The Memoirs

Charlie kind of liked his new office. It was carpeted, for those pesky fainting spells that happened now and then, it had a beautiful mural on the wall, of Zeus and some pretty lady with a swan, and a nice, fancily-carved mahogany desk. He had a telephone, a computer, a fax machine, all his very own.

And the best part?

He didn't have to share it with a single soul that came along.

As it was, he was on the phone right now, to Nell's Florist Shop, and he was tapping his pen impatiently against the blotter. "That's right, Smallville Inn. Room 13B. Right. Ms. Emily Ross Anderson. Yes. Yellow roses, a dozen of them. The card? Just... from Charlie. Yes. Delivery, please. Thank you." He hung up after rattling off his credit card number, and just sighed.

And his sigh was what Emmie heard as she stepped through the door.

The buildings... so much bigger than she'd ever imagined. Taken her fifteen minutes to find him! She'd gone through several people, and was positive she wouldn't know how to get back out on the street, but she knocked, quietly, and pushed the door in slightly. "Charlie?"

"Come in!" he called out, head banging softly against the computer keyboard. Didn't recognize her voice, at first, because he was tired and not half paying attention, and he sat back up in his chair, rubbing his face and turning to see who'd come in. "Emily!"

"Hi." She answered it, shyly. She and Charlie hadn't talked much in the last few weeks, much after his bovine commentary that had TOTALY screwed over her entire MONTH, but she was over it, and she offered him a slightly quiet, slightly sheepish, smile. "Am...I bothering? You?"

Bothering him? Hell no. He cleared his throat. "No, no, not at all. Come--come on in. It's kind of a mess in here but... have a seat." He pointed to the empty chair in front of his desk. "I've been going through the tax audits for last year and trying to estimate what we're going to have this year, with the move and everything, differences in property taxes..." he trailed off. "And a whole bunch of other crap you probably don't care about."

"I! Care." She offered him a smile, as she stepped over a stack of paperwork piled by the chair and plunked down. "Definitely. Okay. But...sorry! To run by here... unannounced and everything. On… my way? To go paint. At the mansion."

"No, no, don't be sorry." He rubbed his face again. "It's... probably time for me to have lunch anyway."

She smiled a little, nervously, and looked down at her jean skirt. "I came... by. to apologize to you. I... have been a bitch? These last few weeks. I wanted... to... give you. Som-something." She coughed, swallowed, and opened her oversized purse, taking out a long, slender box. "For… you."

Charlie blinked. "Huh? No, you haven't. You haven't been, not at all. I've been busy, and Dogwood's had you workin' your buns off for him. It's totally okay." Then bleary eyes focused on the box in her hand. "What's this?"

"Its.. .a something. To… thank you. For being? So nice to me." She nodded, and smiled again, quietly, shifting in her seat. She loved giving gifts as long as she wasn't there when they OPENED it, and she blushed quietly. "Its... something for you."

Charlie wrinkled his nose, and then massaged the bridge of it as he carefully sat the box on the desk in front of him. "Emily... I'm not being nice of you because of presents or anything else, you know. I'm nice to you because I like you."

"I… know." She flushed, hotly, looking down at her hands. "Open? it?"

"All right." Charlie dipped his head and gave her a little smile as his hands fumbled with the dainty velvet ribbon that adorned the box, and he folded it up carefully before taking the lid off the box.

And laughed delightedly as Winnie the Pooh and the Hundred Acre crew beamed up at him from a huge group hug.

She smiled, relief flooding her heart as he laughed, and she gave him a sheepish, shy smile as she shifted and moved. "Its... I saw… it? And thought of you. So... I bought it. It has? A tie tack, too. See?" She pointed at a little gold row of honey pots. "I tried... to find? The matching tie-tacks, but... couldn't."

Charlie immediately reached up and unbuttoned his shirt collar, pulled off the gray silk one he'd put on... that morning? the day before? and folded it up before draping the new tie around his neck and knotting it with precision motions. He'd done it for so long, he didn't even need a mirror, and he clipped the tie tack on it as soon as it was adjusted, and just beamed.

Oh yeah. Emily was blushing, deeply, fumbling with her fingers in her lap and staring at them as she blushed, smiling at the same time because yeah, how hot was he? With the moving and the practiced fingers? She was no longer mad at him, so it was most definitely alright to see the hotness. "So... I'm… sorry? Sorry, I am."

He stopped in mid-straighten as he looked up at her. "Sorry? For?"

"For… our fighting. My... fighting."

He sighed. "Emily, don't. It's my fault. Between the whole dead cow thing, and the not wanting to go look for Melissa thing... yeah. And on top of that I've been too busy here to try and make it up to you properly."

"Its! Not your fault!" She exclaimed it, quickly, looking up before blazing and looking back down again. "I... just got...temperamental. I don't... want our friendship to be... our... whatever to be… ruined."

He blinked. "How do you feel about roses?"

"Roses?"

"The flowers."

"I… love roses." Her throat bobbed. "Very… very much. Why?"

"Just making sure." He leaned forward. "Dinner tonight?"

