Chapter 26

Annie responded, “Sure thing. Charles — you can let Sarah go now.” This caused a great deal of laughter at our table. Sarah, still in my arms, said somewhat wistfully, “Thank you Charles ... for everything.”

We walked to our vehicle and we quietly all got back in. Claire and K leaned their heads on me for the short trip back to the hotel. I walked the girls to their room and told them to be ready by ten am. I apologized to them for the cursing I did, at the Tavern.

I got a nice kiss from each of them, as I walked back to my room, and I saw Sarah outside, apparently waiting for me.

“Charles, that was awfully brazen of you, but you did save me, so I have this for you.”

She planted her hands on either side of my face, and lightly pulled my face to hers, and kissed me, which was truly magnificent. She opened her mouth, I opened mine, and it seemed to go on forever and ever. Mom could poke her head out any moment, so I took her hands with mine and ended the kiss, saying, “Oohhh, Sarah – how long since you have had a kiss like that with anybody?”

“I know that your mother, and the girls wouldn’t approve of that, but I had to get that out of my system, Charles. It’s been building up for a while, ever since that morning you woke up — with me in your bed.”

“Don’t worry, I wasn’t going to do any more than kiss you, but Claire knocked, and you saved my virtue that morning. It’s been over a year since I got a kiss anything like that, so can we keep this to ourselves, please?”

“Sure, Sweet-Lips ... I may need one of those from time to time, if you wouldn’t mind?”

I thought ‘Maybe every day!’

“Let’s clean you up mister,” Sarah said.

The door opened and Annie said, “How long have you two been out here?”

“I just got back ... from dropping off the girls,” I fumbled a bit. “Sarah wanted to bring me up to date on the plans for in the morning.”

“Right, come on inside, it’s getting brisk out,” Annie said with a big smirk on her face.

“OK, Mom – oh, Sarah ... I told the girls to be ready by ten in the morning, figuring they’d take until eleven, is that OK?”

“Perfect Loverboy, you have learned their inner clock very well,” Sarah said.

As I walked in, I saw the rollaway, and took a deep breath; glad that I wasn’t going to have to sleep in the chair.

Sarah heard my sigh and asked, “What was that for Charles? Oooh, the rollaway; you wouldn’t have had to have slept in the chair, I am certain your mother or I could have found room for you ... between us.” Her eyes sparkled a bit.

“That would put me in therapy for years, my dear Sarah,” I said.

“What would have put you in therapy, Charles?” mom asked as she came out of the bathroom dressed for bed.

“Oh, nothing Mom, just a private joke between Sarah and me. Sarah, go ahead and use the bathroom.”

She walked in, and Mom came up to me and said, “I hope you realize, how strong Sarah’s feelings are for you? From the looks of your lips, I’d say you understood it a bit, but she is as fragile as Claire and Kalista, so be careful and ‘don’t do nothing stupid.’” She slapped at my chest.

“I understand Mom, she said she needed to get it out of her system, so I was more than willing to help?” I said with a cute little grin on my face.

“You are in over your head with her, Loverboy – be very, very careful,” Annie said.

Sarah came out, in a sports bra and sweat pants, showing off her midriff, which was amazingly tight for a woman her age. I quietly went into the bathroom and changed into sweat pants, and no shirt. I came out rubbing my stomach, and there were catcalls coming from the bed, from both Sarah and my own mother.

“Oh, shut-up, you two?” I said, “Has somebody set an alarm?”

Rubbing her hands sensually over her upper body, Sarah replied, “The beating of my heart will wake me up, Loverboy. Are you sure you don’t want to share this big ole bed, with your Mommy and me? There’s ... plenty of room in between us?” She added, patting the place between them to indicate where I could fit in.

Yeah!

“Oh, will you shut-up Sarah, the boy’s friable as it is. You might just break him, unless you can learn to behave yourself.”

“Great word choice Mom, friable – I assume that, by your usage, it means weak and brittle?”

“Yes, honey – I knew you’d appreciate the word,” she said looking just as seductive as Sarah.

“I need to sleep, ladies. Oh, I wanted to apologize to you as well as Claire and Kallie, about my language tonight. I kind of overstepped a bit, to PO the drunk. I am sorry — goodnight Honey-Bug and Sweet-Lips.”

