Or maybe I’m a masochist”

“It’s not a particularly interesting story. If I was her, I’d lie about it too honestly. She took me back to her place, wanted to be in control, so she was on top. Really only lasted like 15, 20 minutes, we were so drunk. She told me she loved me, which I was totally unprepared for. I mean you don’t expect the first time you hear I love you to come from some nameless girl you’d just drunk fucked. She was pretty mad when I didn’t say it back, but she played it off, went to take a shower, and I left. Didn’t even put my pants on, just left” he shrugged, and licked a little mustard off his finger, before placing the pepperoni slice on his sandwich. Charlie laughed. She couldn’t help herself.

“Oh my god Jordan! Now I feel bad for her!”

“Does that mean I can’t go to Paris?”

“we can still go to Paris. I really want to see Italy too. Will you take me to Italy some day Jordan?”

“Of course I will” He put the top slice of bread on his meaty sandwich.

“Seriously J, that’s disgusting” Mayo, mustard, ham, pepperoni, turkey, salami, chicken, bologna, more ham, bacon, lettuce, tomato, cheddar cheese, American cheese, Swiss cheese, mozzarella slice, Munster, Colby jack and a sprinkle of parmesan on toasted white bread.

“S’good! Mama used to make us these all the time when she was pregnant with Lu” he took a big bite.

“Oh my god. Are you pregnant?! I knew you were acting a little off! When did the cravings start? One of the condoms must have broken!” she teased him. She saw his eyes sparkling as he chewed his oversized bite of ridiculousness.

“S’going to ruin your body, we should have been more careful” she continued shaking her head.

Chapter Text

Two weeks later was their first fight.

They’d had little arguments here and there. Silly little disagreements about where they should eat, or what movie they should see, debates over who should have to walk the dog, and who fed him last, the time she threw the pen and notepad at him for not writing down the message from her mother when she called, (which got her in more trouble with her mom than she feels was necessary), but nothing big.

Nothing that didn’t end in them making out, or having sex or just apologizing for being unreasonable.

This fight was bigger. Not rock the world big. Not even really worth remembering. But it was their first.

It had been pouring down rain all day. Charlie’s car broke down on the way to work, and Jordan didn’t answer when she called so she had to walk for twenty minutes in the pouring rain. She was wearing a white tee shirt, which Mr. Lawrence commented on at length while following her around and verbally sexually harassing her. One of the other teachers over heard and called the cops on him, so then she had to deal with that. Her kids were especially insane all day, and Jordan didn’t answer the phone when she called him after work either. She couldn’t find anyone who was available to give her a ride and she ended up walking home in the rain, which took almost an hour.

She changed into the first tee shirt of his that she spotted and put on some sweatpants. Then she unloaded the dishwasher, which he had promised her last night he’d do before work, and started a load of laundry.

She’d hardly seen him all week, between parent/teacher meetings at the school, and him doing bar shows.

She missed him.

She still looked like a drowned rat when he came in from work.

“Why didn’t you answer your phone?” she asked as soon as he walked in the bedroom where she was folding the other laundry she’d taken out of the dryer.

“Guess it was on silent, sorry baby, did you need something?” he asked innocently, tossing his keys on the bed and going into their closet.

“My car broke down again this morning, I had to walk to work in the rain, and then walk home from work, in the rain”

“Is my AC/DC shirt out there?” he asked, as if he hadn’t heard anything she just said. She was wearing the AC/DC tee shirt.

“Did you even hear me? I needed you this morning. And Can’t you just wear a different one?”

What? No, I want that one Why?”

“Cuz I’m already wearing it. Where are you going?”

“Have a show tonight, I’m meeting Rian and Ash for drinks and to help set up” he said. She’d really wanted to cuddle with him on the sofa, watch a movie or something and basically just have him hold her. She obviously wasn’t going to get that wish.

“I didn’t know you had a show tonight” she couldn’t hide the edge to her voice.

“Yeah, last minute gig. I really wanted to wear that shirt Charles” he sighed.

“I haven't seen you all week Jordan, are you doing shows this often on a permanent basis?”

“Fine, I’ll wear the Green Day one, where’s that?”

“In the washing machine, I wore it yesterday”

“Pink Floyd?”

“s’ in the basket, just pick one that you can see Jordan. It doesn’t matter. You’re groupies aren’t looking at your tee shirt”

“You really got to stop stealing all my favorite tee shirts Charlie. What are you all pissed off about?” he asked, coming out, pulling a Breaking Benjamin tee shirt over his head.

“I had a really bad day, and I just wanted to curl up with you and watch a movie, but you’re leaving, like you have every other night this week” she said, not looking at him as she violently threw his matched up socks into the clean laundry basket to put away later.

“Can we talk about this later? I have to go” he leaned in to kiss her cheek, but she pulled away from him.

“Charlie!” he said surprised.

“Go drink with your friends Jordan.” Her voice calm and level, but not quite covering up the edge “Ill still be here.”

 “Charlie-“ She picked up a clean pair of underwear from the laundry basket and started for the door, but she stopped, and jerked his tee shirt over her head.

“And I wear your favorite tee shirts because they smell like you, and I miss you when you're gone. You prick” and she threw it at him before slamming the bathroom door and locking it, something she’s never done while living with him.

