Slip and Fall (Part 4)

JP: Jaxx and Cindy

Joey dropped his jaw when Sadie told him what happened. He tried to call Charlie’s phone but soon realized no one would answer him. Then he called the coach to tell him what happened and that Charlie was in the hospital so it would not be an issue for football practice.

Joey: Sorry Sadie. I want our date to last longer but I need to check on Charlie. So, unless you want to come with me, we will have to do this another time.

Joey looked sad as he fumbled with his phone to find the directions to the hospital. He was showing his concern on his face as he held back his tears and tried his best to remain composed. He was not sure if he was going alone or if Sadie would be there with him. Right now, he didn’t want to go alone but he was not sure what she would say to him.
Sadie watched the way Joey reacted to the news. It was such a different side of him she didn't know what to say, at first. She wondered a little where this side of him was all the rest of the time.

When he fumbled with his phone however Sadie had seen enough to make up her mind. She gently reached for his hand and said. "Let me take care of getting us to the hospital. I'm not going to let you go alone."

Joey looked up from his phone and at Sadie’s hand. Then he looked at her face as she offered to take him to see Charlie at the hospital. He was not used to being seen like this and it made him nervous, but he was glad she wanted to be by his side. So, after figuring out where the hospital was, they went in Sadie’s transport. The ride felt like forever for poor Joey as he was worried about his best friend being hurt. Eventually they arrived at the hospital and since Charlie just arrived, they didn’t have time to process his paperwork yet, so Joey and Sadie had to wait in the lobby. Joey was bouncing his knee as he fumbled with his phone till Coach Warburton arrived with a file on hand. Coach talked to the lady at the desk and had to fill out a lot of paperwork. He then talked to Joey to let him know what was going on and that Charlie was being monitored for now since he had a minor concussion. Coach then told them they should get a snack if they were going to wait since it would be a while before they heard any news. After that Coach went to get a coffee and make some phone calls. Joey looked at Sadie and spoke up.

Joey: I’m gonna get a coffee. Did you want one?

Sadie wasn't going to say anything about this unless Joey wanted her to. She knew what it was like to have a public and a private persona but hers just wasn't that different, maybe a few things here and there. Getting to the hospital took a few minutes but Sadie could tell Joey was nervous. She sat by Joey and waited as there was little more they could do. Sadie knew Coach Warburton but mostly because she was a cheerleader. When Joey offered to get coffee; Sadie figured he might need something to do so she said. "Yes, that would be good. Do you want me to come with you?" Did he want that or to be alone; she didn't know him well enough to know.

Joey nodded as he replied to Sadie. He needed a distraction from not being able to help his friend Charlie.

Joey: Yeah. Sitting here is making me anxious.

Joey gently reached for Sadie’s hand to help her up. Right now, he was not in the mood to play the romance game. His best friend was in the hospital with a head injury, and he was powerless to do anything.

Joey: We can sit in the café till we hear something.

Joey then escorted Sadie to the small café inside to pick what they wanted, and he paid for it, but this time he was not showing off. His mind looked like it was in a distant place. He then looked at the cappuccino he ordered and spoke up.

Joey: I hate this. I hate not having control. I hate not being able to do anything. Charlie is in there with a head injury, and I don’t even know how bad it is. What if he can’t play football anymore? What if he has brain damage and can’t remember me? Or even worse, what if he forgot everything? My head is filled with these thoughts, and I can’t make them stop.

Joey was very stressed out and some tears were welling up in his eyes.

Sadie accepted his hand and stood up. It was definitely a different side with how worried Joey was about Charlie. She took her London Fog and sat down with Joey at the table.

Sadie said nothing, at first, she thought that maybe her plan hadn't been a great idea. She had wanted to get Joey to a point where he'd do anything for her. That, however, was the Joey that was egotistical and a womanizer. The one who thought every girl should want him. Not this one. Not the one who was practically in tears over his friend being injured.

Sadie, for once, didn't know what to say. She didn't know Joey that well and really there weren't any magic words to make the situation better. So, she just let him vent. Then said, ``How did you and Charlie become friends? If you don't mind me asking." They could have met through football but there could be more to the story. She wasn't ploying him with that question. She was, instead, trying to get his mind to something other than the current circumstances and, part of her, was honestly curious.

Joey’s mind was in disarray and then after Sadie’s question he quickly flashed back to his time with Charlie. It was in the fifth grade that they met for the first time and have been together since then. He chuckled as he remembered their first encounter.

