Accidents Happen - 1. Chapter 1 - Charlies Night

Chapter 1 – Charlie’s Night

The rain was still falling steadily as Charlie gazed out the dark window into the early morning. His legs were tired from standing there all night. He’d finally stopped crying about an hour ago but his eyes were still puffy and there would be dark circles under them today. As he stood there with his arms wrapped around his chest the alarm clock began to ring. Absently he turned around and slammed the button off. Catching his image in the mirror he realized his students would be seeing him at his worst.

“Well,” he said talking to his reflection in the mirror, “at least things can’t get much worse.”

Charlie slowly dragged himself into the bathroom and started up the shower. The sounds of the shower matched the sound of the falling rain making everything seem a bit more depressing than normal.

Last night had been a disaster to put it mildly. His relationship with Tina had crashed and burned. He’d met Tina in his first year of college and like so many things in his life that had been an accident as well.

Charlie was shy and quiet most of the time. He had been called a geek, which was probably true, and to be honest he was awkward at best in social situations. It hadn’t helped matters that his college roommate was a social butterfly and the room was constantly full of men and women who were stopping by to see what was going on with Ted. Ted, tired of simply telling Charlie he had to get out more, finally dragged him off one night to one of the many parties being held on the campus.

“Look you won’t die if you go out Charlie! For Christ’s sake you live like a hermit. You need to get out and I’m making sure you do!”

"I do go out of our room, Ted. I am not a hermit you know?"

"Going to the library to study or the student union to grab food to bring back here isn't living or having a social life, Charlie."

The argument or something like it had been going on since their first semester together. Ted had become a close friend despite Charlie’s reluctance to make friends. For three years they had been roommates and it had worked out well for both of them. Charlie helped Ted focus on his papers when the time came, and Ted made sure Charlie didn’t hide completely in their room all year. However Ted was constantly trying to get Charlie to come out of his shell and make more friends. Ted the gregarious Communications major and shy Charlie the Education major were an odd pair but good friends.

“But,” stammered Charlie.

“No buts! Let’s go Charlie,” stated Ted as he grabbed Charlie by the arm and dragged him out into the night. “You know college is supposed to be the time you make lifelong friends. Not end up hiding away with your face in a book. I mean I know your grades are important but so is life, Charlie.”

Charlie went if not happily. The party was in one of the large student buildings and that meant absolutely no alcohol so Charlie didn’t think he would get into any type of trouble. Naturally, Ted wandered away two minutes after they entered talking to a large group of people who seemed to swarm up and swallow him whole. Charlie nervously tried to find a place to hide. Ultimately, Charlie figured if he had one drink and left Ted couldn’t really be mad at him.

There were large bottles of water, cans of soda, and a bowl of fruit punch with pieces of pineapple and cherries floating in it. Figuring the punch looked good he ladled himself out a glass and was turning around when the accident happened. A pretty young woman in a white shirt was suddenly there and Charlie’s glass of punch was spilled down the front of it. Charlie was horrified.

“Oh my, oh, damn, I mean,” Charlie stammered as he looked around for something to use to wipe off her shirt. “I never meant to, oh, shit”

The young woman looked stunned for a moment and then laughed. “Shouldn’t I be the one upset? I mean I am the one wearing the punch.”

“I am so sorry,” he began again.”I didn’t mean to …”

“Let me wear your drink,” she finished for him. “Don’t worry about it. I should have known better than to wear a white top to any sort of party. I was asking for disaster to strike me. Just didn’t think it would happen two minutes in the door.”

Charlie was turning a darker and darker shade of red as he noticed the white shirt, now stained red and pink was also becoming rather transparent. The young woman took one look at his face and grabbed his arm. Charlie barely was taller than Tina, and in the one inch heels she wore he looked her eye to eye. Sometimes his 5'7'' height left him at a big disadvantage with people.

“Come on handsome, if I am going to be showing my bra to the whole college you are walking me home to change. My name is Tina by the way. What the hell is yours,” she asked trying not to laugh at the look on Charlie's face.

She hadn’t looked back but dragged him out the door and across the quad to her dorm.

