Who Is Charlie Green Ch 11

Thanksgiving was two days away and one of the things Charlie was thankful for was the upcoming four day weekend! Every Thanksgiving his family would make the drive to Kankakee to spend the day with his grandparents, aunts,uncles, and cousins. It was always nice to see them, and his grandma was an amazing cook! But a few of his relatives were crazy! They would always find a way to have some argument over politics or sports or religion or something, which would make Charlie VERY thankful when the day was over! At any rate, on Tuesday he had one more test to take and on Wednesday he had the job interview with M.S.J. Office Technologies.

The test Tuesday was medium hard but he was pretty sure he'd done okay. Everything about the rest of the day was routine/normal except for two things: One, Donna was looking at him a little funny at lunch. He knew what THAT meant, and he made a mental note to kindly talk to her about expectations. Two, Renee Bridges texted him and asked if next week Friday (Dec 3) was a good day for their adventure. Charlie immediately texted back, "I think so, I'll know for sure by Tuesday."

Wednesday afternoon at 3:30 Charlie stepped into the offices of M.S.J. for his appointment. A guy named Boyd O'Donnell from the H.R. department conducted the interview and it went very well. Basically they were looking for a part-time assistant to one of their website developers. The reason why the company wanted to call this an "internship" was because it gave them a convenient excuse if the intern couldn't cut it. "Fired" from their first job wouldn't look good on any high school kid's resume.

At the end Boyd asked, "So Charlie, when can you start?"

He replied, "Wow! Are you saying I got the job?"

"That's what I'm saying; and while I'm at it, this internship pays $15.00 an hour for your twenty hours a week."

"Perfect, and thank you! Yes, I could start the first Monday of Christmas break which would be December 20."

"Great!" said Boyd, "That first week will be H.R. compliance and orientation. You'll meet your supervisor Calvin Samuels on Wednesday the 22nd."

"Fantastic!" Charlie was flying high at that point, and five minutes later he flew out the door. The next day he was still feeling exhilarated enough that not even the predictable family chit-chat-spats that occurred bothered him much at all! On top of that Vanessa was there again with his cousin Frank; such a bonus! He even got to talk to her a little bit himself. By sheer happenstance, Frank was in the living room with his guy cousins and uncles discussing who was going to be better this year, the Chicago Cubs or the St. Louis Cardinals. Charlie wanted no part of that conversation, and apparently, neither did Vanessa. She was standing relatively close to him when the debate started and it was easy to tell she was bored; five minutes in, the "debate" was getting louder!

He sidled over a bit and said to her, "There they go again!"

She glanced at him and gave a slight smile, "Yeah? This is normal?"

"You don't know this, but they've had this exact same discussion every Thanksgiving for as long as I can remember!"

"Oh my God! Seriously?"

"Yep, super seriously! How long have you and Frank been seeing each other?"

"About six months."

"Are you a baseball fan?"

Her smile got bigger, "I better be! We went to two games in Chicago last summer...or rather last fall."

Charlie laughed, "I've never been to a game. It's not really my thing."

Vanessa took a closer look at him, and he could see the wheels turning in her brain. If she had spoken what she was thinking he would have heard, "No, nerds generally don't like baseball." But she shifted her thoughts to, "I was never a baseball fan either, but going to the park is fun."

He said, "I'm Charlie Green, by-the-way. Frank is my cousin on my mother's side."

"I'm Vanessa Cole." She was just as stunning as when Charlie first saw her at his grandparents' anniversary. Vanessa was about 5'5 with a vaguely Hispanic look about her, jet-black hair and dark eyes. Because it was so cold that day, she was dressed warmly in a cream-colored long-sleeved sweater trimmed in black with black slacks that hugged her ass without being slutty. She was busty (but not huge) and if Charlie had to guess, he would have said she was a model. "During the anniversary dinner Frank pointed all of you out to me, and he did it again today. Maybe I'll start remembering names!"

"Where did you two meet, Vanessa?"

"At a Lowe's in Champaign. I had just graduated from U. of I. there. I was shopping for a lamp."

"Graduated, nice, what degree?"

"Pre-Law...Right now I'm working as a paralegal at a law firm."

"Are you going to go to law school?"

"I'm not sure at this point. What do you do, Charlie?"

"I'm a senior at Springfield high. Next semester I'm finishing a couple classes and working part-time in the tech field."

"That's interesting, are you going to go to school?"

