Chapter 6
CHAPTER 6
C harlie knew that he was in trouble the minute Sheri stepped in the door. He’d seen her in a number of emotional states, but he’d only rarely seen her truly angry with him. This, though…well, this was clearly going to get very unpleasant.
For several minutes she just stood there, eyes closed, nostrils flared, and that made him more frightened than if she’d come in screaming her head off.
She must be really, really mad at me, he thought.
Finally, she opened her eyes.
“Charlie, what the hell were you thinking?”
She started pacing in front of him, her heels clicking on the hardwood floor of the hotel room. “I specifically told you not to get into trouble, to avoid getting into any sort of ugly confrontations, and what did you do? You got into a very ugly confrontation. You had to know that that guy was just looking for trouble, setting a trap for you, and you walked right into it.” She huffed. “Just tell me something,” Sheri said. “Why did you do it?”
How to answer this question in a way that would make Sheri understand? She was an undeniable ally, and while she was always trying to get him to be less outspoken about queer issues and politics, Charlie liked to think that was because she was looking out for his career and not because she had any kind of discomfort with who he was as a person. Even so, no ally could really understand what it was like to hear that kind of word hurled in their direction, a word designed to hurt and to wound. And, growing up in California in a nice, liberal family, she’d never known what it was like to have religion wielded as a weapon against her, either.
She also didn’t know what it was like to have a person like that go after someone that she cared about.
He took a deep breath and tried to gather his thoughts.
“Look, it’s like this. Growing up, I had to put up with men like that, calling me names and telling me that I was going to Hell for being gay. They didn’t even have to know that I was gay in order to say those things, because I wasn’t like the other kids in my high school. Back then I was afraid to do anything about it, and ever since I’ve become famous and had the power to do and say something about it, I’ve wanted to push back.” He took another breath. “And he also started to come after Jared, and that just pushed me over the edge. If you expect me to be sorry, I’m not. I did the right thing.”
“Yeah, well, that comes with complications too, doesn’t it?”
He sighed. She was right. It did come with a hell of a lot of complications, many of which were staring him right in the face. This was supposed to be a weekend in which he burnished his image and showed that he was worth taking seriously as an actor, not just someone who happened to be in a bunch of made-for-TV movies. This was also supposed to be the weekend in which he showed that he was responsible and that he could be trusted with a big press tour.
And now all of that was at risk because he’d let his principles get in the way again.
“You know, Charlie, sometimes I don’t think you want to be helped. Sometimes, I think that you just want to do what you want to do and let other people pick up the pieces. I don’t think I need to tell you that that isn’t fair, to either me or to the people that end up having to do the picking up.”
She took a deep breath to calm herself.
“But that’s all water under the bridge. The only thing that we have to figure out now is what to do with you. We’re just going to have to go into damage control mode.” She huffed. Couldn’t you have just chewed the guy out rather than punching him?”
“What would you have done if you’d seen someone pushing someone that you cared about?”
He hadn’t really meant to ask the question so bluntly, but now that it was out in the air, he was glad that he had. He loved Sheri dearly, but she didn’t always see her own blindspots when it came to what homophobia was like in the real world.
“Well,” she said, “I probably wouldn’t have punched him, if only because I wouldn’t want to set my career on fire.”
She looked like she was going to keep on in this vein, but then her phone rang. She looked down at her phone and frowned.
“This is just fantastic. It’s Rebecca. I’m guessing she’s already heard about what’s happened and wants to talk about what we’re going to do about it. About you. Give me a sec.”
Without waiting for permission she stepped out into the hallway. He could only dimly hear what she was saying, but it was enough to tell him that things were getting a bit heated.
“And just what would you propose that I do with the headliner for your little festival?” Sheri almost shouted. Charlie cringed, not just because he hated the thought of her and Rebecca getting into but also because he didn’t like the idea of Sheri making a scene in the hotel. He’d already made enough of a fuss for both of them.
“You know, that’s actually not a bad idea, not a bad idea at all. Okay. That’s what we’ll do then.”
Her voice faded away again, and it was another moment or two before she came back into the room, her face set in a resolute expression, the type of expression that said very clearly that she was going to ask him to do something he didn’t like.
She once again took up a position right in front of him, looking him up and down as if she still couldn’t quite decide what to make of him.
“There’s only one way we’re going to be able to manage this. Rebecca and I agree that we’ve got to get you out of Huntington for a day or two, just until this has time to blow over. We’ll make sure that you’re back here for your big premiere.”
She sighed. “We’re lucky that it’s almost the weekend and that the news cycle will move on pretty quickly.” She frowned. “Unfortunately, there are some voices in the City Council who are making noise about potentially pulling the funding for the festival and banning it from the City Hall. I don’t think I need to tell you how devastating that would be, not just for the Festival, but also for your personal brand. This whole trip is supposed to be proving to the studios that you can be on your best behavior and that you won’t be a liability.”
“And all of this ruckus is because I got into a fight with some guy at a bar?”
“Once again, Charlie. Damage control. That’s the most important thing right now.”
“So where are you shipping me off to?”
“Rebecca and I have decided that you’re going to stay with Jared’s parents until Sunday.”
“And he’s okay with that?”
“Since he was supposed to be keeping an eye on you and yet he let this happen anyway, I don’t see that he has much choice in the matter.”
“I don’t think he likes me very much.”
Charlie supposed that wasn’t entirely true, particularly now that they’d managed to have at least one semi-intimate moment together. His mind wandered back to the moment when he’d been so close to kissing Jared, and he could almost forget what was happening around him. Until, of course, Sheri snapped her fingers.
