Not "Imagine Charlie"

Not "Imagine Charlie" 1.5

           

I open my eyes and stretch, limb by limb, in our over sized bed. It feels beyond amazing to stretch. I fell asleep as soon as we got home from our date night. I smile to myself. Charlie really went out of his way to make sure that it was a good night, for the both of us. I look over my right shoulder to find Charlie sitting upright, wide-awake, scowling at his cellphone.

"Babe, everything okay?" I ask, and turn fully to face him. After having such a good night, I'm really hoping that whatever is causing his scowl doesn't ruin today.

He looks over at me. "Oh, yeah, darling. Everything is good."

"Your scowl says other wise, darling."

He rolls his eyes playfully and smirks at me. "Always so intuitive," he says and lowers himself to lie back down. He pulls me toward him so I'm awkwardly half wrapped around him. "It was a message from Aspen. Although I have no idea how she got a hold of my number... She wants to come over and 'explain herself'. To the both of us."

I look up at him and see that his face is scrunched up. He's waiting for me to say something. What do I even say? Yes! Invite your ex fiancé over to have a little chat! No.

"I personally, have nothing to say to her. Nor do I want to hear what she has to say. If you want to talk to her and listen to what she has to say, then go ahead. I won't make that decision for you, Charlie. She's part of your past, not mine." I make sure I speak calmly and evenly.

"I know, I just–I had to tell you. I'm not keeping anything from you anymore. I never should have, and I apologize that I ever did because things aren't like that, not with us."

"Good, I'm glad you see that." I tilt my head up and kiss his jaw.

"Give me a real kiss," he pouts. I giggle slightly and move further up and kiss him tenderly. "That's more like it," he beams and chuckles softly.

"You know..." I say, nuzzling up to his neck.

"Yes?" he half asks and lets out a soft groan.

"I would kill for some brownies right now." I kiss his collarbone.

His head snaps down to look at me. "Really? You want a Starbucks run? And here I am thinking this was going in a totally different direction." He pulls me so that I'm lying on top of him.

I laugh. "Actually, I was thinking we could make them. I bought a box of brownie mix when we went to the supermarket."

"You're a tease. Horrible," he says grinning and softly slaps my ass. "Let's go make the damn brownies."

"Yes!"

We roll out of bed, and brush our teeth. I wash my face and look in the mirror. My babies are literally draining the life out of my face. I head downstairs to the kitchen and find Charlie gaping at the back of the brownie mix box.

"You alright over there? You look terrified," I say gigging.

"I have absolutely none of the things we need."

I look at him questioningly. "What are you talking about?"

"Baking stuff. I've never baked anything. I have none of those pans, whisks, you know, all those things."

"Well lucky for us, I happen to love baking. I have the hips to prove it," I say bumping my hip to his thigh. "When we moved my stuff here, I left a box in the garage, it's labeled 'kitchen', it has everything. Could you go get it?"

"Yea, just check the fridge to see if we have all the ingredients," he says and strides out of the kitchen.

I round the island, open the fridge and make a mental checklist. Eggs, butter, milk. Looks like we have everything we need. I take them out and place them on the island top. I hear a vibrating sound coming off the island top. I close the fridge and find Charlie's cellphone lighting up continuously. It's a bunch of text messages from an unsaved number. I unlock the phone and look at the messages. Okay, maybe I shouldn't be looking at them, considering this isn't my phone, but screw it.