Play It Again, Charlie (37 page)

“Interrupting something?” Charlie hit “save” and then closed his computer. “No.” Will was breathing heavily but didn't answer, so Charlie shook his head, which of course Will couldn't see. “No, of course not. What is it?” Will was quiet. “Is something wrong? Are you okay?”

“Charlie!” Will was delighted, or just amused, but he went on a second later, his voice lower, “No, I'm good.”

“Oh.” Charlie sat up. “So you're at a club? With your sister?”

“No. God, no.” There was a smile in Will's voice despite his words. “She isn't a fan of these places either. No, I'm back on this side of the Bay. I got dragged to the bar by Kim— he's in this cabaret in the city normally, but they're doing this smaller event here tonight, and he wanted to me to come see. Like I've never seen a man in a dress... or a leotard... before. And now here I am.” He pushed out another long breath. “What are you doing?”

“Reviewing notes for a seminar on racial profiling.” It would have been true three minutes ago.

“Sounds fabulous.” Will moved again, something brushing against his phone. “Actually, it sounds complicated and smarty-pants. And sort of boring. Is it?”

That curiosity, when Will was at a club and should have been having fun, made Charlie hesitate. “I'm having trouble concentrating on it,” he admitted.

Will's laugh was soft. “What else have you been up to? Getting into trouble? Impressing housewives with your moves?”

“No. Working.” He had stopped for another after work coffee with Jeanine, but that had been to talk shop. Will wouldn't be interested in that.

“Just working? No visiting with your Jeanine?” Will proved him wrong, then moved on. “Did you talk about me again? How's Sam?”

Charlie opened and closed his mouth at the ludicrous, if flirtatious, questions, and at the Jeanine comment, and wasn't sure which to answer first.

“In the twenty-two hours that you haven't been around, Sam has been fine.” He settled for that, only to instantly feel foolish again at Will's tone.

“Aw, Charlie, have you been watching the clock and waiting for me?” he cooed, but then he audibly swallowed when Charlie didn't answer. “Time sort of got away from me today. I mean, well, I'm not sure how I ended up here, and it's been
hours
.”

“What happened? You didn't have fun with your sister?” It seemed natural to ask, and Will didn't make a joke, just made an irritated, exhausted noise. One of his hands was probably gesturing all over the place. Charlie leaned back at the sudden flood of information.

“Oh, my Boo was good except for the part where she made me go to lunch and surprised me with her new boyfriend. Well, he's not new to her, just to me. She got all, ‘He's a
doctor
'. Like a vet even counts. I know you're going to say something about how long vets go to school, Charlie, but I'm just telling you, the bragging got annoying. Though her hair did look good. And he was nice enough. Prefers TV to movies, though, can you believe that?”

“Shocking,” Charlie managed.

“Mock if you must, but the Golden Age of Television does not compare to the studio system— though both gave us Lucille Ball. Hmm. Anyway,” Will redirected himself though Charlie hadn't said a word, “I drove back this afternoon, then Kim called. Then Chris— I'm sure you remember him, Charlie— said he was going. And Richard offered to drive. They're back together, and do
not
ask, I've had to listen to them talking about it all day. Only it turns out Kim's act doesn't do anything until
nine,
and Richard and Chris are bickering and drinking and neither of them wants to leave. Ugh. I should have been back by now. I was hoping, anyway.”

“Hoping?” Charlie wasn't actually certain he got the word out. He must not have, because Will kept talking.

“My sister and I were up almost all night. I'm tired and my feet hurt, and there's a bunch of kids in here all thinking they can dance like Beyonce. I hate kids,” he whined. Since Will was in a bar, Charlie assumed “kids” meant men younger than Will. “They try too hard.” Charlie said nothing to that, wisely, he thought. “And what is a place like this doing with a show anyway? They'd better not do that specialty-drinks-menu-thing every other bar is doing now. Pretty soon it won't be low key anymore, and I thought that was the point. If I wanted something else, I'd go to the city. At least I got some sushi.”

“Oh, that's where you are,” Charlie realized out loud, picturing the small bar hidden behind the restaurant. “That's not far.” It was a ten-minute drive, maybe less at this time of night on a weeknight.