Together they said, “Goodnight Loverboy.” I saw Sarah blow me a kiss, while Mom mouthed ‘I love you, honey’ to me.

I have created a two-headed monster.

When I woke up the next morning, I felt pretty good.

I went into the bathroom and took care of my usual morning routine and came out and saw the ladies waking up.

I walked over to them, sat on the bed and they were smiling, and I leaned in and gave each of them a kiss, starting with Annie.

“Not that I am complaining, but what was that for?” mom said with a big ‘wake up’ gesture.

“I love you guys, and kissing is the way to express it, isn’t it?” I said with a great big grin on my face.

Sarah mentioned, “There are ... more ways than just kissing to express love, Charles. Do you know of any other ways, besides kissing?”

Annie gave her quite a look but said nothing.

“Quite honestly, ladies – although I am aware of the street terms for many sexual activities, I not learned enough to do anything more than kiss? There have been times that my hands seemed to want to be ... somewhere they shouldn’t, but other than that, maybe I need some hands-on tutoring in this matter? Sarah or maybe you Mom; are you prepared to cross any of those line-in-the-sand taboo events that a mother and son should stay behind?” I winked at them.

Annie replied saying, “OK, Charles – you got us, that was quite good, using the taboo angle; that’s when I knew you were putting us on, though.”

“He was? Darn, I was getting all worked up about having a Mrs. Robinson moment with Charles,” Sarah winked at me, licking her lips.

I saw my mother look at her, like she cursed the worst possible words. Then she slapped at her shoulder and they got into something of a pillow fight, so I climbed up between them and tried to stop it, but they were lying in wait, and started tickling me.

I tried to tickle back, but, just at that moment, Claire and Kalista walked through the door. I looked over at the clock and it was exactly ten o’clock, sharp.

“Mother, what did I say about being in the same bed with my boyfriend?” Claire said with a slight giggle to her voice.

“Actually, honey – he climbed into our bed, he’s the scoundrel this time, not me,” Sarah replied wickedly.

“Charles, you told us ten, why are you all still in bed?” Claire said.

I got up and quickly, but silently took my bag and closed the bathroom door. I took a quick shower and changed into my outfit for the day. Walking out slowly with eyes closed, I asked if everybody was decent, and I heard four ‘yup’s’.

As I came out, Sarah ran in with her bag, and quickly closed the door. By then, Claire was on the warpath, “You told us ten, expecting us not to be ready until eleven? I thought you were smarter than that, Charles?”

“Mom, help me out, please?” I implored.

“Sorry Charles – you can dig yourself out of this, you always do!” Annie said with a snort.

“I am sorry girls, I thought ... with being out late last night, you’d have a problem getting up, so I told you ten, when I thought that you’d have to fight over the bathroom and such.”

“What I forgot was that you two wake up already so very beautiful, that it doesn’t take you two nearly as long as it does for Annie and Sarah, to be ready in the morning?”

Sarah came out of the bathroom, wearing a sports bra and a towel, saying, “Did I hear Charles just call us old, Annie?”

“I believe he did, Sarah,” mom said as she scooted into the bathroom.

“Mother,” Claire said. “Cover yourself up, please?”

“It’s the same thing I wore to bed dear, just a different color?”

Claire and Kalista were watching me as Sarah went on, “You didn’t think I was ‘old’ last night, Charles, when we... ‘talked’ outside the room for a while?” She did that quotes thing in the air ... which didn’t help.

She was baiting me, but I was ready, “Sarah, or should I call you Mrs. Robinson, I am going to step outside for a moment. So, you can finish changing.”

As I left the room to go outside, I heard Claire asking what the Mrs. Robinson reference meant. K had come out behind me, grabbed my arm and said, “Charles, I am so excited. I have never been to a baseball game before!”

“I haven’t been to one since I used to go to my brother’s games at his high school; I was only like eight years old, and he was a seventeen-year-old, two-year starter on the Varsity Squad. He played First Base and sometimes Center Field. We played catch a lot, but I was never very good at it. I was never very good at much of anything, until when I met Claire and then you. I never thought I was going to get to go to a Professional Baseball game.”