Joey: We met in fifth grade. Back then I was very popular and then he showed up. He was wearing a cowboy get up back then. He still likes that style even now.

Joey wiped the small tears from his eyes and sipped his cappuccino. Then used a napkin to wipe his lips before talking again.

Joey: He was a loudmouth braggart back then and wanted others to see him as a big strong bull wrestler and bronco rider. He really wanted to be a cowboy even though he was not born on a ranch or farm. He was born in Malibu the closest he had ever been to a cow was a burger joint. Anyhow his bragging got worse and one day one of the school bullies dared him to some stupid stunt involving riding a mechanical bull at some church Bizarre. Well Charlie tried to show off and failed at the end. So many kids laughed at him again which made him mad.

Joey smirked a bit as he was recalling the image in his head. He was reliving his past time with Charlie.

Joey: Then the school bully tried to make it worse by teasing Charlie even more. Granted I was not fond of the school bully, and I felt bad for Charlie who tried even after failing so much so I dared the school bully to ride the mechanical bull and do better than Charlie. Well, the school bully was ready to hit me for that, but he had to save face since the others were watching. So after he got on I got Charlie to change the settings to Hard mode and the bully was crying like a baby as he held on for dear life. He managed to hold on for a few seconds before he was flung off into the inflatable wall. He cried like a baby till the adults came to see what happened. After that Charlie and I got in trouble, and we have been friends ever since. Life in middle school was full of ups and downs but we had fun then too.

lSadie smiled softly as Joey talked about how they met. The whole cowboy thing didn't really surprise her as much as the rest of the story. It was interesting that Joey was the kind of guy who picked on others but met his best friend trying to get back at a bully.
"Wow. That's an interesting story." Sadie, for her part, didn't have a best friend. She had her girls that followed her around and she was friends with but no one she connected to on that level. To be honest, she was always under the impression that people wanted something from her. Money, perks, status, their 15 seconds of fame on her show. She wondered for a moment what it was like to have that kind of friendship as she sipped her tea. "It sounds like Charlie is pretty tough." She commented.

Joey sighed and shrugged a bit. He looked deep in thought before he sighed and replied.

Joey: Only in some areas. He is not so strong in his grades and still has trouble making smart decisions. Sometimes he gets weird ideas and follows them through before realizing they are not a good idea. In the past he made a bad choice to ignore the coach and tackle the quarterback only to get nailed hard then in trouble with the coach. You have no idea how many laps and push ups we had to do after messing up. Of course, on the plus side the extra exercise did make us stronger and more muscular. It did help my modeling career and made me a vit more popular with the ladies. Too bad it doesn’t work so well for poor Charlie. He tends to get bored with them too fast. I feel bad for them.

Did he just say he felt bad fit the girls that went out with Charlie? Could it be that he thought women wanted to be treated the way he did. That he honestly thought they wanted to be hit on, like that. She nodded, sipped her tea and her phone vibrated. In the course of everything she had forgotten to turn it off. She said. "Sorry, I didn't realize it was still on." It wasn't Denise but one of the other girls wondering what was going on. She quickly texted back the she was fine but couldn't talk. She explained everything later. And then she turned off her phone. "Well, he seems like a good guy." Maybe, if he talked more about other things he could keep his mind occupied for a little longer.

Joey nodded as Sadie fiddled with her phone. He knew she was popular and was actually surprised her phone was not ringing off the hook. He could only guess she told them not to bug her on their date to make it easier to spend time with himself. After all it would be hard to enjoy the mood with him if others kept interfering. Then Sadie mentioned Charlie being a good guy.

Joey: Depends on who you ask but I find it fun to hang out with him. If you ask our parents or teachers, they will call us troublemakers.

Joey chuckled as he recalled many mishaps, they went through including almost getting caught trying to peep on the girls changing. Of course, he would never admit to that to any females since even he knew better than that. It would be hard to conquer any girls if they knew about his past actions. In order to be a good female hunter he had to maintain a proper image. Of course, he did not feel the need put on a big front right now since he was to concerned about his best friend.

Joey: You know how it is right. Getting into mischief with your friends and trying not to get caught. Its all fun and games till someone gets hurt.

Joey sighed at his words. He was thinking about poor Charlie being hurt again.

Joey: Man am worried.

