IT'S THE GREAT PUMKIN, CHARLIE BERKS
( season 4, episode 6 )

YALE UNIVERSITY, CONNECTICUT
october 2003

"AND then he moved all our reading up a week!" rory complains to tana and charlie.

charlie makes an overly dramatic gasp "the horror!"

rory sends her look "i'm already swarmed with work, i can barely keep up at it is."

"maybe you need to drop a class" charlie suggests, to which rory instantly shakes her head.

the three girls are attempting to carve pumpkins, tana, who turned out to have a weird skill for it, carefully traces out her design with the knife "i'm making super mario" she smiles to the two older girls.

"i'm making a cat" rory responds.

"yeah, i'm just making a mess" charlie shakes her head.

the phone rings from paris' room for the billionth time that day "paris, can you get that phone?" rory asks, after she doesn't respond charlie decides to get up and go see what's up.

"paris?" she asks.

paris sits on her bed, scowling as the phone rings, charlie sighs and goes to answer it "don't answer it!" the blonde girl instructs.

"why not?" charlie questions.

"it's jamie and we're fighting" she frowns, jamie had been her boyfriend for the last year, they always seemed to be fighting about something or another.

"does he know you're fighting? cause he's not hanging up" charlie observes.

"oh he knows" paris nods "trust me, he knows."

charlie lets out a deep sigh and rubs her temples "you're giving me a migraine" she complains as she goes to leave, turning back to paris "you're seriously not gonna answer that?"

paris shakes her head stubbornly "nope."

"paris, come on!"

she scoffs "okay fine" she picks up the phone, just to immediately pick up "happy?"

"i'm gonna regret asking this, but why are you and jamie fighting?" charlie asks.

"because he's wrong. he won't listen to me" she picks up the ringing phone and yells "you won't listen to me!" in it, before hanging up and throwing it bitterly on the bed "he's in love with the sound of his own voice! you'd think he's already president, and i don't wanna be hillary. i don't want to wait for a hundred years while he does thing so by the time i get my chance, i'm too old to enjoy it."

"i don't think hillary's too old" charlie shrugs.

"fine, be on his side" paris scoffs.

"i'm not on his side, i'm on her side" charlie reasons, sighing when the phone rings again.

"don't answer it" paris instructs.

"paris, come on! there's other people living here too!" charlie groans, rolling her eyes as she picks up the phone "hello? hi jamie, yes, she is here" she says, handing the phone to paris.

"no" she shakes her head.

"paris, you're acting stupid, you love jamie so just get on the phone and work it out so that i can go back to my orange mush, okay?"

paris sighs and takes the phone from charlie's hand, as charlie's leaving, she hears paris yelling at jamie.

"trouble in paradise?" rory asks as charlie comes back in.

"you have no idea" charlie nods, taking a seat back on the floor to work on her pumpkin, noticing tana's gone "where did she go?"

"some guy saw her pumpkin through the window and asked if she wanted to display it at his art gallery" rory tells her.

"and just like that our little duckling became a swan" charlie breathes out.

"they grow up so fast" rory sighs.

the door swings open, ted letting himself in "that's unappetizing" he comments on charlie's pumpkin as he takes a seat on the floor next to her.

"come in" charlie says dryly.

"why are you putting freddie krueger on a pumkin?" he asks.

"it's charlie brown!" she defends in almost yell.

"it's a sore spot" rory explains to ted, who nods with a chuckle.

"i just wanted to see if you guys were coming to the party tomorrow?" he asks the pair.

rory shakes her head "i can't, i have to study."

"what about you?" ted turns to charlie "you don't care about your classes."

"i resent that statement" charlie responds.

he laughs as he gets up "i'm sure you do, i'll see you tomorrow" he grins as he walks out.

"no promises!" charlie yells behind him, although she can't hide the little smile that creeps onto her face, turning back to rory, who's giving her the 'i told you so' face "i hate that guy" charlie mutters.

"mhm" rory nods with a small grin.

the goosebumps on charlie's skin settle as she leaves the cold air of new england's fall and steps into the loud party.

she's not wearing much, a cheerleading outfit she had pulled out of the archives from senior year, and a blonde wig pulled up into a ponytail, dressed up as lola bunny.

despite attending the party alone, she sees a few familar faces, a couple from a classes and a couple she had briefly known growing up, it's the type of party her parents would be ecstatic about her attending for the connections.

she finally spots a small group of four, finn, colin, logan, and of course, the only one she can truly pay attention to, ted.

"charlie!" logan grins when he sees her, gesturing for her to come over to the group.

she smiles as she's greeted by the boys, being pulled into a half hug by colin "you look hot" he comments, quieting down when he receives a glare from ted "fine, i'll find someone else" he sighs as he walks away from the group.

"what was that about?" she asks.

ted shakes his head "don't worry about it. how are you?"

"i've been worse" charlie replies.

"hey, how's that roommate of yours?" logan asks, seeming a lot more interested in the conversation than he was at first.

charlie laughs and shakes her head "you're not dating my roommate, logan."

"hey, i would treat her well!" he defends, before spotting a tall blonde girl walk past, and quickly following her.

just as she turns back to colin and ted, alyssa comes up to the three "hi" she plasters her face with the fake smile that seems to be glued to her expression "baby, i think i saw thomas over there, let's go say hi" she wraps an arm around ted, who nods.

"bye, char" he smiles as alyssa practically drags him off.

