Always Meant To Be

Always Meant To Be


Inside the back room, everyone sat around the table. Karen placed a small plate of fries in front of Charlie. She kissed her son on the forehead and whispered, “You and I are going to have a long talk mister. You’ve been gone far too long.”

Charlie leaned up and kissed his mother on the cheek and smiled gently at her. “We’ll talk later; I’ll take you out to dinner tonight, just you and me.” Karen beamed and nodded.

Karen then placed a small bowl of spaghetti Bolognaise in front of Damien. She handed a spoon to Joey. Joey then started feeding him. Damien grinned at his mother, a sweet little toothy grin. Charlie gently ran his fingers through his son’s hair, as the little boy munched on the fries.

Karen asked, “Do any of you lot want anything to eat?” Haley and Joey shook their heads no. Charlie and Lucas asked for a burger with fries. Karen grinned at them knowingly, as did Haley.

Ten Minutes later they all heard the squeal of Mommy!” Lucas exclaimed “Ah, here’s trouble!” Karen chuckled. Charlie turned to see a little girl that was a perfect mixture of both his mother and his Uncle Keith.

Karen picked up Lily. Lily beamed and said, “Can Jason and Damien come and play with me and Jenny?” Karen said, “Maybe later, they’re eating right now.” Lily pouted, but did not protest.

Karen said, “Sweet heart, remember I told you, that your other big brother, who looked like Luke was going to be coming home?” Lily nodded, “Yeah, you said he’d love me just like Luke does.”

Karen nodded and said to Lily, “There he is” she pointed to Charlie, who smiled gently at his little sister. She was beautiful; he melted at the sight of her sweet little face.

Lily shot him a sweet little shy smile and asked, “Will you play basket ball with me like Luke?” Charlie grinned at her and replied, “Sure. I figure I still remember how. It’s been a while, but I’m sure I can remember just for you.”

Lily’s face lit up at hearing this. The others grinned at Charlie. Karen said, “I had no idea you were so good with children.” Charlie smirked and replied, “Some of my old band members had kids of their own. Sometimes their wives and kids would come on tour with us for a couple of weeks at a time.”

They all looked up when Brooke and Jake suddenly entered the room. Jenny was with them, she walked in between both of them and each held one of her little hands.

Charlie smirked at Jake, as Jake walked forward and shook his hand and said, “It been a long time since I last saw you.” Charlie nodded and replied, “Yeah you to. So I here your marrying Brooke, good luck with that man, your gonna need it.”

Lucas and Jake snorted, while Brooke rolled her eyes and smacked Charlie on the back of the head. “You still love trying to get under my skin. You never change, Todd.” Charlie smirked and replied, “Of course not, what would the fun be in that, if I did?”

Jake smirked and said, “I got a call from Nathan this morning. He and Peyton are kicking off about someone spreading rumours around the Lakers, that he and Peyton were in an open relationship and Peyton and he are supposed to be nudist trying to recruit other nudist.”

He added, “Oh yeah, and my absolute favourite, Peyton was supposedly an ex unisex escort.” He raised and eye brow and asked, “You wouldn’t happen to know something about that would you, by any chance?”

Charlie shook his head and asked, “What, who me, what ever gave you that idea?” Jake instantly knew it was true in that moment, that Charlie had been the one who was responsible.

Karen looked at her son and asked, “Charlie, be honest with me. Did you say all of those things about Nathan and Peyton?” Charlie smirked and asked, “What if I did?”

Karen surprised everyone, Charlie included, by smirking, as she replied, “I’d be saying congratulations and good job.” Everyone burst out laughing.

Karen asked, “So did you?” Charlie smirked and nodded, “Yeah I did. There was no way they were going to be allowed to get away pulling crap like that. You don’t do the dirty on your friends and family. They had it coming.”

Joey giggled into her son’s hair and said, “Nudists, unisex escort. I can’t believe some of the things you say and do, Charlie.” Charlie winked at her and replied, “What can I say, I enjoy pushing buttons and seeing which reaction I can cause.”

He added, with an evil little smirk, “Witter was my ultimate favourite after Nathan.” Charlie grinned at Damien, who blew a raspberry at him. Charlie chuckle and said, “Cute kid, pity about the other half of his parentage.”

Joey sighed, as Brooke and Jake filled up the two remaining seats around the table. Karen got up and went and checked on the progress of Charlie and Lucas’s burger and fries.

Lucas asked, “Bro, what have you got against this Pacey Witter, except for the fact he was once married to Joey and cheated on her?” Charlie glowered into his son’s hair.

He sighed and replied, “The guy is a lot of things I won’t dare say in front of the children. But, I will say this. The guy is a stinking hypocrite. He goes off on me for cheating on Jen. And then so many years later he goes and does the same thing, only on a more crappy scale.”

He ranted irritably, “Like come on, where the hell does he get off sprouting all sorts at me for cheating, cheating might I add on a girl that wasn’t even in a relationship at the time, who most importantly wasn’t married, or the mother of somebody else’s children.”

He continued, his voice getting icier by the second, “He cheated on his wife and the mother of his young son, with her supposed friend and roommate. He’s a stinking hypocrite for doing the deed even more badly then I did.”

He added, “He acted all smug, like the prat he is, whenever Joey would shoot me down. I kept coming back for more and whatever she could dish out at me, because I wanted her badly.”

He concluded, “But that wasn’t the only reason. No, I loved watching him getting his pants in a twist when Joey would pay attention to me and not him.”

Charlie sighed and scrubbed a hand through his hair irritably and said, “I’d love to seriously introduce my fist to his smug prat of a face.” Joey cringed and buried her face in Damien’s soft dark locks.

Charlie suddenly looked down and chuckled, when he saw his son was holding a French fry near his mouth. He asked amused, “Is that for me?” Jason nodded, beaming at his dad.

The little boy let out a squeal of laughter, as Charlie closed his mouth gently and playfully around his little digits, taking the French fry with him. The others were grinning at antics of father and son.