Ladybug

Charlie stormed out of the apartment pushing the door open with so much force that the door unhinged from the fame leaving it hanging in an awkward position.

Frantic, Athena followed behind him.

"I'm so sorry Charlie, I was jus-"

"Sorry? You're Sorry? You think that's gonna bring the jacket back? My granddad's broach was in the pocket, Athena! You're so selfish! So insensitive! I can't believe you did this. I don't know why you're so worried about aesthetics, Athena. Who the fuck cares! I'm so done. We're done!"

"I was just trying to hel-"

Charlie continued rushing toward the elevator.

Athena was left standing in the hallway with a brand new cashmere sweater that had Charlie's initials 'CMW IV' embroidered on the collar in her hand. She watched as the elevator doors closed in front of Charlie's face and was overwhelmed with guilt. Flustered, she turned away to walk back to the apartment, she saw a few of the tenants slowly trying to creep back into their rooms as if they didn't just see the entire fight.

This was their third argument of the week, and it was only Tuesday. They were one strike away from getting kicked out of the complex and this fight might've been the last strike.

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The Community Thrift was Jesse's favorite place to be. She spent hours upon hours browsing around the shop running her fingers along the clothes, wondering what kind of people wore these before, reading all the books on the shelves and lounging on all the furniture. It wasn't until last winter when Jeen passed that Jesse started spending all her time there. Community Thrift had this antique aroma and feel that reminded her of Jeen and subconsciously helped her fill the void that remained in her chest from losing Jeen.

Jeen and Jesse were attached at the hip, even though Jeen was 60 years her senior-and Jesse's grandmother. When Jeen got sick, she promised Jesse that she could keep her ladybug broach, but when she passed, Jeen got buried with her broach and Jesse felt wrong to take it from her casket, so she didn't.

Jesse made her usual rounds in the shop that morning, having a brief conversation with Spencer, the 63-year-old cashier who often overshared his latest escapades with women he's met online from Denmark, Switzerland or Bolivia, she then went through the new piles of donated books, and scoured all the interesting shoes without pairs. Jesse never had her eye on any particular items, because the reality was that what Jesse searched for, money couldn't buy.

As she looked through the jackets for the third time since Sunday, Spencer pulled the cart with 'Hot New Items' to the front of the aisle.

Spencer knew all about Jeen and Jesse. Jeen was a frequent shopper, she didn't believe in 'fast fashion' and neither did Spencer, hence why he devoted his life to working at the Community Thrift.

"Hey, Jesse why don't you come and check out these new jackets that came in. I know you'll find something in here that you'll like"

Reluctantly, she walked toward the cart and browsed the jackets.

"Same as always," she thought.

As she came to the bottom of the cart, she came across an oversized jean jacket.

The jacket was a light washed denim with a worn tear at the seams of the shoulder. The pockets on the chest area were worn and the buttons had dull patches with little shine peeking through. The tag on the neck was a beige color and read "CMW II". She pulled the jacket out from the bottom of the cart and held it up in the light to get a better look. Jacket raised in the air, Jesse was overcome with a feeling of familiarity that she couldn't explain.

"Hey Spence, what do you think of this one?"

"It's a little too big, don't you think?"

"Oversized clothing is the new trend, Spencer!

"Since when have you followed trends, Jesse?"

Jesse knew this was true. But she also knew that she had to buy this jacket.

"Since today!"

"Come on up Jesse, I'll ring you up"

Jesse walked out of Community Thrift that day feeling fuzzy all over. As Jesse made her way to the bus stop she started to put one arm in the sleeve, and then the other. Jacket on, that overwhelming familiar feeling came back but decided to ignore it.

While walking Jesse noticed that the right side was heavier than the left.

She placed her hand into the right pocket of her jacket and pricked her self on something sharp.

"What th-"

She took her hand out of the pocket and opened it to discover a big, shiny ladybug broach, just like the one Jeen promised her.

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The nearest thrift store to Charlie and Athena's apartment complex was 40 minutes out of the city without traffic.

Unfortunately, this was a Tuesday morning and traffic was bumper to bumper for 13 miles on the highway.

"Shit! I can't believe she did this!"

Charlie and Athena had been dating for over 5 years, but the spark fizzled out just about 4 months ago when Charlie was still at base and Athena was home messing around with her best friend. They tried to work it out when Charlie came back to civilian life, but things were just not working out anymore, and deep down he knew she was still messing around. The only reason Charlie stayed with her was that it made his father happy.

Athena's family came from money. Athena's father was Governor of the state and Charlie's father felt that there was no better woman out there for Charlie if it wasn't the governor's daughter. Charlie came from a long line of military men. Charlie's granddad, Charles, was a retired Sergent of the Marines before he passed away last winter, and although Charles often told Charlie stories of all the hardships he went through while being in the service, but Charlie felt that he needed to keep the family tradition alive and honor the men by joining the service.

