{"id":918,"date":"2014-06-19T23:51:58","date_gmt":"2014-06-19T23:51:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jenfrederick.com\/?p=918"},"modified":"2014-06-19T23:51:58","modified_gmt":"2014-06-19T23:51:58","slug":"charlotte-xxxiii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jenfrederick.com\/test\/charlotte-xxxiii\/","title":{"rendered":"Charlotte XXXIII"},"content":{"rendered":"

Charlotte<\/em><\/p>\n

His smooth palm, pink and white, almost babyish, sits between us like the apple in the Garden of Eden. And part of me is tempted. Colin is clever and sneaky and vengeful. He probably has a whole book on how to mete out retribution. But what would be the point?<\/p>\n

\u201cNo.\u201d I shake my head. “Hurting him doesn\u2019t make me feel better. And I don\u2019t want to contemplate exactly how I\u2019m supposed to exact revenge. Sleep with you?”<\/p>\n

\u201cIf that\u2019s how you want to play it.\u201d He gives me a fake leer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happens? We videotape it and send it to him?\u201d I shudder. \u201cNo thanks and no offense, that\u2019s not my thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t knock it until you\u2019ve tried it,\u201d he responds lightly. But despite his smug words, his eyes show a hint of relief. I don\u2019t think that was\u00a0his<\/em>\u00a0thing either.<\/p>\n

I push my hands through my short hair in utter frustration. \u201cI don\u2019t get it. I can\u2019t believe he\u2019d do this to me. You know, he never dated North Prep girls before.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow come?\u201d He\u2019s genuinely curious.<\/p>\n

“His brother says you don\u2019t shit where you eat.”<\/p>\n

He purses his lips together and nods slowly. “Makes sense. His brother live by that rule too?”<\/p>\n

This makes me laugh. “No, Nick sleeps with everyone. That way no one\u2019s feelings are hurt.”<\/p>\n

“Damn that\u2019s smooth.\u201d<\/p>\n

We share a grin as I briefly forget what is sitting on my computer but my memory loss isn\u2019t long lasting. The scene nags at me.\u00a0The whole setup doesn\u2019t feel right. Nate having sex at a party. Nate sleeping with a girl from North Prep. Nate videotaping this. Nate cheating on me. None of it makes sense.<\/p>\n

“And with Greta. He doesn\u2019t even like her.”<\/p>\n

“Hate to tell you this but if he cheated on you by having sex with a girl he a) doesn\u2019t have to like her and b) that\u2019s not dating.”<\/p>\n

“But his girlfriends have all been either older, like college, or other schools. Like Jefferson West or something.\u201d I try to understand.<\/p>\n

“CC, he\u2019s not dating. It\u2019s not his girlfriend. It\u2019s a hookup. A shag. A\u00a0fuck<\/em>.\u201d He emphasizes the last graphic word as if I don\u2019t know what the meaning is.<\/p>\n

“I know.” I whimper and I can\u2019t stop crying which embarrasses me to no end. I shove my palms hard against my eyes as if the pressure can stop the river of tears but they keep coming.<\/p>\n

“Oh fuck. I\u2019m sorry. It\u2019s none of my business.\u201d He dabs his sleeve on my face. “Shit, please just stop crying.”<\/p>\n

“I\u2019m sorry,” I blubber. “I\u2019m trying.”<\/p>\n

He stands up abruptly. “Come on.”<\/p>\n

“Where are we going?\u201d I ask. His swift change of subject jerks me out of my self pitying episode.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019m watching this stupid video.\u201d He marches out of the room and I trail behind.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat number?\u201d he demands as we exit the common room.<\/p>\n

I tell him our suite number.<\/p>\n

\u201cNice, I\u2019m a floor above you.\u201d<\/p>\n

We take the elevator up in silence and are down the hall in no time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI heard the elevator,\u201d Dad explains as he opens the door.<\/p>\n

“Hey Mr. Charlotte\u2019s Dad.\u201d Colin offers his hand and Dad shakes it, his eyebrows raised.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t worry. I\u2019m a eunuch. The radiation kills my equipment. We\u2019re going to watch a movie,\u201d Colin lies.<\/p>\n

Dad frowns, his gaze drifting south briefly and then jerks his eyes back up to Colin\u2019s. Clearing his throat, Dad gruffly directs us to my room and wanders off.<\/p>\n

“Is that really true?\u201d I whisper as we scurry into my room.<\/p>\n

“Nah, I made that up so he wouldn\u2019t stand there with the door open. I\u2019m guessing you don\u2019t want him to see this.\u201d<\/p>\n

No I did not want my dad to see the video. Colin sits down at my desk, acting as if he owns the place. Flipping open the cover, he watches the video as I lay on the bed with a pillow over my head. He watches it a couple of times without sound and twice more with sound. The pillow does nothing to mute the voices or the moans.<\/p>\n

