Explosions

Charlie cupped her hands around her mug of coffee, and Ryan smiled. She smiled weakly back at him.

“So you and J.J. Watt, huh?” Ryan said.

“Yeah, he’s great,” Charlie replied.

“A little young maybe,” commented Ryan.

“He’s only two years younger than me,” said Charlie. “You’re four years older than me.”

“True. Does he make you happy?”

“Every day.”

Ryan glanced down at his coffee and nodded. “Good. That’s all I ever wanted for you, Char.”

“Thank you, Ryan.”

“Do you still keep in touch with June?” asked Ryan.

“Yeah, she got married a couple years ago, and her little boy is eight months old now,” said Charlie. “She’s living in Seattle.”

“Bet she’s loving that,” chuckled Ryan.

“Oh, it’s a blast.” Charlie sipped her coffee nervously, and then said, “You grew a beard.”

“Yeah,” Ryan said, rubbing his beard proudly. “Yeah, Liza didn’t like it, so I didn’t have one for awhile. Started growing this after we broke up.”

“It looks nice.”

“A little birdy told me she liked me better with a beard. Once upon a time.”

Charlie giggled and said, “Hides your baby face.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. Kinda look dweeby without it.” Charlie smiled over her mug.

“Well, I don’t have to cater to you, darling,” said Ryan. Another long silence. He cleared his throat and said, “I meant what I said the other day. I want to work things out.”

“Ryan, I’m with J.J. now,” said Charlie.

“I know,” he replied. “And now that I know that, I just want to be friends again. He and I are going to be spending a lot of time together, and I don’t want it to be weird for you.”

“I don’t think you know what it was like for me after you said all those things to me, Ryan,” said Charlie. “I got really depressed. My grades started slipping, and I almost dropped out of college.”

“I’m sorry, Charlotte,” said Ryan. “I really am. If you don’t believe me, I understand. I just can’t live my life knowing I didn’t try to fix that. I fucked up. I fucked up bad.”

“I was there. I know.”

“Please, just give me a chance. I was a huge asshole, and I’m not going to make excuses. I was a dick. You don’t deserve that.”

“Why now?”

“I’d been meaning to call you for awhile. We hadn’t spoken in three years. I didn’t know if your number was the same. I didn’t know where you lived. I’m not on social media, so I have no idea if you’re on there or not. Basically, I just didn’t know how to get ahold of you. If I’d known you were here, I would have called a long time ago.”

“Ryan…look, I have to know right now if this is really going to be okay between us. I can’t work this out and then have you try and get between me and J.J.”

“I respect you, and I want you to know that I would never try to kill your happiness. Everything that’s in the past is in the past. More than I want to breathe, I want you to be happy.”

“Okay,” said Charlie. “I believe you.”

“Does J.J. know?”

“Yes. We talked about it. I don’t think he’s thrilled about it, but he knows where I am.”

“And where are you?”

“I love him. I love him very much.”

Ryan smiled and said, “I can see that he loves you too. You deserve a guy like him. You deserve a guy that can make you smile and laugh.”

“He’s a sweetheart,” Charlie said. “I couldn’t have asked for anyone better.”

“What happened to Vick, or whatever his name was?”

“Vince. We dated for six months. He wanted me to move to Miami with him after I got the job in Houston. I told him I wasn’t ready, and he went nuts. He was following me around and sending me messages. Finally, he moved to Miami, and I haven’t heard from him since.”

“See, that guy I did not like.”

“You never met him.”

“I know. I could tell I didn’t like him. You were a different person.”

Charlie’s phone buzzed, and she looked down. It was a selfie from J.J. of him and a young boy with almond-shaped eyes and a big smile on his face. The text read Reid says hi! A smile crossed her face, and she texted him back, I’m heading over with some goodies for him and his family soon!

“Thank you, Ryan,” said Charlie. “I need to get going now, but I’ll see you sometime soon?”

“Yeah,” said Ryan. “I’d like that. Just let me know where and when. I’ll be around.”

They both stood, and he wrapped his arms around her. She closed her eyes, inhaling a scent she hadn’t been around in awhile. He squeezed her a little tighter, and her heart jumped into her throat. When he let go of her, she cleared her throat.

“I’ll see you around soon,” she said.

“It was great to see you again, Char,” Ryan said.