Sitting in traffic, Charlie remembered his 16th birthday when his grandad gave him the jacket.

"Charlie, I've had this jacket since I was 20 years old. I wore this to Woodstock, but I'll tell you that story when you're a little older."

Charlie and Charles were best friends. Charles practically raised Charlie since Charlie's dad was in the service and had been an active solider up until a year ago. Charlie often wondered how his father, Charles Mattew Wellington III, could be so cold and distant compared to his free-spirited grandfather. It didn't make any sense to him, but he never questioned it.

Years went by and Charlie joined the service himself. He never got to hear his granddad's Woodstock story, but at least he had the jacket. That is until Athena went and donated it to the Community Thrift 40 minutes out of the city without traffic.

Charlie's anger grew into a rage and he knew he needed to get this jacket back as soon as possible. Whatever it took.

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Sitting at the bus stop, Jesse could not believe what she was holding in her palm. After the shock wore off, she immediately burst into tears, uncontrollable sobbing.

"Holy Shit! Thank you, god! Oh my god!"

She sat up, aggressively wiping her tears away with the sleeves of her new jean jacket.

The bus ride couldn't have gone any slower for Jesse. Her anticipation to tell her dad was eating her alive. As soon as the bus doors swung open she leaped on the bus and bolted down the street, made a right, and swung open the door to her house.

Jesse's dad, Nikki, peaked his head out from the kitchen.

"Jesse? Are you alright? Why are your eyes so puffy? Were you crying? Where did you get that jacket?"

Jesse stood there hunched over, hands on her knees trying to catch her breath. She raised her index finger to Nikki asking for a moment.

Nikki stood there puzzled. Jesse stood up straight, took a deep breath, put her hand in her pocket and pulled it back out with her fist closed. She slowly opened her fist to reveal the big shiny ladybug broach.

Nikki's eyes opened so wide that his upper eyelids completely disappeared.

"Jesse! Where did yo-"

They both stood in the middle of the living room and cried, holding each other tightly. The aroma of burnt fettuccini sauce filled the house and this brought Nikki and Jesse back to reality.

Nikki ran to the kitchen to halt the cooking. As he walked back he noticed Jesse's jacket.

"Did you ever tell me where you got this jacket from?"

"I got it from CT, the broach was in the pocket, Dad."

Suddenly Nikki also felt the same overwhelming feeling of familiarity that overcame Jesse when she first saw the jacket at Community Thrift.

"It was in the cart with the New items dad. Spence told me to take a look in there and I was thinking I wasn't gonna find anything and then I saw this jacket! It's so worn dad, but like a good worn. And the tag has some super cool initials on it. It says CMW II. I wonder what the name was, what do you think?"

Nikki stood there with a perplexed look on his face. All of this sounded so familiar. And then, it came to him. Nikki ran into the spare room and starting digging through Jeen's picture box.

Jesse, left in the middle of the living room followed Nikki to the spare room.

"Dad, are you okay? What are you looking for in grandma's stuff?"

Nikki found Jeen's photo album and turned page after page until he found the picture of Jeen at Woodstock. In this black and white picture, Jeen was 18. She was sitting by a tree, back leaned on the trunk. She had long, straight, pitch-black hair that sprawled out past her legs on the dirt and was wearing a long white dress with an oversized jean jacket over it. On the jacket's right side was a ladybug broach.

The back of the picture read:

"Jeen, my wildest wishing willow. How I've longed for you my whole life, before I even knew I longed for you. Your beauty is beyond physical features. Your soul and aura snatch the breath from my lungs and leave me speechless. I am devoted to you for eternity, goddess. Love me more each day and I promise to always be by your humble servant. Near or far, I will always be with you. My love for you is a wishing willow, traveling far and wide and leaving sprinkles of pleasure everywhere you are.

-Charles Mattew Wellington II"

Nikki took the picture out of the album and handed it to Jesse. Jesse sat on her knees and read the back over and over again.

"This is Charlie's jackets dad. Charlie, grandma's first love."

Nikki and Jesse sat on the rug in the spare room overanalyzing this realization for what seemed like an eternity. Nikki got up, walked over to Jesse and planted a soft kiss on her forehead.

"See kid, she told you she'd always be with you."

Jesse's eyes filled with tears, but this time they were tears of happiness, not sorrow.

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After three hours in traffic, Charlie finally arrived at Community Thrift.

He drove into the parking lot, parked in a handicap space, got out without locking the doors and made his way into Community Thrift, swinging the doors open with so much force that Spencer swung around and saw an angry Charlie.

"Hi there, welcome to Community Thrift"

"I'd like to speak with the manager please"

"I'm the manager here. Name's Spencer. How can I help you, sir?"

"Look Spencer, I don't wanna give you any trouble, and this might be a lot to ask. See, the thing is, my girlfriend gave my jean jacket away this morning and I came back to retrieve it."

"When did she donate it, sir?"

"This morning."