“Charlie. Charlie! I really can’t do this right now! I have to go! I’ll talk to you later” he finally yelled through the door after struggling with the knob for a few seconds.

Charlie took a long, hot shower, and cried her eyes out, until she couldn’t cry anymore, and then she curled up, in his hoodie and his pj pants and watched Modern Family on the big screen.

He came in about 12. The Middle had come on after the three hour Modern Family marathon, so she’d stuck to the same channel and eaten her weight in ice cream. He sat on the couch next to her and pressed his lips to her temple. She felt relief rush through her body.

“how was your show?” she asked, her voice small.

“Was fine. Made it through without messing up even though I wasn’t focused at all”

“I’m sorry” she whispered, pulling her knees closer to her chest, hugging them tighter.

“You cant’ do that to me Charlie. I can’t choose between you and the band. It’s not fair to the guys if I don’t show up”

“I didn’t want you to choose. I never expected you to stay, I’m sorry you thought you had to make that choice”

“you called me a prick and locked me out”

“I told you I’d still be here. And you were being a prick! I just wanted to be with you, tell you what happened, and all you could focus on was what shirt you were going to wear”

“Ok, yeah, I’m sorry for that. And you know I like seeing you in my clothes. I just didn’t realize what it meant” he ran his hand down her arm, across the fabric of his hoodie that she was wearing.

“I miss you too, you know” His blue eyes locked with her gray ones. “You want to talk about what happened today?”

She moved her eyes to the TV, but she wasn’t watching it. “It’s not that bad in hindsight really. I mean in comparison to some other days I’ve had, it wasn’t all that ridiculous really. Fighting with you is what really fucked it up. I don’t ever want to do that again”

“Me either.” He wrapped his arms around her, and kissed her temple again, “but we will. We fight cuz we care Charlie” he buried his nose in her hair.

“I wore my Harry Potter shirt today, the white one, you know with the Gryffindor crest on it, the one that kind of clings” she started,

“I really like that shirt” he mumbled, she could feel him smiling against her hair.

“It’s been like monsooning all day, and my car broke down about halfway to work”

“Charlie”

“I know I know, get a new car. So I had to walk in the torrential downpour for like twenty minutes, and it’s only like 40 degrees outside. So, I show up to work, looking like a shivering drowned rat in that soaking wet white tee shirt-“ he let out a little groan at the mental image of her body in that clingy wet white tee shirt, “And Mr. Lawrence was waiting for me, at my desk like he always is” Jordan pulled away a little, he kept his arms around her, but now he was watching her face.

“he really enjoyed the view my tee shirt was giving him, talked about it for about thirty minutes, following me around the classroom while I set it up for the day. Julie overheard some of it, called the cops.”

“The cops? I knew he was flirting with you, but you didn’t tell me it was something the cops needed to get involved in”

“You didn’t make out like you cared that much, so I didn’t go into detail” she shrugged.

“Didn’t care? Charlie! I wasn’t jealous, because I know that you’re mine. I didn’t know that he was actually harassing you”

“Are we about to fight again? Cuz you didn’t unload the dishwasher this morning like you promised and I’ve been holding that in my back pocket to throw at you for hours” she said, knowing the humor behind it would calm him down.

“Charlie” he groaned, dropping his forehead to her shoulder.

“So after talking to this cop, while his partner sat there, and I’m not even kidding, ate an entire box of doughnuts, they escorted Mr. Lawrence off the grounds. While they were waiting for me, my kids lost their minds, I had lost all control, no work got done today, at all. The amount of homework I had to assign as punishment will haunt me. Then I asked around for a ride home, but Julie had a doctor’s appointment, Scott’s car was full from the other people he carpools and Mr. Peterson’s Great Dane took up all the space in his car, so I had to walk home in the freezing cold pouring rain. Took me about an hour. I’ll probably never be warm again, and I tried calling you several times, but you didn’t’ answer, and you always answer. I was really worried about you”

“I’m so sorry baby."

“I need to be able to talk to you Jordan. Even if you can’t come get me, I need to be able to talk to you. I know I sound clingy right now, but I don’t even care. You’re my boyfriend, and when I want to hear your voice, I should get to”

He nodded, “Ok, you’re right, I'm sorry”

“I’m sorry too. I lost it earlier and you didn’t deserve that” He pulled her in, for a sweet, gentle, long kiss.

The next afternoon, Jordan was in the kitchen, frying up some meat and veggies for a fajita or burrito or something. He likes to eat and he'll eat anything. She's learned to stop questioning his choices.

He was singing. It wasn't loud, but it was beautiful, his molten chocolate lava voice, singing a rock song he'd heard on the radio on his way home from seeing his mom.

Charlie hadn't gone with him, she'd had a long week and he'd really worn her out last night after they made up, so he let her sleep in.

She'd gone to the grocery store, much to his pleasure, brought home plenty of food for him to experiment with.

She was watching Spongebob because she's twenty three and she can do what she wants, when she heard her phone ringing from their bedroom. She went to go get it. A number she didn't recognize.

"Hello?"

"Hi, is this Charlotte Logan?"

"Charlie, yes"

"This is Savannah Warren, management of K104.9. I received your application and submission a few weeks ago"

"yes"

"I listened to your Green Eggs and Sam podcasts and I was quite impressed with your work. Even more impressed with the reviews and the amount of people asking you to come back."

