{"id":559,"date":"2013-12-26T23:01:03","date_gmt":"2013-12-26T23:01:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jenfrederick.com\/?p=559"},"modified":"2013-12-26T23:01:03","modified_gmt":"2013-12-26T23:01:03","slug":"charlotte-chronicles-x","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jenfrederick.com\/test\/charlotte-chronicles-x\/","title":{"rendered":"Charlotte Chronicles X"},"content":{"rendered":"

The release of Unraveled<\/strong> is soon upon us!\u00a0You can\u00a0sign up here<\/a>\u00a0to be part of the Cover Release and\/or the Book Tour.\u00a0<\/strong>The cover is gorgeous.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Nathan<\/strong>
\nGetting into Charlotte\u2019s bedroom isn\u2019t exactly easy but it\u2019s doable. Both penthouse condos have security but it\u2019s outwardly focused meaning that the cameras are on the elevators and the entrances as are the alarms. When Uncle Bo built the Randolph Towers, he built a long hallway between the kitchens of the two condos. There\u2019s a service elevator there but it shut down every night at 7 pm. Anything sent up after that would set off an alarm.<\/p>\n

Dad explained this to Nick and I when I was ten and Nick was eight when he caught us trying to pry open the elevator doors to see if we could climb down the shaft and pretend we were Woody and Buzz from Toy Story.\u00a0 Shortly after we found ourselves enrolled in a rock climbing classes so we\u2019d have harnesses for the time we thought about rappelling down the inside of an elevator shaft.<\/p>\n

Nick and I\u2019ve had some dumbass ideas over the years. Mom says it\u2019s a miracle we\u2019re still alive so there\u2019s some kind of sick ass irony over Charlotte being the one so sick, her health so fragile that she has to move away. She never tried to climb down the rooftop terrace onto the balcony and she covered her eyes on the sidewalk when Nick and I played Frogger on Michigan Avenue.<\/p>\n

But of all the stupid ideas that Nick and I had come up with over the years, not one of them came close to Charlotte\u2019s belief that leaving me\u2014us\u2014would make her better. Which is why I\u2019m creeping down the service hallway between our two homes and into her bedroom at midnight.<\/p>\n

Earlier today I\u2019d been in Charlotte\u2019s kitchen, ostensibly because we were out of milk or at least that\u2019s what I told Donna, the Randolph\u2019s housekeeper.\u00a0 She rolled her eyes, handed me a carton and kicked me out. I stuffed some putty into the lock when she wasn\u2019t looking and sure enough the door opens soundlessly, lock unengaged. Score.<\/p>\n

There is little light over the stove, but I\u2019ve been in Charlotte\u2019s home enough to walk through it blindfolded.\u00a0 Silently moving over the marble tile and then on down the hall to the bedrooms, the darkness hides the figure leaning against the wall right past the entrance of the living room.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou got a death wish boy?\u201d rumbles Uncle Bo\u2019s voice. My heart stutters and then I trip on the smooth surface nearly falling on my face.\u00a0 A hand passes over my mouth and I\u2019m jerked upright.
\nBlood pounding in my ears, I look up into the shadowed face of Charlotte\u2019s Dad. He looks like he can see every dirty thought I\u2019d had about his fifteen year old daughter. Almost sixteen though, well, in May or so and that\u2019s only like five months away.\u00a0 As the silence lengthens between us, I remind myself that Uncle Bo loves me. I\u2019m like his firstborn son, really.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey Uncle Bo,\u201d I mumble into his hand.<\/p>\n

His hand drops from my face to my shoulder and he turns so that we are looking straight at each other. I\u2019m an inch taller than him but not as bulked out. I wonder briefly whether I could take him and that must show on my face because he busts out a huge grin. \u201cNo, you can\u2019t take me, son.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a couple of years,\u201d I say only half in jest, still wondering if my nuts are in danger of being chopped off because there\u2019s really only one reason I could be standing in this hallway.<\/p>\n

Whatever Bo is thinking, he doesn\u2019t let on. Instead his hands fall away and he turns on his heel and walks toward his own bedroom. Over his shoulder he says, \u201cShe needs her sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019m momentarily paralyzed. I think he’s given me permission to enter Charlotte’s bedroom but it could also be a trap. The darkness at the end of the hall swallowed him up and I quickly dart into Charlotte’s room before Bo can come back.<\/p>\n