\u201cShit, this guy is totally passed out. You kill Greta\u2019s cat or something?\u201d He says.<\/p>\n

I bolt upright, the pillow still clutched in my hands. \u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis, what\u2019s his name, Nate? He\u2019s not even moving.\u201d Colin gestures with disgust toward the screen.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe moved his hand all over her breast,\u201d I protest.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, she held his had against her tits.\u201d He says these words slowly as if I\u2019m too dumb to comprehend and maybe he\u2019s right. I lean forward as he explains, “He isn\u2019t moving even once. And if a guy\u2019s got two hot chicks grinding their pussy all over him and he ain\u2019t moving, guy is dead or passed out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy would they do this?\u201d I argue. I want to believe him but I\u2019m afraid.<\/p>\n

\u201cRevenge. What\u2019d you do?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t do anything,\u201d I cry. “I\u2019ve been here. And before I was sick. I didn\u2019t go to parties or anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

“So it\u2019s him. Did he do something to one of them?”<\/p>\n

“I don\u2019t even know the guy or the girl. Just Greta and\u2026” I stop. \u201cHe mentioned to me that he\u2019d had a run-in with her but I wasn\u2019t there at the time so I don\u2019t really know what went down.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMeh. This isn\u2019t even good porn.\u201d Colin kicks out his legs and folds his hands behind his head. He\u2019s officially over the video.<\/p>\n

“Thank god.\u201d I guess I can be done too. Although I\u2019m still feeling hollow inside. I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s relief or the remnants of fear. I son\u2019t I\u2019ll be whole again until I talk to Nate.<\/p>\n

“What? We can’t be friends without having watched porn together.”<\/p>\n

“You watch porn with all your friends?\u201d I give him a skeptical look.<\/p>\n

“Not the guys cuz that would be weird.”<\/p>\n

“I\u2019m not watching porn with you.”<\/p>\n

“You are such a killjoy Miss C.”<\/p>\n

I do not want to talk about porn with Colin but I recognize his act. He\u2019s trying to make light of something to feel better which is actually kind of nice, porn references notwithstanding. “What do you think I should do?”<\/p>\n

\u201cAbout this?\u201d He jerks his head toward the computer. I nod. “Call your boy. Tell him you love him and get back at Greta.”<\/p>\n

“Why are you being nice to me?\u201d<\/p>\n

“Eh, why not? Being an asshole to you takes effort. You\u2019re too nice. It\u2019d be like kicking a kitten.”<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a compliment in there somewhere.”<\/p>\n

Colin rises and stretches and then ambles over to give me a kiss on the top of my forehead. \u201cIt is. Wish I had a girl like you Miss C. I\u2019ll see you tomorrow. Let me know how it goes.\u201d<\/p>\n

I ring Nathan almost before Colin has left. He doesn\u2019t answer.<\/p>\n

I hang up and dial again. It would be early evening there. It rings several times.<\/p>\n

I get on the computer but he\u2019s not available on Skype.<\/p>\n

I text him.<\/p>\n

Love you babe. Miss you.<\/em><\/p>\n

Nothing back.<\/p>\n

I text Nick next.<\/p>\n

Hey miss you. Hope to be home soon. What\u2019s happening.<\/em><\/p>\n

He responds immediately.\u00a0Miss you too. You shouldn\u2019t have left. We\u2019re a mess without you.<\/em><\/p>\n

I haven\u2019t heard from Nate. He okay?<\/em><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a long pause.<\/p>\n

Yeah. Why?<\/em><\/p>\n

I decide to confess.\u00a0Got the video.<\/em><\/p>\n

Shit. He did not cheat on you. He was totally out of his head. They drugged him.<\/em><\/p>\n

Colin was right.\u00a0Greta?<\/em><\/p>\n

Yeah and this guy from Northwestern that Juliette Waite brought. She set us up so we\u2019d fight them then bc the asswipe got his pants kicked, he decided to get back at Nate. N would never do this to you.<\/em><\/p>\n

No, I know. I figured it out. I don\u2019t mention that I needed help. But I texted him and called him.<\/em><\/p>\n

He\u2019s sick. He\u2019ll call you promise.<\/em><\/p>\n

Okay. Tell him I love him. Give him a kiss for me.<\/em><\/p>\n

Yeah, not doing that. But love you too. Take care of yourself. Hurry back.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

And with that, a few\u00a0of my hollow parts fill out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Charlotte His smooth palm, pink and white, almost babyish, sits between us like the apple in the Garden of Eden….<\/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-918","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\/918","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=918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jenfrederick.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/918\/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=918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jenfrederick.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jenfrederick.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}