Play It Again, Charlie (13 page)

“Oh.” Will kept Charlie where he was with one breathless syllable. “You... .” He swallowed, and Charlie supposed it was
something
at least, to have surprised Will after all that arrogance a moment before. “Not going to lie. I am very confused right now.” This time Will didn't stop himself until his hands had resettled themselves against Charlie's chest. Charlie quickly glanced around them once more, then brought his gaze back to Will's face.

“I'm sorry.” At least Charlie could say that. He focused on everything but how startled Will looked, as though he'd never expected that. Charlie cleared his throat and didn't think about that, either. “But I can't do things like that.”

“Like what?”

The last time Charlie had felt this awkward he had been trying to explain himself on a dating site. “One night.” He rubbed at the back of his neck. “I've never been good at that. So I don't anymore.” It couldn't mean anything good that Will continued to stare at him. Charlie replayed his words, how old-fashioned he sounded, and stared at the space just beyond Will's shoulder. Now that he'd admitted the truth, Will would leave.

“No, you wouldn't be, would you?” Will commented finally and strummed his fingers once across Charlie's tie. He nodded to himself. “You know,” he went on with sudden ease, drawing Charlie's attention back to his face, “under that hair badly in need of a trim and this boring tie and the grumpy attitude— complete with scowls that are going to give you some serious wrinkles, by the way— you might secretly be the sweetest person on the planet.” Will hummed to himself, drummed his fingers again. “Or at least in the Bay Area,” he amended thoughtfully and ignored Charlie's frown. “That was possibly the nicest rejection I've ever gotten.”

Charlie breathed out to hear that playful tone return, then rolled his eyes again. “Like you've ever been rejected.” He glanced over suspiciously when Will's hands stopped moving. “What?”

“Oh. Oh, you
meant
that,” Will murmured, definitely shocked. It didn't feel remotely amusing to have surprised Will again, not that Will gave him a chance to try to mitigate his careless admission. “You really
don't
, do you?” Will wasn't actually asking, only staring forward so intently that Charlie took a step back and flinched at the sound of rubber scraping along the pavement.

“Do you use that often?” Will went on, following after him when Charlie stepped back again, and though he was still looking into Charlie's face, his mouth was moving. It took Charlie too long to realize Will was asking about the cane and that Will wasn't angry with him anymore. “I've never seen you with it before. Does it help?”

“I wouldn't use it if it didn't,” Charlie answered without slowing, only stopping once he and Will were away from the car. He slammed the back door shut. Will's gaze skipped over the car, the bag, and the black case still on the ground, obviously hesitating before it came back to Charlie.

Charlie made himself take a deep breath and ease the scowl off his face, not that it mattered if he got wrinkles.

Will ran his hands down his jeans and frowned, earning himself some wrinkles too. He was probably itching to get away. Charlie should be nice and let him.

“Look, you have somewhere to be, so... .” Will's phone rang before Charlie could finish, the vaguely familiar sound of a pop song.

“I'm late,” Will admitted. “I should go.” He turned, then turned back. The frown was still on his face. He pulled his lower lip between his teeth, the gesture uncertain for all that it was also distracting, and then released it. He hunched his shoulders and took a long breath. “Do you need me to, I mean, I can hel— carry your bag for you, when you go in.”

Charlie had almost forgotten about the bag. He nearly bit his tongue to hold back his refusal. He was still shaky, cane or not, but he shook his head.

“No.”

Will fell back onto his heels before Charlie could finish, as though he'd been on the balls of his feet. Charlie watched the color streak across his cheekbones. Charlie licked his lips, swallowed, because it didn't matter if he wasn't whole, he wasn't dating Will. “But you could get it for me, if it's not too much trouble.”

“Trouble?” Will seemed confused but bent down to grab the strap, pausing before looping it over Charlie's shoulder himself. Charlie gritted his teeth for a moment at the weight, but leaned more onto the cane. Will didn't step back right away. He took his time making sure the strap wasn't twisted.

All Charlie could see was the sheen of whatever Will had used to spike his hair. “Thank you.”