“
Exactly
,” Will huffed. “Yet I am stuck here. Who knows when Richard will decide he's ready to leave? Hours from now, probably, and you... well at least Kim's going on soon.” He finished with a small, sad sigh, and Charlie licked his lip, then ran a hand through his hair.

“That doesn't sound like much fun.”

“There are good nights and bad nights. With these two, it's mostly bad nights. It's seriously getting old.”

Charlie hesitated. “Do you need a ride?” It was a stupid thing to stumble over. “If you really don't want to be there. It would save you the cost of a cab.”

“Are you offering to give me a ride?” Will was suddenly whispering and talking faster, Charlie had no idea why. “But you don't like clubs, Charlie. And I don't want to make you drive when it, I mean, it's such a boyf— Scout thing to offer. Oh my God,
were
you a Scout? And you're working,” he moved on quickly, and Charlie closed his mouth. “
Are
you working? Where are you, on the couch? In your big chair, all alone?” Will went from curious to wistful to indecisive in three seconds. “All warm and comfy? I... I'd like... but I don't want to bother you.”

“It's not a bother,” Charlie tried to tell him, but Will grew
more
uncertain, which shouldn't have been possible. Considering how often he'd invited himself inside this apartment, it was crazy that the offer of a ride had him this thrown.

“But you
worked
all day, and you don't like clubs,” he kept saying, and Charlie shook his head. The only thing that mattered about the fact that he'd worked all day was that it meant he was too tired to have much patience for Will working himself up. He hadn't ever witnessed Will making a scene, but he was starting to get the feeling that Will's nervous fluttering could build up to something spectacular if left unchecked.

He cut through it. “Will, do you want me to come get you or not?”

“Yes, please, Charlie, come get me.” Will seemed earnest, if excited. “Now? Wait, in, like... a few minutes. I think it's a short act, but I might still be inside, praising Kim's performance and fierceness, etcetera etcetera etcetera.” He could almost hear the hand roll through the phone. Will's volume picked up along with his mood. “Ooh, and Charlie, the bar charges to get in, not a lot, but yeah. Is this okay? Are you sure?”

“It's fine.” Charlie kept his voice firm. Will stopped and didn't say a thing about Charlie's choice of words. Charlie looked down at himself and wondered if he should change. He'd definitely have to put on shoes. If he asked if he needed dress shoes, Will would freak out some more. “I'll be right over.”

Will's breath caught the way it did when Charlie touched him. “
Please
. Oh, I have to go. Guess what?” he asked someone else in a gleeful voice and hung up, leaving Charlie to stare at his phone. There was a small knot forming at the base of his neck, spreading down between his shoulder blades.

The anxiety was familiar, and he tried to breathe slowly to dismiss it. Why it was so easy to calm others and not himself was something he'd never understood, but if Will had been with him it would have helped to see how he could calm him with only a word or two.

“It's just for a few minutes,” he tried to tell himself, to slow his suddenly racing heart, and knew how bad he must sound when Sam flicked an alarmed look at him, his ears back.

The loud music inside the bar thumped uncomfortably in his chest and left him unable to hear much of what the man asking for five dollars and his ID said. Charlie got a plastic band on his wrist and then squinted uncertainly at the crowd of people shifting and pressing around the bar. The knot was still between his shoulders, bigger from the drive over, and he tried to make himself relax only to tense up as he was buffeted by bodies. Low key, his ass. Maybe on some other nights. This was just like any other club he remembered, even if it seemed to have a more casual dress code than the clubs in the city.

There were lights, of course, colored lights that didn't do much to illuminate anything. It was as awkward and busy as he remembered most bars being, even with all the people exiting now that the drag show must have ended.

The show was a good way to get people in on a weeknight, he guessed, because despite the numbers leaving, a lot were staying. Using his cane wasn't an option, so he lifted it and headed to the end of the bar that was mostly clear. Once there, he paused to scan the small dance floor and the shadowed corners. The Asian Beyonce instantly stood out— Will's comments made a bit more sense now, but Charlie looked around him until he saw Chris. The blond was looking sourly at a slightly older man who was knocking back something in a tall glass. Richard, Charlie assumed. At least that's what he thought the ex-boyfriend's name had been.

