Alistaires Summer 7 Charlotte

Summer's end is coming fast, folks. But it's not here yet! I want to thank the many readers who have commented on this cycle of Alistaire's life, please keep it up.

As always, a reminder: I seek only to reach the level of plausibly ridiculous. I think this chapter is one of those that needs that reminder...

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The One With Charlotte

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For once, I made it into the house without my parents razzing me for whatever I had been up to that evening. I was not that late getting in either, like 11:00. But the living room couch was empty when I came in, and no local news or the end of a movie was on the TV. It wasn't like Mom and Dad to have gone to sleep so early...

Oh, that was right, I remembered.

Mom was heading to San Francisco tomorrow, ahead of an early Monday morning deal meeting. She'd be gone all week. They had probably hit the hay early so she'd be fresh for the flight.

Wait.

Her flight was not until 5:30 in the afternoon.

Dear lord. They were saying goodbye.

I prayed for a sudden bout of deafness on my part. Then I made a lot of noise before I went up to my bedroom, where I closed the door loudly, all in hopes they would not make me have to hear anything. I wanted no audio input that might get crossed up with my memories of what had been a pretty awesome evening.

Right up until Al and I parted, that is.

How the

fuck

could I have walked away without getting her phone number? I didn't even know her last name, for crying out loud. That meant that I couldn't even go all creepy stalker and get her number from the Berkshire alumni office. And her family was leaving early in the morning.

I was quite simply never going to hear from or see Al again. Ever.

This sucked.

I finally got to sleep, and my dreams were great... until they weren't. How could I have been so callous and stupid as to not make sure we could keep in touch? She must be so mad at me for the fuckup.

I was awakened at last by smells that rallied my mood somewhat. Bacon does that. I threw on some clothes and was downstairs in a flash.

Mom and Dad were in the kitchen. Dad was at the breakfast table, reading the paper and 'smoking' his pipe. He had given up smoking all tobacco long ago. It had been a very confusing and unhappy time for a little kid like me, because my awesome dad had been a giant prick for nearly six months. Finally, he had started managing the cravings by chewing on the empty pipe, and I got my cool dad back.

Mom had always joked about how it 'satiated his oral fixation'. Whatever. It worked.

Oh shit! My mom had been making a dirty joke in front of me my whole goddamned life!

I was not going to survive long enough to get to USC.

Mom was rolling out a full brunch spread, and wow, was my stomach rumbling. In a sort of reverse homage to Bridget, Sunday was my body's day of rest from morning runs, but my metabolism still demanded lots of food. And Mom had outdone herself this morning. My mood rose some more... for the time being.

"So, Alistaire," my dad said between bites of ham, "if you don't have any... social adventures planned already for this evening, how would you like to have dinner out with me after I take your mother to the airport?"

"I could ride with you guys," I offered. When I was younger, I had always ridden with them to the airport when Mom would go out of town to match up some money that needed her personal yenta-ing.

"Oooh, like old times," said Mom, echoing my thoughts.

"Sure," Dad said. "Sounds good. You'll just have to put up with your mother and me making out curbside before she leaves."

"So I'll be ready to go eat when you get back, Dad," I said, firmly but quickly, not looking at either one of them and realizing that I still had not had a cherry blintz yet, and that meant I had to keep sitting here at the table while they laughed at me.

I went to the gym after brunch, something that usually makes me feel good at the very least, but on this occasion, I found that time for introspection while I had a leg day was not what I needed.

When I was done, and back in the locker room after my shower, I checked my phone and found a text from Beth.

BETH

: Yo! Wassup?

It was half an hour old, but I quickly replied.

ME

: Working out. To what do I owe the honor?

It took her only a few seconds to realize that I had finally responded.

BETH

: Oh, I just wanted to bitch at you that you have spoiled me for all other men

Well, that did not exactly bring my day down. I grinned, despite my overall mood.

ME

: You mean BEN and I ruined you for all other men?

BETH

: Dick size isn't everything. You know that more than most, Big Guy

ME

:???

BETH

: I've been dating this guy a couple of times now, and he was looking like boyfriend material. But last night he showed a distinct lack of the kind of reciprocity you enjoy so much

I licked my lips at the thought of the taste of Beth. But the conversation was not lifting my spirits after all.

ME

: Yeah? I'm sorry

ME

: But I'm no great shakes either, after last night

BETH

: WHAT? What is the matter?

I sighed. Did I want to get into this with Beth? With anyone?

Fuck.

ME

: I was at a dance, and I met a cool girl. A boarding school kid like us. We, um, you know?

I paused to think how to say what was bothering me and Beth jumped in.

BETH

: Oh, I know

ME

: I ended up, after things went so very well, being kind of a douche

BETH

: Bullshit

ME

: Thanks, but yeah I did. I didn't get her number or anything! Now we can't keep in touch. Her family left this morning. I don't even know her last name!

BETH

: Wow. You did move fast on this one

I thought about that.

ME

: Yeah, that was not like me either. I am worried that I got carried away, to try to go that soon after meeting a girl. But I have to say, she was pushing the throttle as much as me. I'm just the one who was so douchey to not even get her number after!

