Maybe she won’t catch–
“Charlie, huh” Her smirk and high arched brows were the only thing she needed to use to fully communicate with me.
Double Fuck.
I stiffened up, stretching my wound in the process making it burn. I closed my eyes with a wince, and held my breath waiting for the pain to subside, when she put her hand on my cheek, forcing me to look at her. Her smile was warm and welcoming, “Baby, it’s fine. Breathe please. Let’s sit, give your back a break. She guided me back to a set of chairs in the back corner of the room we were in and I exhaled with relief.
Betty bounced her head back and forth, partially scrunching her top lip and nose, “I’ve had this inkling about you. And I’m happy– if that’s the case. Charlie is adorable. A little young for you, but who am I to judge.” She shrugged her shoulder. When I stayed silent, she added, “Jesus, tell me fucking something,” making me laugh.
I kept my voice low because I knew Charlie would drop to the floor himself if other people knew or found out. “Yes. It just started. He’s…”
But when I couldn’t come up with the words to describe him or how he makes me feel in this veryshort amount of time, Betty inserted, “your light.” When I looked at her, not understanding, she explained, “When you walked in here, I could see it in your eyes. After what you just went through, they shouldn’t have looked like that.”
“Like what,” still confused.
“Bright. They are so bright from the light he shines,” she reached up and softly swooped a fingertip around my left eye. “I have never seen your eyes like this before, Jim.”
I was in absolute awe from what she was saying, so I shook my head like it couldn’t be possible, “But how? How did he have that effect on me so quickly? We’ve only known each other for a week.”
“Baby, love doesn’t work on a time frame like society wants it too. It’s calledLove at First Sightfor a reason. Even if it wasn’t instantaneous in that moment,” she shrugged her shoulder, “the spell was cast. That’s just how it works.”
I was staring into space, trying to roll my head around what Betty just said.
Love. No, it couldn’t be. That’s not what this is. That’s way too fast.
I mean, she had been right about the moment we met. I had noticed him but–
I was snapped out of my spiral when Betty tapped my cheek with a soft smack, bringing my eyes back to her, “There you are. Lost you for a second.”
I rubbed my cheek which was stinging, “Jesus Betty, I’m already injured.”
“I had to snap you out of it somehow, that was the easiest. Anyway, you don’t need to over think it. If I saw what I think I did earlier– you both aren’t smooth by the way, you should be more careful – his feelings toward you match how I think you are feeling.”
“Jesus fucking Christ,” smacking myself in the face.
“Jim,” Betty got all serious with her tone, which is rare in itself since she is almost always over the top, so I looked at her waiting for the brick that she was about to throw at me. “I need you to listen to me. You know how society feels about your kind. I don’t need to tell you the stigma that’s against you, let alone the law. But I am not one of them. I want to see you happy, living a life doing what you love and beingwithwho you love. That is my wish for you and others like you and Charlie. No one should ever be shamed or judged for who or how they love another.”
She pulled me into a hug then. I was feeling so many conflicting emotions.
When she pulled away, she wasn’t clear anymore. It was when she reached up to rub my eyes and face that told me I was crying. Actively. I sniffed and grunted, “God Betty, why’d you fucking say that?” I pulled out a hanky and wiped my own face with it, and harshly sniffled.
“Because living in solitude is something I wouldn’t wish on anyone,” Betty said with sensitivity, before turning ravenous, “except maybe the fucker who stabbed you. I’d be fine with him dying alone,” making me huff a laugh. Poor Betty, divorced young. It’s like wearing a scarlet letter for a failed marriage, turning you into an outcast to all other prospects, not to be associated with.
After taking some deep pulls of air to help to pull me back together. I looked around again to see if I could spot my honey. I miss his sweetness when he is too far away from me. God, if I had it my way– but my thoughts were broken again by Betty.
“So, how did this all happen anyway? Tell me everything from the beginning,” she was rubbing her hands together, like I was about to tell her the bestgossip she would ever hear. “And make sure you include the naughty stuff,” bouncing her brows, tongue sticking out to the side.
I laughed out loud, making my back pinch, but it felt so good having someone know and I could talk to them about Charlie. So, I told her. Minus the shower. That was just for me to know and no one else, even against her harumph.
Charlie ended up finding us in the middle of another shocking moment that had my mouth on the floor with the idea she had for me. “What’s happening here,” his one brow was arched. He was holding five books to his chest in a hug.
“Oh nothing, Betty’s just trying to save me from going back to work down in the mine. She said that the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh System is acquiring a new branch on the North Side of the city, across the Allegheny River. They are filling positions and she would pull strings to get me one,” I shook my head and rolled my eyes, as the idea was ridiculous.
“Charlie sweetie, what adventures did you find,” Betty asked, still giggling. He held up his selections. I had him give Betty his copies of ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ by John Steinbeck and ‘The Secret Annex’ by Anne Frank, since I owned them and he could just read those. His other selections sounded perfect for him to read. ‘A Tree Grows in Brooklyn’ by Betty Smith, and ‘The Stranger’ by Albert Camus. He was also holding a copy of ‘Fahrenheit 451’ by Ray Bradbury that Betty recommended we both read, as the topic was about the destruction of books and limiting what people were allowed to read.
We took our selections up to the desk including a memoir called ‘A House Is Not a Home’by Polly Adler, and ‘The Invisible Man’ by Ralph Ellison that I’ve read twice before. I should just buy a copy for myself at this point.
Betty took the slips out of the books, stamping the book, then stamping the slip before filing that away in our respective file folders. Afterwards, she came around the desk and handed us our new reading material before giving each of us a hug, but Charlie’s lingered. When she pulled away, he nodded his head.
