The previous night had brought many new things into Elijah’s life. One was feeling love and being loved in return, which was an amazing feeling. The other was the image of silky skin and red lips and tussled hair and a hoarse whisper of his name in the darkness.

Elijah shuddered with pleasure at the memory and snuggled deeper under the covers. He wished Charlie hadn’t left. He really wanted a repeat performance of last night. Charlie was a bit of a tiger in bed, Elijah was pleased to note. Not only was he amazingly attractive, but he was sweet and gentle and loving. Charlie was everything Elijah had never realized he wanted.

The idea of being gay had never really occurred to Elijah; he’d never thought he was, anyway. Then again, you can’t help who you fall in love with. Charlie had even said once that before Elijah, he’d been all about ‘the birds.’ Elijah hoped he meant girls and not the animal.

He didn’t go to work that day. Instead, he spent his time cleaning the apartment and dancing around to pop tunes he’d never want anyone to know he owned. It would spoil his reputation, of course.

Half of him expected Charlie to call from Australia in the early afternoon, but no such phone call occurred. This did dampen his spirit slightly, but he put in a very graphic and action-filled movie so he wouldn’t think about his lack of Charlie. He spent his evening thinking about the best way to shoot someone, thanks to all the movies in his cabinet; this information would never come in handy…well, unless Elijah became a hit man.

Elijah was woken up in the middle of the night sprawled on his couch with popcorn bags all over the place and cans of beer cluttered on the coffee table. There seemed to be a ringing noise in his ears as he mumbled obscenities into the dark. Oh, said the smart part of his brain, it’s the telephone.

He stumbled to get there before the answering machine clicked on and whoever it was hung up in frustration. On the way, he stubbed his toe, knocked over a chair and got a splinter.

“Hello?” He asked breathlessly, praying his crazy lunge for the phone would not be for nothing.

“Elijah.” The voice sent tingles down his spine and caused his lips to break into a huge smile. He felt like an idiot when he saw his reflection in the mirror, but hearing Charlie on the other end of the phone made him forget about his throbbing toe and the splinter in his finger.

After a moment of silence, Elijah could tell something was wrong. He sat down; he had a feeling it was one of those ‘are you sitting down?’ moments. “What’s going on?”

He didn’t say anything right away. Charlie never did; he didn’t like to rush things. “Can you come down here?”

“Down under?” Elijah’s feeble attempt at a joke (if you could even call it a joke) got no response. “Yes, of course I can. I’ll…well, I’ll get the first flight out I can.”

“Okay,” Charlie replied, sounding sad. Then his voice brightened slightly. “Thanks, Elijah.”

Elijah smiled at the phone; he was just glad he could help. “You’re welcome.”

*

He was waiting when Elijah got off the plane; he looked tired and gaunt and was fidgeting for all of England. Elijah walked steadily toward him and pulled him into a strong hug as soon as he got close enough. He felt Charlie put his arms around Elijah in response, and could feel him relax; his stiff shoulders sagged slightly and he stopped fidgeting.

Charlie was wearing sunglasses and a sweatshirt, which surprised Elijah because a.) they were inside and b.) it was ninety-eight degrees outside. Perhaps Charlie was just one of those people who were perpetually cold.

As they walked out into the bright sunlight, Elijah wasn’t sure what to say. It seemed words were not always needed around Charlie. He was a quiet type of guy unless something struck his fancy and he felt the need to share. Maybe this was just when he was around Elijah, but probably not. There were times when Charlie said something so funny that Elijah spilled water on himself in shock. There were also times when Elijah caught Charlie watching him as if he was a science experiment he couldn’t quite figure out.

To Elijah, Charlie was a bit like a puzzle. One day, you could find yourself with eight or nine pieces dropped into your lap, but on other days Elijah had to dig deep, and sometimes look under the couch cushions for a missing piece.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Elijah asked, buckling his seatbelt as they got into Charlie’s rent-a-car in the parking lot.

Charlie strummed his fingers against the steering wheel. “I’m going to see Liam tomorrow. Before my flight home. I just wanted…” he trailed off and shrugged.

Elijah reached over and put his hand over one of Charlie’s. “I’m here.”

