Original Love

Charlie's POV:
 
A month later…
 
As she continued to dance along to the music, Charlie heard her phone ring for what seemed like the billionth time. Figuring that whatever it was that the other person was calling about was important, she hit the pause button on the remote for the stereo allowing the music to cut off and earning a lot of confused looks from the little girls around her.
 
“Ok guys, I know it’s right in the middle of the dance but lets take a five minute break.” She said as all the little girls smile as they all formed groups with their friends and began talking excitedly about whatever it was eight year olds got excited about now days.
 
She made her way over to her bag just as her phone began to ring again and sighed as she fished it out from the bottom of her messenger bag and opened it just as the call ended. Rolling her eyes at the device, she unlocked it and then went through all her missed calls finding that all the texts and calls were from one person. Rachael. Glancing behind her to make sure the girls weren’t getting into anything bad, she pressed send on her best friends number and put the phone up to her ear waiting for her to pick up the call.
 
“About time you pick up,” the voice on the other end said after she answered.
 
Charlie just found herself rolling her eyes once again, “I was in the middle of a class and got sick of hearing my phone ring. What is the major issue that made me call you back thinking that it’s an emergency.”
 
“It is an emergency!”
 
“Well you’re not crying, screaming, or yelling or even swearing for that matter so it doesn’t look like that big of an emergency.” Charlie replied as she took a seat on the chair next to the table she was standing in front of so that she could watch her class.
 
She was a teacher after all which meant she was responsible for these girls for the whole hour and a half they were there for their beginner ballet lessons. Besides, their mom’s were paying big bucks to send them there so she would have hell to pay if anything happened to them.
 
“If this so called ‘emergency’ is about what to wear tonight for the concert then I’m going to smack you the next time I see you.” Charlie went on not allowing her friend time to respond.
 
She could hear her best friend sigh through the speaker, clearly annoyed with the lack of interest Charlie was giving her. But it wasn’t her fault; she needed to get back to teaching. And even if she said that her class was making good progress, they were still far from the future prima ballerina status all the moms thought their daughters had. They were seven after all, they were allowed to be horrible, but their moms had such high standards that they put into their daughters heads that the only future they were allowed was to become a professional ballerina and make something of themselves. Much like Charlie’s parents had all her life. But no big deal.
 
“Yes this is about the concert, and no it’s not about what I’m going to wear,” Rachael continued as the girls showed off their perfect ballerina buns they all had their hair in that they ‘did themselves’. “My boss is making me take extra shifts tonight and I won’t get off until ten.”
 
“That’s when the concert gets out,”
 
Rachael sighed, “yeah I know.”

“So you’re ditching me to wipe butts and clean bedpans all night?”
 
“It’s not like I want to,” her best friend replied, sounding so worn out and annoyed. “But I can’t exactly say no. I’m months away from graduating with my full nursing degree, I can’t exactly say ‘no I’m sorry I can’t go tonight because I have to go see a concert until the wee hours of the night’. My boss would fire me for sure and I need these hours to complete my clinicals.”
 
“You know the ticket is non-refundable,”
 
Rachael just sighed again and Charlie could just imagine her rolling her eyes also. “Yes I realize that. You don’t need to remind me. 30 some bucks just down the toilet because my future is depending on how well I do these next few months.”
 
“Ugh, fine, be the good little college student and ditch me.”
 
“I’m really sorry; you’re still going to go right?”
 
What kind of question is that? Of course she’s still going to go. It had been nearly a month since she had seen Jack and Alex and even if she hadn’t told anyone about that night, she still wasn’t going to miss if for the world. After they had gotten back to Baltimore, they had talked at least once a day. Not a day hadn’t gone by where she hadn’t gotten either a phone call or text from both Alex and Jack just to talk and say hi. She had been waiting for this since the day they had left and even if her best friend wasn’t going, and as selfish as it sounded, she was still going no matter what.
 
“Yeah I am, I’ll miss you though.”
 
“Aw! I’ll miss you too. I think I’m going to sell my ticket to one of the other girls here at the hospital since they’ve been talking about it. But you don’t have to go with her, she can go alone. I wouldn’t make you go with her since I’m not going. But will you be ok with going alone?”
 
Charlie just nodded even though Rachael couldn’t see her, “yeah I’ll be fine.”
 
“Ok, I am really sorry though, please don’t hate me.”
 
“Of course I don’t hate you, I just wish you were coming. I’ll miss you tonight. I’ll try and get an autograph from Jack for you.” Charlie replied as Rachael squealed and she had to take the phone away from her ear because she was so loud. “I’ll take that as a yes, and please don’t beat yourself up too much about this.”
 