“Um, my name is Charlie,” he stammered out. He found while he might be taller he was nearly jogging to keep up with Tina’s fast moving gait.

“Well, Charlie, no men are allowed beyond the lobby so sit down and I’ll be right back.”

And that was it. From that moment on Tina was at his side. When she said they should go to the dance he bought the tickets. When she suggested the movies he just smiled and agreed. It had been that way all through the last year and a half of college and up to the first two weeks of school that first September.

He had been lucky. His student teaching had allowed him to work with first graders. He had fallen in love with his students immediately. These kids he could relate to. They didn’t notice how shy he normally was or say things that were rude or mean. They wanted to play, learn, and be kids. He made such an impression on the regular teacher that she wrote him a glowing letter of recommendation that found him immediately hired after graduation.

Tina had helped him find a place and set it up. He thought everything was going great until last night. Last night his whole world came crashing down around his ears. Funny, he thought things were going so well. Then Tina called and told him she had to see him tonight, at seven at his apartment.

“Charlie! Are you even listening to me,” Tina grunted in aggravation.

“Of course, Tina,” was his soft reply.

Tina stared at him. The more she looked the more uncomfortable he felt.

“You know I use to find that shy quiet routine sexy but now I know it isn’t a routine. God, you are so," she paused as she searched for the right words. Giving up she just screamed," so fucking boring.”

Charlie looked down in surprise. He hated to fight but he wondered what had brought this on. Maybe it was because when she asked him what he wanted to do this weekend he had answered as he always had, whatever she wanted to do.

“Do you even love me, Charlie?”

“Of course I do,” he whispered.

“Right. You never do anything. I mean you love to curl up on the couch together but you never initiate anything, ever!” She paused to look at Charlie. He sat there looking down at his fingers. The fact that he refused to meet her eyes gave her pause for a moment. Then she shook her head and continued on, feeling he needed to hear this. “I choose the movies, Charlie, and I choose the restaurants. If I want us to go away for a romantic weekend, I book it. Hell I even had to tell you when I wanted to meet your parents,” Tina stormed. She turned away from him so he wouldn’t see how much this hurt her to say. “Your parents! Who the hell has to tell their boyfriend after two months together that they should meet their parents?” Shaking her head she turned to stare at him once more.

Charlie kept looking at his hands. What could he say? Tina was right. Somehow he just couldn’t figure out how to be the man she wanted him to be.

"Damn it, Charlie. Would you at least look at me?" Charlie slowly looked up. His green eyes flashed at her from under his thick lashes. She felt like she had kicked a puppy.

"I'm sorry, Tina," came the half mumbled comment.

Tina shook her head. How can you make a man do something he has never done before, she thought. She wanted so much more and was beginning to think that Charlie, no matter how sweet he was, just wasn't going to be able to provide it. That hurt her and she just wanted to shake him.

“Do you have anything to say to me?”

A profound silence seemed to fill the room. Charlie was finding it harder and harder to breath.

“Fine. I give up,” she said with so much controlled tension that Charlie felt he was being slapped by the silence. “I will give you two days, Charlie. Either get your head together,” Tina said and took a deep breath before continuing, “or we are over, Charlie.”

Tina grabbed her coat, turned and looked at Charlie where he had sat through her whole tirade and walked out the door. The sound of her heels could be heard as they headed down the short stair case and the outside door closed behind her. Then the silence closed over Charlie like a damp blanket.

At first Charlie just sat there. He felt like he had run a race and lost. Somehow he had lost the ability to speak to her. To reach out and say whatever it was that Tina needed to hear. Then the tears had started. He found he couldn’t control the sobs that wracked his body. He stumbled from the chair to his bedroom.

Depressed he first tried to lie across his bed but it made him feel worse. At last, tired and depressed he stripped down to his underwear and headed over to sit by the window. As he approached a loud crack of thunder filled the air and he turned toward the window to watch the storm. It was almost like his body slowly emptied of everything as he watched the storm get heavier and the lightening flash across the storm. It was almost hypnotic and that is how he stayed all night watching the storm belt the area outside his window. It was just another painful night alone and the only arms that curled around him were his own.