In the Cold April Rain

"I am SICK of them following me around telling me what's best for me. Like they really know that shit. What was wrong with their lives? Are their lives that ruined that they have to step into mine and think about how to do the same to me?" she continued rambling on without really acknowledging Charlie's point at first. "My first time in tension. My first match. He said that was my fault. Some fucking brother he is-" Talia's jaw cracked as she fumed. She just rubbed it, stopping her rant for a second.

"We'll find something. We're not useless shit like they are. You know people in San Diego, right?" she carried on while dumping her valuables into a suitcase and snatching her laptop bag. Without even waiting for a confirmation, she finally looked at Charlie. "We'll be fine, come on! I need to get out of this fucking place. Come on, get your stuff."

Charlie shook his head in disbelief. "Tal! Listen! This... its all I've got. I have nothing anchoring me to San Diego at all. I don't know anyone and I never went to college or anything. This is like the only thing I have that keeps me from flipping burgers for a living! There's no way in hell I can possibly provide for you and LC doing that!" Charlie shouted as he stood up. Charlie was starting to feel frustration, it seemed like Talia didn't care at all about what he thought or how he felt.

"Babe, you just need breathing room from your family. Running away never solves anything! The problems will still be there no matter where you go!"

"Things were fine here until they showed up and decided to stick their ugly ass shit in my business.  I knew that Dragon guy was familiar.  OF COURSE, the first thing he did when he got here was beat the shit out of Taylor and Johnny.  OF COURSE.  He's a fucking sadist, and not because of what he did to them but because he knew that shit would trickle down to my life eventually.  And it will, and they'll all be like 'Little Tal has her masked brother fight her battles for her."

Talia then looked down at LC for a split second, probably not even noticing he was even there beforehand, before squinting at Charlie.  "Why can't you leave?  Why can't you just take a leap of faith of me?" she asked angrily, seemingly shocked that he was actually hesitant about this obvious solution.

Charlie sighed, but was glad to finally be able to get in some time to speak. "Tal... you think your family is bad? Try mine. My mom is dead and when she was alive she loved heroin more than me. My dad was an abusive dick and is a jailbird, locked up where he belongs. The only family I have in the world is right here so you'll have to forgive me for not wanting to just pack up and leave at the drop of a hat!" Charlie said, more loudly than he had intended to.

Charlie hoped he was able to at least get his point across to Talia, but he was worried that in her state of mind she wouldn't rationalize anything. "Tal, just sit down and cool off before doing anything rash thats all I am asking." Charlie added, much more calmly than before.

"Your only family is here?" she asked with a sense of disbelief.   "Your family is heading to San Diego.  Fuck it, Los Angeles, I'm not going somewhere where they might return."  After retracing her mental steps, she shook her head seemingly dumbfounded.  How could he say that? Unless...

"Or are you talking about Alaina?  That bimbo you 'lived' with.  You were more than ready to commit to sailing off the ends of the Earth with her when you ditched your old life to come here.  But now that I'M here asking you to do the same...Where's the commitment, Charlie? HUH?  Am I not family to you? Is she more important to you than me?"

"Are you kidding me?! Tal you know you mean the world to me how can you say that? We were both given contracts for more money than we ever made at home! She's like a little sister to me. And how the hell am I not committed to you!? When have I ever not made you the center of my entire universe!?" Charlie asked, exhasperated and dumbfounded.

"I fucking love you! And here we are with you flipping out and leaving Japan at the drop of a hat and not giving a damn at all about how I might feel about it!" Charlie said looking down at LC, who just whimpered as he returned the stare.

"Right. NOW!" she screamed at him. It's almost as if it wasn't even Talia. She had blown a gasket. "But fine, choose your FAKE sister over the woman you love. Real fucking committed there Charlie," she scowled, her jaw cracking, as she piled her things sloppily together and walked through the bedroom door, in her mind knowing who his real loyalties belonged to.

Charlie ran out and stood in front of Talia. "WAIT! You want to see commitment? Stay right there and I will show you!" Charlie said as he quickly ran off to the closet, looking for the engagement ring he had hidden in there so Talia couldn't find it.

Charlie fumbled, nervous at what Talia was going to do next and frantic. "I will show you exactly what you mean to me babe!" Charlie called out still searching. LC stood in the living room, looking back and forth between the two.

Talia turned around to look at the bedroom doorway but didn't stop walking towards the kitchen. She pulled her phone charger from the socket and made for the front door. What was the item he was talking about? Another gift maybe? A token of his love. Maybe instead of a belt he made her a little card for their anniversary of meeting. Or a little stuffed corgi with their names on it.

Whatever. It couldn't make up for not actually being committed to her. "Bye," Talia called rather coldly to the other room as she pushed the front door open. She walked out with conviction, the door slamming shut behind her as she walked back out into the rain. She wasn't inexperienced when it came to people choosing others over her. That was just how life was to her.

Charlie heard the door slam and knew he was out of time. A moment later he found the ring and ran out only to find LC alone with him in the apartment. Charlie ran outside and didn't see her. He shouted out for her and searched to no avail.

The person who meant more to him than life itself walked out, and was gone. Charlie began to frantically text for her to come back and even called. She didn't pick up. He left a voicemail in desperation hoping to get her back. "Tal, babe... you mean more to me than anything. The last year of my life with you was the happiest I have ever been and I was looking for the engagement ring I picked out. I was going to take you out to that campsite near the pink blossom orchard and propose to you there. Baby... please come back, don't leave like this."

As Charlie ended the call, he looked around in the rain before heading back inside. LC greeted him at the door with a whimper, sad that Charlie had come back alone. There had been a lot of lows in Charlie's life but this was by far the lowest he had ever been. He felt awful. His head hurt, his stomach was churning and he simply felt lost. Right now, without Talia, he felt like he didn't care about much of anything at all.

Charlie grabbed a bottle of rum, opened it and downed as large a gulp as he could.