Salubrious part 18

Getting that drink with Allan now seemed absolutely impossible now. Charlie realized as Allan sarcastically called him, “sweetheart,” and left the office, he had severely damaged the relationship. Allan recalling the, “I can’t be friends with you,” in front of everyone felt beyond a simple misunderstanding. Glep even seemed mad at him, retreating to his iPad at work and not really commenting on his situation at all. He knew Glep and Allan had a lot in common too and hung out a lot. He liked Glep but didn’t hang out with him regularly, but he was needing advice. He didn’t know where else to turn.

Once it hit the two week mark, he overhead Allan talking to Mr. Boss about potentially doing work from home. This set Charlie off.

“Fucking remote, Glep. He’s fucking… he… he doesn’t even want to be at the office anymore. Because of me.” Charlie put his arms across his chest, his heart beating slowly like a dying mouse in his chest.

Glep put the iPad to the side of the beanbag, looking at him unconvinced.

In a matter of fact sort of gibberish, Glep said, “You two have been leaving stuff for each other the last two weeks. You can’t keep buying off your silence. He doesn’t want gifts, he wants an answer.”

Charlie nodded. “I needed time to think.”

“Yeah but now your silence feels like you never cared. Like you just used him to get over your girlfriend and now he’s dispensable.”

Charlie felt a palpable sting in his chest. “Oh God, that is fucking awful. I didn’t want him to feel… that’s not even true a little bit, that’s just… God, Glep, what do I do?”

Glep shugged. “Look, I’ve been around for centuries. I’ve seen thousands of people, met hundreds, talked to Lords, Generals, Roman warriors, Pharohs, the common man, you name it. I’ve seen so many types of people and every single relationship is, you know, unique. You can’t keep running, man. Eventually the world turns, and the person who thought they were important to you will be left cold.” Glep picked up his iPad, closing out his speech, “and Charlie, I started this company with Mr. Boss years ago. I know for a damn fact you don’t ever work this hard.”

“How fucking old are you, man?” Charlie blurted out.

Glep shrugged, “Huh, dunno.”

Charlie thanked his friend as he walked to Allan’s office. “Gotta ask the boss exactly how they met… jeez, centuries? What the hell, he’s like some kind of vampire,” Charlie said under his breath.

He knocked on the door, gulping. Allan immediately answered, saying, “Mr. Boss, about the timetable you wanted for the work picnic event..” he stopped talking as he saw it was Charlie.

Charlie scratched his face nervously. “Um, hi,” he said quietly.

Allan rolled his eyes, “What?”

Charlie laughed almost in a scared chuckle, “I mean, is that how you greet someone?”

“Can you just go fuck off somewhere?”

Charlie bit his tongue. This really wasn’t the reunion he hoped for.

“I can go fuck off somewhere. But first I need you to go… uh, shit, would you.. can you..” Charlie dropped the act.

“I need you to come get a drink with me tonight.”

Allan blinked, looking at him with a straight face but his mouth was twitching.

“What for?”

Charlie grumbled. “To talk. I wanna… I want to talk to you.”

“No thanks.”

Fuck, he is not fucking budging!, Charlie screamed in his mind.

“Please. Please. Please. For pity’s sake, Allan, fucking pretty please,” the words spilled out of Charlie’s mouth so inelegantly. It was full of the kind of raw feeling that only lurks when you’ve denied yourself for so long.

“You look pathetic like that. Don’t do it again. Please,” Allan mimicked, looking angry.

Charlie ignored the jab. “Just one drink?”

Allan shook his head.

“What do you take me for? Two weeks, Charlie. Two fucking weeks.”

Charlie felt a twist to his insides. “Two weeks. It’s been two weeks,” he repeated in a deeper tone, hitting with a sharp pang between them. Allan looked like his mask was falling.

“Fuck. You are so relentless. So yellow and so relentless. You need to relax, Charlie,” Allan said with less bite this time.

“Look, you can call me an asshole, a jerk, a yellow son-of-bitch, I don’t care. Just have that stupid drink with me tonight and if you still want to not talk to me after, fuck, I don’t know what I will do.. but, I’ll respect you.”

Allan sighed, leaning his head on the door frame.

“I’ll get you anything you want.”

“I won’t call you sweetheart for dinner,” Allan blurted out.

Charlie laughed. “Great, cool, that’s good, damn. You’re a tough one, man. A tough fucking cookie to crack.”

“Stop trying to crack my cookie Charlie, you’ll break your teeth.”

Charlie laughed again. “Maybe you should do standup. Like the boss, he’s really fucking funny, too.”

“No. His humor isn’t meant for the stage. But I get what you mean, I guess,” Allan returned to acting stoic.

“Are we done? I need to go back to work,” Allan said calmly.

Charlie nodded, “See you then.” He proceeded to walk away, feeling hopeful. He started to smile but didn’t, saving it for tonight hopefully.