Oh. The way he said it had her tummy flipping, and she looked up, then, catching his eyes, flushing hotly, and swallowing as she fumbled back down to look at her hands. "Okay. Dinner… sounds fantastic."

He grinned at her then. "Here in Smallville or Metropolis?"

"Wherever...is fine." She mumbled into her chest, turning all kinds of colors when she realized just how he was looking at her. Not that she minded, of course.

"I know Lionel keeps a standing reservation at Sandine's, in Metropolis, if you'd like to go there." Cocky grin then. "Since I work for him, I can use the reservation."

She flushed, even hotter, and looked up, then back down, nodding quickly and studying her fingers. "O-Okay. That's? Fine. Sounds fine. I? I should...work. Maybe. Unless...food?" Out of her mouth before she could stop herself! Damn!

"Food?" he asked, blinking softly. "I can usually speak Emily-ese, but I need a little help with that one." Soft grin. "Don't worry, you're the resident expert in Charlie-ese."

She flushed, harder, and she had to say it AGAIN! Dammit!! "I… mean... for us... f-food." She swallowed, hard, and burned red.

Soft chuckle. "You do realize that Sandine's specializes in food, right?" He wasn't making fun of her, just trying to get her to smile.

"Y… yes." A harder, darker blush, and she was going to burn her way through this chair any moment. "I... m-meant. Now."

He would have answered, but a rumble from his stomach answered for him first.

She smiled, swallowing hard and looking up a little.

"Yeah, Food right now sounds like a great idea. I think I missed breakfast today." He got up and stretched, then walked around his desk, carefully stepping over stacks and boxes of papers.

She smiled a little, at her lap, still blushing furiously. Because he? Was extremely, extremely handsome. He had a little stubble, which looked so handsome, and he was handsome and there was a whole handsome thing going. And when she'd watched his hands moving over his tie in the fast, practiced motioned, her tummy had plopped over a few times. Who's wouldn't? He was a fox. And it made... her think, even for a sec? What those hands would feel like on her.

Meep. An even more furious-er blush and she rubbed her fingertip over her thumbnail, blushing softly. "Me… too."

"Okay... um... don't think I'm stupid, but... what the hell is today?" He sighed. "I've lost... almost all track of time."

"Its... Tuesday." She flushed, even hotter. "The...twelfth. Of… April."

"Fuck, it's Tuesday? Where the hell did Monday go?"

"It... was yesterday." Cough. "And today... is today. With… Easter weekend... next week. Are... you going? Home? For Easter?"

Shake of his head. "Not with this mess here, are you kidding? I'll still be up to my ears in tax audits." Then the date registered. "Christ, the 12th????? Holy shit. NOBODY has hit the accounting department for the taxes yet!!!!!"

"Oh... no." She winced, and tipped her head as she finally looked up at him. "Do you want? To go? We can... postpone lunch for another... day. Definitely, if... work."

"No, I need lunch, especially if I'm going to yell at accounting tomorrow. Fuck fuck fuck. That means we're going to have to file for an extension because no fucking WAY will these estimates be done by the fifteenth." Charlie ran his fingers through his hair and caused it to stand up even more.

She wanted to bite his ear lobe. "Are… you going to... stay? Tonight?" The way he'd said it had made her head tip, and she blinked at him, twice.

"Well, no, because I've got a dinner date I need to keep. But after dinner... yeah. I'm going by my apartment here, getting a shower and some clean clothes and coming back here to camp out." Deep sigh. "I'm not looking forward to calling Mr. Senatori."

"Dinner... date?" Emily asked it, for a moment, before she realized he was saying their date, and he thought it was a date!!! It was a date!!! They'd never even... BEEN on a date, but it was a date and he was going to take her somewhere!!!!!! Had she mentioned she wanted to bite his earlobe? She really, really wanted to. But she smiled, shyly, and nodded, climbing to her feet as well and lifting her skirt so she wouldn't fall and kill herself on the stacks of paper. "He... won't be too angry."

"Yeah, dinner date. You, me, Sandine's, good food?" he asked questioningly. "Unless you don't wanna go?"

"I want...to go." She answered, shyly, and graced him with a small smile. "Very...much."

"Then it's a date." He came around the corner of the desk, made sure he had his cell phone with him, and he sighed. "Let's at least get to our lunch place before I call Dominic. That way, I'll have a head start running."

"Think… he'll... hunt you down?" And because he was such a little guy, and so nice, it just cracked her up and she giggled helplessly, sliding the straps of her bag over her shoulder.

"He'll not only hunt me down, but he'll rip out my spine, shove my balls down my throat, and wrap my vertebrae around my neck," Charlie said firmly. "And that's if he's in a nice mood."

And she said just what she thought, as she tentatively, shyly, offered her hand. "But he's so... nice. And? So little! And did… I mention nice?"

Charlie took her hand as he started walking out of his office, and only paused long enough to lock it because of the confidential information in it, and wasn't that thrilling, his door locked! He almost squealed. "That's the part that gets me about Dominic being the EBM. He's so little. But he's mean."

