Charlie was a character who was in parts two and three of Seducing Zoe and in part three she attempted to seduce Zoe with disastrous results. I've decided to do a separate stand alone story about Charlie and another woman, Casey. To make it slightly more realistic I've brought the timeline forward by six months for Charlie.
Charlie sucked hard on a cigarette as she stood outside the Melbourne Town Hall, a banner hanging above her announced the Australian AA convention. It was just one of a small number of venues around the country that had been hired out to host bigger meetings and workshops. The town hall had hosted two meetings already this morning but the midday meeting had been an Open meeting where non alcoholics were invited into the meeting to hear alcoholics tell of their drinking and recovery.
Charlie turned to look down Swanston Street, her mind flitting back over the years when this place had been one of her old stomping grounds, especially at night. She used to stop in at MacDonalds on her way to Flinders Street station after rolling out of a pub, often with a woman on her arm. It was a game she'd played with her old drinking partner, Lauren who had since moved in with a woman and turned monogamous.
Their favourite game had been the seduction game and these two women had taken it very seriously, picking out their targets at the start of the night and then laying down their bets, usually in the form of alcohol and their targets were always women. It didn't matter if they were straight, bisexual, gay, single or in a relationship, they were all potential targets for the Queens of Seduction, but everything has its price and over the years their reputation had spread. What had been a joke soon became a tiresome joke and then a pain in the arse because neither Lauren nor Charlie had any limits. Slowly but surely the gay community had begun to close ranks and so they'd headed into the wilder western suburbs and that was where they came unstuck.
Because it was further away from the CBD, Charlie had decided to drive her car even though she was obviously too pissed by the time they left the pub out in Footscray and headed home with two women. Despite her inebriated state, Charlie managed to drop Lauren and her date off at Lauren's place in Heathmont, but just as she was powering down the hill into the Heathmont town centre an unmarked police car flashed its lights and directed her to pull into the service road where a police car was sitting waiting.
She'd blown 1.70, more than three times the legal limit. It had not only killed off her chances with the woman in the passenger seat, who was told to call and arrange alternative transport, it had taken her driver's licence for twelve months and landed her with criminal charges after she threw an empty bottle of vodka at the unmarked police car. It was an uncharacteristic move for Charlie, who despite her predatory lifestyle when it came to sex, abhorred violence. It had been her personal invisible red line, a concept that she'd heard at an AA meeting when she was eighteen and a half years old.
It was not the first red line she'd painted for herself. Drink driving was another and there were other things she had promised she'd never do. That night however she'd crossed two lines in one night when she was released from the drunk tank at Ringwood and was told she'd get a summons to attend a court hearing at Ringwood Magistrates court. However, it was whilst she was standing outside the cop shop with some paperwork in her hands that her life had turned around, when one of the policewomen who'd been leaning on the counter chatting to one of her colleagues stepped out for a cigarette.
"You want one?" Diane offered her the packet, "it's all right, there's no charge."
Charlie warily extracted a cigarette and accepted the light. Her own cigarettes were on the front floor of her car, which was still sitting in the service road at the Heathmont shops.
"Thanks," she mumbled.
"No worries," she blew out a cloud of smoke, "so, how are you going to get your car back home without getting behind the wheel?"
"I don't know," she confessed.
"Haven't you got a girlfriend or some other friend?"
"None that would do that," she sighed, "I've done me dash with most of them and I don't have the cash."
"Prove it," Diane glanced at her handbag, "open your purse."
Charlie had nearly refused. It seemed like an intrusive act and hadn't they already searched her handbag last night? Nevertheless, she did take out her purse and showed her the twenty dollar note that she'd taken out along with an ATM slip displaying her balance.
"You got a job?"
"I work for an agency but I haven't had much work lately."
"Too busy partying?"
"Something like that," she put the purse back in her bag.
"Yeah, been there, done that when I was much younger," she nodded, "I'll tell you what, Charlene, I'll organise a tow truck to take your car back home but in return I want something from you."
"What?" Charlie's eyes narrowed.
"I want you to go to an AA meeting."
"An AA meeting? You think I've got a problem with the piss?"
"No, not at all," Diane grinned cheerfully as she butted out the cigarette.
"You only blew three times the legal limit and threw a vodka bottle at a police car, and just because you're standing outside on a Sunday morning with twenty dollars in your purse and fuck all in your account doesn't make you an alcoholic but you do have a problem with the piss."
"Fine, okay," she sighed, "I'll go."
"I know you'll go," Diane took another drag.
"How do you know I'll go?"
The words were out before Charlie could stop them.
"Because I'm going to take you to a meeting," she inclined her head, "my shift is over and I'm going home for some shut eye but you're on the brink. You'll probably get off with a warning and a fine over the criminal damage charge but six months down the track I could be watching as the paramedics cut your broken bloodied body out of a wrecked car. And that's only if you're lucky," she grimaced.
"The unlucky ones survive but manage to kill their passengers or some pedestrian, manslaughter carries a jail sentence and a memory you'll carry with you for the rest of your life."
Charlie came back to the present as a tram rumbled down Swanston Street and she stared at the poster on the side advertising Channel Ten News. Jennifer Keyte had been her crush for years and she let her eyes play over the sixty year old presenter before turning back to the town hall. The meeting was now over as more people spilled out onto the street.
She spotted her sponsor, Linda a minute or two later as she exited the front entrance with Diane. The policewoman was not an AA member and by her own admission would never qualify, but she'd gained a real respect for the fellowship after meeting a woman she'd once escorted out of a house for being drunk and disorderly. She'd met that same woman years later when a now sober Stella took her housemate home for a one night stand that had developed into a serious long term thing, and thus when Stella casually mentioned the convention, Diane had decided to attend an open meeting to gain a better perspective.
The two women had been introduced to each other by Stella, who had been sitting with some of her friends, one of whom still evoked a painful memory within her. Granted she had managed to get past the simmering resentment after her failed seduction attempt on Lisa's new girlfriend, Zoe. The aforementioned wasn't at the meeting that day and Charlie had found herself wondering if Linda hadn't mentioned to Lisa that Charlie might be here today.
Linda turned around to speak to someone bringing up the rear as she said something to Diane and that was when Charlie caught her first glimpse of her. The dark-haired beauty was a few years younger than herself with shoulder length blonde hair and a slim build. Her attire was neat casual, a white button down shirt hanging over blue jeans and cinched at the waist with a wide leather belt. The brown theme continued with the suede waistcoat and ankle boots, but it was her face that most caught Charlie's attention when she turned to look in her direction. She had a pixie face and a cute turned up nose, her face was made up with rouge and dark theme eye makeup. Charlie felt her pulse quickening as something shifted inside her, a hard lump that had been there since her failed attempt to seduce Zoe.
Diane was also turning around, albeit briefly and then she was looking around for Charlie, who'd ducked out as soon as the serenity prayer was said for a quick smoke. She nudged Linda and her sponsor glanced over and smiled before speaking to the blonde woman. Charlie took a few steps forward a few seconds later to meet them.
"What're you up to now?" Linda was asking the younger woman.