“I’ll try not to,” she answered after calming down a bit. “But I have to go, my break was over two minutes ago and I need to go take care of some patients. I love you, have fun tonight.”
 
Charlie sighed as she told her she would and then hung up after mentioning she also had to get back to work. Ending the call, she put it back in her bag before calling all the girls to attention and getting them back in position as she turned the music back on and began going through the lesson again. Ten minutes before the lesson was up, she felt eyes on her and just figured it was one of the moms that arrived before the class was dismissed but when she turned her head she saw two familiar faces smiling at her as she taught.
 
She nearly stopped teaching so she could run over and hug them but forced herself to focus as she continued to go through the steps slowly trying to make sure all the girls focused and was doing it right. Finally five minutes before class was up she couldn’t take it anymore. The two of them kept watching her and giving her teasing looks every time she looked over to them and couldn’t focus so she just let her class out a few minutes early.
 
Once the last of her students were picked up and she answered all the questions the moms had asked her, she finally could say hi. As soon as the last person was out the door, she turned to face them with a huge smile on her face and rushed over and threw her arms around the one closest to her.
 
“What are you doing here?” She asked, hugging Alex tightly and hearing him laugh in her ear. They finally let go once she caught Jack’s pouting expression and smiled as she wrapped her arms around him too and gave him a big hug. “I missed you guys,”
 
“We missed you too!” Jack replied giving her a slight squeeze before finally letting her go.
 
She couldn’t stop the huge grin on her face as she face the two boys she had been getting to know even better since two months ago and they were finally here in front of her again. And ironically right in the exact place they had met the first time.
 
“So again I ask, what are you doing here?”
 
Alex shrugged, “we were bored on the bus and just decided to get a cab and come here to annoy you. We didn’t want to wait until tonight. Are you done with classes today?”

“Aw you missed me!” She teased as Jack snorted from where he stood in front of the table playing with her iPod, changing the songs every few seconds. Alex blushed lightly and she wanted to ask him why but decided to save him from the humiliation and just answer the pervious question. 

“Yes, I will be done for the day once I finish up a few things and change. Then I’m all yours for the day.”
 
She blushed once she realized how she made that sound but neither of them heard her or pretended that they didn’t. So she just left it at that and mentioned she was going to go change and grabbed her bag and headed down the hallway to the dressing rooms. As she was changing, she could hear the music get turned up louder and Blink blasting through the speakers. She hummed along to the song as she pulled her hair out of the tight bun once she was done and then slipped on her favorite pair of Toms before heading back to the main room.
 
When she walked back in the room, she leaned against the door frame and watched as Alex and Jack danced stupidly around the room. Neither of them knew that she was back and were making their own interpretive dance to Dysentery Gary and using the props and different training things in the room to jump and hop over. By the time the song ended, they still didn’t know she was there until she couldn’t hold in her laughter anymore and burst out laughing from where she stood still by the doorway.
 
Both of them turned around when they heard her and Jack was smiling from ear to ear with Alex had a slight blush coloring his cheeks. Why? She had no clue. But she couldn’t lie and say that she didn’t find it attractive on the British boy.
 
“Ok I’m ready,” she said as she walked fully into the room and grabbed her iPod from the stereo. “I just have to stop at my place to change and then we can do whatever we want.”
 
“Didn’t you just change?” Jack asked as Alex rolled his eyes.
 
“Jack don’t you know? Girls change at least five times a day.”
 
“Haha, you’re so funny,” Charlie deadpanned as she flicked the lights off in the room and began to walk to the door. “But no, I actually need to change for the concert tonight.”
 
Alex smirked, “what you’re wearing is fine. I don’t know why you think you need to change again.”
 
She looked down at her pair of ripped old skinny jeans and old gym shirt she had from high school and rolled her eyes. “You wouldn’t understand. Just stop trying to understand how a girls mind works and go with me on this.”
 
The two of them just rolled their eyes as they followed her through the building and to the front door. Much like the first time they met, they waited behind her as she locked the studio and then followed her to her car. Unlocking it, she climbed in after throwing her bag in back and tried to hide the smile on her face as she saw Alex get in the passenger seat next to her as she twisted her key in the ignition and started the car up. She had forgotten how loud and exactly what she had been listening to and when her stereo turned on as the car started she instantly started blushing.
 
“Aw don’t turn it down; it’s cute that you were listening to our stuff!” Alex said as she blushed even more but kept the volume down to what she had just turned it to.
 
She just rolled her eyes and tried to will her blush away as Alex turned it up again and Jack sat forward in his seat with a grin. “Is this the copy we sent you?”
 
“No,” she replied, shaking her head. “That’s at home; I didn’t want to get it scratched. This is just a random copy of the one I bought off iTunes.”
 
