Love Bites

Chapter 12 - One Way Or Another

It's been around ten days since Charlie's birthday party, and Duff hasn't called her a single time. She also made no attempts to contact him at all. She really didn't want to see any of him, and thus she didn't know if Bobbie and him had something between them or not. To be perfectly honest, she was really curious about that, but asking Bobbie was the thing she wanted to do the least. When she and Charlie's family left a couple of days ago, she looked absolutely as satisfied and pleased with herself as at the very beginning.

Charlotte's been trying to distract herself from thoughts about Duff by taking extra shifts at work. She has been hanging around at the restaurant day and night, and it really helped her unwind. She's been earning more money as well, and it really gave her hopes to enter college in September.

- Hey Charlie! A coffee, to the table eighteen!

Wendy shouted out her order and disappeared in the crowd. Charlie shook her head and went to pour some coffee into plastic cup. Table number eighteen was the furthest of then all tucked in the dirtiest corner of the room, thus nobody really wanted to carry anything there and tried to make somebody else do that. But Charlie was the least important person in the whole Johnny Rockets company, so she had to go there herself.

To Charlie's surprise, there was no customer waiting at the table. She cursed and stopped so suddenly she nearly spilt the drink on herself. She saw somebody appear in the shadow.

"What the fuck?". Charlie thought to herself.

The unknown person began moving. It took a few steps towards her, and she recognized Clark, her colleague, the ultimate Mr Good Guy who she mistakenly considered to be called Gary.

- What the hell is going on? Where is the guy?

- Didn't you understand? There is no guy except for me.

Charlie cringed inside. The way he was speaking seemed to be taken from some cheesy movie.

- Sorry, what?

- I just wanted to see you, Charlotte.

- Me?

Clark's lips moved and he frowned.

- Yes. You know, beautiful, from the day I met you everything has changed for me. The sun shines in another way, and my heart has a new, crazy rhythm...

- What do you want from me? - Charlie asked directly, having put the cup aside and goggling at him. She was astonished and a little disgusted by his speech. Does he assume she'd take him into consideration?

- You are a goddess, Charlie. You make every other woman there seem bland in comparison.

Woman? Does he really think these skinny, acne-covered girls are actually women?

- Excuse me, but what should I do...

- I just want a little kiss, - he announced, awfully smirking and pursing his lips. Charlie jerked away.

- Nah, don't ask!

Shivering from horror, she dashed out of the room into the staff's and took off her apron on the way.

- Charlotte! - Clark called, clenching his fists, - don't betray my dreams!

- Shit, Charlie, whatcha doin'? - Wendy, the head of the waiters, shrieked when she saw Charlie putting on her denim jacket.

- I am going home! - Charlotte replied, lifting her bag from the floor, - home, Dee!

- But silly, you have to work, don't you? - Wendy remarked with a grimaces of exhaustion on her face.