If I Should Fall (Editing)

Chapter 3

A week passed since Elizabeth had seen Charlie and she found herself thinking about her often. She sat in her office, overlooking the Chicago skyline thirty stories up, staring at her phone debating on whether or not to call her. She didn't know how to do this, make friends. She truly enjoyed that night at the club and felt as if they had connected on another level, establishing a bond even deeper than what she shared with her own sister.

She shook her head, not knowing what to do as she began to slide her phone back into the drawer of her solid oak desk. The phone rang just as she closed the drawer, startling her. She retrieved it and was quite pleasantly surprised to see Charlie's name displayed across the screen. She'd forgotten she had given her cell phone number as well while they chatted. She briefly considered not answering.

Stupid, you were just about to call her. "Hey." She answered just before her phone would have directed her caller to leave a voicemail.

"Hey yourself." Charlie's sultry voice greeted her. "For a second I thought I was going to miss you."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that. I was so caught up in my work I didn't even realize the phone was ringing. How have you been?" She couldn't explain the huge smile on her face if her life depended on it.

"I've been good. Busy ... I was thinking about you actually. I have a friend who's having an art exhibit on Saturday, and I remembered you telling me how much you like art, so I just wanted to see if you'd like to accompany me."

"God, I would love to, but I can't." Elizabeth pouted. "My mother's having this fund raiser thing and John and I are expected to be there."

"Don't worry about it. I just thought I'd check, but give me a call if your plans change, okay."

"Okay. I'll see if I can get out of it. I'd really like to go."

"It's not a problem. Like I said, if things change give me a call." Charlie stated before they ended the call.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"You're playing with fire and begging to get burned." Madison stated before she popped a potato chip in her mouth.

"What are you talking about?" Charlie flipped her phone shut as she turned towards her friend sitting on one of her couches, eating her bag of chips.

"Um, hello! You're chasing a straight chick that has a man. Who, according to you, already stated that she's not gay and not interested in you." Madison bluntly spoke as she eyed one of her closest friends since college.

"She's right." Max nodded her head at Madison as she came out of the open kitchen.

"I'm not chasing anyone. I have straight friends. We all do. Why are you guys making this a big deal?" She took a seat on the wooden stool beside her island counter.

"Who are you bullshitting, man? We've all known you too long and in all that time I've never seen you look at or talk about another woman the way you do Elizabeth." Max snatched the bag of chips from Madison and began stuffing her face.

"Hey! Candice!" Madison looked at the other woman expectantly.

"What?" Candice turned her attention from the big screen television.

"Your wife just stole my chips."

"Correction," Charlie held up a hand. "Those are my chips."

"Whatever, I was eating them."

"You've been monopolizing them since they were opened." Max scowled through a mouthful of Lays. She tossed the bag back to Madison who smiled triumphantly.

"They're right you know." Candice commented as she turned to lean over the back of the couch, resting her chin on her folded arms. "You're going to mess around and get your heart broken again. Don't you think you went through enough over Natalya?"

"Wait a minute." Charlie stood up. "This is completely different from what happened with Natalya, okay. And I'm perfectly aware of Elizabeth's sexual preferences and relationship status, thank you very much. That doesn't change the fact that I think she's an intriguing, intelligent, ambitious and amusing woman and would like to get to know her better, as her friend. I'm not stupid and I'm not going to get hurt." Charlie explained even though she knew she was already developing feelings for this woman.

"Mhm. Just be careful is all we're saying." Max said as she joined her wife.

"Thanks for the concern, all of you, but I think I know what I'm doing." Charlie stated as she headed into her second bedroom that she'd converted into a home office.