“Are you okay getting in? That's a long walk.” Will was so close to him the air seemed warmer, all music as his phone rang again. Charlie wished he could close his eyes, enjoy what he could. “I'm surprised there isn't a rail or anything.”

“I'm fine,” Charlie started, but he didn't think Will would believe it any more than Jeanine had. “I can make it now.” As long as he left soon. “You're late, remember?” Will twitched his shoulders in a mini-shrug, then waved that away.

“I know!” He peered up at Charlie before pulling his cell phone from his jeans pocket. “You can call me if you need anything.” Charlie knew he was staring at that, but if Will noticed he ignored it. “Where's your cell? Coat?” Will lifted his other hand, then stopped, left it hovering over Charlie's suit jacket. “If you want, I mean.” His voice got quieter, and the hint of a smile that had finally returned to his mouth disappeared.

Charlie remembered to blink, swallowed the honest answer rising up in his throat, and then looked out over the street as he got out his phone. It didn't mean anything; he knew that. He would never call Will, and Will would never call him, so he listened to Will hitting the keypads of both phones without speaking, shifting when he noticed just how much time had passed in near-silence. He turned his head, and Will instantly snapped Charlie's phone closed and handed it to him with a fast smile.

Will dropped his attention to his own phone.

“Are you, well, obviously you're going to be around tomorrow.” He laughed to himself, slightly short of breath, glancing up, then back down when Charlie didn't answer right away. “It's the weekend, so I just figured you might have plans.”

Charlie snorted to himself and didn't ask why that made Will grin as he finished typing. He knew exactly what he'd be doing tomorrow.

“Gardening.” Charlie kept his voice flat, but Will looked up regardless, flipping his phone into his pocket in one slick move. “I have flowers to replant.”

“Oh,” Will said again, because of course he'd forgotten all about the scene the other night and the flowers his friend had helped destroy. “Right.” He scuffed his boot, then lifted his foot to inspect the damage. After a glance, he looked back up. “I have a... thing... to go to tomorrow night, but it's at a bar, so it probably won't even get started until after ten.” As though Charlie had any idea what he was talking about, Will kept on explaining, his hands flying in several directions. “And I'm always late anyway, everybody knows that, so I probably won't show up there until
really
late, you know?”

Charlie wondered how ridiculous he looked with his mouth open as he tried to follow Will's point. He shook his head, and Will jumped at the sound of his phone.

“So I should really go,” Will continued, finally looking away as he bent down to pick up the black case.

“Okay,” Charlie agreed slowly, probably scowling, but he saw Will's shoulders ease down at the word, and then Will was beaming at him.

“Okay,” Will said back, out of breath. When he turned, rays of sunlight caught in his hair. He looked like a sunflower. His smile was wide and inexplicably pleased, and Charlie felt his mouth twitch as though he wanted to smile back.

Which maybe he hadn't done enough lately. He opened his mouth, but Will was already several yards away.

Charlie readjusted the bag to make sure it was steady and then fished in his pocket for his keys, locking his car with a quiet beep. Will was walking toward a blue car.

He watched Will load the case into the backseat as he put his keys in his pocket with his cell phone, and tried not to think about Will putting his number in there or what he had listed himself under. He didn't even know Will's last name.

He looked down quickly when Will turned, put weight on the cane to move, only to freeze at the sound of Will's voice reaching him across the hot, empty distance.

“I have this urge to quote
Casablanca
at you, Charlie, but I'm resisting!” he called out, twitching a moment later as though his phone rang again. Charlie blinked but kept his mouth straight as Will almost got into his car, fluttering so much Charlie could see it without squinting. “So... .” There was that pause again, the hesitation Charlie didn't understand, and then Will was bouncing in place. “I'll see you tomorrow,” he said, not quite as loud as before, and then he twisted to get back into the driver's seat.

Charlie waited until he'd pulled away from the curb— signaling, like somebody responsible had taught Will to drive, and Will had actually listened— before he opened his mouth to lick his lips. He had a feeling his expression didn't change, even when he started to make his way to the curb.