"Thank you-"

"May I ask, why you quit?"

"I graduated college the next day. My parents didn't see music as a reliable option and had pushed me into teaching. I didn't see it as a dream I could chase anymore"

"What changed your mind?"

"my boyfriend actually, he's been encouraging me to follow my dreams"

"He's a smart guy. We'd like you to work for us Miss Logan." Charlie wasn't sure she was breathing

"Really?" she squeaked out.

"yes, we need a daytime DJ. Miranda left to have her baby and Luke is floundering by himself. You have the humor and the musical taste that the noon to six crowd has been needing"  yeah, no. She wasn't breathing.

"You'll be the headline. Taking Miranda's place. Luke is a co-host, but he's just there for someone for you to talk to, someone to answer the phones, someone to laugh with. He's got a great sense of humor, easy to get along with. You'll work with him and Ben, the sound guy. Should be fun if your interested"

"Yes" she said louder than she meant to. Savannah laughed.

"You can start on Monday. Be here at 11:30"

"Thank you! Thank you so much!" This was more than Charlie ever could have imagined. She expected a small station to contact her, give her a crappy early morning or late night time slot, make her work her way up. But not this.

K104.9 is one of the most popular rock stations in New York. Charlie's been listening to Miranda and Luke for years. Both young, great taste in music and very funny.

This is the Dream.

She threw her phone on her bed and took a minute to collect her thoughts. to let this sink in. To realize that it really just happened.

She was going to work on Monday, as a radio DJ.

She should probably call in her, apparently two days, notice at the school. But she couldn't be bothered with that right now.

She squealed loudly, Like a fan girl, and ran to the kitchen, jumping into Jordan's arms, wrapping her legs around his hips, gripping his curls in her fingers and kissing him hard. He reciprocated without hesitation, kissing her just as hard, holding her thighs, pressing her against the countertop edge. She pulled away, a huge smile on her face. She pressed her forehead to his, holding his head in her hands. She pressed another kiss to his lips. His food forgotten on the counter behind them.

"you're excited. Who was on the phone?"

"K104.9"

"The radio station?"

"The radio station" she bit her lip in an attempt to contain some of her excitement. He waited for her.

"I took your advice. Submitted my podcasts to some radio stations. K104.9 wants me to replace Miranda Duram on the noon to six Miranda and Luke show. I start Monday"

"Charlie" he said, his blue eyes sparkling. "Charlie! That's incredible! That's impossible! You're unbelievable, you know that?"

"It's because of you. This wouldn't have happened without you. Thank you so much. I owe you everything"

"This is because of your talent, not mine. I didn't do anything"

"I never would have sent in those podcasts if you hadn't encouraged me to Jordan" She kissed him hard.

He had her naked and on the bed and was inside of her within minutes. Stripping her quickly is another one of his many talents.

He was pounding her hard, kissing her passionately. She didn't trust her voice, so she dug her nails into his back to tell him how much she was loving this.

Jordan's eyes squeezed closed in pleasure. He grabbed one of her legs, hooking it over his shoulder. The position gave him momentum and he pounded into her harder. She wasn't sure she was breathing as he pounded into her sweet spot over and over, her back arching, pleasure rushing, pulsing through her body.

She felt completely wrecked, unable to do anything but lay there and take it.

"You should see yourself" he breathed, hesitating in his movements only long enough to capture her lips in a brief, but passionate kiss.

Her orgasm hit her like a fucking truck and she couldn't do anything but lay there, limp, as he thrust into her one, two, three more times. His eyes locking with hers as she felt his warm heat filling the condom. Those eyes, those lips, those cheekbones. He's impossibly beautiful and Charlie struggles to believe that he's all hers.

They laid there, tangled together for about half an hour.

He was playing with her hair, she was curled up on his chest. She decided she wanted to try something. she didn't' ask permission. Better to ask forgiveness than permission.

She kissed his lips, pulling her body over his, deepening it, trailing her fingers over his body, touching his biceps, his pecs, down his abs. She kissed him until she felt him starting to come alive again, her tongue playing with his, wrestling and dancing, their lips melting together, until his thighs started to flex, and his length started to harden.

Then she kissed his cheek, his ear, and slowly made her way down his neck, pressing soft kisses to his soft skin, sucking a bruise on his neck where it becomes his shoulder. Licking at his salty skin. She kissed at his collar bones, and across his chest. Then she started making her way down his middle, kissing over his heart, and between his pecs, down his abs, where she ran her tongue in the deep grooves between each chiseled pack.

He had one hand grasping the headboard, like he had that first time she'd handled him, his other hand was gripping the sheets in a tight fist. His blue eyes watched her. She kissed down one of his V-lines, and licked a stripe up the other side, blowing across it. He moaned, his hips bucking, his beautiful blue eyes squeezing shut,

"Charlie" he rasped out. She took his length in her hand, slowly and gently pumping, as she kissed down his thigh, feeling him harden in her grip. she sucked a bruise into the sensitive skin of his thigh, ripping another groan from deep within him. She released him, letting his long length curve up to lay on his stomach, red, and swollen and hard, and she moved her mouth to the other thigh, sucking a bruise there as well, as she ran her hands up and down his thighs softly and slowly. Sensually.