"Maybe, I'm gonna work this job for eight months and then reassess."

They stood there for another minute listening to Frank's opinion on who should be in the starting rotation for next year's Cubs. Charlie laughed, "If you'd have asked me, I don't think I can name even one pitcher on the Cubs. Can you?"

"Uh, no...but I do know one of their players."

"Who?"

Vanessa smiled bigger, "Dansby Swanson." Charlie laughed, and she asked, "Why are you laughing?"

"If he's the only player you know, he must be cute!"

She reddened, "Yes, he is. Am I that obvious?"

He chuckled, "Yes, you are; but that's not a bad thing!"

She giggled softly, "Well good, I try not to be too girly-girl about some things!"

Charlie's whole face squinched up, "Oh my God, no one would EVER look at you and think, 'Now there goes a girly-girl'"

"Why thank you, Charlie, I think there's a compliment in there somewhere!"

"Oh yes, like you should consider doing some modeling on the side; girly-girls don't make for good models. At least I don't think so." He looked into her eyes, "Really, you ought to consider what I just said."

She looked right back at him. "You're not the first person who's said that to me. I have considered it."

"And?"

"So I'm considering it."

"Seriously...you should do it; you're genuine, I can tell! I bet it would come through a million times over in pictures."

Vanessa paused, "What do you mean?"

"Aw, Vanessa...listen, I'm like four years younger than you; and I'm not what anyone would call 'classically good-looking.' And we've been having a five minute conversation together which I'm enjoying. If you DIDN'T enjoy it as well, you wouldn't be standing there right now listening to me say this. That means you're a genuine person; there's no bull-shit in you!"

She stared at Charlie silently for a good ten seconds. "I think there's a compliment in there as well, so thanks for that!"

"You're welcome!" And then he added (very tongue-in-cheek,) "Can I have a free autographed picture when you hit it big?"

Vanessa smiled, "Let's not get carried away now, okay?"

"You don't think I'm only flattering, do you?"

"Not entirely, maybe just some."

Charlie leaned toward her, "I NEVER flatter, I just say what I believe."

"Really? That would be very unusual for someone in high school. I went to high school not too long ago!"

Charlie rolled his eyes, "Oh THAT's for sure; which is why all my friends are very genuine as well. We make every effort to avoid disingenuous people."

Vanessa studied him again. Charlie could tell she was weighing her options on how far to go in this conversation. "Tell me Charlie, do you have a girlfriend?"

"Hmm, No...not really."

This time, Vanessa had the squinchy expression. "What does 'not really' mean?"

"Just that I have a lot of 'girl' friends, but no one that I see exclusively."

"A lot? Are you dating them, or just hanging with them?"

Charlie wanted to choose his words carefully here, "I guess you'd call it 'dates.' Like I said before, my friends are genuine; we're all sick of the high school stereotype."

"That's interesting," she said, "You're telling me you've broken away from stereotypes?"

"That exactly what I'm saying!"

"Okay, how about you give me one example of this 'break-with-stereotypes?'"

"Easy," he said, "three of my good friends are cheerleaders!" The expression on her face was so obvious, Charlie laughed out loud! "I know what you're thinking, Vanessa. You think I'm lying."

Vanessa laughed a very cute laugh! "I don't think you're lying, I just don't believe you!" They both laughed together at that one!

"It's okay," he said, "When I made friends with the first cheerleader, you should have seen the commotion it caused!"

"I can imagine!"

"Yeah, it was so weirdly different; some of her friends tried to break us up; and we weren't even a couple; we just decided to be friends!"

Vanessa was thoroughly puzzled now. "Okay, I get that part, but friends always need some common ground to hang the friendship on; isn't that true?"

Charlie hesitated for almost thirty seconds. Vanessa was right, but how could he tell her that "fucking" was the "common ground?" So he simply said, "Yeah, you're right, we found common ground." He hoped that would be good enough for her; it wasn't.

"So okay, what's the common ground for your group?"

Just then it became apparent that Frank and the other baseball fanatics were breaking up their discussion. So he quickly added, "Hey, the coffee and dessert should be ready by now; let's go see."

"No wait, I'd like to hear this; what is the common ground that brings your diverse group together?"

Charlie decided to throw caution to the wind; he reasoned he might never see her again anyway. He mischievously replied, "Sex...we're really good at fucking each other!"

The shocked look on Vanessa's face was so comical, Charlie almost barked with laughter! If it wasn't for Frank walking up right then, he probably would have!