He kept his eyes on the ground and his feet as he headed up the sidewalk, thinking about his couch or his bed and not the light in Will's eyes or his insane comments about tomorrow and
Casablanca
. Charlie couldn't remember any lines from
Casablanca
except for things about usual suspects and gin joints.

Maybe it had been too long since he'd watched that movie and he should pick it up when he took back his seriously overdue movie to the video store.

Charlie instantly shook his head, sighing as he entered the shade of the courtyard and felt a small breeze. He held tight to the cane as he went past the circle of dead flowers.

There was another famous line from that film, something from the end. Charlie frowned and lifted his head as he got to the roses. He could think about those later too, along with old movies and whatever Will had been talking about before he'd left for whatever his job was. For now he was just going to sleep. He didn't think he'd have any problem falling asleep now, despite the pain.

Sleeping for so long should have left Charlie groggy. He'd taken more ibuprofen and passed out across his bed the second he'd gotten home yesterday and woken up sometime after dark, hungry and needing to use the bathroom. He'd managed two pieces of toast and to get actually undressed before slipping back under the covers and falling back asleep to the silence outside.

He'd woken again to Sam on his chest and meowing in his face about an hour after the time when Charlie normally would have gotten out of bed. He'd forgotten to feed the cat, and coming out of his bedroom in the early morning light to find that Sam had rooted through the garbage hadn't been a nice surprise, not that Charlie could really blame him. He'd just poured too much food in Sam's bowl, scratched him until at least Sam's ears had stopped twitching, and cleaned the mess up while his coffee was brewing. He found his cell phone too, still in his coat pocket, and set it up to charge in the kitchen.

There was a chill in the air, the last hint of the fog that must have rolled in last night. He'd opened the windows to catch it, knowing it was going to be warm by early afternoon, and stretched, carefully, to make up for lying in one position for so long.

There was still a faint ache that Charlie hadn't expected to have gone away, but the stabbing sensation in his hip was gone. But he brought his cane in from the bedroom and left it by the front door for when he went out later. Not that he could carry soil bags and trays of flowers and use the cane at the same time, but he was hoping to at least buy the new flowers before it got too hot or he got too tired.

So he took a quick shower, scrambled some eggs, and made some more toast, with cinnamon and sugar this time. He kept his coffee unsweetened to make up for it.

By the time he finally stepped outside, it was close to ten. Late to be getting started, but the air was still cool, and he took his cup of coffee with him as he maneuvered past the roses.

He'd have to go to a nursery and not the hardware store in order to find someone who knew plants. That meant more expense, but it was probably worth it. He took a moment to imagine tacking the cost onto Grayson's rent, though he wouldn't.

The courtyard was still oddly quiet for such a lovely morning, with everyone apparently sleeping off their Friday nights in their respective apartments or maybe out of town for the weekend. He didn't really expect to see anything from the corner apartment, not this early, not when Will had gone on about some late party, so he kept his gaze away from that balcony before turning and heading back inside.

Once inside he leaned against the counter to stare at his phone. He pushed out a breath as he scrolled through missed calls from his sisters, Jeanine, all the numbers he'd expected to find there.

He'd had enough surprises for one morning, anyway. He poured himself more coffee and took one burning sip before checking his voice mail, skipping right past the two messages from Ann the moment he heard the word “dating.” He'd call her tomorrow. Jeanine's message was to ask if he'd gotten home all right. He skipped past that too, knowing that if she asked how he'd gotten in, he wouldn't be able to lie, and she would make a big deal out of what hadn't really been anything at all.

Clearly, it hadn't. He put the phone back down and closed his eyes. He opened them again a second later at the tentative knock on his door. Rent wasn't due, which probably meant someone had a problem. He stepped to the door with another sigh and then pulled in a new breath to settle the twist in his stomach when he saw Will standing on his doorstep.

He had on jeans and a large T-shirt with one sleeve rolled up, and his hair was a tousled mess, flat on one side, as though he'd just woken up. Charlie blinked and looked down, checking without thinking, but Will was wearing flip-flops.

“You're up early,” he said stupidly, since he knew Will worked out in the mornings, but Will grimaced. His words made Charlie blink again.