"Oh my god, what are you doing to me Charlie?" he groaned. She couldn't help but smile through the next few kisses she placed to his inner thigh, looking up at him through her eye lashes, to see his eyes still squeezed shut. She went for it. Didn't stop to think about it, because she'd have talked herself out of it. She just went for it, licking a stripe up the underside of his dick.

"Fuck! Fucking shit! FUCK! CHARRLIE!" he groaned, his back arcing as his hips thrust up. She fought her smile, and wrapped her lips around the tip, he let out a few more mumbled explicatives, that mostly came out as incoherent babble as she sunk down lower, sliding her tongue around him, curling it. Going slow, pacing herself. Hoping she was doing this right. She pressed her tongue into the slit, causing another slew of curse words to leave his lips, "yes, baby, yes" she heard somewhere in the middle of them all. she wrapped her hand around what she couldn't take, pumping as she sunk her lips down lower.

"So good, so good" he breathed. She swirled her tongue along the tip again, the pre-cum not nearly as disgusting as she expected it to be. She pressed into the slit with the tip of her tongue, and reveled in the deep groan that vibrated his body.

"Charlie" he whispered,

"hmm?" she hummed around him, the vibrations causing him to gasp in pleasure.

He held on for longer than she would have liked. The amount of control he has over himself is unfair really.

His body was glistening with sweat, his breathing was ragged and his voice sounded thoroughly wrecked. He was starting to lose control of his hips, they bucked up against her a few times and she tried to hold his hips down with her hand, but she wasn't strong enough for that. She curled her tongue again, and she felt his thighs tensing,

'Charlie! Charlie!" he forced out, his voice broken, "Stop, I'm gonna-"

She barely had time to come off with a pop before his back arched up, his stomach muscles visibly clenched and he came, hard. Making a mess of her, himself and the sheets.

His body shook from the force of the orgasm, and the sheet ripped in his fist.

He was gasping for air, like he'd run a marathon.

As if on cue, the doorbell rang.

"no" he said, shaking his head, "don't' you dare answer that" she laughed,

"what if it's important?"

"nothing could possibly be more important than you cuddling with me right now" he said stubbornly. She giggled and let him pull her in.

The doorbell rang again.

"Seriously Jordan, it might be important"

"No, this always happens, it's not fair" he tightened his grip.

"it happened one other time, and Jess really needed me. Come on j, let me get dressed and see who's at the door. I'll make it up to you"

"Will you blow me again?"

she laughed, "We'll see"

"If the reward is your lips on my dick, I'll do anything you ask" he said, letting her go, and throwing his arm over his eyes. She laughed again

"Charming" she teased

"You love it" the doorbell rang again, and Charlie jumped up, grabbing her underwear and Jordan's tee shirt. She was in desperate need of a shower after that orgasm, but she didn't have time for that.

She picked up a pair of shorts off the ground where she'd tossed them towards the laundry basket the other day and pulled them on as she walked down the hall, hoping she didn't look too much like she'd just been thoroughly fucked and then gone down on her boyfriend.

She swung the door open, seeing Jess. She looked stressed, but she didn't look broken or like she was on the verge of tears.

"Hey Jess"

"Hey, I really need to talk to you"

"Sure, come on in. You mind if I shower first, Jordan and I kind of-"

"Oh, OH! You weren't in the middle were you? oh my god, I'm so sorry!"

"No, no, it's fine, we were done. Just give me like ten minutes yeah?" Jess nodded, and Charlie went back down the hall, grabbing some clean underwear and going into the bathroom.

She showered quickly, and didn't bother with styling her hair. She was still brushing it out when she went back into the living room,

"Hey sorry, I just, felt kind of gross" she laughed, throwing herself down on the sofa beside her sister. Jess returned the laugh, but Charlie knew it was fake.

"Are you okay? Oh my god, do you need to talk? The shower could have waited Jess, you should've-"

"Charlie, Charlie stop! I've had two weeks to tell you this. Waiting fifteen minutes isn't my breaking point."

"What is it?"

Jordan came into the room, he'd pulled on sweatpants and an old tee shirt. He hadn't showered yet. He washed his hands in the kitchen, and tossed the food that he'd cooked before she'd distracted him with her news. She could hear him rifling through the fridge, but it didn't seem to bother Jess.

Jessica reached for Charlie's hands, turning towards her and taking a deep breath.

"Charlie, I.. I'm pregnant"

Chapter Text

Charlie just looked at her for a few seconds, letting it sink in.

 

"You're pregnant"

Jessica nodded.

"Are you, are you okay with this?"

"I don't think I'll keep it, Charlie"

Charlie looked at her, and bit her lip.

"I never wanted kids. I don't know how to be a mom, especially not by myself. I thought if I ever had to consider starting a family, I'd be married, and in my thirties. That I could afford a nanny, that I could at least afford a crib. A family, a baby, that's your thing, not mine"

"You can think about this. You have plenty of time to think about it."

"I can't wait much longer Charlie. This thing growing inside me will ruin my body, and my body is my career"

"Wait, you're thinking about abortion?"

"Of course I am. The sooner I can forget about all of this the better. Just pretend it never happened"

Charlie pushed her hand through her hair.