Sadie would never say this, at this moment, but she already knew it was who she asked. Not so much for the parents and teachers, not many teens listened to them anyway, but for the girls. The two boys had quickly gained a reputation with the girls that wasn't good. Sadie could only assume they had no idea but most girls really don't like being hit on with as much crass as they tended to. Even the girls that humored guys, like that, tended to think it got old very quickly.

As Joey said he was worried. Sadie finished her now warm rather than hot cup of coffee trying to think of something else to say. "I'm sure you'll hear something soon " This was taking longer though than Sadie had suspected it would but she didn't know if that was a good or bad thing. "So, have you lived in California your whole life?" Now, she was making small talk. She herself was a born and bred California girl. She was actually from very close to the school.

Joey: Yeah I was born here and mostly grew up here when I was not traveling with my folks. My modeling career let me see a lot of the US and some places in Europe. Charlie is also from Cali but he moved to my area in the summer before fifth grade. Man this is taking a long time. I wish the doctors would hurry up and tell me he is going to be okay.

Joey looked very stressed out. It was not normal to see him stressed out like this. In fact Sadie was probably the only female outside Joey’s family to even see this part of Joey. Usually he wore his mask of a lady killer and smolder. He rubbed his eyes and temples as he sighed.

Sadie was running out of things to talk about. She had now found out more about Joey and Charlie than she thought she the first day really spending any time with them or in this case with Joey.

She would keep to herself how upset Joey was because she was pretty sure he didn't want a lot of people to know. Looking at her empty cup she asked. "Is there anything I can do for you?" Besides what she was already doing she didn't really know if there was anything else he needed?

Joey gently held Sadie’s hand as it was shaking. He didn’t look her in the eyes as he softly spoke.

Joey: Please don’t leave.

Then the two of them sat there for a long time till Coach Warburton came in with some news. By this time Joey’s cappuccino was already cold. As it turns out Charlie would be fine, but the doctor said he not allowed to do sports or physical activities for two weeks. Joey was allowed to see Charlie for a few minutes and the two acted like little kids before Sadie. It was almost like they were still in middle school acting like naughty goofballs. For a moment they forgot that Sadie was there, and Coach was around the corner. Sadly, their time came to an end as the nurse told them Charlie needed his rest and would return to school the next day. Joey and Charlie were a bit bummed by this but put on a brave smile as they departed. Then on the ride back to the beach Joey began to revert back to his player mode as he looked into the mirror.

Joey: Thanks for hanging with me Sadie. I look forward to next time.

Joey gave her a smolder hoping it would charm her.

Sadie wasn't going to leave Joey there by himself. When they got the news that Charlie was going to be fine Sadie was a bit relieved herself. She stood there while the two boys joked and laughed and acted like kids. Sadie stood the side going through her messages and texting back. Her girls had headed back to the beach by then as they did have to be back to the dorms before curfew and wanted to get packed and spend some final time on the beach plus they had exhaust the boardwalk after being there for several hours. Her girls were also talking about going out for dinner.

Hearing Joey talk Sadie looked up and saw the look he was giving her. Well, if he was back so was she. She smiled at him. "Well, we should do a next time soon. " She thought for a moment. "I might just have to buy you at the minion auction."

Well, the repreve was nice while it had lasted.

Joey chuckled as he smirked at Sadie’s comment. In his mind he was in demand and would go for a lot of money.

Joey: Well I hope your not afraid of some competition. I hear guys like myself are in high demand and go for some big bucks.

Joey seemed very confident in his comment as he nodded to himself. He was under the impression a hundred girls would get very aggressive as they bid several thousand on him. He wondered if Sadie was ready for the competition.

Joey: Even if you get out bid we can still date if that worries you.

Joey smiled as he was in full Joey mode.

Sadie managed to hold back laughing when he said he would be in high demand. She really doubted that. He hac the looks, it was his personality around girls that wouldn't get him bid on. Even if there was a lot of competition for him; did he have no idea how wealthy she was?

"Not too many people can out bid me. I think I can handle it." Sadie was trying to think of who might be able to out bid her and she was certain, none of the people she could think of, would bid on Joey. She actually wouldn't be surprised if she was the only one. "But I'll keep that in mind in case it happens."

After arriving at the beach, they parked and decided to freshen up before going back to the beach since they had a long day already. Joey felt like he had a pretty positive feeling about Sadie. She was smart, hot, popular and into him. Granted he didn’t want to rush things since it would mess up him bagging Sadie, so he tried to play hard to get. In his mind he was a “catch” for any girl so it was a matter of time before Sadie would swoon for him.