friends in low places

Chapter Three

It had been about a week and a half since Charlie met Phoebe, Lucy, and Julien. They hadn't reached out to him yet, so he assumed they weren't planning on it. He was significantly bummed out about it, but he understood. He assumed they were a few years older than him, and knew that they probably wanted to meet people that were closer to his age. He still hoped he would see them around though, and maybe convince them to play at a farmer's market or at the house sometime.

Charlie was hanging out at the abandoned house, which he also called his home, waiting for his friend Zeb to get home from work. They were having a house party later that night, so Charlie was doing his usual routine before having a party. He would first get violently high, so that by the time the party actual started, he was pretty mellowed out. After smoking way too much, he would then follow his next step, which is to have a mixing bowl full of cereal. After eating, he would work out, because he loved to work out when he was high. Zeb thought this was crazy, but Charlie loved how running while high felt. He felt like instead of running, he was floating through the air, every worry vanishing from his mind.

Charlie walked out of the house, decked out in his athletic wear. He was in all black, except his shoes, which were highlighter orange. He loved having bright shoes, not because he thought it looked good, but because it made him laugh. Who in the world wore bright orange shoes to work out in? Charlie did. And he loved it. 

After stretching for what he thought was a reasonable time, he set off into town square. He never really knew where he was headed until he ended up there. He liked it that way, it made it feel less like working out and more like exploring. Even though he was certain there was nothing left to discover in his small town, he liked to think that maybe one day he would be surprised.

Charlie was about half way done with his run when he heard a familiar voice shouting his name. He was in the middle of a road, on his way back from the lake on the edge of the town. He had his headphones on, so it took him a bit to figure out where the voice was coming from, and what they were saying. He found the culprit of the voice, and was pleasantly surprised to see that it was Phoebe waving him over. 

"Hey man, how have you been?" Phoebe asked him, sitting on the porch of a house Charlie assumed belonged to her. 

"I've been good! How about you?" Charlie asked, holding back his question of why none of them ever texted him. "And where is Julien and Lucy?"

"Oh, they went to the grocery store. I can't stand grocery shopping so I let them do it. I've been pretty good though, we started working on our album finally, so we've been pretty occupied with that recently. It's fun to work with friends, but sometimes we can spend an entire day in the studio and not really come out with anything." Phoebe said, almost like she read his mind. 

Charlie was relieved to hear that they had just been busy, and not ignoring him. 

"Yeah," Charlie chuckles, knowing what she means, "friends can help you make something so exquisitely beautiful and genuine, but it'll take you much longer than it should." Phoebe chuckles and nods her head, seeming to understand what Charlie was saying. 

"Well, do you guys have any songs written or is it still like, in the brainstorming phase?" Charlie asks, hoping that if they do have stuff written, that he would be able to hear it. 

"Yeah we do have like, 3 written that we're like, cool with, ya know?" Phoebe said, as she took a drink from the cup she was holding. Charlie was ecstatic to hear this.

"Oh hell yeah, that's so awesome man!" he said, genuinely excited for them. "You know, if you guys wanna try them out, we're having a house party tonight, and we would love to have you; if that is something you guys would be into, of course." Charlie says, hoping he doesn't sound like an annoying little kid. 

"I mean I would have to run it by the boys, but I would love to," Phoebe says, smiling very wide. "I should warn you though, the songs we've wrote so far are pretty sad, and might not be the best to hear at a house party.." Phoebe said, reluctantly. 

"Honestly, the sadder the better. My friend Zeb is kinda going through it, but won't let himself feel anything, so hearing some sad songs might get him to open up enough to actually heal from shit." Charlie said, looking down at his shoes. He was worried about his recently broken hearted friend.

"I'm sorry to hear that your friend isn't doing good, hopefully we can help him out." Phoebe offered a warm half smile. It made Charlie's insides light up. He had almost forgotten how naturally beautiful she was.

Charlie half smiled back and then said, "Well, I should probably get going. Zeb is probably wondering where I'm at. We still have to clean the house up some. I hope you guys can make it!" Charlie said, looking at Phoebe.

"Have fun cleaning, I'm sure you'll see us there at some point." Phoebe said with a smirk. Charlie smiled and waved as he took off running back to the house. He really hoped they would show up and perform their songs. He was sure that they would blow his mind, and maybe help Zeb realize that he needs to feel things sometimes, and not just shrug everything off.

Charlie knows that he needs to take his own advice, but decides not to dwell on that thought. Charlie convinces himself that he really is fine, and that he isn't in the same position that Zeb is in. He isn't struggling like he is. Charlie is fine. Repeating this to himself helps, and he is able to keep running until he comes up to the abandoned house. 

Zeb is sitting on the steps, waiting for Charlie like he knew he would be.

"Sup Chuck, how was your run?" Zeb asked, geniunely wanting to know. Zeb and Charlie had become friends at recess in Kindergarten, and they had been inseparable ever since. Zeb had been by Charlie's side through everything, and vice versa. They were the only people they knew they could count on, at all times, forever. 

"It was good, I'm definitely not as high as I was when I started." Charlie says, making Zeb laugh. "I also ran into that girl I was telling you about, and I think her and her friends might come tonight and play some songs for us." Charlie said, recalling his conversation with Phoebe. Charlie had mentioned meeting them to Zeb, but didn't give a lot of detail since he knew how Zeb was. If Charlie had expressed how beautiful he thought they were, or how badly he wanted to befriend them, Zeb would not let Charlie forget about it. He would assume that Charlie was in love with all three of them, and needed to make a move immediately.

"Oh that's sick, I love when new people come to play man, it gets boring listening to the same stuff every single time." Zeb huffs, rolling his eyes. Charlie hums and nods in agreement. Charlie and Zeb both have an immense love for music, but sometimes the same stuff does get old.

"We should probably go in and start actually cleaning, I took longer than I normally do." Charlie says, hoping they get everything done by the time people start showing up. It was around 6 pm, and people usually started rolling in at 8. He thought they would have enough time, but they both get distracted so easily that it's hard to tell for sure if they'll get everything done. 

Zeb nods his head and turns to go inside, with Charlie right behind him.