Frank said, "I noticed you two talking, what was that all about? Baseball?"

Charlie and Vanessa looked at each other and laughed; Vanessa said, "Look Frankie, I don't care what you say, the Cardinals have the best pitching!" Now it was Frank doing the laughing, but as they moved back into the dining room, Vanessa said to Charlie, "That was certainly...um, unexpected, Charlie!"

"I hesitated because I considered lying to you, but what would be the point of that?"

"True enough. Okay, perhaps we'll talk another time."

Charlie wasn't sure about that. Maybe they wouldn't see each other again; but then he froze when he realized Christmas was coming!

It felt really good to sleep in on Friday (at least until 9:00!) Of course his parents were up already; his mother was rearranging the fridge to accommodate the five tupperware containers of Thanksgiving leftovers, and his father was in the garage puttering. Charlie popped a couple of waffles in the toaster while filling her in on the details of the new apartment.

While he was eating he texted both of them with the address, grateful that they were not putting up too much of a fuss over this. In fact, his mother made a suggestion that was downright thoughtful, "Charlie, do you have laundry privileges over there?" When he realized that he did not, she suggested that whenever he come for dinner, he should plan to come early and do a couple loads.

THAT was worth a compliment, "You're the best, Mom, like...THE best!"

"I know!"

"Will you guys want my house key back?"

"Of course not." She gave him a mischievous smile, "Will we be getting a key to your apartment?"

"Uh, no!"

"Well that's kind of stinky!" Charlie just laughed and went to get dressed.

At 10:00 he knocked on the Phillips door and an elderly woman answered. "Hello there, you must be Charles Green!"

"Good morning, Ms. Phillips; my friends call me Charlie!"

"MY friends call me Ruth! YOU can call me Ruth!"

Charlie chuckled, he liked her already! "Is Jay here?"

"Yes he is!" said Jay as he walked in from the kitchen. "We'll have to make this quick, Charlie; I had a client call with an emergency of sorts."

"What is it that you do?"

"I'm a plumber; someone's ceiling collapsed from a leak last night."

"Dang, you better hurry! Here's my $2,000 dollars for first and last rent. I'm not exactly sure when last rent will be; it will be either August 1st or September 1st."

"That's fine, and here are the keys to the apartment. We're all good to go, you can move in any time!"

"Fantastic! I decided that the only thing I'll buy is a sofa in the place of the lounge chair. If it fits I'll keep both."

"Your call," he said, "I have to run. If you have any questions, I'll be around and you have my number. Bye Ma!"

Three minutes later Charlie was standing in the apartment sizing things up and feeling like a million bucks! The positives were that nothing in the room felt cheap. It was solid and cozy. The best thing in there was the wood flooring, it looked expensive; and it looked like you wouldn't mind walking around barefoot on it. Second best was the kitchenette. The cabinets complimented the flooring, and the plumbing fixtures looked like a something his mother would have picked out!

The negative was the bathroom. He stepped into the shower. Yes, he could turn around in it, but that was all. Thinking ahead, showering with a friend was out of the question. "Oh well," he thought, "Nothing's perfect. We'll see how it feels after a month in here."

There was a strip mall about a half mile away, and one of the stores was a "Galaxy Furniture." On a whim he stopped for a look see. There were two sofas there that caught his eye; one was medium length blue fabric, and the other was classic brown leather. The price was reasonable, but he thought, "Maybe Mark and Julie can come in here with me and give their opinion."

He tapped out a text to them, "I have the keys! You two want to come see my place and celebrate?"

Thirty seconds later came the reply from Mark, "YES!" and ten seconds after that came Julie's "Absolutely!"

"Here's the address: park on the street and walk up the driveway to the garage! 6:00? I'll bring pizza!"

He took some pictures of the couches and then left. Climbing into his car, another thought occurred to him, and he made one more text, "Carrie, I have the keys! Want to christen this place with me this weekend?"

When he got home, he started packing. Two hours later Carrie replied, "Saturday night?"

"7:30, perfect! Do you remember how to get there?"

"Yes, but give me the address again."

Charlie ordered a Papa John's on-line and picked it up at 5:45. Then he stopped at 7-11 and bought a six-pack of cokes." Just as he was unlocking the apartment door he saw Mark and Jules walking up the driveway. "Hey you guys! It's a BIG day today! C'mon up!"

