Stand-Ups in New York

Chapter 20 - Jeanie

Pete watched Charlotte as she stirred the ingredients on the stove. She decided to cook chicken piccata and was slowly teaching Pete how to make it. They shopped at the grocery store together, she taught him the right way to prepare the chicken and mix all of the ingredients for the sauce, and now she was stirring while he got the pasta ready. Charlotte was happy to explain every step and patiently waited even though he knew that she could have probably made the entire meal faster if he was doing nothing at all. He smiled as he imagined doing this with the ten kids in her class.

"Have you ever cooked a meal in this apartment?" Charlotte asked as she wiped her stray hairs back.

"Will you judge me if I say no?"

Charlotte laughed. "A little, yes," she said.

Pete poured his pasta in a bowl and went to the stove. He leaned on the counter to watch Charlotte work. "I don't stay here too often. I usually stay with my mom."

"So why do you have this place?" she asked.

Pete shrugged. "It's easier to stay here after the late night rehearsals and shows. Plus I don't usually bring dates back to the basement with me."

Charlotte blushed. "That makes sense," she said, covering the pan and letting everything simmer. Her face was red from the heat of the stove and her make up smeared under her eyes. Even sweating and wearing her hair in a messy ponytail she looked gorgeous. "Do you think your mom misses you this week?"

"I don't think so, she's the one who told me to stay in the city with you."

"She told you to stay in the city with me this week?" Charlotte asked, her eyebrows knitting together. "Your mom is a lot cooler than mine I guess."

Pete laughed. "My mom just wants me to be happy."

Charlotte walked to Pete and leaned her body on Pete's, resting her chin on his chest. "And she thinks I can make you happy?" she asked.

Pete looked at Charlotte, placing his hands on her waist. "She's definitely hoping you can," he said.

Charlotte leaned up, kissing him on the cheek. "I hope I can, too."

"So this is your favorite thing to cook?" Pete asked as he smoothed her hair at the sides.

"Yes it is!" Charlotte said. "This is the first one that I made for myself when my ex moved out, and it's been kind of special to me since then."

"Well it looks incredible."

"Well you look incredible," Charlotte said, wrapping her arms around Pete's shoulders.

Pete smiled. "Nice line," he said, nuzzling his nose into Charlotte's hair. He felt Charlotte bury her head as close to his neck as she could reach. Her hair was so soft and her body curved into his perfectly.

Charlotte gasped. "Oh, shit, the food." She moved quickly back to the stove and stirred the contents of the pan again.

Pete heard the FaceTime tone sound on one of their phones. He turned to the counter and saw Charlotte's phone going off. "Can you get that?" Charlotte asked.

"No problem," Pete said, picking it up. Jeanie wants to FaceTime was on the top of her screen. He pushed the button to answer the call.

"OH MY FUCKING GOD!"

Pete almost dropped the phone and Charlotte whipped around. "Who is that?" she asked.

Before Pete could answer the screaming continued. "HOW COULD YOU NOT TELL ME?" He looked at the screen and saw a young woman with a crazy mop of hair and dark brown eyes. She looked at him and her mouth went slack. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize that you weren't Charlie."

"Hey, Jeanie, just a second," Charlie said as she scooped food onto Pete's paper plates.

"Okay, no rush," Jeanie said. She and Pete stared at each other for a moment before saying, "So you got Charlie on Saturday Night Live last week?" she asked.

"I did," Pete said. He tried to comb his brain for any mentions Charlotte had made of Jeanie, and then the picture of a wedding dress popped into his head. "Your wedding is coming soon, right?"

Jeanie's face lit up. "It is! We're getting married in Vermont this Memorial Day weekend!"

"Congratulations, that should be really fun."

"It will be! Are you going to come?"

"Woah, okay, okay," Charlotte ran over to phone and grabbed it from Pete's hand. "Jeanie, you can't just invite Pete to your wedding, it's less than two months away."

"Oh, come on, Char! You still have a plus one that you haven't used yet, and you'll be the only one in the wedding party without a date."

Charlotte rolled her eyes. "Jeanie, I've told you, I don't mind being alone. My whole family will be there, and I will be fine."

"Charlotte Costa, you have had pictures taken of you and a man all around New York City and you are still going to my wedding alone? Put Peter back on this phone, I want to hear what he has to say."

"Of course he's going to say he'll come if you ask him."

"I do want to go," Pete interjected. Charlotte looked at him, her mouth close to a straight line.

"We can talk about it later," she said. Pete nodded as Charlotte looked back at Jeanie. "We just made dinner but I'll call you after we eat, okay?"

Jeanie smiled and winked. "Dinner, right. Okay, I'll let you guys do you thing. Love you!"

"Love you, too." Charlotte hung up the phone and picked up the two plates she had been working on. Pete got a bottle of wine and two glasses. The pair went to Pete's couch and sat next to each other, Pete pouring drinks and Charlotte putting down the plates.

"So is now later?" Pete asked as he took a bite of the piccata. Damn, that was good. He didn't think he'd ever made anything more in his kitchen than toast and cereal.

"Do we really have to talk about this? Jeanie overstepped asking you to go to her wedding with me. I'm not actually expecting you to come with me, so we don't even have to talk about it." Charlotte started eating as well.

"But I want to go," Pete said.

Charlotte looked at him. "You want to go to a wedding over Memorial Day weekend with me and meet my sisters and parents while I try to keep my best friend calm long enough to actually get married?"

Pete smiled. "Yes, I really want to."

Charlotte smiled. "Okay, why don't we wait until the end of the week and see?"

"Why wait until the end of the week?"

"I want to make sure you aren't sick of me," Charlotte said, smiling.

Pete chuckled. "I don't think that's a possibility, but whatever you say."