Chapter 20
CHAPTER 20
A fter they left the theater Sheri didn’t say anything, her face an expressionless mask. Even though Charlie tried to convince himself that it wasn’t that bad, he could tell that she was well and truly furious with him, more than she’d ever been in all of their years of working together. The fact that she’d swept them out of the theater before the movie had even started–thus denying him the chance to explain himself to the waiting reporters–made it even clearer. He’d fucked up, and she was surely going to let him know about it.
There was a car waiting for them, of course, because Sheri wasn’t the type of person to ever leave anything to chance. She’d probably figured that he was going to pull some stunt like this and had made sure that she had the means to get him out of there as quickly as possible. He paused for a split second and looked back–was he hoping to see Jared come running out of the theater, or was he just trying to get a last look back at the place where his next great venture just went down in flames? He honestly couldn’t say–but there was no one there waiting for him, no one running out to say anything.
I guess I left them in shock, he thought a little bitterly.
Then they were in the car and racing toward the airport, and he didn’t really have time or energy to think about much of anything.
The trip there took a remarkably short amount of time, and he was pretty sure the driver ran more than a few red lights. Clearly Sheri had told him that getting back to California as quickly as possible was of the paramount importance, and what Sheri wanted, Sheri got. She didn’t say a word to him, of course, but she seemed to radiate anger and frustration, and he didn’t feel brave enough to try to start a conversation: not when they drove up the hill toward the airport, not when they got out of the car, and not even when they started to get on the plane.
As he got on-board the jet, Charlie cast one look back in the direction of Huntington. He’d only been here a short time, but for some reason it had already cast a spell on him. He knew well enough why that was–it was the place that Jared called home–but he also knew that there was nothing more for him there. Jared had already made quite clear how he felt, and Charlie had to live with that.
He settled into a seat and buckled up, Sheri seated across from him. As the plane taxied and began to take off, he couldn’t help but wonder what Jared was doing at that exact moment, and there was a tiny part of him that wished that he would see Jared come racing up that hill, desperate to get to Charlie before he took off.
But, of course, that didn’t happen.
“You’re not going to believe this, but your socials are blowing up right now, and the news is actually good. ”
It took him a few seconds to realize that Sheri had started speaking to him and that she’d actually given him a piece of good news. When it finally sunk in, he couldn’t help thinking that it paled in comparison to the disappointment of Jared not showing up, either to the screening or afterward.
Just accept it, he thought. He told you how he felt, and that’s all there is to it.
But had he? Yes, he’d been cruel and hurtful, but Charlie thought he’d seen something else beneath all of that bravado; he suspected there was a sensitive boy there that was still trying to figure things out and to decide how he felt about…well, everything.
“Is that so?” he asked.
“Don’t be like that, Charlie,” Sheri said. “This is good news for you. You could have really shredded everything with that speech. For once in your life, can you just take the win and make both our lives easier?”
He knew that he should just tell Sheri what she so clearly wanted to hear and at the very least make this plane trip more enjoyable. However, something about giving that speech had opened up all kinds of opportunities for him, and he was going to start standing up for himself, even if that meant going against what Sheri wanted.
“Yes, it’s great,” he said, measuring his words with care, “but I’m sorry that I didn’t start saying what I thought sooner.”
Sheri gave him one of her level looks that suggested he was being unnecessarily dense.
“Really, Charlie? You’re really going to start in on that again? How many times do I have to tell you that sometimes you have to just do what’s expected of you so that you can make bigger gains later? You might have notched a win this time, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”
He opened his mouth to say something, but then he decided against it.
“Okay,” was all he said.
They settled down into a quasi-comfortable silence after that.
When he got back to California, Charlie tried to get back into his old routine. As Sheri had predicted, he was fending off offers left and right, and while some of them were projects that really did appeal to him, he still couldn’t quite get the motivation that he needed in order to take on any of them. There was still a part of him that was back in West Virginia, and he was starting to think that there always would be.
Finally, when he couldn’t take it anymore, he decided that he was just going to have to talk to Sheri about it. She might not completely understand where he was coming from, but she would at least be able to give him some advice that he badly needed.
As soon as he got to her office, he could tell from the look on her face that she knew why he was there.
“You’re thinking about Jared, aren’t you?” she asked as soon as he took a seat. She sighed and shook her head. “I knew this was going to happen. I’m starting to think that I should have just told you that he was waiting for you outside the theater that day.”
“Wait, what do you mean Jared was there outside the venue?” he asked. For a minute it felt as if the room was tilting around him, but he forced himself to remain calm.
If Sheri was aware that she’d just dropped a bomb on him, she gave no sign of it. In fact, she looked utterly unperturbed. They could have been talking about the weather for all the more emotion she showed.
“You already told me how much of an asshole he’d been to you,” she went on. “I didn’t, and don’t, think you need any more of that kind of energy in your life. You have a career, Charlie, and I hate to be the bearer of bad news or to be the adult in the room, but that has to be the thing that you work on the most right now. You don’t have time to get into some long distance relationship. They don’t last, anyway. Trust me.”