They stepped inside and both of them had the biggest grins on their faces! Julie said, "Charlie, This is AMAZING!"

Mark was equally effusive, "God, ten days ago you were some nerd living with mom and dad; now you're the king of your own castle!"

Charlie put the pizza box on the table, "I'll be right back, the drinks are in the car."

"I'll get them for you," said Julie.

"No, you sit down, and DON'T argue, The King has spoken!"

Both friends cracked up and Charlie went downstairs. When he got back, Julie was in the bathroom and when she emerged she said, "If anything spoils this place, it's that bathroom!"

"Yeah, it'll take some getting used to."

As they sat down to eat, Charlie said, "So what do we see here? What does this place need?"

Mark said, "Furniture wise I think you need a sofa. If you wanted to entertain guests sometimes, your gonna need something more than these chairs we're sitting on."

"Funny you should mention that; I took these pictures today at the Galaxy store on Williams."

After seeing them, Julie said, "I like the leather one, it fits the decor better. The blue one would cheapen the room."

"I agree," Mark affirmed.

"Okay, that settles that! What else?"

After some discussion and five minutes perusing what was in the cabinets and drawers, they had a list: mini-blinds and a valance for the two windows, six place settings for meals with guests. Silverware, pots pans, cooking utensils, and two extension cords with surge protectors. "Besides groceries," said Charlie, "this should get me through the first two or three weeks; then I can reassess."

"Two more things for the list," Jules added, "bed linens, and bathroom towels, etc."

When the flurry of organizational activity ended, the three of them sat down again with the last of the cokes. After exhausting the topic of home ownership, Mark said, "Okay, now that we have you settled in here, I have a question that's been on my mind since you told us about this place."

"And that is?"

"Did you really get this place for your autonomy, or did you get it for the sexual possibilities it opens up?"

"MARK!" Julie exclaimed, "Some things should remain unsaid, you big dope!"

"What? Are you telling me you weren't thinking it?"

"Of course I was thinking it, but I have better sense than to actually SAY it"

Both guys looked at each other and laughed, "Women!" said Mark, "We did the exhibitionist thing together in my rec room; Then we had sex together with Krista, right? Now she's a little bashful about a very sensible question? C'mon Charlie, you can answer that one for sure!"

"The answer is 'both,'" he said, "I want to live making my own decisions; but I also don't like scrambling around for somewhere to fuck! Like Carrie's coming over tomorrow night to (what she calls) christen the place!"

His friends both chuckled and Mark said, "There is one sad thing though, the fun we had with us and Krista two weeks ago; it probably can't happen in a room as small as this."

Then Julie surprised both guys, "Maybe we just need to get more creative!"

"We what?" Mark replied, "Uh, what does that mean exactly?"

Julie blushed, "Oh, never mind; we can talk about it later."

He looked at Charlie, "Oh my God, what was that we were saying about women?" He turned back to his girlfriend, "We've been friends for too long, Jules; what do you mean 'never mind?' We don't even know what it is to never mind!"

Charlie was looking at Julie (in that Charlie Green way;) he was studying her. "I know what she means, Mark."

"You do?" What?"

Charlie said to Julie, "You've been thinking about this 'creative' thing for a while now, right?" She blushed some more and nodded. "And you've been trying to work up the courage to tell us." She closed her eyes and nodded again.

"Work up the courage for what?" Mark was slightly frustrated.

"Hey Doofus," said Charlie, "She's been trying to figure out how to say she wants BOTH of us to fuck her, a threesome!"

"WHAT?"

Charlie chuckled and said to Jules, "That's it, isn't it!"

"Yes."

"She wants it bad, Mark; my guess is she started thinking about it when we did that foursome thing."

"Holy shit!"

"Julie, you want to say something?" She shifted in her chair and looked a little fidgety; she started to say something, but stopped. "Hey Jules, like we just said, we've been friends a long time; go ahead, what are you thinking?"

All of a sudden, it all came out. "I just don't want to hurt anyone's feelings," she said. To Mark she said, "I like our relationship, and I don't want to ruin it." And to Charlie she said, "And I also don't want any situation to ruin your friendship with us!" She pointed to Mark, "And especially him!"

Charlie said to Mark, "I think she's putting this on you, man; it sounds like she wants to have her cake and eat it too! She's YOUR girlfriend; I hope you realize I'd never want to disrupt that!" Charlie could see Mark's mind was racing over it. He also knew she would never have brought it up unless she wanted it BAD!