"Modeling will be over for me, before it even begins, mom would have a meltdown. Can you imagine? I mean, you're afraid to tell mom that you're living with a boy, and if she knew that you weren't a virgin, she'd lose it. If she found out that I'm not..."

"Does the father have any opinion on this at all?"

"I-" she took a deep breath, "I don't know."

"You don't know"

"I don't know, and I don't care" she said with a conviction that wasn't all that believable.

"Are you planning to tell him? Who is he?"

"I don't know" she whispered, curling in on herself.

"Jess" Charlie sighed, running her hand through her hair again.

"I don't know if it's Bentley or Nathan, but I don't want to tell either one of them."

Charlie stopped and then sunk into the closest chair. She hadn't even thought of that. She hadn't even put together that this could be the consequence of the hell that Jess went through six weeks ago.

"oh my god" she groaned, burying her face in her hands.

"I know it was that night. our relationship was always about rough sex, but we always used condoms. Till that night, with Nathan. Neither of them did. I have no idea which one of them is the father of this baby, and I really don't want to know"

"oh my god" Charlie groaned again, then she looked up at her sister, "Are you okay? Like emotionally, how are-, are you-" she couldn't even get it out.

"I'll feel a lot better about it when i'm not having their baby"

Charlie bit her lip and nodded.

"When do you um.. when do you think you'll-" She felt Jordan slide into the space next to her, reaching for one of her hands, his warmth immediately causing her to relax a little.

"if you need a ride or anything, we'll be glad to help you" he told Jess.

 

 

She pulled their hands up to her lips and kissed his knuckles.

 

 

"I'm going to go tomorrow. Tomorrow morning before it starts to show, or the morning sickness gets worse, i have to get this thing out of me as soon as possible. I dont' want to think about it anymore, or worry about it"

"Do you want me to go with you?" Charlie asked, but she shook her head.

"Do you have any money? It's going to cost quite a bit Jess"

"I've been saving up, for this gorgeous red Gucci purse in the window display at the mall.." she drifted off bursting into tears again.

 

 

 

Jess had left hours ago. Jordan was flipping stations, and Charlie was cuddled into his side, trying really hard to not think about her sister. She heard his phone ringing from their bedroom, and offered to get it, welcoming any and all distractions. she'd cleaned the entire kitchen and made four batches of cookies before Jordan turned off the oven, picked her up (and a plate of cookies) and carried her to the sofa to sit with him. She didn't recognize the number but answered anyway.

Rian's voice came through the line, "Charlie! Hey babe, i need to talk to Jordan."

She laughed "Alright, I'll go get him"

"Can you hurry, I've only got like two minutes" she heard a gruff voice telling him to hurry up in the background, and she started back towards the living room,

"Where are you?"

"I need to talk to Jordan, Charlie" he repeated.

"alright alright, here" she said and thrust the phone at Jordan, "It's Rian" she shrugged.

"Hey, what's up?" she watched his face transform to concerned, "Jail? How did you end up in Jail?" and then to relieved and then to a mixture of frustrated, surprised and amused "You can't drive naked Rian, what the fuck"

Charlie couldn't help but laugh

"Where are you? Like which station?... how much is bail?.. oh my god Rian. .. alright, i'll be there" he hung up and ran his hand through his hair.

Then he laughed. Charlie couldn't help but join, his laughter is contagious.

"what a moron" he said and pulled himself off the couch to go find his shoes.

 

"So he's in jail?" Charlie asked to confirm, "Yeah, he got pulled over for running a stop sign, didn't have any clothes on" he disappeared through the hall, and Charlie went over to the kitchen island to eat a chocolate chip cookie.

"So, they took him in, like he's in a cell with like other criminals, like big beefy scary dudes?" she asked mostly just talking to herself to get a visual of this because honestly.

 "Is he still naked?"

She heard his laughter from the bedroom.

 

"Seriously, i'm picturing this cell with a metal bench and like these two meat heads right, with leather vests and arms the size of watermelons and skull tattoos on their biceps, and right in between them, is Rian. Completely butt-naked" she said through her giggles, unable to eat her cookie. This was a fantastic way to get her mind off her sister, she'd have to remember to thank Rian later.

When Jordan came back down the hall he was smiling, he took her face gently in his hands and kissed her, "Don't wait up" he said and kissed her again before grabbing his keys.

 

"Send me a picture!" she called after him.

 

 

 

 

It was early. Too early. Like 7 am early, when Charlie jolted awake. Someone was pounding on the door.

Jordan moaned, mumbling incoherently and burying his face into his pillow.

It had been really late when he finally came home last night. Apparently Rian had still been naked, but he didn't bring her a picture. He told her he didn't want to be the kind of guy that took pictures of other guys dicks for his girlfriend. well, fine then.

Charlie tried to carefully remove his arm from across her stomach, but he was being difficult and she had to resort to shoving and colorful language.

"go back to sleep" he mumbled, pulling her closer. The pounding got louder.

"Jordan i have to go answer the door"

"Shhh, if you ignore it, maybe it'll go away"

"Jordan" she groaned sleepily, the pounding wasn't stopping.

She finally found her way out of the tangle of limbs and made her way down the hall. She shoved a hand through her hair and yawned unlocking the door.

