Charlie had very chivalrously offered to take Jane back to her house, but she'd declined.

"It would look weird if my neighbors saw me getting out of a slick car like this, with tinted windows and everything, you know?" she said regretfully. "They might think I was moonlighting at some sketchy job or something," she joked.

"Thank you, though," she added, not wanting to seem ungracious. Funny, she usually let her words fly, and devil take what it seemed or didn't seem like; for some reason, what Charlie thought mattered to her.

"What?" Charlie asked, leaning forward to look at her face. Jane had a habit of looking down, so her hair fell forward and hid her expression.

She looked up and smiled at him, shrugging. "I don't usually care what people think of my words.

"I once wrote a letter to the paper calling our mayor a 'cockwomble' and a 'douchecanoe'," she told him with a small smile.

Charlie's eyes widened, and, again, he burst out laughing. "What had he done?" he asked, looking at her expectantly.

"He opposed the building of a new ice cream parlor in town because it would, and I quote, "give the housewives a place to go during the day to eat and get fat," she responded with a straight face.

"Well, it sounds like he was, indeed, both a 'cockwomble' and a 'douchecanoe'," Charlie said softly, looking her in the eye.

"Yeah. Fucking republican," Jane responded, looking back at him. His eyes held hers for a moment before she wrenched her gaze away. "He didn't get re-elected," she added in a brisk voice, hoping Charlie hadn't noticed.

He wasn't looking for a teeny-bopper fan, she kept telling herself. He wasn't looking for anything.

Nothing.

She looked down at her lap again, but this time Charlie leaned forward and tucked the hair back behind her ear so he could see her face.

"You should tie your hair," he said in the same, soft voice.

She looked up at him. "I can't, my hair's too thin," she explained. "Nothing will stay in it."

Again the loaded pause as he remained leaning forward, his hand on her shoulder. Charlie could feel her body heat through her sweatshirt, under his palm, he could feel her exhalations on his face. Her breath smelled sweet, in spite of the hot dogs they'd eaten. He looked at her eyes. They were the color of sea-glass, he decided.

They were blowing him away.

This time he was the one who looked away, pulling his hand off her shoulder as he shifted his gaze to stare out the window.

"It's getting dark," he said regretfully. He didn't want this to end. He'd just had more fun in a car than he'd ever had, including the time he'd gotten it on with twins in Australia. "I don't want to think about you wandering about the wilds of New Jersey in the dark, so I guess I'd better release you."

He was never going to see her again.

The thought hit him in the solar plexus, bringing with it a feeling of leaving the surface of the earth and going back underground. It felt harder for Charlie to breathe.

What was the matter with him?

He resolutely put thoughts of this thin, waif-like creature in front of him out of his head and told Tony to pull over. They were back at Columbus Circle, which was much more crowded now. The weather had also become grimmer, echoing Charlie's mood.

"Well, this has been quite nice," he said with a careful smile.

Jane nodded, thin hands clasped in her lap.

She was never going to see him again.

She told herself not to be greedy, that she was lucky, more than lucky, to have gotten to meet him in the first place, to share a meal with him, and have these few, stolen, secret hours in a car, prowling the streets of Manhattan.

Charlie leaned forward and hugged Jane, feeling her thin frame tremble in his arms. Her arms tentatively came back around him, and Jane felt like swooning just from the feel of his body through his shirt. He was the first boy, other than Bear, that she'd ever touched in this intimate way. Charlie turned his head a little, breathing in the smell of her shampoo, which clung to her wispy hair.

"Okay, then," he said softly, releasing her.

"Okay," she repeated, reluctantly letting go of him.

"Goodbye," he said with a smile.

"Goodbye," she echoed.

He leaned into the back seat, giving Jane an unobstructed view of his backside and hamstrings for a second. He came back, holding her backpack, and put the straps over her shoulder. She got out of the car without another word and shut the door.

Charlie immediately rolled the window down and waved. She smiled and waved back, looking like a wraith of herself in the darkening day. Jane turned and headed toward the crosswalk, joining the throngs of people who were heading home from work.

Charlie had Tony wait at the curb until he could no longer see her, then gave the okay for the car to pull away.

"Where to, boss?" Tony rumbled from the front seat.

"I think I want to get laid," Charlie declared. He scrolled through his contacts, trying to decide who would be available on such short notice, who was even in the city.

He found some pictures he'd taken with some fans last week. They were from a club in the East Village, and he didn't remember much of the night; it took seeing the pictures to even remember the place, or the people. One of the girls had gotten her girlfriend to write her cell number across her cleavage, then taken a selfie with a grinning Charlie, using his phone. He was smiling wetly, loosely, obviously pissed, drink in hand, other arm around the pretty girl. He squinted at the number while dialing, hoping he'd gotten it right. He'd switched phones without thinking, to the blocked, burner phone he always carried for situations such as this.

He'd learned the hard way that "too careful" simply didn't exist for him.

"Hello? Yeah, hi, um, Amber, right? This is Charles McAllister."

Half an hour later he was in front of an apartment in TriBeCa, opening the door for Amber and her friend. He'd already had Tony run into a shop for some cans of pre-mixed cocktails, and was well on his way to getting good and pissed, and handed out the drinks, smiling.

He didn't even notice that Amber had wispy, blonde hair, or that her eyes were almost the color of gray sea-glass.

***************************

Jane rode the crowded subway down to Penn Station, reliving every moment of her afternoon with Charlie. She knew that it would probably go down as one of the most exciting things to ever happen to her in her entire life.