“You bought it even though we sent you one?”
 
She rolled her eyes, “well you guys didn’t exactly tell me you were sending me a signed copy so I bought it off iTunes when it came out.”
 
“Aw you are a fan girl!”
 
“Just shut up and change the freaking cd. I’m sick of hearing these songs again.” She teased as Alex just smirked and turned it up more.
 
She sighed as she continued to drive, reaching over to the controls on the stereo when she was at a red light to change the song. Even if she wasn’t going to change the cd, she at least wanted to control which songs they would listen to and skipped ahead until one of her favorite songs came on. The light changed as the first lyrics of The Irony of Chocking on a Lifesaver began to play and Alex raised an eyebrow as she began to sing along.
 
“What?”
 
Alex just smirked, “this is your favorite song?”
 
“One of them,” she shrugged.
 
The rest of the drive consisted of her skipping through the rest of their cd, playing all her favorites. When she pulled into the parking lot to her apartment complex, she found her assigned spot and parked her car, getting out and grabbing her bag before leading them inside to her apartment. Stopping at her door on the first floor, she rolled her eyes as she heard the all too familiar scratching and whining on the other side of the door as she found the right key and put it into the lock to open the door.
 
Once it was open, she walked inside with the other two behind her and no sooner than the door to her apartment closed was the beast of an animal she called her dog was dancing around the two knew best friends he had just made. She was about to ask if they were annoyed by the chocolate lab when she turned to find both boys on their knees greeting and cooing over the dog.
 
“Oh my God! He’s so cute! What’s his name?” Alex asked as he closed his eyes with a huge smile on his face as the dog started to lick him on his cheeks and neck.
 
She laughed as she set her things down by the door and kicked off her shoes, “Bear.”
 
The boys continued to coo and flip over the dog and she took that moment to go to her room to change. Heading down the hall to her room, she shut the door only leaving it open a crack in case either of the boys needed her and then made her way over to her closet to find what she had planned on wearing for that night. Grabbing her favorite pair of jeans, she replaced the old ones she was wearing for them and then pulled her shirt over her head before pulling the camisole on also.
 
Searching through the shirts hanging up in her closet, she finally grabbed one of her favorite button ups and pulled it over her arms deciding to just leave it open. Being the tradition that it was, she kept her Toms on since she always wore them since they were the most comfortable pair of shoes she owned and then made her way to the bathroom attached to her room to fix her hair and apply a little make up.
 
Giving herself a once over, she smiled at her reflection before grabbing her bag and turning to find the boys. They were right where she kept them, on the floor playing with Bear. Clearing her throat, both of them looked up and she tried to ignore the fact that Alex gaze was lingering a little longer than Jack’s was. Looking away, she went to grab her keys and phone and announcing she was ready to go so they all got up and went back out to her car.
 
Following Alex’s instructions, she slowed her car down as she pulled behind one of the tour busses once they were just outside of the venue. They were all parked in the small parking lot right next to the venue and as they climbed out, Charlie couldn’t help but smile as she saw the all too familiar venue standing in front of her.
 
The building was originally built in the 1920’s used as a ballroom for performances and dancing and an athletic club with a built in pool, gym, and bowling alley somewhere in the basement of the building. It was then later in the 1980’s it was made into a concert hall for rock bands having six different stages to perform on. It was actually a very beautiful building with high ceilings and hard wood floors and creepy ghost stories to go along with the mysterious rooms that not everyone had seen.
 
Charlie, being one of the many not to be able to see the whole building, had always wanted to see the rest of the building. She had only been to the main stage called the Eagles Ballroom and also the Eagles Hall which was in the basement of the building. The pool was actually one of the places she wanted to see most since she had heard so many stories of different band members getting spooked when they went down there and the rumor that a kid had drown in it years before it had actually turned into the concert venue it was today.
 
Alex and Jack lead her inside, flashing their laminates at the security guards and mentioning that Charlie was with them as they walked through the venue. She could hear voices and noise coming from the main stage and figured that the crew was setting up for that night and found that it was true as the three of them walked up the steps and into the room. Lights were flickering on and off and she saw two people at the sound and lights booth at the other side of the room and two guys on stage were scurrying around with mics, guitars, drums, and speakers and everything else needed to make a rock show.
 
“Ready to meet all our crazy friends?” Alex asked as they stopped at the edge of the room. Charlie was beginning to feel even more nervous as she took another step towards Alex hoping that he would be able to calm her down. She felt something touch her hand and looked down to see Alex’s tattooed hand gently taking hers in his own and giving it a light squeeze. 

“Don’t worry, it’ll be fine. Jack and I will be right by you the entire night.