Charlotte isn\u2019t asleep. She\u2019s lying on top of her covers listening to something, no doubt a female artist. Charlotte says she doesn\u2019t like to hear male voices or maybe she just doesn\u2019t like what male\u2019s sing about. Who knows. I\u2019ve never given it much thought. The lamp on her nightstand is the only illumination in the room.<\/p>\n

She doesn\u2019t even move when I come in although the carpet pile is so thick in here that an elephant could walk in and the sound would be swallowed up. Puzzled I sit on the side of the bed and pull down her headphones.\u00a0 Does she have so many midnight visitors that my appearance here is just normal?<\/p>\n

“Nick texted me.” She holds up her phone and I see a huge number of texts between the two. My mouth falls open as I take in the sheer volume of exchanges. They must text each other like every day, several times a day. A curd of something unfurls inside of me and I don\u2019t like it. There\u2019s always been a closeness between Nick and Charlotte, but it\u2019s just a friendship. That’s what I’ve always believed. \u201cAnd I told Daddy so he wouldn\u2019t shoot you when you tripped the alarm.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have interior alarms?\u201d<\/p>\n

She looks at me like I\u2019m stupid and I guess I am. \u201cYes, don\u2019t you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I don\u2019t think so.\u201d At least I didn\u2019t up until this moment. Nick and I would have to do some snooping. \u201cI think your dad did threaten me out there in the hall but I\u2019m not sure what the consequences will be.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh it\u2019ll be castration,\u201d she says impishly like it\u2019s no big deal but I think my nuts are shrinking just at the thought. \u201cThat\u2019s his go-to threat.\u201d She moves over on the bed to make room for me. I stretch out beside her still a little tense but then I tell myself her dad is three doors down and I\u2019d be able to be on my feet and in the armchair before he even twists her doorknob.<\/p>\n

\u201cReal comforting, Charlotte.\u201d I suppress the urge to cup myself protectively.<\/p>\n

She smirks but the expression fades away quickly at my next question.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy are you really leaving? There\u2019s no way there is better medical care somewhere else in the world than you can get here. Is it because we hid you were sick? So we don\u2019t do that anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

We both look at the other side of the bed were an IV stand sits like a creepy skeleton. Charlotte has had to have one bag of IV nutrition a day since Halloween. It\u2019s nearing Christmas and she looks a lot healthier now. The bones in her wrists and shoulders don\u2019t look as sharp and her cheeks are fuller. She can stand to gain another twenty pounds but I keep that to myself. The last time I mentioned that she should eat more, she threw her sandwich at me and didn\u2019t talk to me for the rest of the day. But I bet she texted Nick, I think sourly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just\u2026\u201d she pauses and then squints at the ceiling as if she can read her thoughts up there. \u201cIt\u2019s not just the hiding thing because that was my fault not yours. It\u2019s everything. I\u2019m so behind in all my classes and everyone looks at me like I\u2019m about to keel over. Where I\u2019m going, you know, everyone there is kind of in the same boat I\u2019m in.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can take care of you better than anyone,\u201d I tell her. She glances at me and smiles and it\u2019s the smile that she gets when she\u2019s about to do something that she knows no one is going to like. I saw that smile when she jumped stripped down to her underwear at the Carson\u2019s pool party last summer, right after she\u2019d turned fifteen. We\u2019d had a big fight after that. She kept telling me it was the same as wearing a bikini and that every other girl had done the same thing. Everyone wasn\u2019t Charlotte though. I didn\u2019t care what every one else did. I only cared what Charlotte did but she didn\u2019t see it that way. She just thought I was being Nate, the no fun police when it came to her.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, before I was sick you were pretty mean to me all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWas not.\u201d I was never mean to her. Watching out for her yes. Mean, no.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou were. You\u2019re always criticizing what I\u2019m wearing or that I\u2019m hanging out with the wrong people who\u2014\u201c she points a finger into my chest, \u201c\u2014are the same people you hang out with.\u201d<\/p>\n