Everyone came out, ready to go. I glanced at my watch and it was exactly eleven am. So, all packed up, we headed out to the stadium, following Sarah’s instructions.

Despite being only two miles from the stadium, it took us close to thirty minutes, because we had to pass through a series of checkpoints to get to the choice parking reserved for ‘Special Guests’.

We got out, and a nice young man in a stretch golf cart met us, who said, “You must be the Charles & Claire Group, please step up, and I’ll take you to your box.”

I helped the girls get on, as Annie and Sarah got aboard, and we left for our box. The ride was quite comfortable, as the young man took us to our final destination.

We all got up and walked into what I believe is called a ‘Luxury skybox’. It was larger than our living room at home. There were some reporters and photographers there, and a hand-held version of the NBC camera I’d remembered from the Palace Restaurant.

The cameras started snapping pictures, the moment we walked into the room. Claire and Kalista were smiling really big as the photographers asked them to turn towards the cameras.

A reporter came up to me. “Hello, my name is Carrie Newton, I am with the MLB Network – would it be all right if I asked you a few questions, Mr. Newman?”

“Sure, Carrie – but please call me Charles, this is Claire McArthur, my main dance partner, this cutie is Kalista McArthur, her cousin and my protégé, back here we have my mother, manager, chaperone — Annie Newman, and last, but certainly not least, is Sarah Rollins, our publicist, co-chaperone, and Home School Teacher.” Sarah gave me a wink and mouthed ‘thank you.’

“I must say, it’s wonderful to see such a pretty young woman breaking into the field of sports reporting, Carrie,” I added.

“Well, aren’t you the charming one, Charles?” she responded.

Claire said, “You have no idea.”

Everybody chuckled at that, breaking the tension a bit.

“So, Charles how long have you been dancing, exactly?”

“A little less than fifteen months, Carrie.”

“And that’s when you met Claire — at a Cotillion — wasn’t it?”

“Yes, it was at the Bradshaw Family Cotillion, in Columbus, Ohio; I still remember the moment I met Claire, as though it was yesterday.”

“So, what did you say to her?”

“After Jimmy Bradshaw — he’s the gentleman who runs the operations and teaches — after Jimmy said, ‘Boys, find a young lady, and go to the center of the room,’ I looked around and saw the most beautiful red-head, after my mom, and said to her, ‘Hi’. That’s all I said, but fortunately she said, ‘Hi, what’s your name?’”

“I followed that up with, ‘My name is Charles Newman, but you can call me ‘X.’”

“And what does the X stand for, Charles?” Carrie asked.

“Xavier, my complete name is Charles Xavier Newman. So, the rest of the story is history, we have won every competition we have entered. We have our Final Amateur competition in just two days, in Pittsburgh.”

“Really, your final one? What happens after that?” Carrie asked.

“We’re going to take a month or so off, to take a little break. Then starting on Labor Day, we all go on Tour with Michael Bublé; all over the United States.”

“All of you — so you are quitting school, to all become professional dancers? That’s got to be both exciting and a little nerve-wracking, I’d think, Charles?”

“Actually Carrie – we had a taste of being on the road last night and this morning, and it shouldn’t be too bad. We went to Front Street Tavern & Eatery last night, and they all were so very nice to us. We ate and danced to some of our favorite dances. Regarding your use of the words ‘Quitting School’ all we have done is transferred from our usual schools to a system of performing and on-the-road schooling administered by Sarah McArthur!”

Carrie asked, “Speaking of dances, would you mind dancing for us, just a little?”

“Absolutely, my dear. Is there a CD player in here?”

“Yes, right here,” the man behind the bar, said.

“Annie, ‘Marry You,’ please?”

She had it ready, so she must have known this might happen.

The cameraman stepped all the way into the corner to make his shot wide enough.

I got into position on my knee, with my back to the camera. Claire leaned forward and gave me a quick kiss. I nodded to the bartender and he started the music. We started the dance and about halfway through Carrie got in front of the camera saying, “Ladies and Gentlemen, Charles & Claire will be in Pittsburgh in two days for their Final competition as Amateur Dancers.”

“It looks like that’ll be that last time you can watch them dancing, without paying for it. I am Carrie Newton, for the MLB Network.”