"EBM?" She echoed, looking up at him in question before she burst out laughing, trying to hide it behind a hand but just. Not. Succeeding. "He's not mean! He's… so nice! And! He didn't kill… me? For getting paint on... the rug in the study!"

"EBM. Evil Business Mogul." Charlie explained it with a snicker. "And he's nice to people who don't work for him, darling. People like me, who are beneath him? We're fair game."

Her lips twitched and curved as she finished giggling, and her eyes just rolled. "He's… so not… mean. So in your... head? Head. He's so nice, and he...so loving, and… no way. Don't believe you!" She cried it, and then grinned again, up at him, cause he was holding her hand and it was all okay!

"Did I mention that LuthorCorp had to carpet my old office because Dominic kept making me faint with his threats?" He leaned on the elevator button, waiting for it to come up to their floor.

Emily just about died laughing. Charlie... fainting? No way. He was so manly, and huge, and kind and sweet and muscley and hard and had she mentioned cute? "You... so… liar."

"I could show you my medical file, but..." He pulled her hand up to the back of his head. "Feel that little dent? Permanent dent in my head from fainting so many times."

Ohh.

Ohhhhh.

She rubbed his head, softly, through his hair, her thumb stroking over it as her cheeks flushed all over again and she got the warm tinglies through her. Ohhh. Pretty boy. Very pretty, and this close, even at this afternoon hour, smelled good. Like...aftershave, and soap, and other good yummy things. She wasn't sure if she stunk from being out all day, and yeah, probably did, and she was shy, and had she MENTIONED he was cute?

"I.." She cleared her throat. "I feel it. I believe you."

Charlie just grinned down at her as her fingers stroked through his hair. He didn't say a word, didn't stop her, just leaned over and licked at her ear. "Good."

Cardiac. Arrest. He licked her and then there was fire all the way through her and her mouth trembled open as she took a step closer and did she mentioned she loved him? Yes. Yes, she did. She knew it, and yeah, maybe she was a dumb dumb person but she was so in love with him and uh, God.

Charlie breathed in softly as she stepped closer to him, and he opened his mouth just a little bit, hand rising to tip her chin up so that he could kiss her, and he didn't even notice the ding of the elevator's arrival.

Lionel blinked as the elevator doors opened on this little almost-kissing tableau. "I think we're on the wrong floor, Dominic. I asked for the offices, not the X-rated video set."

"Has to be. Because although he looks like my assistant, theirs no way Charles Siegel would ever considering even thinking about public displays of affection when he should be working, so I should assume." Dominic answered back to his lover, and gave Charlie the look of the devil as he shifted the McDonalds bags in hand.

Everything that Charlie owned drooped in that second. "What did I tell you about him shoving my balls down my throat?" he whispered softly. "Um. Uh. Mr. S-Senatori. I was on my way out. To lunch. So, um? My time? I can kiss my girlfriend if I wanna?" Should have been a declaration, but it came out as a very, very scared question.

Dominic gave him a seething, dark, evil glare, and then switched the glare to a smile as he reached out and took Emily's hand, giving it a warm kiss. "You can do better, Emily, darling. Charlie? Show her a good time." He turned another dark glare on him. "And your time is not your time, its borrowed my time. Don't forget it."

Even if he was a meanie, he was so charming, and Emily smiled at him when he kissed her hand, flushing softly and burning sixteen shades of red as she looked down at her open toed sandals.

Charlie snapped his spine straight. "Mr. Senatori!!! I'll be back in about an hour, then we're going for dinner, but, but but I need to meet with you you and Mr. Luthor!!! Cause!!! Taxes! Not ready! Today's the 12th!"

Dominic turned fire eating eyes at Charlie and wished he could have broken the little bastards legs under him. "The taxes... were supposed to have been done in January, Mr. Siegel." He said it calmly, coolly, staring intently at him as his fingers viced on the lunch bag.

Ohhh Emily saw that, and she squeezed Charlie's hand tightly, rubbing her thumb over the knuckles.

"Don't you yell at me, Mr. Senatori!! The audit forms just got dumped on my desk... Christ, yesterday!!! The property values haven't even been estimated cause I just got them today and I don't even know what the hell today is!"

Dominic's glare heightened even further, for several long moments, and for a second there, Emily was sure he was going to leap across the space and snap her boyfriend's neck. But then he surprised her, by breaking out into a smile, and was he ever handsome.

"I want them by tomorrow, Mr. Siegel." Was all Dominic said, rolling his eyes as he took Lionel's hand and pulled him with him. If Charlie got a spine because of the girl, he might have to buy her some flowers.

Lionel was nowhere near as calm, but his shoulders were straight and his spine was stiff as he let Dominic pull him along. And glared. "I want our entire accounting department strung up by the balls and tits for not having caught this ball."

Charlie panted softly. "Fine!" he yelled at Dominic's shoulder, and dragged Emily into the elevator after sticking his tongue out at Dominic, and then sagged against the wall. "Christ, do you see what I mean about the man hating me??"