And also the nicest.

She could remember with vivid clarity the way he smelled, the brightness in his beautiful eyes, even the look on his face when he heard her say "cockwomble". And she realized that not being able to share what had happened to her with Camilla was sad. There were so many things she was dying to tell her friend. She smiled a small, secret smile as she swayed with the commuters on the "1", getting comfortable , leaning against a pole.

She walked through Penn in a daze, feeling elated and dejected in equal measure, realizing that, from this point forward, she would measure her life by this day. Everything, every event, would either be before "the day I met Charlie Mcallister in Columbus Circle" or after. How sad to have had such a life-altering experience at the relatively young age of seventeen. So much life left. A Charlie-less life.

She got a seat on the next train, and felt her ears pop as it headed under the Hudson. She emerged on the New Jersey side to complete darkness and sighed as she saw her reflection in the window. What had she expected? A marriage proposal? An declaration of undying love?

She'd gotten so much more than she deserved already, she knew. Most people would go an entire lifetime without meeting their idol, or if they did, would be egregiously disappointed by them. Charlie hadn't let her down in any way.

He'd been perfect.

She walked the few blocks to her house trying to rid herself of the aura of Charlie. She tried to look like she'd spent the afternoon in the library, studying, and no one gave her a second glance when she entered the house, so she must've been at least partially successful.

"Did you eat?" her mother called from the kitchen.

Jane smiled, remembering the hot-dogs. "Yeah, I'm good," she said, opening the fridge anyway.

"I still have a little left to do, I'm going to just head up to my room," she said, grabbing an apple and some cheese sticks for sustenance.

"Good night, Jane," her brother called from in front of the TV.

"Night, Bear, love you," she responded from the stairs.

"Love you too," she heard as she climbed.

"Night, dad," she called to her father. He was in his den, working on something.

"Night, sweetheart," he responded.

Jane took a quick shower, put on her pjs, and climbed into bed, wanting more time to just re-live her day. Heathcliff came to keep her company, as usual, and Jane lolled, daydreaming. She found herself reaching for her phone, multiple times, to tell Camilla something, and felt overwhelming guilt at deceiving her by omission, as it were. Camilla would never have left Jane behind had the situation been reversed.

Her phone dinged with a text, and Jane picked it up, holding it over her face as she lay on her back.

"I wanted to thank you for a lovely day."

Oh my god.

She held her phone to her chest, covering her mouth with her other hand, trying to muffle her sounds of excitement. Heathcliff lifted his head to look at her.

"I had a wonderful time," she sent back.

"Would you consider meeting me again? We wouldn't have to sit in the car this time?"

"Really? I thought you were really busy with the movie and everything."

"Yeah, the shooting schedule's kind of mental, but I have some free time. If you're free and amenable :)"

"I'm very amenable, sir (: What would you like to do, and when would you like to do it? And where, I guess?"

"Saturday? I'm free until evening."

Jane gave a little shriek, which sent Heathcliff scurrying from the bed.

"I'm free as well, as it so happens."

"Smashing. Pick you up in the same place?"

"Sounds great. What will we be doing? I mean, what should I wear?"

"Your beautiful smile?"

Charlie cringed before he hit send, but sent it anyway. If she called him on it, he could always tell her he was a bit drunk. It was true anyway. He'd dropped the girls off and returned to his room feeling vaguely dissatisfied. Normally a situation like that would've lasted at least two rounds for him, but he'd just wanted to be alone and had taken them home after shagging one and having the other one suck him off. He'd stood in the shower for long minutes, just letting the hot water run down his body, letting the steam open his pores and release the alcohol that was trapped in them.

"OMFG, did you really just say that?"

Charlie rolled his eyes and began to type the whole "I'm a bit pissed" message, but he got another text before he could send it:

"I'll wear mine if you wear yours (;"

Awww.

"Send me another snap of your kitty?"

"IDK. Heathcliff is very particular about being photographed. He hates it when he's eating, for example."

"HEATHCLIFF??? (Notice how I'm ignoring the pointed impugnment of my eating habits)"

"Yeah? So?"

"I've GOT to meet your mum!! So, snap?"

"Hold on, I'll have to find him..."

Jane looked around and saw him under the window, lounging near the heat register. She got out of bed, walked over, took a quick pic, and hopped back in bed before sending it.

Charlie began to smile when he saw the photograph. It was of Heathcliff, stretched out near a grate, with a pair of slippers showing at the bottom.

"NO FUCKING WAY!!! :) GROVER SLIPPERS???!!!"

No. She hadn't. Had she?

Jane looked at the picture she'd sent. Her slippers, blue, with Grover's face on them, were showing, clear as day. His mouth was the opening for her feet.

"That sound you hear is me dying of embarrassment over here in New Jersey."

"No, it's so cute, they're so cute, honest. Ppl are obviously very forward thinking in their choice of fashions for their gams in the Garden State."

"You still want to see me on Sat., or has my penchant for children's television put you off me?"

"No, on the contrary, I have quite a foot and leg fetish, especially when said leg or foot is garbed in the finest in juvenile entertainment."

"Okay, if you're sure."

"Absolutely. See you then. xxx"

OMG. Were those x marks supposed to be kisses? Jane wanted desperately to ask Camilla, but ruthlessly clamped down on her feelings, plugging her phone in and turning out her light.

She realized as she was falling asleep that she still had Charlie's sunglasses in her backpack.