Particles of Light, Chapter 15: Chew, Swallow, Repeat
Title: Chew, Swallow, Repeat
Rating: G
Disclaimer: I don't own anything, no harm intended
Spoiler: As always, light references to Season 1 possible
A/N: Short chapter, but keep thinking about where we're going next. I am.
Chapter 15
Chew, Swallow, Repeat
“And, this heaven that I’m making/It can’t come quickly enough.”
-Neil Finn
It wasn’t La Estrella, but tacos were ordered. And, that was all that really mattered to Charlie’s stomach. What mattered to Charlie’s head was that he could sit in a vinyl red booth in the back of a restaurant with his partner and actually take the time to chew his food.
Reese sat across from Charlie, elbows up on the table, leather jacket making soft squeaking noises when she moved her arms to fiddle with the fork and napkin in front of her while they waited for their food to arrive. She avoided making eye contact.
“Knock-knock.”
She looked up from her silverware fumblings, annoyed and slightly dumbfounded.
“Uh-uh.” Her head shook her negative response in case he didn’t understand the words.
“Oh, come on, Reese! Knock knock.”
Reese sighed, agitated by hunger and the idea of having to engage in light conversation, let alone knock-knock jokes with the goofy redhead across from her. She decided to play along, but on her own terms.
“Can’t come to the door, now.”
“Aw, come on….Knock-knock.” Increasingly insistent, he bowed his head this time, just a bit. He wanted her to see that he wasn’t going to take no for an answer.
“Come in.” She gave a slight, almost imperceptible smirk, which made Charlie grin like an idiot.
“Knock-knock,” he said, starting over fresh.
“Who’s there?” The belated phrase was said with a sigh.
“Banana.”
“Banana who?”
“Knock knock…..”
“Who’s there?”
“Banana.”
“Banana fucking who?”
“Knock knock.” He was getting giddy, smiling and tapping his feet under the table.
“Crews. Who. Is. There.”
“Orange.”
“Orange who?”
“Orange you glad I didn’t say banana again?” He slapped his fist down on the table and threw his head back laughing. “Oh, man! I always used to get that joke wrong and say orange first….”
“A fruit knock-knock joke. Will wonders never cease?” She excused herself to go the ladies room, waiting to allow a smile to wash over her lips until she was out of his sight. She knew the joke all along but she found herself wanting to hear him finish it.
When she returned, the food had arrived and he’d tucked in without waiting for her.
“Mmm…Reese. Good choice. Good…Tacos. Good. Mmmm.” Long, freckled fingers curled into his palm as he gave her the thumbs up sigh. She did a slight double take when she noticed he had a tiny bit of corn tortilla stuck to his chin and she surprised herself by reaching over and picking it off him with her fingers. He reacted by stopping chewing completely, and swallowing hard, making intense eye contact with her, orange eyebrows raised up high, until she looked away.
“Friday night’s comin’ up, Reese. Back on stakeout. STAKEOUT. You and me. Cops. On a stakeout. He drank a big gulp of his orange juice.” He wobbled his head a bit from side to side with child-like excitement and smoothed his tie out of the way of any incoming food.
Reese watched him with amusement. Who drinks orange juice with tacos?
“Yep. Maybe this time won’t be a huge waste of time.”
Charlie’s taco sauce bubbled behind his breastbone when he heard the words, “huge waste of time.”
“Maybe we can play 20 Questions if it gets boring. Ooh, or, orrrrrr,” he moved forward looking around as if about to spill a huge secret, one eyebrow raised. “…I bought a magic 8 ball. I could bring that.”
“Stakeout, Crews. At the beach. Not your treehouse.”
Charlie bristled a bit, leaned back in the booth and titled his head up a bit and to the right while looking down at her, mouth twisted sideways in a slight grin. “Okay. Then just the ice cream.”
“No ice cream for me.”
The rest of their lunch was eaten in near silence. They paid, then headed out into the intrusive bright light of the back parking lot, sunglasses drawn like good cops. Charlie caught a glimpse of her left eye before she put on her glasses. He studied the lash line. Like fresh, inky pen marks on parchment. He was seized with something he couldn’t possibly articulate as he watched her walk ahead to car.
“It wasn’t a mistake.” His voice was cool, but low.
She stopped in her tracks, not looking back.
“It wasn’t a mistake.” He repeated his sentence, feeling the memory of her soft, warm mouth on his, the taste of that peppermint ice cream, her body leaning into his, the night air passing between them less and less with every heartbeat.
She said nothing at first, frozen in place as she was. After a few seconds, her head turned a tiny bit to the left. She reminded Charlie of an animal who suddenly became serious, intently listening for something far off that nobody else could hear.
“I know.” It was low. And, it was fragile. But, she said it. She turned her head forward, lengthened her neck and marched towards the car, her posture telling him this never happened.
Knock-knock, Reese. Who’s there? Not a mistake. Not a mistake, who? Not a mistake…..A beginning.