"Don't get cocky, Mr. Siegel." Dominic answered back, looking over his shoulder with a raised brow and behind Lionel's line of sight, stuck his tongue out back before disappearing with his lover into his office.

Emily caught the tongue and laughed out loud, still flushing brilliantly with the wet warmth from his mouth still on her ear. It tingled all over, and she ran a hand over her neck to stop thinking about it, still giggling quietly. "He doesn't... hate you. Come? on? lets go."

Charlie sighed again. "Doesn't look like we're gonna get out tonight after all, but yeah... let's go have lunch now, and then I can take you out tomorrow night, instead, maybe, when I'm not chained to the desk?"

"Okay." She agreed, and smiled again, lopsided at him. She shyly slipped into the elevator, holding it open for him with her palm, and said, very softly, "Think… you can? kiss me? like that again?"

"Oh, yeah." Charlie straightened, and his chest puffed out as he walked into the elevator behind her and let it ding shut. "I can." He grinned down at her, then moved his hand to tilt her chin up.

No nose-bumping this time, cause he'd been working on that, and as the elevator started to move, Charlie's mouth pressed carefully against Emily's.

Uh huh. Well. Emily lifted up, a little, on her toes, and pressed him right back a little harder than she'd intended. She wrapped tiny arms around his neck, holding him close, with all her curls all over the place hanging past her butt and she kissed him, harder, harder cause that's what she wanted, and oh, yes.

Charlie was pleasantly surprised, and maybe that kissing practice with his cousin all those years ago really did pay off, because Emily was kissing him back and it was all good. She was all soft and pliant and pressed against him in all the right places, and he loved feeling her against him like this even though he didn't have anything but a very rough idea of what came next cause Emily definitely wasn't a bimbo in a porn flick, and that's pretty much all he knew.

Emily loved it. Just loved it. He kissed so good, and he tasted as good as he smelled and yeah? Could she be anymore in love? She was experimentive, cause maybe she was shy as hell but with her eyes closed it wasn't so bad. She licked at his lips, letting to enough to bite his lover lip... cause... well, she didn't know why but it was fun. She bit again, and tugged, cause she'd seen it one in a movie, and then she went in and yeah, kissing. Mmmm. Charlie kisses.

Charlie made a little noise as she bit his lower lip and it felt so good, he let her do it again, sighing softly as the elevator dinged open again.

He was met with hooting from two of the other nitwits he'd used to work with in Metropolis, before being promoted. "Siegel!!! Get a room, man!! Come on!! Nobody wants to see your ass swappin' spit with a pretty lady!"

Oh. She blushed, furiously, and let go of Charlie with a smile at him before taking his hand, looking down at her shoes again with her purse tucked in close. She wish she'd known some of her lip gloss had smeared but she didn't say anything, just smoothing her clothes and swallowing. She was very, very aware her breasts were doing the perky dance and maybe her mom had been right. Bra might be a good thing to start wearing. Meep.

"Yeah, yeah, fuck you," Charlie mumbled, and put his arm around Emily's shoulder.

Was well aware of the bralessness and kind of ignored it as he steered Emily towards the huge glass doors. "C'mon. Ignore those dumbasses. Where are we goin' for lunch?"

She was still kind of on the flushed heat of desire, and she blinked for a moment, uncomprehending that he'd spoken. "Mmm?"

"Lunch. We're going for it? As in, where?" He blinked down at her, and raised his hand to thumb away the smeared lip gloss.

Oh. A soft, long sigh, and she wanted to have gropes and cuddles and it was the first time she ever wanted that and she wanted him to use those big hands but she could never, ever say it nooononon. So attractive. She'd let him do it, make it his idea, so she wouldn't embarrass herself, and she smiled, shakily, shyly. "Wherever. Want... pizza?"

"Mmmm. Pizza. D'ya know, I lived on pizza for like, a decade?" He kept his arm around her as they headed to his car, a black Firebird ragtop and a gleaming supercharger. "I can swing pizza if that's what you want." He held the passenger door open for her.

"Nice! Car." She answered, and smiled at him once before slipping into the seat, skirt gathered again closely. Oh please. Come on, Charlie. More kisses. Many more kisses. Come on, don't disappoint me.

"She's my baby." A deep, prideful sigh. "Built her myself, and had a guy here in town supercharge the engine for me. She's a class act, my baby girl." He petted the dash lovingly, sliding his hand across the slick leather interior. "Won't find another one like her."

His car was a girl. And a class act. And the love of his life. She smiled at him, and nodded, looking out over the car and pretending she knew what he was talking about. "What's supercharge?"

His eyes goggled at her. "You mean, I've found a girl who doesn't know a turbocharger from a supercharger?" Then he broke out into a grin. "It's okay. Supercharger is when the engine's built larger than the compartment for it, so you get more speed and performance out of it. That's why it's raised partially out of the hood like that. You really won't see that much anymore, except in street racers like a Boss '60."