"Ahh.. okay. Well listen kid, see that cart over there? I just placed a bunch of new jackets out this morning. Why don't you go take a look over there and see if you can find it."

Charlie ran toward the cart, worried that it might've been bought already. Athena said she took it around 8AM and it was now a quarter after 12.

Charlie dug all the way to the bottom. Nothing.

"Are you sure these are the only ones?"

"Yes, sir."

"Shit!", Charlie shouted.

"Did anyone buy any jean jackets this morning?"

Spencer thought back three hours ago and remembered Jesse walking out with that giant oversized jean jacket this morning.

"As a matter of fact, one of our regulars walked out this morning with a jean jacket. She lives just about two stops down that way. I can give you the address if you'd lik-"

"Yes. Yes please."

Jesse's address in hand, Charlie hopped in his car and sped down the street getting to Jesse's residence in two minutes flat.

He walked up to the doorway and pressed the buzzer.

Inside, Nikki and Jesse were still in shock due to the incidents that occurred that morning.

Nikki heard the doorbell and got up to answer it.

Nikki opened the door to see a tall man with pitch-black loosely coiled hair. He had thick eyebrows and a full mustache.

"Hi, can I help you?"

"Hi, is there a Jesse here?"

Jesse heard from the spare room and made her way into the hall to see who was asking for her.

"And may I ask who's looking for her?"

As if Nikki wasn't already taken back by this tall stranger, the stranger was then asking for Jesse which had Nikki even more confused.

"I'm sorry sir, it's to my understanding that a Jesse Morales lives here. I was told by Spencer at Community Thrift that this is where I can find her. I believe she bought a jean jacket today that means a great deal to me. I'm just hoping to get it back"

Jesse ran back into the spare room and locked herself behind the door. She pressed her ear against it hoping that Nikki would shoo this stranger away because she refused to give this jacket away.

Nikki stood at the doorway staring into Charlie's eyes and did not speak a word. Charlie, very uncomfortable with Nikki's intense eye contact looked away nervously.

"Sir?"

"I'm sorry, what did you say your name was?"

"Uh, I didn't. My name is Charlie."

Nikki stood there, eyes still locked on Charlie.

"Is Charlie short for something?"

"Yeah, my name is Charles Mattew Wellington IV"

Jesse, still in the spare room, backed away slowly from the door, in absolute disbelief of what came out of this stranger's mouth.

The wooden spoon Nikki held in his hand dropped to the floor almost instantly.

Charlie stood there in complete fear, wondering what the hell was going on.

Nikki snapped out of his daze.

"Please come in. We have your jacket."

Charlie sat on the antique sofa and examined the living room from top to bottom. Suddenly he felt this strangely overwhelming feeling of familiarity, but couldn't put his finger on it.

Nikki walked into the hallway, made a left and scurried quietly to the spare room.

"Jesse! Open the door", he whispered.

Jesse opened the door, slowly reacting from the shock.

Nikki grabbed the picture from Jesse's hand.

"Come on."

Jesse walked into the living room wearing the jacket, with the ladybug broach in hand.

Charlie rose from the sofa, relieved that he found his jacket.

"Hi, I'm Charlie. I'm glad you live so close by, I thought I was never going to see this thing again, and the bug was still with it! Thank god"

"He really just said 'thing' and 'bug'?", Jesse thought as she rolled her eyes.

Nikki glanced over at Jesse and nudged her shoulder.

"Charlie, I hope you're not in a rush. I know we're strangers but there's something I'd really like to share with you."

Charlie hesitantly sat back down on the sofa. With no words spoken but only strange looks exchanged, Nikki handed the photo to Charlie. Charlie immediately noticed the jacket in the photo. He looked up at Jesse and Nikki who stood in front of him, no words spoken but looking for answers.

"Read the back."

Charlie turned the photo over and read the inscription his grandfather wrote decades before. Tears filled Charlie's eyes as he read silently in his grandfather's voice.

He looked up at Jesse and Nikki, jumped up and bear-hugged both of them.

That afternoon, Nikki told Charlie the story of Woodstock. They laughed, they cried. They pondered in thought.

The afternoon turned into evening. As Charlie made his way out of the door, Jesse gave him the jacket. Charlie stuck his hand in the pocket, took out the broach and gave it to Jesse.

"Keep it, kid. This is my way of thanking you for what you and your dad gave me this afternoon."

Jesse hugged her cousin Charlie. Charlie walked to his car, turned back to give a final wave, and made his way home to Athena. Nikki and Jesse saw him off and made their way back into the house.

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When Charlie got home that night, he walked up to the unhinged door that had an eviction noticed taped to it.

Athena lay asleep on the couch but woke with Charlie's entrance.

Charlie told her all about his day and thanked her.

The next morning, Charlie and Athena went their separate ways. Athena went back home to live with her parents, while Charlie drove 40 minutes out of the city, without traffic to stay with Nikki and Jesse.