"and then there were two" charlie sighs, not being able to hide her disappointment as she's left with finn.

finn sighs dramatically "my life is full of woe" he complains as he stares at ted and alyssa walking off.

charlie may of never been the best in class, but she was good at picking up on another person's emotions, she was always the most emotionally intelligent in her family "you and alyssa?"

finn nods "we spent a night together" he admits.

"really?" she questions.

"it was the beginning of the semester, we were at the bar, a little tipsy, then i took her back to my place. it was beautiful, i'm pretty sure it was alyssa, either way, it was beautiful."

"sounds it" charlie responds sarcastically.

the pair watch ted and alyssa get distracted from finding thomas and make out not so subtly against a wall in the corner of the party.

"wow, we're really sad, aren't we?" finn breaks the silence.

finn and charlie are a good four or five drinks in as the party around them raves on.

it started as the two finding a perfect platonic relationship over a couple shots, it was fun, until it wasn't.

"i just feel like whatever i do, i'll never be as impressive as elizabeth or diana or caroline" charlie cries, the tears smudging her makeup.

"i know" finn agrees, his own tears matching her's "whatever i do, my dad has something to say about it."

"and my mom's running around europe with some guy basically old enough to be my brother, and i have to book an appointment just to spend time with my dad!" she sobs.

"my parents sent me to america when i was six and haven't wanted to hear from me since" finn weeps.

the two sit there and cry, neither of them really listening to what the other has to say, but finding comfort in each other.

within an hour, the sadness of the drunk has worn off, and they've moved onto the party level.

dancing with some guy she had zero interest in, but was cute enough to keep her entertained for a little while, charlie laughs as she jumps to the music.

the shots combined with the loud music is enough send charlie into a euphoric state that she wouldn't remember the next morning.

ted had been watching her out of the corner of his eye, despite her not knowing the name of the man she was dancing with, ted did.

henry kennedy, the boy he had hated, but unfortunately had to tolerate, since he was fourteen.

charlie is dangling from his arms as the pair dance, ted can't quite pinpoint why this upsets him so much.

it's just because it's henry, he convinces himself, it has nothing to do with charlie showing anyone else attention.

he's with alyssa, why would he be jealous of henry? but he can't shake the irritation that runs through his body.

after a little while, he excuses himself from alyssa, walking straight over to charlie and henry.

"teddy bear!" henry grins widely, wrapping his arms around him in a drunk state.

ted smiles politely "i should get charlie home."

"charlie?" henry furrows his eyebrows.

ted scoffs, walking past him to get to charlie "eddie!" she smiles drunkenly.

ted chuckles "come on, trouble, let's get you to bed."

charlie's in too much of a state to argue back, so she happily obliges, ted wraps his jacket around her as they're greeted by the harsh october breeze.

she drunkenly rambles for the ten minute walk home, ted would be lying if he said he hated it.

sober or not, any word that came out of charlie's mouth, ted took as seriously as a bible verse.

that's why charlie had always liked ted, he was the only person in her life who actually took her seriously, he was the only person who cared about what she had to say.

the pair reach her dorm room, charlie stumbles out of her outfit, ted turns his back when he gets a slight flash of her bra.

after a minute or so, charlie speaks up "it's okay, you can look now."

ted turns to see her in just some shorts and a t shirt that swallows her body.

ted laughs a little at her wig practically falling off, he walks over to her and moves the wig off fully, grabbing a makeup remover wipe from her desk and wiping off the smudged mascara.

the throws the wipe away after her makeup comes off, tucking her hair behind her ears.

"what?" charlie giggles a little.

"nothing" he shakes his head, but a wide grin is covering his face "you look better like this."

she can't help it, she leans in and smashes her lips against his, the kiss lasting for a couple seconds before he pulls away.

"goodnight, charlie" ted says in an almost angry tone as he walks towards the door, opening it slightly.

"wait" charlie steps forward, not wanting to leave the night at this.

"what?" he says, louder than he was anticipating, slamming the door as he steps back into the room.

"are you seriously mad at me right now?" she yells "you beg me to go to this party, you ditch me thirty seconds in for your girlfriend, you drag me out of the party and now you're mad at me?"

"i didn't beg you!" ted defends "i'm not a beggar, i would never do that, especially not for you."

"for me?" she scoffs "god, half the time you're behaving like my best friend and the other half you're acting like you don't even like me!"

"i don't like you!" he yells "god! what would make you think i even care about you? i only hang out with you because my mom told me to look out for you because your parents couldn't give a shit about you and you've always had some stupid crush on me! you still do! it's pathetic!"

the second the words fall from his mouth, ted knows he shouldn't of said it "char- i'm sorry, i'm just drunk, i don't think-" he starts but she interrupts him "go to hell, ted."

"charlie" he reasons.

"just get out" she scoffs as she sets herself down on her bed.

he knows he's overstayed his welcome, as he goes to step out he notices the picture she had drawn him when she was five, and that he had given back to her two or three weeks ago, pinned to her pinboard "cute drawing" he mumbles before leaving.

DIRECTOR'S NOTES 𐙚. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁🎧ྀི° ᡣ𐭩 . ° .

-appledoll  please don't hate me for this 😇

guys ted's good i swear he just needs some character development but don't we all.

really really hate this chapter but i cba to rewrite it, im very excited for the next chapter though.

also im very very excited to start writing finn and charlie they're the new phoebe and dominic, they're gonna be so chaotic.

what did you guys think?