"Oh." Still no. Clue. But she appreciated that she was, you know, clueless, and smiled at him. "That's? Really cool. I didn't… know they made those things." But she was smiling, her purse in her lap, and she shifted until she was comfortable as she tugged on her seat belt. "Very… nice interior."

"Interior's hand-tooled leather," he said softly. "Dashboard's are hand-cast plastiform and wood grain, and the seat covers are genuine fake fur."

She blinked at him for a long moment, and couldn't help the slew of giggles. "Genuine? Fake fur?" She asked, and laughed all over again, shaking her head and setting her head back on the headrest. "Such... a dweeb."

"Genuine fake fur. Best fake my paycheck can buy. I can't wait for Christmas; my Dad bought me an old Dodge Charger chassis, and he's going to have it shipped up here to me. I just gotta find a garage here in Smallville, that'll let me store the care and work on it. Gonna make m'own General Lee."

"Sounds interesting." Yeah, Emily was dying to yank him over and kiss him again and she all but kept herself from squirming, staying as still as she could so she wouldn't fidget. And yet, there he was, talking about cars and not getting it and he could have her any minute he wanted her and was she driving herself nuts? No. No, of course not.

Maybe a little.

"My mom... she has? This little... Volkswagon Beetle... she had decorated with... flowers."

GOD. Could she be any more LAME?!

"Really? What kind of Beetle? I mean, what year?" He cranked his baby up and listened to the purr of the engine, and then started to back out. "Were the flowers hand painted or stencils, and what kind of paint did she use? How long did the flowers last, and how hard was it to maintain?"

Charlie was completely. Fucking. Oblivious.

She bit her lip as she listened. "Uhm... nineteen... um... seventy.. .six, I... think. Paints… I don't remember what kind. But... still there. She had them... done into the paint job on the.. .car." She shifted, smiling a little at him, hopefully when he started the car, then all but sighed when he backed out. No more kisses for Emily. Crap.

"Man, I need to find out what she used. Still there after almost thirty years, yeah. But, I got a long time for I gotta think about that. I don't even have the chassis yet." He sighed as he stopped at the end of the parking lot, waiting to pull out on the new road. He flashed another grin at her. "You gotta be sick of hearing about cars. I'm sorry."

"Its okay." Encouragement by the smile, and she smiled back, shifting and managing NOT to look hopeful, thank you very much. "I like cars. I just never... really thought? About them. I... drive a... beat up Toyota. I... don't think you could see it and… stay? Sane." Another grin.

Charlie laughed at that. "Not a problem, baby. Not everybody drives a classic like my baby here." Charlie pulled the Firebird onto the highway, and grinned. "Did we decide on Pizza, or is that just one of the options?"

"One of... the options. Anything! Is alright, with me." Emily answered, and gazed down at her purse with a soft sigh. Definitely not any more kisses. And she'd been so hopeful.

"Well, I would say steak, but since you're a "no" on the whole cattle thing... we can do chicken, we can hit McDonald's, or we can stick with pizza or spaghetti. Your call." As he merged into traffic, Charlie leaned over and quickly smooched Emily's cheek.

Didn't. Help, but her dimples winked anyway. "Chicken, definitely okay. McDonalds, nations number? One killer. I say.... no? I don't know. Pizza or Spaghetti. Your call!"

"Right, forgot that McDonald's does like, fifteen million burgers a year or whatever. Okay. No Mickey-D's with Emily. Well... since dinner's not happenin', how about lunch together at Derchi's? Spaghetti, no meatballs, and we can have our pseudo date."

"Okay." She nodded it, a few times. "Lunch is... very good. I'm... sorry."

"Sorry? What for now?" Charlie hit the brakes at the stoplight, and drummed his fingers on the steering wheel.

"For pushing… you away. For… flipping out. For... not really... talking to you, for a few weeks. And... its okay. For you. To be? Okay with me. I'm… sorry."

Charlie shrugged. "I just... you know, thought it was a girl thing. You know... the guy does something stupid, the girl doesn't call him back until he starts groveling. So, um, I groveled. Today. You'll see what with when you get home. That... that was kind of my groveling attempt. Just so you know."

"No." She shook her head, quickly, and touched his arm gently. "No groveling. You don't... have to. With? With me. I don't like groveling. I... just had... too much pride. And then... I was dumb. Because? you accept me… for being who I am. And I couldn't... accept you, for being you. So... I'm sorry."

Charlie looked over at her as he took his foot off the accelerator as the light turned green. "Dumb's okay. I'm dumb as they come, when it comes to girls and stuff, so don't even worry there." He nodded firmly. "And, yeah. I like you for who you are, so yeah, of course I accept it. You are who you are and I like who you are, so you are good." He blinked. "Or something like that."

"I... promise? I'll be more... understanding." She answered, and yeah, she felt like she was going to cry, and a lump lodged in her throat so she just shut up.

Charlie put his arm around her and tugged her over as much as the seat belt would allow. "Hey, you're cool. I'm cool. We're a couple of cool bunnies out for a drive, okay?" He pushed her hair back from her face and ran his fingers lightly through it.

