{"id":710,"date":"2014-02-20T21:00:53","date_gmt":"2014-02-20T21:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jenfrederick.com\/?p=710"},"modified":"2014-02-20T21:00:53","modified_gmt":"2014-02-20T21:00:53","slug":"charlotte-xvii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jenfrederick.com\/test\/charlotte-xvii\/","title":{"rendered":"Charlotte XVII"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nathan<\/em><\/p>\n

It’s torture, as in\u00a0actual real torture lying next to Charlotte after she’s basically told me she wants to have sex. Worse I’m the one putting her off and though she’s lying silently beside me I can feel the waves of frustration emanating off her.\u00a0\u00a0But I didn’t expect her to want to have sex tonight.\u00a0Hell we hadn’t even kissed yet.<\/p>\n

Part of me\u00a0is annoyed that she went and told\u00a0Greta\u00a0that she needed a condom. Maybe I’m a complete hypocrite but\u00a0I want Charlotte to look to me for anything to do with sex because God only knows what her friends are telling her. I’d like to wrap Charlotte up and just velcro her to me so that I can control the ingress and egress of information that flows her way.<\/p>\n

Sex is going to be good and it’s going to be with me. Full stop. Period.<\/p>\n

That’s all she needs to know. Everything else is fake bullshit.\u00a0Greta\u00a0might be telling her the only way to keep a guy is to spread her legs and I don’t want Charlotte to feel pressured like that. Even though I can probably make her body ready, I want her ready in the head otherwise it’ll never be good like I promised.<\/p>\n

Her tense body finally relaxes and when her hand falls away from my arm I can tell she\u2019s asleep. I wish I could follow her into dreamland but my mind is still racing.<\/p>\n

I want her first time with me to be something she remembers forever. I want to imprint myself on her so that no matter where she goes, she can feel me, smell me. She doesn’t know it yet and I’m not prepared to tell her but we\u2019re going to be apart longer than the few months that she’s going to be away in Switzerland.<\/p>\n

While we’re separated I know that Charlotte will be pursued by other guys so I’ve got to make every encounter with her be one that she can’t forget. I can\u2019t rely on Nick to cock block everyone even though I know he\u2019ll do his best.<\/p>\n

Maybe that\u2019s why I\u2019ve held back from Charlotte, just watching her and being irritated to the nth degree when she dresses in her short skirts or her cropped tops or her fucking tiny bikini. I know that I might lose her and that would kill me.<\/p>\n

I guess I thought I had more time. Time to wait until she was completely ready. I\u2019d fixed her sixteenth birthday in my head. When that day came, I\u2019d show her that she was mine and that we were meant to be together. I\u2019d show her that there wouldn\u2019t be anyone else she\u2019d meet that would ever fit her better than me.<\/p>\n

But waiting until she\u2019s sixteen isn\u2019t an option anymore.<\/p>\n

I slip out in the pre dawn hours again. This time Aunt AM isn\u2019t hiding in the kitchen and I don\u2019t go and wake Nick up. Instead I fall into my bed and finally get some rest. I only get a little shut eye before my mom is at my door telling me I have thirty minutes before the car is taking us to school.<\/p>\n

Groaning, I get up. This is good practice for my future, I tell myself. There\u2019ll be times when I\u2019ll go without sleep for days.<\/p>\n

But I\u2019m pretty much worthless through most of my classes so when\u00a0Greta\u00a0comes up to me during lunch and asks me about the previous night I just stare at her blankly. Unfortunately my pause only causes her to raise her voice.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo you and Charlotte last night?\u201d And the tone of her voice is so loud that everyone in a ten foot radius stops eating. Her hand spins a milk carton around. I remember Charlotte telling me that Greta is always in motion or some part of her is.<\/p>\n

\u201cShut up,\u00a0Greta.\u201d Nick\u2019s on her before I can\u00a0clear the cobwebs and I throw him a thankful glance. He silently tells me to nut up and get with the program before Greta announces to the whole school that Charlotte and I are screwing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s the matter, was it bad?\u201d Greta asks in a mock whisper. I say mock because it\u2019s still loud enough for everyone at the table to hear. A collective hush settles over the table.<\/p>\n

I tilt my head and just look at her, trying hard to\u00a0remember my dad\u2019s admonishments to respect every woman who comes into my orbit. Of course if dad heard this chick\u00a0talking about Charlotte like this, he might change his mind.\u00a0\u201cI don\u2019t know why you think I\u2019d answer any question of yours about my personal\u00a0life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Greta proves herself to be one dumb bitch when, instead of leaning back or just leaving, she presses on.\u00a0\u201cUm, because I gave her the condom she asked for so she could\u00a0do\u00a0<\/em>you.\u201d Her lips frame the last two\u00a0words in a big oval. She\u00a0probably thinks this is a sexy look but it reminds me a fish.\u00a0\u201cI told her that I didn\u2019t think her frail little body could handle a big boy like you,\u201d she winks.\u00a0\u201cBut you probably did her out of sympathy. Let me know if you want a different kind of ride.\u201d<\/p>\n

The milk carton is still spinning in circles. I take my fist and crush the carton and milk spurts all over the table, some of it catching Greta right in her fish lips.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t even know who you are,\u201d I tell her, shoving the rest of the milk carton into her lap. With a jerk of my head, I head out knowing Nick is right behind me. And behind him are the rest of the guys from my table. We\u2019re all jocks but this is Nick\u2019s crew because he\u2019s the guy with the\u00a0golden arm. I\u2019m the\u00a0reluctant couldn\u2019t care less<\/em>\u00a0player who can\u2019t\u00a0wait to graduate and do real fucking things so I let Nick lay down the law to the crew as I stand behind him, arms crossed, feet planted wide like a looming angry asshole. Which is exactly how I feel at the moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u00a0asswipes say one word about Charlotte that is remotely sexual and Nate and I will give you a beating that will have you shitting out your\u00a0piehole.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo worries, dude,\u201d Kenny claps Nick on the back.\u00a0\u201cWe got your girl\u2019s back.\u201d He gives me a nod and glides down the hallway.\u00a0One by one they pat Nick on the shoulder and give their promise to keep it locked down.<\/p>\n

Nick\u2019s eyes turn to me with fury in them.\u00a0\u201cWhat the hell is up with that bitch?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo idea,\u201d I say.\u00a0\u201cCharlotte knows her through gymnastics.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou gonna talk with her?\u201d
\nI glance back at the door.\u00a0\u201cNo. She wants the attention. Best way to teach her a lesson is to make sure she gets none.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nick nods and we separate to\u00a0head to our next classrooms. Good thing Charlotte isn\u2019t coming back to North Prep until next fall. Hopefully she\u2019ll have better taste in friends when she gets back.<\/p>\n

Want more Charlotte? Sign up for the newsletter<\/a> and get each episode delivered to your inbox one week early!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nathan It’s torture, as in\u00a0actual real torture lying next to Charlotte after she’s basically told me she wants to have…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2475,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-charlotte-chronicles","charlotte-chronicles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jenfrederick.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/710","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=710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jenfrederick.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/710\/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=710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jenfrederick.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jenfrederick.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}