I grab her finger so the pointy nail doesn\u2019t dig any farther into my chest wall and then I cover her hand with mine so her palm is flat against my pecs. \u201cI\u2019m just watching out for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

She comes closer until her head is resting on my bicep and then her hand curls underneath my arm. \u201cNate.\u201d My name is like a soft sigh escaping and it sounds like nothing I\u2019ve ever heard from her before.\u00a0 It\u2019s almost like a caress, a whisper of longing underneath a note of tenderness. My hand grips hers tighter and I roll so I can face her, my palm still clasping hers over my heart.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I\u2019ve ever made you feel bad, I\u2019m sorry,\u201d I tell her. There are a few strands of hair that are falling across her forward and so I move them for her, tucking them behind her ear. Her eyes flutter shut and this time I see contentment. She ducks her head and I stroke run my fingers through her hair, rubbing her scalp. The moan that she releases is so sexy that it goes from my fingers straight to my dick. Do I tell her that every time I\u2019ve ever been angry was when I was scared or jealous and sometimes both? That she grew from kid to someone who made my pants too tight with just a smile in what seemed like overnight and that if she was affecting me this way, she had to be affecting every male around her in that fashion except for Nick who apparently still sees her as Charlotte, his five year old playmate?<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I know it\u2019s because you care.\u201d Her hand slips out from under mine and creeps up to my shoulder.\u00a0 My hand stills and merely cups the back of her head. She begins a small exploration feeling my clavicle and then down over the ridges of my bicep and back up again. \u00a0Goosebumps freckle my skin at her touch and I wonder if she knows what affect she has on me. Nah, because if she did, she wouldn\u2019t be lying here so angelic next to me.<\/p>\n

Or maybe she would. Maybe all those times she was challenging me to do\u00a0something<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do care,\u201d I say, pulling her head closer to mine. \u201cDid you know I was the first one outside of your family to hold you? Nick was still a baby so Mom was holding him and Dad was getting cigars out for everyone. Aunt AM had the nurse place you in my lap.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do you remember these things? You were like two.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI just do,\u201d I shrug and the motion makes her hand fall away. It slips under my arm and then finds it way to my chest. I wonder if she can feel the thunderous beat of my heart. I don\u2019t think she\u2019s ever touched me this much, this closely, with this kind of attention. My loose sweatpants are suddenly too confining as every part of me strains toward her feather light caresses.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t remember anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

The back of her head has a surgical scar and the hair is thin and slightly curly.\u00a0 Under her hair and her skin lies a shunt, a tube that drains out any excess fluid. Charlotte thinks her head is too big in the back but it feels okay to me. I\u2019m surprised she is allowing me to touch her there but I don\u2019t question it nor do I fiddle with her scar, knowing that if I pay too much attention to what she thinks are flaws our little moment will be over.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember when you turned two. You got cupcakes instead of a birthday cake but none of us could eat until you\u2019d take a bite but you were confused by the paper around the cupcake. Nick got impatient and stuck his fingers in your frosting and made you cry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t remember that either.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI do,\u201d I say curtly.\u00a0I remember all of it, Charlotte, and now I realize it\u2019s because you\u2019re mine. I was born for you and you were born for me.<\/em>\u00a0\u201cDon\u2019t go. Stay here with us.\u201d I say\u00a0us<\/em>\u00a0because it\u2019s safer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going because it\u2019s better for all of us,\u201d she responds and then tugs on my shoulder until our faces are so close together I can see the tiny hairs on her forehead. \u201cBut Nate before I go, I want\u2014\u201c she stops and then ducks her head into my chest and I feel her say something against my shirt but I can\u2019t make it out.<\/p>\n

\u201cWant what?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIwantyoutokissme.\u201d<\/p>\n

As always, if you sign up for the newsletter you’ll get an entry in the Charlotte Chronicles in your inbox a week ahead of time!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The release of Unraveled is soon upon us!\u00a0You can\u00a0sign up here\u00a0to be part of the Cover Release and\/or the Book…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2475,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-charlotte-chronicles","category-promo","charlotte-chronicles","promo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jenfrederick.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jenfrederick.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jenfrederick.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jenfrederick.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jenfrederick.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jenfrederick.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jenfrederick.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jenfrederick.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jenfrederick.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jenfrederick.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}