Crap. "Okay." She answered, and let him hold her as he drove. Cool bunnies out for a ride managed to sound like friends, not...more than friends. Was he sending her a signal? "Okay."

"Good. You're my girl--I mean, if you wanna be--and that means, you don't gotta apologize for breathin'. Cause. I do enough of that with Mr. Senatori, and just... eyah." Charlie tightened his grip gently on her shoulders. "Do you wanna be?"

"Be?" She asked, nervously, softly, because he smelled so yummy and there were perfect places for her lips and sigh.

"My girl, Emily."

"Oh." Squeak. "If...if you want me." She looked up at him then, her eyes bit, and for the first time, reacted to his embrace on her, and her fingers came up to grasp his hand over her shoulder. "If you? Like me."

"If I like you?" He sighed sharply. "You don't get by now that I think you're pretty much the best person on the planet period?" He kissed her hand on his shoulder as he steered into the parking lot of Derchi's, and turned the ignition off.

"I do. I just... want to make? Sure. I don't want... this to end bad. I? like you... a lot, like... no one else I've ever liked which boils down to like, three people, but you... are totally the best." A hard swallow. "Don't… want to mess? it up. You know?"

"Okay, lemme make it straight for you." He cleared his throat. "I, Charles Ernest Siegel, think that you, Emily Anderson Ross (or Ross Anderson, whichever you prefer, I never know) are the swellest person on the planet, and I hereby decree, by the power vested in me by the King of Geekdom, that we won't mess anything up, including our clothes." He dropped his hand, and grinned a goofy grin.

She choked on a giggle, her lips spreading and her dimples dipped even deeper as he spoke. She rose her head, in mock seriousness, listening to everything he said, and then raised her right hand. "I, Emily Ingrid Stella Anderson Ross decree you rock, and you're not... you know, a geek, and we'll probably mess our clothes up but that's okay... and I like you. A lot."

"Hey, I take pride in my Geek status!" Charlie protested, but he was grinning broadly. "I like you a lot too. So, Emily Ingrid Stella Anderson Ross, let's go have lunch together." He got out of the car, sprinted around to her side, and held the door open for her.

Heee. Alright. So maybe this made up for no kissing. Not by much, and she wished she had the initiative to give him a grope or two, but A, she'd probably fall flat on he rass whilst groping, B, flush and stammer, C, squeeze a little too hard and put him in the hospital, or get her fingers stuck on his zipper, D, fall on her ass while groping and ending up sprawled in that big puddle by her door.

So. She didn't grope. But she wished, anyway. "Thank you."

"The pleasure is all mine." Huge, flourish of a bow, and he ended up slamming the back of his head into her elbow as he straightened up.

She winced, grabbed her elbow, then winced, and rubbed his head gently, cringing as she did it. "I'm… sorry. You? Okay?"

"Oh, oh yeah. I don't feel complete if I haven't gone a day without head trauma." He reached back to rub his head and his fingers brushed against hers and he squeezed them briefly.

Kisses! Possible kisses! And gropes!!! She looked down at him hopefully, squeezing back tenderly and rubbing his head quietly and softly to get the ache away.

Charlie slowly straightened and winced only slightly. Points for not keeling over in front of the girlfriend. "Damn, that hurt." He leaned his head on her shoulder until his eyes stopped watering.

Alright. Well that was for damn sure enough. She caught his mouth in a kiss, there where they stood, him half on her and she half in the car still. They were parked on the side of the building, so no one could see, and yeah, so maybe she let her hands wander. She couldn't help it. She was hungry, very... yeah, hungry, good word, and her fingertips still mussed with dried paint went down to his ass and squeezed.

Charlie jumped in surprise, and his head whammed against the top of the car, but he didn't even notice it or feel it. He just leaned forward and balanced on the side of his passenger seat as he kissed Emily back, just as yummy as he'd thought she'd be and then the touch on his ass was just... okay, yeah, he was going to have either marry this girl or enshrine her, or something, and he couldn't help the little moan.

She leaned up further to him and brought her fingers down around the front because maybe yeah, she was a little bold, and kinda hussy-ish, but did she ever not care. She just kissed him, let him kiss her, harder, tracing the line of... oh boy... and then going back, back to his ass where it was safe, running her nails up his back to stroke over his shoulders.

Charlie would have been toppling over into her lap had he not been bracing on the side of the car, and he barely kept his balance as it was as her little hand stroked over the front of him and whoa! Okay!!

Charlie just grinned as he felt himself jump under her touch, and had to pull away, just for a second, panting softly as he grinned at her. "You... are gonna kill me," he grinned.

She was shivering, and yeah, so she couldn't have lived without doing that, but now she felt a little WAY shy, and... more shy, and she shivered and sighed softly. Oh, wow was touching him ever better than she'd ever dreamed. Want. Him. Now. "I..." A swallow. "S-sorry."

"Hey. Emily. I mean it. No more apologizin' for breathin'. And that means kissing."

Excuse. To do it. Again. She ran her fingers softly, lightly back down his back, over his ass and thighs, then over... the front, just a little, before falling away back into her lap, her throat bobbing. "Okay. No more. Okay."