She moved away to let the rest of our dance be shown. That was nice of her, allowing us to finish. I decided to pick up Claire and walked straight into the camera saying, “Charles & Claire, at the David Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, in two days.” Claire and I then started a big kiss, as the cameraman said, “We’re out.”

“Thank you all so much?” Carrie said. “You are quite the showman, aren’t you Charles?”

“I get it all from my mother, all I ever got from my father was big feet.” That remark made everyone in the room laugh out loud, including Annie, who cut loose a couple snorts, before bringing herself back under control.

Carrie added, “You can stay and watch the game, if you’d like. We have alcohol for the ladies, soft drinks and anything on our menu for everybody.”

She pulled an envelope out of her coat pocket and handed it to me, saying, “You guys are the real deal, aren’t you? I’ll be in Pittsburg, could I get an interview after, whether you win or not?”

“You can get an interview, anytime you want. We’ll win, no doubt about it,” I said smiling at her.

She smiled back at me as she, along with her cameraman, and the other reporters all left, leaving just the bartender and us. Sarah walked up to him and asked him for a drink called ‘Sex on the Beach,’ causing me to chuckle.

The bartender responded, “What does everybody want to eat, it’ll be delivered straight to here, compliments of the Cleveland Indians.”

“Do you ... have a menu, please?” Sarah quasi-seductively asked.

“Sarah,” I said. “Behave, you are old enough to be his ... favorite aunt. Ten hot dogs with the fixings on the side, two orders of nachos dripping with cheese, two orders of french fries, three pasta salads and a pepperoni pizza along with whatever diet soda you got on tap to drink.”

“Got it, Thanks Charles – I’ll call it in.”

I walked over to the rest of the gang, who were apparently amazed at my forcefulness. I sat down as I said, “I looked up the menu on my phone last night, and I have been paying attention to what each of you like to eat. The pasta salads are for Annie, Claire and Sarah. The nachos are for K and I, the hot dogs & fries are for me and whoever else, and the pizza is for the bartender to share. I saw a picture of his kid in front of a Chuck E Cheese.”

“Wow,” Sarah said. “I am impressed!”

The food arrived just as the game was starting, we took our time being careful not to get food on our outfits. We watched about three innings — I forgot how boring a game can be!

We’d finished the food off, miraculously, without incident or stain. I left the pizza, minus one slice, as our tip to our bartender, who said ‘thanks’ as we left.

On the trip back, I asked, “Are we picking up and leaving right away, or are we waiting until morning, ladies?”

Sarah remarked, “I have got us booked here for tonight, but we could do a late checkout and be on the road in an hour?”

I followed up by saying, “I am all for leaving tonight, if not right away! But you two are the only drivers in our midst, so you tell me, do we stay or go? I’d like to request my own room this time, or maybe a suite with multiple beds, if possible?”

“I am checking as we speak, Loverboy,” Sarah responded.

“Mom, could we find a computer store? I have an idea,” I said.

After driving around for a bit, we found a Best Buy. I grabbed the credit card from Mom, and Claire and I went into the store. I walked towards the computers, avoiding the employees who wanted to ‘help me find something.’

I walked to the Apple Laptops and picked one up and walked to the checkout. Since the newest ones don’t have CD drives any more, I picked up a couple of external drives so we can make CD’s on the fly. Claire stopped and got us a converter to get power using the car cigarette lighter, plus a round case of 50 blank CDs, and we paid for it and left. All in less than five minutes.

“What have you got there?” Annie said.

“A new laptop, so Sarah doesn’t have to ruin her eyes, using a smart phone to find us places to eat and stay. I see it as an investment. My beautiful Claire got us the cable to charge it in the car. Claire also showed me how to use the ‘WiFi HotSpot’ on my phone to give the laptop the Internet,” I explained.

I gave Claire a kiss, which everybody saw and heard. We headed back to the hotel and I quickly packed myself for traveling and opened up the box to get the laptop charging.

That’s why I got an Apple — out of the box, and actually using it, in less than five minutes. Take that PC lovers!

Annie and Sarah were packing up as well, not bothering to change clothes.

I picked up my phone, and using the speakerphone called the Hilton Doubletree in Pittsburgh.

“Hello, Doubletree by Hilton Hotel and Suites ... this is Lori, how can I help you today?” It was a younger sounding person.

