Our Story

Chapter 2

Charlie found himself speechless. The new arrival appeared to be about 20 years old with deep mahogany hair that fell in slight waves to her shoulders. Unable to form a coherent sentence Charlie simply moved to the middle seat and motioned for her to take the seat on the aisle that he had previously occupied. As she sat and the sun shone onto her hair he noticed slight hints of amber and gold. Realizing he probably looked like an idiot just mutely starring at her, he lowered his gaze to her eyes. They were a light cornflower blue surrounded by a band of cobalt at the outer rim of her iris. As his eyes met hers he felt as though his stomach had twisted in on itself and his heart had decided to jump around in his chest. Never before had he felt such an instant connection.

The woman seemed uncomfortable with how intently he was studying her. She cleared her throat and looked away. When she broke eye contact Charlie felt the loss of contact. He didn't understand why he had suddenly become mute. Never one to be at a loss for words, Charlie was dumbfounded that when he really wanted to talk to someone, his gift of gab suddenly deserted him.

"Dumb, dumb, dumb" Charlie muttered under his breath. He couldn't believe he had messed up a chance to be suave and flirt with the woman with the blue eyes.

"I'm sorry. What did you call me?" the woman asked. She didn't seem angry exactly, but she didn't appear to be pleased at the thought of a complete stranger who had been looking at her so oddly was going to call her names for no apparent reason.

Startled, Charlie realized that the words he meant to be only in his head had actually come out of his mouth. He felt his face flush red with embarrassment. When he was finally able to look her in the eyes he finally found his words.

"I'm sorry. I wasn't referring to you. I was talking to myself. I was upset that a beautiful woman happened to need a seat on the train and it was right next to me and I couldn't even manage to speak" he admitted. "I was wishing I had come up with something witty to say or at least manage to say hello. Instead I just gawked at you like an idiot. I'm Charlie."

"Well Charlie, I'm glad to know that you are capable of conversation. I was worried I was going to spend the next several hours sitting next to a man who was just going to stare at me." This time it was her that started blushing. "I mean not that I think you were just going to stare at me the whole time. I'm not saying I'm worth starring at for hours, I'm not pretty. I just... oh, never mind. My name is Emma." The words seemed to have just spilled out of her mouth without her giving a thought to what she was saying.

Charlie found himself laughing at the embarrassed look on her face. "Well Emma, I'm glad you won't have to endure some crazy person staring silently at you either. Although I do have to point out one thing. You're right you're not pretty."

"What?" Emma looked startled at Charlie's comment. Not because she thought herself to be a great beauty, but rather because she was stunned that someone would complement her and then in the next breath insult her.

"You're not pretty. You are far more than simply pretty. I think the only appropriate word for you is beautiful. As a matter of fact, I'm willing to bet you are the best looking woman on this train."
"I'm not a frequent gambler but I believe there should be some kind of wager involved in a bet. Plus I don't think bets can be based on an opinion" Emma pointed out. "I think some sort of impartiality would be important for the judge".

Charlie scratched his chin while I considered Emma's points. "Ok he said. If I win the bet then you give me your address so I can write to you and you agree to write back at least once" Charlie offered.

"I can agree to that. I'll be at school so I can tell you which university and which dormitory I'll be living in. However, I'm still not sure it is a winnable bet. We have to figure out a way of determining if your proposed theory is accurate, which I can assure you it is not" Emma replied.
"I have the solution to that!" Charlie said excitedly. "We will do a survey. I'll ask people in this car who they think is the prettiest girl. When they all agree with me then I win".
"Not a chance!" Emma felt her cheeks burning as the blood rushed to her face. The very idea of talking to a train car full of strangers petrified her. Though not exactly shy, Emma had always been content to stay away from the center of attention. She was satisfied to be on the fringes of the action. "There is no way I will sit here and allow all of these people to be involved in this harebrained plan of yours. I would rather you remained mute the entire trip than bother all of these people.

"Ok, ok, you're right. It is far too crowded on this car to be walking around asking everyone. Plus that lady a couple of rows up and across the aisle probably wouldn't appreciate me disturbing her. She's sawed through a whole forest of logs with all of her snoring."

Emma couldn't help herself. When she saw the woman Charlie was referring to she burst out laughing. She tried hard to stifle her laughter to avoid disturbing the other passengers. She thought she would choke when Charlie said "Plus I would probably need some duck boots to wade through the puddle in the floor underneath her seat. There is probably a gallon of drool over there".

After Emma managed to catch her breath and regain a semblance of composure Charlie suggested that they have just one person and let them be representative of the entire train car population. Thinking that he was not being serious Emma readily agreed. "Well then, I'll need you to give me the name of your dormitory please because I won" Charlie said immediately upon Emma's agreement to his terms.

"How can you possibly know that you will win this bet?" Emma questioned.

"Because I never said who would be questioned. You just agreed to my terms. I selected myself as the judge. Therefore I win!"

"But that isn't exactly fair and unbiased" Emma pointed out.

"I never agreed to play fair. Sometimes you have to bend a few rules to get what you really want. So you can just write your address right here stub for me" Charlie said as he handed his torn ticket stub along with a pencil he had in his shirt pocket.

"I'm not really sure I should trust you after that trick you just played on me. But remember I've only agreed to write back one time. Unlike you I don't bend the rules. I agreed to one letter so one letter it will be. After that don't be surprised when you don't hear from me again."

"I'm not worried Emma. I know that I will eventually break down these rules you have in place. I don't play around just for fun. I play for keeps."

Emma was startled at Charlie's directness and boldness. Her first impression of him as a quiet withdrawn man had been totally wrong. She couldn't help but be worried about what exactly Charlie had in mind to break down her determination to stay uninvolved and unattached. She had a feeling she had just jumped feet first into a fire she had no way to control.