Charlie watched her touch him, and then sighed softly. "You keep that up, and I ain't gonna be able t'show my face in that restaurant, Miss Emily."

Crimson. Just... crimson. She didn't understand why, but she just...crimson. She looked down again, quickly getting her back and stepping out of the car, and swallowed, hard, turning eight shades of red in five seconds flat.

Charlie just chuckled softly. "One of these days, I'm gonna explain that to you."

"Explain?" She squeaked. Yes, Emily Anderson-Ross squeaked. She did. She couldn't help it.

"Yeah, explain why it is I couldn't ever show my face if I walked into a public restaurant like that with my pants preceding me."

There were times she really hated being this innocent. She had no clue what he was talking about, so rather than look dumb... er, she just nodded and blushed even hotter, wincing at her sandals.

He leaned over and whispered in her ear. "I can't go in there with my dick making a tent in my pants, because that's just rude."

Her eyes widened, considerably, as she stared down at her shoes. "Wh...what?"

Charlie pulled back and nodded. "Yep."

Well now he'd gotten her curious. She didn't quite know what penises did... they got erect, she knew, but that was as far as her knowledge went. "What? I... I mean... what?"

Charlie... just blinked. And held open the restaurant door. "Later, baby. I promise. Just... not over spaghetti and Italian sausage, kay? Cause really? Not appropriate dinner conversation."

"But... but..." She stared at him for a minute because he was making no sense and she just felt dumb, and she looked at her shoes again, sighing at them as if they held the answers to the universe, or just to male sexuality, and slipped into the door he held open for her.

"Trust me, baby. When you hear what I gotta tell you, you'll understand why I say no to dinner." Wolfish grin. "Besides, I wouldn't want you to choke on your sausage."

"I... don't eat sausage." She reminded him, eyebrow up as she turned to look over the restaurant. it was a seat yourself policy during the mid day meal, so she waited for him to pick a good spot, purse...or rather, satchel, tucked in close.

His eyes were twinkling devilishly. "That... might become a problem later, but I think we can work around it." His fingertips rubbed her hip as he teased her.

He had a look, and the teasing, only she didn't UNDERSTAND what he was teasing ABOUT, and it only made her feel worse. Dumb and idiotic and dumb. She'd never had friends to tell her these things, never had a mom to tell her...she'd never even told Lois, because... well, if Lois knew she was this much a virgin, she'd never let Emily live it down. So she lived in her own really pathetic world of un-knowledge, and what she knew she picked up from movies. Except she painted, and hadn't SEEN any of those kinds of movies. She didn't even know how to masturbate.

She was most certainly not going to cry, no she was not.

Uh oh. Charlie caught the look, and he frowned, pulling her to the side tables, picking one in the shadows. "Hey... Emily. Not making fun of you, okay? It's called flirting. But... okay. You really need to watch some of my movies." Deep sigh. "Crash course here. Guys? We have dicks," he explained, keeping his voice pitched softly. "When they get hard? They stick out. Like a tent pole, which makes whatever we're wearing over it, tent out too." Little grin. "They look... kind of like pink sausages, if you use a little bit of imagination, and that's what I was teasing you about."

Oh. Ohhh. Her eyes widened as she looked at him, mouth slightly trembled open, and she closed it with a hard swallow as she got kinda... well, tingly, and terrified, and more tingly, all over. Ohhh. Well... big oh. She suddenly had fifty billion questions and they all sort of popped in her brain, but she didn't say anything as she looked at him for a moment, studying him to make sure it was the truth.

"No, I'm not going to whip it out in the middle of Derchi's and show you," he said, in answer to her intense scrutiny.

Dammit. She'd been hoping. She wanted to see, investigate. Definitely investigate. But she shifted, a little, and set down her purse. "Do... they point... up? Or... or d-down?" Oddly enough, she didn't blush... much... when she asked it.

Soft chuckle. "Depends on if they have the little crook or not, but most times? When they're soft, they just sort of... hang there. When they're hard? They point straight out."

"How.." Dammit. "How do they...get hard? I mean...d-do you have to t--" She stopped mid conversation and blushed, profusely, as the waitress stopped with menus at their table.

"Hi, there, welcome to Derchi's!" Antoinette Fisher said, giving them a big smile and putting their menus before them. "What can I get you both to drink?"

Charlie just grinned at Emily. "Tea, for both of us, please. Sweet, with lemon."

"Alrighty." She wrote it down. "Be back in a flash with your drinks!"

Emily watched the woman walk away in mortal humiliation. "Did...she hear?"

"Of course not." He had absolutely no idea whether she had or not, but better to guess she hadn't, and keep Emily from bursting into flames. "How? Guys are *really* easy, Em. Sometimes? It's just the wind blowin' the right way."

"Really?" She tipped her head, now that he'd assured her, and rubbed a hand over her hot cheeks. "I... how... I was… making you? Like that? I won't... won't do it again. God, how… isn't that? Embarrassing?"

