Charlie's Lucky Charm

5: Everyone has a Role

It has been a month since Charlie has seen the waitress and he's taking one more lesson from me before heading off to make himself seem to the waitress. After three days of leaving her alone he started to worry about her and told me he was going to go check on her. I convinced him otherwise, saying she would be more impressed if he actually stayed away from her for a full month like he promised. Charlie's still struggling with reading but he's gotten a lot better at actually reading through things and sounding out words in his head before speaking it out loud. I offered to also help him write, but he just mumbled each time that he didn't care to work on that shit. After this last lesson he stands up and grabs the boxes he broke down before to take out to the recycling "alright BevHead, moment of truth!"

"You're gonna knock her socks off, go get her!" I encourage him with a slap on his shoulder. He smiles and goes to leave and I call after him "and just throw those boxes out, don't go jumping in there! You'll scare her away!" I work for another 3 hours then head off to the bar to see the rest of the gang. All of us are hanging around, talking, fighting, yelling that no one but me notices Charlie come into the bar. They all continue to bicker about what color is the best color lingerie as he walks over silently with a small smile. I holler loudly to get everyone's attention "WOAH! WOAH! Look who's back! How'd it go, buddy?" I ask, hoping for good news.

Everyone stares at him waiting for a response and he replies "it was good, she was very shocked to see me like this!" He gestures to himself, wearing a new shirt and jeans that are not wrinkled or dirty.

Dee replies "shocked or speechless?"

Denis quickly adds on "yeah I don't know how I feel about this new Charlie."

Mac and Frank defend him. Frank says "I admit, I hated it at first but this new Charlie is really catching on. Our games of night crawler are really becoming sophisticated."

Dennis rolls his eyes "oh, shut up."

Mac says "so, you go out on a date?"

"Wellllll-" Charlie starts off.

All of us then hum out a "awwww" or a "yeahh."

Dennis says "told ya it wouldn't work!"

Charlie argues "wow, wow. Who said it didn't work?"

Everyone hesitated and I raise my eyebrows and ask "so you did ask her out?"

"Welllll—" he starts again and most of us roll our eyes "we talked but I didn't ask her out."

"Well why not?" Frank questions.

Charlie explains "it wasn't the right time, it needs to be the right time."

I stand up and point at him as I walk closer "what do you mean it wasn't the right time? You worked your ass off Charlie, you deserve some ass!" I then get to him and push him with my finger.

I hear some of the gang behind me agreeing. Charlie returns "and I will, when it's right." I shake my head and turn back to sit back down at the bar when he calls after me "hey, Bev?"

"What?" I ask without looking to him.

"You still wanna help me?" He asks.

I shrug, getting a hold of my glass "I guess. If you still wanna work for me."

"Wow, work for you? What's going on?" Dennis asks.

I roll my eyes "you guys know this already, Charlie's helping me a bit every day in return for my teaching him to read."

"You can't teach him to read!" Mac yells loudly "who's gonna be the illiterate asshole of the gang?"

"What?" I push, not sure what he's going on about.

Frank nods "yeah, every gang has one and we need an illiterate asshole. Its gotta be Charlie."

"Every gang has one? You guys are insane. What else does every gang have?" I push them to tell me what their roles are in the gang. They all laugh but every one of them starts to explain what someone else's role in the gang is. "Wow, wow. Stop! I can't hear anything." I yell loudly over them. They look at me and I direct "Dee, explain please."

"Well Charlie's the illiterate asshole." Everyone mutters in agreement "Frank's the short, fat bank of the group." Frank grunts in agreement.

Dennis takes over explaining "Dee's the blonde bimbo nobody likes and Mac's the gay guy."

"I'm not gay!" He yells back "not gay. Why does everyone think I'm gay?"

"And what are you?" I ask Dennis inquisitively.

He smirks "the beauty and brains of the gang."

"Well I mean your not the beauty anymore." Charlie mutters to him.

"Yeah, he's right. You're not the beauty, haven't been for some time." Frank adds on.

Dennis looks bewildered "what do you mean? Look at this face. This body!" He starts to unbutton his shirt.

Dee agrees "yeah, you're just brains now bud."

"Well who the fuck is the beauty?" He laughs loudly "you think it's you, Dee? Hahahhaah!"

"As if!" Frank hollers.

At the same time Mac and Charlie comment "you're so ugly!" And "oh no, you're gross."

Dennis yells "then who is it?"

"It's Bevin!" Mac says it "she's the beauty and the leveled headed bitch of the group."

"Wow! Excuse me?" I stare at him firmly, daring him to say it again.

"No, no. I meant bitch in a good way. Like bad ass bitch, don't take shit and get shit done bitch."

Charlie backs him up "yeah, you're clearly the hot one now, hot bitch."

"Id really like to not be called a bitch!" I argue them.

Dee fights "you sure would, wouldn't you bitch?"

Dennis starts to argue that he's still the beauty of the group and that beauty and hot are two different things. I just let them argue, knowing it'll come full circle and back to me. When it does, I just tell them what they want to hear "hot and beauty are two different things."

All of them but Dennis cheer out, happy I ruled in their favor and then they start to rant and ramble about something else, forgetting all about me helping Charlie learn to read.