She watched him walk out of the coffee shop, her heart beating like a hummingbird’s. She took a deep breath and headed out to her car.

---

J.J. looked around the stadium, smiling ear to ear. He was glad to be back for another year here, and he wasn’t going to stop any time soon. He walked out onto the field and touched the grass. Everything was better than he’d seen it last. He turned to head back to the weight room, when he bumped into someone.

“Oh my god,” said a small voice, and a young woman stumbled backwards.

J.J. caught her before she fell, his enormous arm behind her shoulders and his hand tangled with hers. She looked up at him, and he looked down at her. She blinked a few times, her eyes sparkling like jade stones. Her skin was a smooth, pale peach color, no blemishes or freckles. Her dark brown hair was pulled up in a high ponytail, and she was wearing a Texans lanyard around her neck.

He stood her back up. He’d seen her occasionally around the stadium and at press conferences, but she was always taking notes or rushing around. He’d seen her crying once before when he’d first got to Houston, but he didn’t think anything of it.

“I’m so sorry, ma’am,” he said.

“It’s…it’s fine,” she said.

He looked down at his hand holding hers. He immediately let go.

“Justin,” said J.J. “Most people just call me J.J.”

“You’re J.J. then, huh?” she said.

“Yeah,” he stuck out his hand to her, and she shook it.

“Charlotte Elliott,” she said. “Assistant Marketing Specialist here for the Texans.”

“What does that mean?” asked J.J.

“I help the office in finding out what people are going to buy,” she said. “That’s the job description in simple terms.”

“So you think I can’t handle the big terms?”

“I don’t know. Why don’t I explain the big terms over coffee?”

He stood there a moment, just looking at her. She crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows.

“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to stare,” he said. “It’s just that you’re so incredibly beautiful.”

“Are you always this forward?” asked Charlie.

“No,” he laughed. “I must sound like an idiot.”

“A little,” she said.

J.J. scratched his head and said, “Ouch. Well, I’m sorry for running you over. Literally. Maybe I can make it up to you by getting you a cup of coffee some time soon?”

“I just asked you that,” she said.

“Oh, yeah. Well…”

“We could call it even. Depends how good the coffee is, though.”

“You’re a hard woman to please, Miss Elliott,” said J.J. He chuckled, “Sounds a lot like Missy Elliott.”

“Yeah, I get that a lot,” said Charlie. “Both statements. But we can discuss that over our hopefully amazing coffee.”

“Okay,” said J.J.

She smiled at him and said, “I’ll know where to find you.”

She turned to leave, and he watched after her. Her hips moved perfectly, and hair bounced lightly. J.J. swallowed a lump in his throat.

“Okay,” he said again.

---

“Reid, I’d like you to meet my girlfriend, Charlie,” said J.J.

She’d seen him before in his video entry to J.J.’s July contest. In it, he had introduced them to his mom, dad, and sister – the biggest Texans fans in Houston. A short video by his parents at the end had explained that Reid had Down’s syndrome and was being bullied since moving up to the sixth grade. The small boy looked up at her, and she held her hand out to him. He shook it.

“Hi, Reid,” said Charlie.

“Hi,” Reid whispered. “Ma’am, you’re really pretty.”

Charlie blushed lightly and said, “Well, thank you, Reid. You’re very handsome.”

The boys face lit up slightly, and he hugged her.

“Reid, I have some presents for you and your mom and dad and sister,” said Charlie. “Can I give them to you?”

He nodded, and she took the boy’s hand. She led him over to a set of chairs. J.J. watched as they sat down together, and he approached the boy’s family. Reid’s mother had tears in her eyes as she sent Reid’s sister over to sit with Charlie.

“Thank you so much, Mr. Watt,” she said. “You are truly one in a million.”

“It’s no trouble at all, ma’am,” said J.J. “I just want to make a difference in people’s lives.”

“Well, you’re making a huge difference in Reid’s life,” Reid’s father added. “Middle school’s been really hard for him. We can’t thank you enough for setting this up.”

J.J. shook his head and said, “It’s Charlie that does most of the organization. Sometimes she goes through what the kids want or I tell her what I have in mind, and she makes it happen.”

“She seems like a sweet young woman,” Reid’s father said.

“She is,” J.J. said. “I don’t know what I’d do without her.”

He watched her smiling and laughing with the two kids next to her. They hugged her, and J.J.’s face broke into a smile.