Read A Proper Charlie for Free Online

side street she texted Andy. She smiled when she remembered how desolate she had felt yesterday. What a difference a day makes! And to think Andy was going cold on her. He wanted them to have their own place. How cool was that!
    Replacing her phone, the smell of deep fried something filled her nostrils. A few doors up, people were standing in the open doorway to a fish and chip shop. The smell of chips, sprinkled with salt and vinegar made her mouth fill with saliva. She checked her purse. She had a five-pound note, then looked to the fuel gauge on the dash. It was almost in the red.
    ‘ Oh well, it’s the bus until pay day,’ she said, and climbed out.
    It was after eleven when she pulled up outside her flat. She secured the wheel with its steering lock, and climbed out. She looked up to her flat window. Hers was the seventh floor, and all the lights were blazing.
    She rubbed her eyes. She was tired, and all she wanted to do was have a long soak and fall into bed. She could always crash at Melvin’s, she supposed, if Andy hadn’t finished sorting out his ‘deal’.
    Charlie went inside. Crude graffiti lined the upper walls in the foyer while dirt edged the lower. Charlie pressed the button for the lift, and a low hum of machinery told her the lift was juddering towards her.
    Once outside her door, she placed an ear to the cool wood. All was silent. She placed her key in the lock and pushed the door open.
    ‘ That man of yours is a bad ‘un,’ Mavis Davis said behind, making her jump.
    Charlie turned. The old lady was clutching the edges of a well-washed pink dressing gown around her. She was Charlie’s neighbour; a well-meaning battleaxe who Charlie was secretly fond of.
    ‘ Hi, Mavis. I’m sorry, was he playing music too loud again?’
    ‘ That I can cope with,’ she said, waving a finger. ‘It’s the friends he keeps that’s the worry. He’ll drag you down with him, you mark my words.’ Still waving a finger she went back into her room and closed the door.
    Half amused, Charlie closed her own door. Kicking off her shoes and throwing her handbag on the settee, she eyed her room. Crumpled lager cans littered the small coffee table and floor. Half-eaten kebabs in polystyrene containers lay on the floor with sorry looking salad. Fish and chip wrappers were dumped on the floor beside her bin.
    Among the mess was Andy. He lay on the settee, dribble sliding out of his mouth, clutching a can of lager in one hand and kebab in the other. Instantly she knew he had made a fool of her. He’d coerced her out of the flat just so he could invite his mates around for beer and takeaways. She groaned. Man. City was playing tonight, and she remembered Andy talking about watching the game with a group of mates, only she hadn’t realised he had meant watching it at her flat with a group of mates.
    Fuming, Charlie went over and shook him awake.
    Andy muttered and tried to turn over, still clutching the lager and kebab against his chest as if they were a duvet.
    ‘ Andy!’
    He opened his eyes and stared vacantly at her.
    ‘ Was this part of the deal? ’ Charlie’s arm swept the room. She glared down at him. His eyes had closed again. She tugged at the cushion beneath his head and pulled it out. As his head fell back, she whacked him in the face with it. The cushion, soft and furry, did no damage, but Andy yelped anyway.
    ‘ Awright, awright,’ he shouted, waving her away. He struggled to a sitting position and looked at her with bleary eyes. ‘Charl? That you?’
    She stood back, breathless and ready with the cushion. ‘Who else? I do live here? Or had you forgotten?’
    His head wobbled in classic drunkard style. ‘I was waitin’ up for you, but you didn’t come home,’ he said, his Brummie accent more pronounced. He looked so forlorn Charlie’s anger deflated as easily as it started. She lowered the cushion.
    ‘ Really?’
    He reached for the cushion and took it from her.
    ‘ But why didn’t you text me so I