Charlie wasn’t sure whether to be bitterly amused or infuriated by this turn of events.
In the end, he opted for the former, and he actually found himself laughing.
“What’s so funny?” Sheri asked.
“It’s just…it’s all like a rom-com, isn’t it? I didn’t know that he was standing right outside the whole time, or that he was trying to get to me, and I’ve been eating my heart out for nothing.”
This seemed to get to Sheri in a way that nothing else he’d said had.
“You really do love this guy, don’t you?”
Charlie knew the answer to that question, but he still felt a little shy about admitting it. How could you fall in love with someone that you’d only known for a couple of days? For that matter, how could you love someone who had already made it abundantly clear that they weren’t really that interested in you?
“Yes,” he finally said, because he was tired of lying about it to both himself and to Sheri and to everyone else.
Of course, Sheri rolled her eyes, because that was the type of thing that Sheri would do when confronted with someone else’s feelings that she considered to be misguided. Which was to say…most of them.
She huffed and blew a stray bit of hair out of her eyes. “Well, there’s really only one thing to do, as you should know, having starred in quite a few rom-coms of your own. You’re going to have to go back and find him and tell him how you feel.”
He was so surprised at this unexpected generosity that it took him a moment to think of something to say. Since she was clearly in a giving and sympathetic mood, he decided to go ahead and ask her for her advice. After all, what harm could it do?
“But he hasn’t reached out to me. What gives me the right to go back to him when he already made it clear that he doesn’t want to be with me and, in fact, wants nothing more to do with me? I mean, even if he did come to the theater, he said some hurtful things, and I’m just…I’m just not sure that he wants to be in a relationship.”
Charlie wasn’t sure why he was throwing up all of these roadblocks, but he thought it might be because he wanted to see what Sheri would say. Perhaps she’d be able to show him something he was missing.
She did not disappoint.
“Do I have to spell it out for you, Charlie? People say and do all sorts of things that they don’t really believe, particularly when they’re afraid of their own feelings. And from everything you’ve told me about this guy, he is most definitely afraid of his own feelings. Now, if that’s the kind of guy that you really want to be with, that’s your business, but you at least have to be a little bit aware of what that entails. If you’re going to be with someone who’s afraid of commitment, then you have to be okay with being the one to make the first move.”
Charlie knew she was right, even as his mind tried to come up with a whole bunch of other reasons that he could back out of this before he got his feelings hurt again. However, he knew that he wasn’t going to be able to find any kind of peace unless he found out Jared’s feelings for him one way or another.
“Well?” she demanded. “What are you going to do?”
He scuffed his foot on the rug.
“Why are you being so insistent about this, Sheri? I thought you wanted me to get ahead with my career and ignore all of that other stuff.”
“I guess because when it comes down to it I know you’re not going to be able to do anything or focus on anything related to your career as long as he’s out there and as long as this situation isn’t resolved. If I’m going to get you to the next level as an actor I need to make sure you’re not being burdened with distractions.”
Before he could say anything to that rather cold-hearted and cynical approach to his love life, she went on.
“However, you have to recognize that that boy is a mess. I know you’re smitten with him, and I’m sure that you’re going to be very happy together, but I want to make sure that you do the right thing, the thing that’s going to make you the happiest and that’s not going to make you miserable. I know I give you a hard time, and I’m sure you think I’m a real hardass. The truth is, though, that I really do care about you. I want you to be happy. The question is: is Jared the person to make you happy?”
Charlie knew the answer to that. He supposed he’d known it from the moment that Jared pulled up to the airport in that old truck of his, that smirk on his face. Jared was the person that he wanted to try to make it work with, and he could already envision the kind of future that they could build in West Virginia.
“Yes,” he said at last, his voice more assured than he thought it would be. “He’s the one.”
This time, rather than a hard look, Sheri actually smiled at him.
This can’t be the same Sheri that I’ve known all these years, can it?
“I don’t want to get all sappy and stuff, and don’t get used to this, but it seems to me that there’s really only one thing you can do at this point. You’re going to have to go after him.”
This was what he’d wanted all along, of course, and it certainly seemed as if the universe was sending him every sign it could to tell him that this was what he should do, but Charlie still couldn’t quite bring himself to believe that he was thinking about doing this.
“But what about all of the offers, and all of the studio calls?” he asked.
“Oh for heaven’s sake, Charlie, are you really going to sit here and debate with me about whether you should go and get that silly boy? I’ve already told you that I think it’s what you should do. I don’t know what else I can do. Paint it across the sky, maybe? And as far as the studio offers and all of that?” She waved her hand. “I’ll take care of it. We’ll find some way to iron out all of the details after you make sure that you get your happily ever after. You’re a hot commodity right now, and that means that you have a lot more leverage than you did before.” She snorted. “I guess being a bit of a social justice warrior does give you some cultural cache when you need it.”