"I couldn't do it" Jess rushed out, pushing passed her into the house, tears streaming down her face. "I couldn't do it Charlie, I couldn't, I couldn't do it"

"Whatsit?" she yawned again.

A.M. is not her thing.

 

"There were pictures. Of babies and aborted babies, and I, I can't do it, I'll have to, i'll have to put it up for adoption, I can't kill a baby. Even if it's part Bentley's or part Nathan's, it's part me, and even if I can't keep it, I can't, i can't let it look like one of those pictures"

Charlie was awake now, "Are you sure?"

Jess nodded, fresh tears on her cheeks. Charlie took a deep breath and pushed her hand through her hair, "I support you no matter what you choose"

"I'm gonna have this baby" Jess whispered, and the two girls hugged.

 

 

"Mom is gonna kill you" Charlie mumbled in her hair when it all felt like too much. Jess laughed just like she knew she would.

 

 

 

 

When Jess invited her to this nice dinner at a more formal restaurant in the better part of town, she said that it would just be the two of them, sort of a thank you for everything you've done, for supporting me and not judging me, dinner. She told her to bring Jordan because he'd done so much for her too, and she was planning to treat them to dinner.

 

Evil.

 

Her sister is evil.

 

The waiter was setting down their water glasses and accepting Jess' appetizer order, fried mozzarella sticks, Charlie's favorite, when their mom and dad approached the table. Charlie promptly choked on her water because what the fuck was going on?

Jess stood up to hug her father and kiss her mother on the cheek.

Charlie reached over to grip Jordan's hand.

He took his arm from around her and reached down to give her knee a reassuring squeeze before Mr. Logan's eyes shifted to him.

"Jordan! Didn't think I'd get to see you again my boy! How are you!"

Dad's here, everything will be alright. Dad's here. Jordan's here. Everything will be alright.

 Her father reached over to shake Jordan's hand, and Jordan smiled at him, genuinely. At least she doesn't have to worry about Jordan meeting them. He's already done it once, and he knows how to charm the pants off anyone.

 

"Who's this?" her mother's judgmental eyes had now landed on him. Find a flaw, i dare you.

"You remember darling, this is Scott's brother Jordan, we met him at the shower" thanks a lot dad. Mental eye rolls all around.

 

Penelope Logan's lips set in a firm line and she let out a little hum.

 

The two of them took their seats, "Actually, Jordan is Charlie's boyfriend" Jessica spoke up. Her mother's sharp eyes were on them again.

"That's wonderful news! Glad to hear it" Travis stated, his smile genuine, but Charlie could hardly bask in that, with the look she was receiving from her mother.

"How long have you been keeping him a secret Charlotte?" Charlie squeezed Jordan's hand as her stomach did a flip. you're not a secret. you've never been a secret. I love you. i love you. 

She ran her hand through her hair "He's never been a secret-" she tried to keep her voice strong and steady.

"Well I, for one, never heard a word about it, did you dear?" Penelope looked at her husband who didn't dare to answer. He probably did know. Had probably known just like Jessica had, from the very beginning before even they knew.

"How long have you been together?" she asked, as the waiter brought two more water glasses. She waved him off before he could ask if they'd like anything else to drink. Charlie would like a bottle of wine please. With a long stemmed bendy straw. and maybe an umbrella. no, no glass necessary, i'll drink from the bottle.

 

"We've been together a little over four months" she answered, looking in her mother's general direction, but unable to meet those critical eyes.

She made another hum through those thin lined lips.

"Use protection. You dont' want to get stuck with her." she informed Jordan and turned to wave the waiter back over.

Charlie spotted another waiter walking by with a tray of champagne glasses filled to the top. She reached out for one and threw it back before the waiter could protest. She set the glass back on his tray before her mother turned back around.

"The service here is terrible. Charlotte why did you bring us here?"

 

Jess chose this place.

Jess is pregnant.

Can we talk about Jess please?

 

Jordan gave her hand a squeeze. At least he was on her side, she can always count on him.

 

 

The dinner didn't get any better after that. Every little thing she did or said was analyzed, criticized. From the outfit she was wearing and the way she'd styled her hair, to the meal she'd ordered and the way she was eating it.

Meanwhile, everything Jessica did was absolutely perfect because she's the good daughter, and she's obviously never done anything wrong in her entire life.

 

Dessert came around and Charlie was sharing a piece of cheesecake with Jordan. She wasn't sure she could take much more of this, so she decided to move this whole thing along, get it out of the way. Taking one more bite of cheesecake, she pushed the plate towards Jordan to finish and turned towards her sister. Her perfect, perfect sister.

"So Jess, you invited us here for a reason, yeah? You want to go ahead?"

Jess has their mother's glare on lock.

"No, no. I just wanted a nice dinner with my family" she's got fake innocence on lock too. Perhaps she should pursue acting instead.

"Charlotte are you hinting at something?" Penelope asked, giving Charlie's face a thorough look over. "Jessica, darling, do you have some news? A new boyfriend perhaps? Oh! A modeling job?! Did that magazine finally call?"

"Oh, no, no. nothing like that Mother I-" Jessica pulled herself up straight, preparing herself, "She's right though, I did call you all here for a reason. I, I have a bit of news and I, I really need your support on this mama" she gave their mother a perfect innocent pleading look with her big green eyes. Resistance against an eye roll gave Charlie a brain cramp.

