Your History of Silence

Chapter Five

“Hey.”

The petite blonde looked up and smiled. “Hi.”

Joel shifted his weight from one foot to the other, tucking his hands in his pockets and trying to think of something to say. Looking around, he finally said, “I thought the salad was for your sister.”

Charlotte looked down at the plate in front of her and sighed. “It was, but she left.”

“What? She just vanished?”

“I’m sure she probably had a good reason. Oh, I’m sorry,” said Charlotte suddenly, frowning. “Please sit down. I should’ve said that first.”

“It’s okay,” Joel replied, pulling out the seat across from her and sitting down. “You’re really into the politeness thing, huh?”

“Yes. My mom says a lady should always be polite and poised.”

“Poised,” he repeated. “Like, how so?”

“Oh, you know. Composed and together. Always calm and reasonable.”

Joel chuckled. “Benji would have several things to say about that.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, every woman he’s ever dated has been pretty...” He waved a finger in the traditional ‘crazy’ gesture.

“That’s a shame,” she said, shaking her head. “I’ve never understood women like that. There’s so much to be happy about, why be and make others miserable?”

“Well, in their defense, you haven’t spent a lot of time with my brother. He can be pretty hard to put up with.”

Charlotte laughed, a soft, delicate sound that made Joel smile. Now that he was paying closer attention, he was able to appreciate more of her features. She had fair skin and almost a golden tint to her platinum hair, which was so long that it came nearly to her hips. Her heart-shaped face was innately feminine, with softly curved eyebrows, high cheekbones, and two barely-there dimples. Her eyes were seafoam green.

Joel had never met a woman quite like Charlotte. He had a sister who took after their mom, always doing something and often stressed and in over her head with one project or another. Last time he had visited them, both women had been attempting to put in a new kitchen sink without any help and he and Benji had been forced to step in to save the kitchen from a massive flood.

As far as women he’d dated, the list was pretty short. The last few crushes he’d had had gone undeclared and he had inevitably lost contact with their subjects. He had been in one pretty serious relationship, for about two years, and she had been up to her elbows in nursing school, always studying or partying with room for nothing in between. She had been fun at first, but Joel had found that he couldn’t handle her mood swings or keep up with her appetite for partying and experimentation.

He was intrigued by Charlotte’s reserved disposition, even though it was easy to see that she wasn’t naturally refined so much as trained to behave as such. He wondered just how feminine she actually was when she wasn’t trying so hard. There was no doubt she’d still be a girlie girl, but to what extent?

“So, what about you?” Charlotte asked, breaking Joel from his musings. “Have you had a similar experience with women?”

“Uh...not really. My ex wasn’t crazy, per se, but she did like her parties.”

“That’s my sister. She loves to go out to parties, although mom disapproves.” She sucked in a breath and continued, “Sorry. I shouldn’t say things like that.”

“Hey, it’s your opinion. You’re allowed to have opinions,” Joel pointed out. “And you’re supposed to talk crap about your siblings. It’s how they know you love them.”

Charlotte’s eyebrows rose and she looked surprised. “Is that why she does that? Because she loves me?”

“Probably. Wait...is she older or younger?”

“Older.”

“Yeah, then that’s definitely it.”

“Is your brother older?”

“Benji is about five minutes older. We also have another brother, also older, and a younger sister.”

“Wow, you have a big family.”

“Yeah, and we all lived in a three-bedroom house at one point.”

“Really? That sounds terrible. I can’t even share a bathroom with my sister.”

“It wasn’t so bad. We’re all really close and it didn’t bother us to share rooms. Now it’s just Mom and Sarah living there.

“What about your dad?”

Joel felt the usual wall of resentment start to come up and said shortly, “He’s not around. I don’t like to talk about it.”

Charlotte’s eyes widened and she quickly looked down at her hands. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.”

“It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not. I made you feel bad.”

“It was an accident,” Joel insisted.

There was a brief moment of tense silence, during which Joel attempted to mentally dig himself out of the bitter hole he’d landed in, then Charlotte gently suggested, “Why don’t you tell me about your mom?”

Joel took a deep breath and said, “She’s the best. She works really hard to make sure we’re always happy. Now that we’ve all moved out, she calls all the time to make sure, you know, we remember to eat and stuff.”

“That’s nice.”

“Yeah. Sarah’s a lot like her.”

“What about your older brother?”

“Josh. He’s pretty cool. He actually just recently graduated from college and now he’s working on a clothing line called MADE.”

“That’s really neat.”

“Yeah, but he’s thinking about getting into music, like me and Benj.”

“I heard your brother mention something like that.”

“We’re in a band,” Joel confirmed. “By the way, I’m sorry about him being so nosey. Your dad’s kind of his idol lately.”

“I understand. Daddy’s a great man. Did you know he was actually a lawyer before he was a record producer?”

“I didn’t. Why did he switch?”

Charlotte’s lips disappeared into a thin line as she attempted to hide a smile. “I really shouldn’t say this, but...” The smile forced its way out and she continued, “He said he wanted to do something that actually meant something.”

Joel grinned. “I like him even more now.”

“You didn’t hear this from me, but he especially loves music that’s written about something personal or music written for a cause.”

“I’ll remember that.”

Joel’s eyes strayed to the clock on the far wall and he jumped up. “Crap. My shift starts in two minutes.”

Charlotte looked around at the clock and said, “Go, go! Don’t be late on my account.”

“It was great talking to you,” Joel said, hesitating by the table. He’d actually been enjoying himself quite a lot and was reluctant to return to work.

“I’m glad,” said Charlotte, looking curiously up at him. When he didn’t budge, she said, “Aren’t you going to be late?”

“Yeah...listen, my band is playing this Thursday at The Pour House. You should come. It’s just down the street and around the corner from here.”

“Oh.” Charlotte bit her lip. “I don’t know. Will I be out of place, do you think?”

“Probably. But I really wish you’d come.” He looked at the clock again, and said hastily, “Just think about it. I gotta go.”

Then he rushed away, forgetting to even ask for her phone number. By the time he finished his next set and went back to the table, Charlotte was gone.