Charlie turned to him, smiling wanly. “Thanks.”

The rest of the day was spent hanging out and being with each other. Elijah couldn’t shake the feeling that something bad was about to happen, but he didn’t voice his concerns. Charlie was there, and he was more or less okay, so that was all that mattered.

Elijah, just like Charlie, was the type of person who lived in the moment.

Sometimes, Charlie would disappear into the bathroom and come out looking a lot different than when he went in. Elijah didn’t say anything. The last thing Charlie needed was for Elijah to rag on him about his drug use. At this moment in time, it was most important that Charlie reconnect with Liam. Elijah wanted so badly for Driveshaft to work out. Not for the fame or fortune that was sure to come with it, but because Elijah just wanted Charlie to be happy. And perhaps, deep down, Elijah felt that if Charlie was happy, he’d quit using.

After a third bathroom trip, Charlie flopped down onto the bed, sniffing. Elijah looked over at him, his chin resting on his hand. The sun was setting outside and since the curtains weren’t drawn, there were little pink and purple sparks reflecting off the blond highlights in Charlie’s hair. Elijah smiled to himself; he wondered if Charlie knew how beautiful he was. He knew very little about Charlie’s upbringing, but what he did know was that he’d been quite religious before his rock n’ roll days, and once that happened, Liam had turned on him. He made Charlie feel useless, and while Charlie was slowly getting over this, Elijah wanted to kick Liam’s ass.

“Has anyone ever called you Charles?”

Charlie looked at him, a smirk on his full lips. “What?” There was laughter in his voice when he said this, and Elijah smiled.

“No one’s ever called you Charles?” Elijah asked, a giggle threatening to burst out of his mouth.

Charlie chuckled. “Just Mum. Liam used to, to taunt me.” He turned to Elijah. “You’re not going to start, are you?”

Elijah wrinkled up his nose in thought; Charlie was raising an eyebrow in a threatening way. After a minute, Elijah conceded. “No, I like the name Charlie.”

The morning dawned beautiful and bright and when Elijah rolled over and sighed, he saw Charlie sleeping peacefully beside him. He watched him sleep for a while, his steady breathing very soothing in the silence. It was nearing noon when Elijah finally decided to look at the clock, so he thought he had better wake Charlie up. He’d miss his plane if he didn’t get a move on.

“Charlie,” Elijah whispered, putting his palm against Charlie’s bare shoulder and shaking it a bit. “Charlie, wake up.”

“What?” Charlie responded groggily, batting Elijah’s hand away like a cat bats at a feather being held just out of their reach.

“You have to get up and go see Liam.”

Charlie opened his eyes, frowning; his forehead was creased with nervousness. “Okay,” he said tiredly, dragging himself out of bed and pulling his jeans on. “When are you going home?”

Elijah leaned back, stretching his arms up over his head. “Not until later tonight. I couldn’t get on your flight; it was totally booked.”

He pulled his favorite gray and black striped t-shirt over his head and turned to make a face at Elijah. “That’s crap.”

“I know.” Elijah watched as Charlie wandered around the room trying to find his shoes. “Check under the bed,” he said lazily, sitting up.

Charlie pulled one shoe on, found the other under the bed, and shoved his foot into it before sitting down on the edge of the bed and gazing at Elijah. “I’ll see you when you get home then. I’ll go straight to the airport after seeing Liam. I don’t know how long it’ll take.” He scratched his head in thought. “Don’t wanna miss the flight, though. I can’t wait to get back to LA and start playing with Driveshaft again.”

Elijah smiled at him and nodded. “Good luck with Liam, Charlie.”

He stood up and turned back to Elijah. “Thanks, mate.” Dropping a quick kiss on Elijah’s cheek, Charlie grabbed his sweatshirt, suitcase, and guitar case and headed out the door.

Had he known that would be the last time he’d see Charlie, Elijah probably would have begged him not to go. He would have decided to go with Charlie to Liam’s and maybe just wait in the car. He’d suggested that the night before, but Charlie had said this was something he had to do on his own. Elijah understood and respected his decision to go it alone.

Had Elijah known Charlie’s flight would be doomed, he would have done everything in his power to keep Charlie off that plane.

But Elijah hadn’t known. No one had.