"Of course darling! I'll always support you!"

Don't roll your eyes Charlie, don't do it.

"I-" Jessica took a deep breath.

Then she cleared her throat.

Then she took a deep breath again.

Charlie licked her fork, then picked up her water glass.

Then folded her napkin.

"I'm pregnant"

 

There was a pause, and the tension in the air was suffocating. Charlie's not sure she's ever seen her mother's eyes go that wide.

"You're what?" her teeth were clenched, her lips curled, her face turning an unnatural shade of red.

"Who's is it? How long?"

"I um, about eight or nine weeks I think, I talked to Charlie about-"
"You knew about this?!" she turned on Charlie again, looking like her head was about to pop right off her body, Charlie was pushed back against her chair by the forcefulness of her voice and the daggers in her glare.

Charlie tried to speak, but words wouldn't come. Her mouth was just moving open and closed like a fish.  Frustrated, upset tears came to her eyes. How did this turn back on her?

"You little-"

"You know, this seems like something maybe the three of you should discuss alone. So Charlie and I are going to go" Jordan spoke up. "Nice to see you again" he shook Mr. Logan's hand, gave Mrs. Logan a polite nod and took Charlie's hand. She barely remembered to grab her purse before he pulled her out of the restaurant.

 

"Oh my god. Oh my god" he said loudly to the parking lot as soon as they were outside and the door had swung closed behind them. He continued to pull her towards the car, but turned around somewhere between the third and fourth row of cars apparently unable to keep himself quiet until they got to the car. His blue eyes were wild, he actually looked angry, which was something Charlie never thought she'd see.

"I know you talked about her like she was nuts, but oh my god!"

"It's okay Jordan"

"It's not okay! Nothing that makes you look like you want to cry is okay!"

He reached up to hold her face in his hands, swiping away a tear that she didn't realize was about to fall and leaned forward pressing a sweet kiss to her lips.

"I can't stand watching her talk to you like that" he pressed his forehead to hers.

She slid her hands up to his chest, loosely gripping his shirt in her fists.

"It's alright. I don't have to talk to her often. I can handle it. Me and you yeah?"

He smiled a little. "Yeah, me and you" he kissed her again before leading her back to the car.

 

 

 

 

"I am sorry you know. For this whole stupid dinner. I had no idea she'd invite them. She'd told me it was a thank you for your support dinner. I don't' know why I trust her. I really don't"

"You don't have to apologize to me" he said, shaking his head a little as he continued to drive. They were almost back at the apartment.

"And I'm sorry about all the things mom said, about keeping you a secret. You're not a secret Jordan. you're not"

"I know" He pulled into their parking spot and turned off the car.

"and I don't ever want you to feel like you're stuck with me Jordan"

"Charlie"

"I'm serious Jordan, I still feel like I take so much from you, and give you nothing"

"Charlie"

There were tears in her eyes again. She didn't know what her emotions were doing.

"You've saved me, you know. You've saved me from my ridiculous life, and everything is better with you. Everything. Even the sun shines brighter I think. And all I want is for you to be happy, I never want to hold you back or-"

"I love you Charlie"

is it possible for your heart to explode?

"I love you so much" he reached for her, his hand coming to rest on her cheek. "You're stuck with me" a little smile played at his lips and Charlie couldn't help the laugh/sob that burst through her lips.

"I love you" she whispered, unable to make her voice any louder, "I love you"

 

 

He had her up the stairs, undressed and falling apart within minutes, making love to her long and slow like they had all the time in the world.

 

And if her mind screamed forever, then no one has to know.

Chapter Text

 

Charlie can't find her cell phone charger anywhere. She could have sworn she left it plugged in, in the kitchen but it's not in there (she did a thorough search, so thorough she checked the fridge). She took apart the couch searching, and now, she's torn apart their bedroom. Searching through drawers, under the bed, under the pillows, all through her bedside table drawer, her phone is dead, she was supposed to meet Kingsley ten minutes ago, where the fuck is her charger?!

Throwing herself across the bed, to rip open the drawer on his bedside table, she continues the search.

Pens, condoms, a crossword book, the remote, his ipod charger, and what's this?

 

She picked up the little black box, and stared at it for a minute, charger completely forgotten, as she tried to remind herself to breathe.

It's not what you think it is.

OH MY GOD WHAT IF IT IS?!

Get a grip Charlie.

OH MY GOD, HE'S GOING TO PROPOSE!!

 

Her heart was ready to beat out of her chest and her hands were shaking as she lifted the lid up on it's hinges.

All air left her lungs. Her organs were doing strange twisty things. This is an engagement ring. THIS is an ENGAGEMENT ring!

 

The temptation to call him right now and scream YES at the top of her lungs is hard to resist. He hasn't asked you yet. He probably has this all planned out, some romantic dinner, or some exciting surprise. Asking her is his moment, and she has to let him have that.

 

Plus, her phone is dead.

 

Rehiding the box, closing the drawer, and giving up on her charger, Charlie grabs her purse, leaves her dead phone on the counter, with a post-it that says "where the fuck is my charger?" on the screen, as her explanation to Jordan of why their apartment looks like it'd been police raided, and she heads out the door to meet Kingsley for dinner.