“Charlie, snap out of it,” she said. “One, I don’t think that’s true, and two, it doesn’t really matter. We need to make sure that you’re not in town for a while to cool things down. Do you think you can manage to stay out of trouble while you’re off the grid?”
Charlie knew he should be focusing on what she was saying, but he wasn’t quite able to get around the fact that she’d said that she thought Jared actually liked him. That couldn’t be true, could it?
“Charlie, where are you?” Sheri asked. “You’ve got that look on your face like you’re a mile away.” She huffed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “You’re thinking about Jared, aren’t you?”
He could feel himself blushing, but he didn’t care. “And what if I am?”
“Charles, you hardly know the guy.”
How could he tell her that there was something rich and uncomplicated about Jared, something that reminded him of all of the things that he’d always liked about the guys he’d grown up with, without all of the annoying baggage and toxic masculinity bullshit. Jared was in fact just the kind of gay that he could never seem to find in California, the type that drove a truck, wore a backwards baseball cap, and yet still wasn’t afraid to have a rainbow flag on the back windshield.
He was, in other words, perfect.
He didn’t say any of that to Sheri, of course, both because that wasn’t the nature of their relationship and because he could already tell that she would just call him an idiot.
“Look, you can do whatever you want with this boy while you’re with him, but at least try not to punch anyone else, okay? This is your chance to get your big break. If you don’t straighten up and fly right, I’m not going to keep picking up after you. Spend the weekend getting your head on straight, and then come back here and give your big speech, and we’ll go back to LA and forget this ever happened. Do you think you can do that?”
He actually wasn’t at all sure that he could, or that he wanted to, but Charlie knew that this wasn’t the answer she was looking for. He could tell from the set of her shoulders and the hard glitter in her eyes that she wasn’t messing around, and that if he didn’t do a quick course-correction that his career as he’d known it would be over.
Would that be such a bad thing? He asked himself. Maybe I’ve been going about this whole thing the wrong way since the beginning. Maybe I should have stood up to the studios earlier…
But no, he knew that he couldn’t do that. He had his mother to look after. And, much as she frustrated him sometimes, he wasn’t going to leave her out in the cold.
“Okay, fine,” he said. “I’ll do whatever you tell me to do.”
“One last word of warning,” she said. “Don’t let yourself get too involved with this Jared guy. I know you think I don’t care about you, that I only see you as a paycheck, but I do care about you as a person. I think that you deserve happiness, but I don’t think you’re going to find it here. Remember that there was a reason that you got out of this state in the first place. Don’t let it suck you back in.”
“I think I’m more than capable of making my own decisions when it comes to my love life. Or lack thereof.”
Sheri rubbed her temples.
“You are without a doubt the most rebellious client that I have ever had, and considering the types of people that I’ve had to deal with, that’s really saying something. It’s a good thing for you that I see a lot of potential in your career and that I happen to like you. Otherwise I’d toss you to the curb and let someone else take care of you.”
“You know, some people would be happy that their client has a conscience and is attracted to non-toxic people.”
“I think you’re making a lot of assumptions about whether this Jared guy is toxic or not.”
Charlie felt a little bit of irritation rising up at that, but he didn’t say anything. Sheri was on the brink of giving him a really good telling-off, and he didn’t want to make it worse.
“Just trust me that I know what I’m doing,” he said. “I won’t do anything that would make you ashamed of me.”
She frowned, and he knew she didn’t believe him.
“That remains to be seen,” she said. “But in any case, I’m going to go to bed and try to get at least a bit of sleep. This has been a very exhausting day, and I don’t think the rest of the weekend is going to get any better. I strongly suggest that you get some sleep, too. Because the rest of the weekend is going to take a lot out of you, too. Once again, stay out of trouble. ”
“I give you my word.”
She harrumphed at that and left the room.
After she was gone Charlie took off his clothes and got into bed, relishing the feeling of finally being able to relax. Sheri had been right about one thing, at least. This had been a very long day, and he had no idea what the future held for him. He could just about imagine the look on Jared’s face when he was informed that he was going to be taking Charlie to meet his family.
Thinking of Jared made Charlie feel all kinds of things. He knew it was more than a little crazy that he was already catching feelings. They’d only barely met, and Jared had been more prickly than welcoming. Even so, there was…something… between the two of them. Charlie wasn’t sure that Jared had felt it or, if he did, that he would accept it for what it was. He had the feeling that Jared was the kind of person who would fight back against his feelings until there was no choice but to face them.
That’s okay. I can work with that.
Exasperated that he wasn’t going to be able to sleep, Charlie got out of bed and padded to the window. He threw open the shades and looked out at the city of Huntington spread out below him, with the Ohio River not too far in the distance. Even though he’d never been here before, he still felt like it was home. Maybe it was just being in West Virginia, or maybe there really was something about this little city on the shores of the river that called to him in some way he could barely name.
Or maybe it’s the fact that Jared lives here, a little voice inside his head remarked. Maybe you’re just so desperate for love that you’ll fall for the first guy that crosses your path, and you’ll fall in love with the city as a way of getting closer to him.
Charlie sighed and leaned his head against the window. Somehow life managed to get more complicated despite his best efforts.
He wasn’t sure how long he stood there at the window, but finally he started to feel drowsy enough to attempt to sleep again. He wasn’t sure that he was going to be able to get any rest at all, but he figured that it was at least worth a try. He got back into bed, and to his relief, was soon asleep.