"Yes, yes, you were, and that is why I said, I couldn't show my face in here if I walked in like that." He plunked his elbow on the table, and his chin on his hand as he grinned at her. "Get it now?"

"I get it." She mumbled, and looked down again. All this guy stuff. So. Confusing. She wanted to ask how it all worked, though she had... a small idea, kind of, because she'd explored herself once or twice at night in her bed, but she just didn't know... what was...-- "I've never... h-had an orgasm. Or... came. Or... anything. I... don't... never... have m-m-ma..." A swallow. "You know."

Charlie nearly choked on his water at that, and brought his napkin up to his mouth. "Okay. Well. That's... okay. I can... well, try and help you out with that. Eventually."

"Do... you think that's… bad?" She asked, looking up now at him and desperatly hoping it was a big, huge no.

"No, no, no. I think it's good. It's just..." and here he grinned. "Unusual, for me, to know a woman your age, who hasn't. You're definitely... a diamond, Emily, and I'm lucky. That you like me, I mean."

"I'm… not really a woman. I'm...only twenty two. Though... yeah, married, babies, all... my peers, already. I'm... kind of... stuck behind." Alright. She was through embarrassing herself today, and she opened the menu and peered inside.

"Hey." Charlie tipped her menu down with his own. "You are a woman."

She shrugged, absently, and kept looking at her menu, though she spoke to him. "Thank you. For… thinking? So."

"I don't just think it. I know it."

She nodded, but she didn't believe a word, because... hello. Didn't even know what a penis looked like here. How sad. "Mmm. What? is good?"

"Pretty much everything." He looked up at her seriously. "Emily... seriously? If I have sausage, am I going to flip you out again?"

She shook her head, at that, and offered a crooked little smile. "No. Its... definitely okay. Understand... you like meat from cows and pigs. Its...okay."

"Okay." He grinned. "Then I'm also serious about having the spaghetti and Italian sausage."

"Okay." She smiled again, at him, and kept peering at her menu to see just what it was she wanted. There was so many good things, but... "Cheese ravioli...in...mushroom sauce."

"Mmm. That's definitely good. I had it a few weeks ago, and it's good enough to make you cry." He folded his menu down and looked over at her. "Depending on how late I gotta work tonight, you wanna come by my office after you're done? You and I can hang out and talk while I'm working."

"Okay." Emily's face lit up when he said it. Yeah. Talking to Charlie is a definite good. "Only... a while. Have? To be at the mansion early tomorrow."

"Yeah, only a while. That's good. I'll make sure the caf staff leaves us some coffee and snacks."

"Okay." Another smile, and she felt like a broken record, and she wanted to keep asking her questions and NOW SHE UNDERSTOOD WHY HE'D BEEN SAYING WHAT HE HAD. Not liking to eat sausage?! Did that mean her mouth would... go… there? Holy CRAP and did that bring another slew of questions she bit her tongue to keep from asking, just staring intently at her menu as her brain fired.

Charlie loved watching the blush blooming in her cheeks. "What?"

She shook her head, swallowing tightly, and set her menu down as she blushed even harder, looking down and away. "Not...lunch? Conversation."

Charlie had to snicker. "I know, baby, but... what did you just realize? Your color changed about six shades of red."

Wince. She liked that he called her baby, but... wince. "Wh... what you said."

His grin widened. "Just figured out the sausage comment?" Bright wink as he leaned over and kissed her.

She accepted the kiss, kissing him back softly, and went even more pink before she crossed her arms over her chest and just...yeah, flushing. She knew she shouldn't have said anything to him. Better than he made the first move but nooo. She was always screwing up. Dammit.

"Emily, if you blush one more time, I'm gonna spank you."

A soft sigh. "I'm... sorry."

"I didn't think I'd ever find anybody that apologizes more'n I do." He pulled her over one chair until she was sitting beside him instead of across from him. "Baby, you don't have anything to apologize for, and tonight? I'll answer anything you wanna know, with as much demonstration as I can muster."

"B-but." She shook her head, and scooched over beside him. "I… shouldn't have made? The first move. Its... the guys position, t-to do it. I....just feel...weird? And...weird." She nodded, and rubbed her cheek softly as she finally let some of the blush go.

"Emily, meet Gloria Steinem. Gloria, meet Emily."

Blink. Blink.

"Women's liberation, all that? Boiled down, it means it's okay for you to make the first move when your boyfriend is a freakin' dip."

"You're...not! A dip!" Emily exclaimed it, loudly. Oops. Lowered her voice, and tried again. "Not a dip!"

Charlie gave her an eye roll. "Um, yeah. Total dip, and I know it. Which is good." He smiled at her. "Come on. No more questions and no more blushing. I'll make you a deal, in fact. If you can go the rest of the meal without blushing, I'll show you in the car. Deal?"

Her eyes widened into twin saucers, and she stared at him for a good, long moment. "Promise?"

"Promise," he said, with a stout nod.

"Okay. Deal. But only if you touch… me." Emily answered back.

Charlie's face spread into a wide grin. "Baby... that goes without saying."

 

-fin-

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