“I guess there’s just one thing to do, then,” he said, getting to his feet. “I’m going to go get Jared.”
This time, Charlie opted not to take his private jet back to West Virginia. He wasn’t sure why he decided to drive, other than that he just needed the chance to clear his head. He wasn’t sure whether spending several days in a car was going to be just what the doctor ordered in that regard, but he figured that he might as well give it a try and see what happened.
Surprisingly enough, it worked. Something about being out on the open road allowed him to think more clearly than he had in years. With each passing mile, he became more and more convinced that he was, in fact, doing the right thing.With nothing but the road in front of him, he allowed himself to really see why going back for Jared was the best choice that he could make.
He just hoped that it wouldn’t be a waste of time.
Charlie had decided that he would go to Jared’s parents’ place first. He didn’t know this for sure, but something told him that this would be where Jared would be. Call it artistic intuition, or just a lucky guess, but he had a feeling that when he got there he’d find Jared, probably holed up in his old bedroom, trying to work through some bit of writer’s block.
He tried not to let himself think too much about what might happen when he actually got there, but he wasn’t blind to the possibility that Jared might not want him now, or perhaps his parents would tell him to get off their property. There were a million different possibilities, but Charlie tried to focus on the positive ones, with somewhat limited results.
Perhaps the best thing about the whole road trip, though, was how easily he was able to avoid detection by other people. By choosing little out-of-the-way motels and truckstops, he was able to keep other people from seeing him as Charlie Garrett and instead as just another guy who was on the road.
When, at last, he got off of the exit that would take him to Jared’s parents’ house, he felt absolutely confident in his decision to come. Whether Jared rejected him or not, he would at least know one way or another, and he wouldn’t have to torment himself with endless “what ifs?”
Then he was pulling into Jared’s parents’ driveway, and he felt his confidence begin to flag. Was he really going to do this? Was he really going to act like one of the heroes in his own movies? Now that he was in the real world and not just in the in-between world of the open road, it all seemed much more complicated.
You’ve come this far, he reminded himself. You’re not going to turn back now.
Jared’s parents met him out in the yard before he’d even made it halfway to the house. His heart sank as he thought about what they might say, the disappointment that would be in their voices when they told him that he should probably just leave, because Jared just didn’t want to see him.
To his pleasant surprise, however, they both met him with smiles on their faces. Even though he knew they’d had no way of knowing he was coming, the way that they were looking at him told him that they’d anticipated his coming and had actually been looking forward to it.
“We’re so glad you’re here,” Joyce said, taking his hands in her own and then giving him a big hug.
“Good to see you back here, young man,” Doug said, giving him a firm handshake and then pulling him in for a hug. “I was beginning to think that Jared might be the one who’d come to his senses first, and we both know that wasn’t likely to happen.”
They all shared a smile and a slight laugh at that, the shared amusement of a group of people who loved someone dearly but weren’t blind to their foibles.
“Is he here?” he asked at last.
They both nodded their heads.
“He’s in his bedroom,” Joyce said. “Do you want to come inside and talk to him?”
At first Charlie almost said yes. Then he had a better idea. There was one place that would serve as the perfect setting for the reunion that he’d imagined with Jared. He had no way of knowing whether Jared would approve or not but, since he’d come this far and taken this many risks, he figured it was worth seeing through to the end.
“Do you think…do you think it would be okay if I went up to the top of the hill? And do you think you might send him up there in about, say, fifteen minutes?” He gestured at the hill behind them.
Once again they both smiled, as if this was exactly what they’d hoped–or expected–to happen.
“Of course, dear,” Joyce said, reaching out and patting him on the cheek. “We’ll give you a few minutes to get settled and then, if Jared hasn’t noticed that you’re there, we’ll send him up.”
Charlie was so overcome by their kind welcome that he had to swallow a few times to get his voice to come out clear.
“I really appreciate that,” he said at last. “This and…well, just everything.”
“That’s okay, son,” Doug said. “No thanks necessary. We’re the ones who should be thanking you. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to Jared, and I think even he’s come to accept that. Now, you head up on the hill. You don’t want to spoil your Hollywood ending, do you?”
Charlie smiled and gave them both another hug, and then he was traipsing up the hill.
As he reached the top of it, the view took his breath away. Part of that was because he was reminded of the time that he’d spent up here with Jared, but it was also because, as Jared himself had pointed out, this was like nowhere else in the world. Everything that they both loved about West Virginia–its beauty, its antiquity, its closeness to nature–was here, on this hilltop.
He turned to look back at the house, uncertain just how long he was going to have to wait up here. No sooner had he done so, however, than it opened, and Jared stood there.
Well, he thought, here goes nothing.
He waved and, to his everlasting delight and surprise, Jared waved back and, his face beaming with a smile that was visible even at this distance, he began to walk up the hill.