Charlie turned away when he felt himself glaring at a man he didn't know and sat down when he found the stool next to him empty. The bartender was friendly enough when Charlie asked for a soda but then he had to move on to deal with the number of other people, most of them about twenty-five or younger, and Charlie saw some of what Will had meant, though now that he looked around, he got why Will had said low key.

The only people really dressed up were some of the women on the floor, though there were a few men in vests or the occasional fedora. From the way they were dancing, he guessed they were straight women and their gay best friends. There were some older queer couples as well, dancing slowly together despite the fast music, and some younger kids working some moves to put strippers to shame.

A wide doorway led outside to a smoking area, though Will didn't smoke that he knew of, so Charlie wasn't sure if he should check that out or sit and wait. He could approach the unhappy couple and wait for Will with them, but that idea didn't seem wise considering how he'd met Chris. He was considering it anyway when two glittery princesses slid up to the bar next to him. They hardly looked old enough to drink, much less to be wearing that much makeup. Possibly only Katia had worn more when she'd been in high school. These two had her love of black eyeliner, and one caught him staring while the other was trying to get noticed by the bartender. Charlie looked away a second too late.

There were other types in the bar too, ranging from the young to the much older, in all sort of styles, though Beyonce was the only drag queen he saw at the moment, if he didn't count the other two identically dressed Beyonces still on the dance floor. There were a few more straight couples at the bar, too, or at least the male halves of those couples, perched uneasily on stools while their girlfriends danced. But something about the two kids made him feel like demanding to see their IDs.

“Did you like the show?” One nudge, and they were both studying him, yelling just enough to be heard. Charlie decided they were both at least twenty-one, though barely.

“I didn't see it.” He had to clear his throat to yell back, and honestly, why was the music always so loud in these places? He thought he recognized the song from Will's cell phone. Christ, he felt old, though the elderly pair on the dance floor didn't seem to have that problem.

“Are you waiting for somebody?” Even looking directly at them, he couldn't be sure which one was speaking. But there was another nudge, and then they were both dropping back to look him over from head to toe. Being judged in a second or less didn't feel any better now than it had then, even if they both seemed interested. “You're new,” they said in unison, and he was surprised enough to look down at himself.

Other people were dressed casually. There were people in jeans and T-shirts, tight jeans and tighter shirts, unless they were lesbians, but still jeans. Charlie was still in the clothes he'd worn to work, though he hadn't worn a tie or jacket, and he hadn't buttoned his shirt back up to the collar. He had tried not to worry too much about what he was wearing, but if this was no good, it was a sign that he definitely wasn't meant to frequent bars like this one.

“Actually, I'm not new at all.” He looked over at Beyonce and company; still not a glimpse of Will. Maybe Will
did
smoke. It seemed like something Charlie ought to know for sure. He turned and took a sip of his drink, exchanging a look with the bartender as the man came back over.

“Sure you don't want a drink?” The man ignored the other two, and Charlie almost smiled. He shook his head, only to turn and see more speculation in their overly painted eyes. Charlie blinked before turning his attention back to the dance floor. Will's pop song was still playing... not that bad, even if it was too loud.

Without that, and possibly without his two practically underage groupies watching him so closely, it might not have been so bad in here.

“Do you really need that?” At their gesture, Charlie glanced at his cane, propped up against the bar. It was like Will's curiosity, with a lot less tact and with both kids striving to appear bored and intrigued at the same time. Trying too hard, he thought, and he felt his mouth quirk up. It was still surprising how accurate Will's views on people were.

He straightened out his smile so he wouldn't have to explain it, then looked back at them.

“No. I just thought it would make an interesting accessory,” he remarked, then lifted his head a second before he realized the blond cloud in the corner of his eye was floating toward him, and that it was Will. Then Will was moving around his leg, straddling it to get close to him. He didn't ask, but unlike with the two next to him, Charlie didn't mind. Maybe it was the big, open, slightly tipsy smile on his face. Charlie put one hand on the bar to steady himself and the other at Will's back, but Will leaned into him without taking his feet from the floor so there wasn't much added weight.