 

She's twenty minutes late, probably has at least ten missed texts and a couple calls from Kingsley wondering where she is, but she knows she's still at the restaurant.

She'd decided in the car that she was not going to tell Kingsley about what she'd found, that she wanted to call her the night he asked, and surprise her. That's the way she's supposed to do it. She's not supposed to know in advance. But as soon as she sat down in the booth, her brain to mouth filter gets dislodged and she says "i found a ring"

"What? Like in the parking lot? They probably have a lost and found in this dump"

"No! I found a ring in Jordan's drawer. I was searching the apartment for my charger, and I found it, hidden in the back of his bedside drawer"

"OH my god, you mean an engagement ring?"

Charlie nodded, completely unable to hide her smile. She was beaming, practically glowing.  The rest of the night is spent exchanging ideas of how and where he'll ask, and plans for the wedding, Charlie's sticking to her court house/fancy reception idea, even if Kingsley strongly disapproves.

 

She came home late that night, their apartment had been cleaned up again, and her charger was laying on her pillow with a post-it that said "Why was this in the bathroom?"

 

 ------

 

The next two days were agonizing for Charlie. He never made a single hint towards wanting to go out, or having a surprise, never mentioned anything about their future. Wanting to put that ring on her finger was driving her out of her mind.

It was Friday afternoon when he came in the apartment after work and told her they were going out for dinner. Charlie's heart did a cartwheel and her stomach swooped. Could this be it? Will he ask tonight?

 

When he got out of the shower and put on jeans and a tee shirt and his converses, Charlie didn't get disappointed. She doesn't need a fancy restaurant. She doesn't need champagne glasses, or him in a suit, all she needs is him.

 

When they pulled up to a dinar, she had to put the thought out of her mind, because he wouldn't do this to her. They might not be the most romantic couple, but even she can't tell her friends about a proposal in a dirty dinar.

 -------

The next time he got her hopes up, was three days later, when he asked her to go for a walk with him through the park. It was a romantic stroll, holding hands, talking, giggling. The perfect night. The perfect set up. But when they walked full circle back to the car without him stopping to ask, she choked on her disappointment and refused to let it show on her face.

 -------

That night, they were on the couch, making out like there was no tomorrow. He groaned out her name, and pulled at her bottom lip with his teeth. Could this be it? Is this their moment? A quiet, private proposal on the couch where he first told her he liked her?

In the middle of making out didn't seem like the most romantic moment, but the night as a whole had been pretty romantic overall.

But instead of proposing, he just leaned in and kissed her harder.

She pulled at his hair and bit his lip so hard it drew blood, in retaliation, but he was none the wiser.

 

 -------

 

Watching him perform, banging those drums, playing his heart out, while Asher belted out lyrics and Rian played so passionately it brought him to his knees, Charlie found herself building up this fantasy that he'd ask her tonight, on this stage. In front of all his fans. He'd call her out onto the stage, get down on one knee. It's flashier than anything she would have expected, but it would be a spectacular story.

-------

By this point, she was becoming used to the disappointment. Starting to wonder if he was ever going to ask. If maybe it'd be months before he was ready to pop the question... or years.

 

 

-------

 

Charlie was chopping up ingredients for tacos when she heard the pounding on the door. Jordan, who had been stretched across the sofa, with Smuckers on his chest, watching hockey, got up.

"Hey Jordan, Tommy needs that ring I asked you to hide. He's asking Bree tonight"  Rian said as he came in the door. Tommy is Rian's roommate, and Bree is his girlfriend that's practically living with the two of them.

 

Charlie felt a sinking feeling in her stomach as Jordan went down the hall.

Rian leaned against the counter, and took a bit of cheese from the bowl in front of her, sending her a cheeky smile.

"Our apartment is covered in roses, he's really going all out on this" he told her. Charlie smiled, as if she didn't have a care in the world, as if her heart wasn't convulsing violently in her stomach. 
"Where are you staying tonight then?"

"With Asher. I'll be moving in there in the next couple weeks. When Tommy moves out, I'd rather move out too than try to find a new roommate"

Jordan had come back and was handing Rian the black box. Charlie focused on cutting up the onions as if it was the most important job in the world.

"Thanks mate. He was so worried she'd find it if he tried to hide it in our apartment" Rian rolled his eyes, and headed towards the front door.

 

She didnt' listen to the rest of their conversation, moving onto the tomato she still needed to cut, biting her lip to keep herself under control.

She jumped when she felt Jordan slide his arms around from behind. He rested his chin on her shoulder.

"You found that ring, didn't you?" she didnt answer, just continued to cut up the tomato into cubes.

"You thought I was going to propose to you" he held her a little tighter.

"How long?"

"How long what?"

"How long have you been waiting?"

she thought about not answering, but there was no point in ignoring him. In ignoring this, this feeling in her gut.

"Bout three weeks" she finally said. He pressed his forehead against her shoulder where his chin had been, and shifted.

"It was a beautiful ring" she added softly, trying not to think about how many times she'd imagined that diamond on her fourth finger.

 

He moved his hand from her waist, into her eye line, so she couldn't see the tomato anymore. He opened up his hand, the most gorgeous ring Charlie had ever seen in her life resting in his palm.

 

 

"More beautiful than this one?"