Alchemy and Algebra

Chapter 27

Through the glass storefront, she couldn't see Charlie at the front cash, which concerned her a little. The poster for the grief group was still on the door and she paused when she spotted the thing. So much trouble over some letters on a piece of paper. Purple letters, at that. Never trust something written in purple letters, she decided. Hard facts were always in black on white paper, preferably bound in a hard cover and printed by a University press.

Kennedy walked into the store, greeted by the familiar faint scent of patchouli and sandalwood. She walked up to the empty till. She'd waited only a few moments before a woman, somewhere between thirty and forty, with waist-length, curly black hair and several facial piercings walked out from behind a stack of bookshelves.

"Can I help you?" she asked in the polite, bland voice of clerks everywhere.

Kennedy sagged. She'd never thought that Charlie wouldn't be here. He'd mentioned having someone else cover the shop once or twice, but she'd gotten so used to him always being here, it was a shock to see someone else in his familiar place at the cash register.

"I'm looking for Charlie. Is he here by any chance?" Kennedy asked. Please let him be here. She wasn't sure she had the courage to try this trip again.

The woman smiled warmly. "Sure, he's upstairs. Hang on and I'll call him."

The clerk picked up a phone behind the counter and dialed a number. She briefly told Charlie that 'someone' was downstairs asking for him. After thanking her, Kennedy wandered among the shelves, not seeing anything, moving in an attempt to burn off some of the nervous energy tensing her muscles and furrowing her brow. She found herself being drawn nearer and nearer to where she knew a set of stairs was hidden near the back of the shop.

Her head snapped up when she heard Charlie's door open. He looked first to the cash register, then scanned the shop. His eyes landed on Kennedy and grew wide.

Kennedy froze in place, drinking in the sight of him. The blue streak in his hair had faded a little since she'd last seen him. He'd not shaved in a day or two, and short stubble covered his cheeks around his mustache and small goatee, though the dark shadow on the lower half of his face only accentuated the perfect planes of his face rather than hide them. Charlie rested a hand against the door still, and the angle of his arm had pulled his shirt tight against his firm chest. He was just as mouthwatering as he'd been the day she'd first walked into this store.

"Kennedy," he breathed.

"Hi, Charlie," she said in a small, tentative voice.

He ran his eyes up and down her body, as if checking that she weren't a mirage, though he didn't move towards her. "It's good to see you."

"You, too. I..." Words failed her. There was so much to say, she didn't know where to start. They all rushed for her mouth at once and got clogged in her throat, preventing any of them from being spoken.

"Can we talk? Would you come up for a bit?" he asked once it became clear that Kennedy wasn't about to finish her thought anytime soon.

"Yes," she said. The word came out in a rush of air and carried echoes of all the things she wanted to say, most of which started with 'sorry' and 'please'.

Kennedy walked over to Charlie, who gestured for her to go first up the stairs, though he didn't touch her. She climbed the stairs, wishing he'd gone first, or that she'd worn jeans that were less baggy in the seat, but she couldn't bring herself to disagree with him, even about something so small, not when he'd offered her an olive branch by inviting her up.

On the way up the stairs, Kennedy resolved that she would speak first. She walked into Charlie's living room and sat on his couch. As soon as his perfect ass hit the cushion beside her, she spoke.