"You realize you can never give me shit about being a player ever again," Eddy said as she watched Charlie desperately toss outfits left and right.

"I didn't even sleep with Josh," Charlie said defensively. "We just made out a bunch."

"But you're going out with that Ben guy tonight. That's got player written all over it if you ask me."

"One: nobody asked you. Two: should I go with the blazer or cardigan?"

"What does it matter, it's gonna end up on someone's bedroom floor tonight anyway." Charlie glared at her. She sighed and held each garment up to Charlie, assessing. "Cardigan," she declared, tossing the blazer on the floor.

"Thank you. Was that so hard?"

"You're in a mood."

"I just... I want this to go right, you know?"

"You know, in all this new boy frenzy, you're forgetting about the one guy who's been there for you the whole time."

Charlie was dreading this. "Hunter's going through some stuff. The timing's just off."

"How's he doing? Have you heard from him?"

"Yeah, the funeral's today. He should be coming home soon."

"I can't even imagine. We really do take for granted how awesome mom and dad are, don't we?"

"Wow, careful over there sis, you're actually growing a heart." Eddy threw a pillow in his face.

"So you've gone on and on about Dr. Fargo. But what happened with that Josh guy?"

"It was fine. The date was fine."

"Just fine, huh? And you still gave up the smoochies?"

"There was nothing wrong with it. He took me to a nice restaurant. We went to see a play."

"Sounds so... ordinary."

"What would you know about dating? With you it's right from the bar and straight to your condo."

"Hey, I'm not the one who's seemingly underwhelmed. You tell me."

"Conversation was fine. Spark's still intact. We have so much in common, it just... it makes sense, I guess."

"But... ?"

"No buts. It was... everything was fine."

*

In all the years Charlie had lived in Chicago, he'd never been to the Kingston Mines. Sure, he'd passed it every time he took the Halsted bus but it never occurred to him to go in. Ben was waiting for him eagerly at the entrance.

"You're going to love this!" Ben said, so enthusiastically that Charlie had a feeling no matter what awaited him inside, he'd love it. After wading through a crowd of yuppies and DePaulians, they found their way to the second stage.

"Pinot grigio ,right?" Ben asked as they stood at the bar.

"Yeah," Charlie said, shocked that he remembered. Once they'd gotten his wine and Ben's scotch, they sat and listened to the band.

"I can't believe you've never been here," Ben said.

"I know. It's nice."

"You do like jazz and blues though, right?"

"Not especially. Though, I mean, it's not that I hate it or anything, I just never gave it a chance, really."

Ben frowned. " I just thought, you know... since your name's Charlie Parker, that you might be named after... "

"It's a family name. I was named after my great grandfather."

The frown on Ben's face deepened and his brow furrowed a bit. "Oh."

Charlie started to get nervous: it was too early in the date for things to go south. What the hell could be wrong? Before he could ask, the band finished the song and the piano player got on the mic.

"So we've got a real treat for you tonight guys," the pianist said. "Our good friend Ben, who has traded his saxophone for a stethoscope, is in the audience tonight. Let's see if we can't get him out of retirement, at least for one song." Everyone in the audience clapped and cheered and Ben got up, shrugged sheepishly at Charlie.

"Hey guys," Ben said, as the saxophonist handed him his instrument. "So, I wonder if you all have heard of a certain jazz musician named Charlie 'Bird' Parker!" The audience clapped and cheered even louder. "Well, um, this song goes out to another very special Charlie. It's called ‘Parker's Mood.' I hope you like it."

And as the drummer counted him in, as Ben put the sax to his lips and let his soul pour out of the instrument, Charlie realized that there was nothing ordinary about this date.

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Glad to be back for Volume 4! Just joining us? Catch up now:

Volume 1 -
Week One, Week Two, Week Three, Week Four, Week Five

Volume 2 -
Week One, Week Two, Week Three, Week Four, Week Five

Volume 3 -
Week One, Week Two, Week Three, Week Four, Week Five

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