The Art of Yearning

Separate Lives

One year later.

All Charlie could think about was to write. Write into his small notebook until no words formed in his mind. Whether that was a list of sentences that rhymed. Glancing around his small office, Charlie recalls the vivid dream he had last night. Shocking him by how real it felt, how each sense was heightened by it. The quiet footsteps of Henry had woken him up, hearing small whispers to which Charlie couldn't understand fully. All he did was lift his sheets, having Henry join him in bed, feeling his small arms wrap around him tightly. Henry had woken from a nightmare. For Charlie himself, it had been a dream out of a play. Charlie shushed into Henry's hair, his eyes ever so slightly pointing out objects in his room to come back into reality.

He had dreamed of you. His dreams continued to be about you since the day you left, since the day you last spoke. This dream, in particular, stood out to him and bothered Charlie to the point of needing to write down his thoughts. If not, he would go crazy, wishing that it was real. Somehow hoping that the words flowing into pages would reach out to you.

In this dream, Charlie watched as you slept. How your eyelids fluttered, the deep, quiet breaths you would make. He traced his finger along your hairline feeling your soft skin underneath his fingertips. He looked at your lips, thinking about the way they felt on his, the way you tasted. The taste continuing to linger on his lips.

It was before you shared your mutual love, as Charlie was afraid to admit that he loved you so much. Images of you falling between his fingertips flashing in front of his vision. Charlie didn't want to lose you. He knew how you felt about love. How others treated you in the end, and Charlie wanted to change that for you. Show you that you were so capable of love, how he'd supported you through anything even if it meant letting you go.

Leaning over to his nightstand, he held a small box in his hand before looking at you once again. He held your hand gently, making sure to not wake you up before lifting your ring finger. Charlie slowly placed a shiny diamond, watching how the moonlight reflected onto it. How the ring fit perfectly on you. Too perfect. He grinned at himself, repeating how much he loved you. This intense feeling in his chest growing every time he looked at you. A feeling he had never felt with anyone ever, making him feel so alive.

Charlie felt his heartbeat quickly in his chest as he leaned and placed a gentle kiss on your cheek. Then as he went to remove the ring, a smile rose on your face before opening your pretty eyes to meet with his. A soft yes whispered through your lips as you sat up in bed, embracing him, which he could feel so close to his skin.

"Earth to Charlie?"

A soft voice slightly jolts Charlie from being in his own mind, finally blinking out of the stare of his small notebook to meet with Lola. Gently dropping his pen, Charlie smirks from the delay of his response, his fingers beginning to lightly tug on the short facial hair that he had been growing for a year. He didn't let it get too long, but he didn't really mind it in the end.

"Sorry I was a bit distracted, Lola," Charlie speaks softly before closing his notebook and pushing it gently to the side, gesturing for Lola to enter his office. Her soft footsteps stopping as she sat in the chair in front of him. "How did it go?"

"Good news. We have enough signatures, so it looks like our show could potentially be at the Amor theatre!" Lola exclaims, "I figured once your name was public in the local newspaper."

With Charlie's plays being so successful, opportunities to add another company to California fell into his lap. He was skeptical at first, knowing that California was not for theatre, and even if it has, it wasn't successful. But as more months went on, the talent he found in a dream chasing state, Charlie realized that it was the perfect place to expand his theatre company. At times, with UCLA, plays had to be shown in parking lots due to local theatres shutting down. So this became Charlie's new goal. Save the theatres and allow more students and actors to be in his shows, even with shows that Charlie helped to direct for those who wanted to become future directors with their own plays. Which Charlie least expected from himself, but he was proud of himself for allowing it.