“Hello, this is Charles Newman, of the dance team known as Charles & Claire?”

“Oh, yes – Mr. Newman, how can I help you today?” Sarah smiled at me, mouthing ‘Behave.’

“Do you have a large suite, we have five in our party, and we’d need at least three beds.”

“Just a minute, Mr. Newman ... as a matter of fact, we have just the thing you need. We at the Doubletree, welcome celebrities like yourself. When are you arriving, later today or tomorrow sometime?”

“Just a moment, Lori?” I put her on mute. “We’re three hours away, right?”

“Yeah,” said Sarah.

I took Lori off mute; “We’ll be arriving in about three to four hours from now, coming in from Cleveland. We’ll need it for two nights. How much will that be, Lori?”

“Since it came available due to a non-refundable cancellation, I can put you in there for only one hundred dollars per night. Can I put you down for that, Charles, er ... I am sorry Mr. Newman, We have all seen you dance on YouTube so much, we feel we know you.”

“Yes, Lori – book it, please. We’ll see you in about four hours OK, and you can call me Charles. I can’t wait to meet the person with such a lovely speaking voice, see you then.”

Claire and Kalista came in sometime during this conversation. Claire was putting her finger in her mouth, pretending to be gagging.

That caused K to giggle, Annie to snort and Sarah to slap me on the back of the head, her version of a love tap.

“Nice job, Loverboy,” Sarah said, “You hardly need me, if you are that good at booking.”

We all went to the car. I got out with Sarah as we walked in to pay for our day there. In the lobby were some young persons who recognized me, coming up to me for autographs.

Sarah went up and got out the card to pay, and the young man behind the counter appeared to blush as this strikingly beautiful woman, in a tight scoop front black dress, approached him. He asked whom the young man was, being mobbed by the girls.

Sarah casually said, “Oh, that’s Charles Newman of Charles & Claire, we all stayed here last night.”

The young man left for a moment, and brought back an older gentleman, who asked, “Charles & Claire stayed here last night? Your room has been taken care of by the management, thank you very much for staying with Best Western.”

Sarah said bending over just a little extra, “Thank you all very much, Charles & Claire loved your place.” Both gentlemen looked to be sweating bullets.

Sarah turned around and walked back to where I was standing. I glanced up and the two gentlemen seemed mesmerized by this knockout of a redhead in their lobby.

I had a few more autographs, while Sarah was standing there just watching me. I finished up and the girls waved goodbye, as Sarah walked alongside me, and she said, “You may become, what used to be called a Teen Heartthrob, like Bobby Sherman, David Cassidy, or this Justin Bieber — Charles – Be prepared for stardom, and don’t forget the little people who have helped you on your climb to the top.”

Looking straight into her eyes without blinking, I said, “Sarah, my dear – I’ll never forget you, regardless of what else happens in my life, and you can take that ... to the bank.”

We grabbed each other’s hand as we left the lobby and climbed back into the car.

“What took so long, X?” Kalista asked.

“There were some fans, while Sarah was flirting with the young man behind the counter,” I said.

Annie looked at Sarah, who looked back at her saying, “The room got comped, and the kid behind the counter, along with his supervisor, got a free show.” She gave a little shoulder shrug to help explain what she meant.

We all laughed as we settled back. I just remembered, to check the best way to get to where we were going, then handed the laptop to Sarah, saying, “Follow the violet line, we could stop in Youngstown for a break.”

“Doing my job again, Loverboy?” she said.

“I could never do what you do, Sweet-Lips,” I said as I kissed her on the base of the back of her neck.

I looked back — K and CC were already sleeping. I went back up to her neck and kissed it again. I heard a little bit of a whimper from her, as Annie turned and said, “What’re you two doing over there?”

“Nothing Mom, just ... thanking Sarah for being so nice to us all,” I said as I leaned back and fell into a dreamless sleep.

I woke, as we were pulling up to a gas station. The girls each had one of my arms, so I blew on their lips, which got them awake. Kalista asked, “Are we in Pittsburgh already?”

“No,” said Annie, “We’re in Youngstown, about halfway there, stopping for gas and potty break.” At those words, both girls got up and said, “I have to go.”