There was a pause.

BETH

: You didn't even think about it?

ME

: Worse. I did. A couple of times. But every time I started to bring it up, well, other things were happening

There was a longer pause.

BETH

: I am NOT blowing off this conversation, but I have to do something. We will talk some more soon, buddy. Stand by

ME

: I'm just getting dressed here

I sighed and did just that. Drearily. Confession was not good for the soul after all.

I was dressed and presentable, and just getting into Mom's car when my phone dinged. The text tone was not Beth's, but another one. I sat down and stared at the device in surprise.

The new text was in the Track Chix text group, the old chain between Beth, Carla, Bridget, and myself. I don't think any of us had actually used it since the end of April!

CARLA

: So, we think you have this all wrong, Alistaire.

Carla was in the conversation? I hadn't texted with her since... I hadn't talked to Carla

at all

since graduation. Wow, I really was a monster.

More to the point, 'we' think? Beth and Carla had been texting together already?

ME

: No, I think I have it right. I ghosted her. I suck.

BRIDGET

: Let's go over some points here. You went out to a dance and hooked up with a girl as horny as you. A girl from out of town, who knew she was leaving today?

Bridget too? Beth had run and fucking told on me to

Bridget

? Suddenly, my life could not suck more.

BRIDGET

: And every time you thought about staying in touch, you got target fixated instead?

I couldn't decide whether I wanted this conversation or not. These guys understood me. They might have some useful insight into how I had gone off the tracks. But I did not want to look like the shit I was, especially not to these girls among all humans on Earth.

I wanted to shoot out my favorite GIF of the guy banging his head on a desk, but I wasn't feeling like humor was appropriate.

ME

: In a nutshell. I ghosted her. I suck

BRIDGET

: You are such a dipshit, Alistaire!

ME

: Don't I know it

I guess I deserved that, but it hurt, especially from Bridget.

CARLA

: Dude, she ghosted YOU.

BETH

: Hard as it is to imagine, but that chick was the one dodging you going forward

Both texts came in almost simultaneously.

ME

: No. I thought of getting her deets and kept not caring enough to actually say the words.

BRIDGET

: Dude. Let me guess. You actually did make some noises about keeping in touch, and every time you did, she did something like suck your cock to get you off track

I stared at the phone. That was totally wrong... but it also seemed, um, factual as to the details.

ME

: Yeah, but I should have kept my head on my shoulders

CARLA

: While your monster head was in her mouth? Please.

That they might possibly be right was creeping into my brain, but why would she do that? Deliberately do that?

ME

: This makes no sense

There was a pause. A painfully, suspiciously long one. Were they fucking texting amongst themselves?

BRIDGET

: Dude. Listen. She has a boyfriend

ME

: She does NOT! She told me

CARLA

: She absolutely DOES. Look, either she is looking to dump him at some point like the end of the summer, or she is just a tramp. Either way, some Vacation Strange would appeal mightily to that sort of girl. She had probably been looking for some her whole vacation, then she hit the lottery with you of all guys on her last night.

ME

: WHAT?

CARLA

: I have a boyfriend. Fortunately for him I am not a tramp, and I also have zero intention of letting him go. But my parents took the fam to Cancun last week. If either of those things were true about me, I would absolutely have hooked up for some sex down there. And you can be damned sure I would not have given any dudes I banged my details.

ME

: Oh shit

My mind reeled. Fortunately, Beth gave me a moment to process.

BETH

: Carla, how are things with Ron, anyway?

CARLA

: We have a great, honest relationship. That means he hates Alistaire, of course.

BRIDGET

: Duh

ME

: Wait. WHAT?!?

BETH

: Relax, Alistaire. Lots of guys are going to hate you in the future when they find out their girl has been fucked with that dick of yours. You can't help that

BRIDGET

: And if those guys can't deal, they aren't worthy. But right now, we need to make sure you know that you can't help this situation with the tramp either, because you aren't the one who did it!

CARLA

: And for the record, you can relax about Ron. He doesn't hate you. He just hates the idea of you. If he actually hated you, he'd have been made available to the market long ago.

Okay, it doesn't reflect well on me that I was finding it comparatively easy to bear up under my ego-inflating guilt over Ron's irritation. The fact is, I was just fine there. I still wasn't sure I was happy about being ghosted.

And I felt like I had to defend the absent party.

ME

: Maybe. I admit, my memories do make your idea seem possible. But she was so cool. I can't really believe that Al would do that

CARLA

: YOU didn't do it. We are telling you. She did.

BRIDGET

: Wait... Are you saying that HER name was

AL

?????

The conversation went downhill after that. Words were texted about how I had fucked evil Bizarro me.

I felt better, but still moped around that afternoon. I had intended to go see a movie with Chris, one neither of the twins wanted to see, but I pushed him back to Tuesday with some bullshit excuse.

It had been a new thing to think I had been a jerk to a girl I had fucked. Now that I felt better about that (not great, but better), I was finding that being betrayed by a girl I had fucked was also a novel experience. And I didn't like that experience one bit more. At all.

Mom made things better by spending more than an hour, while she was packing, issuing instructions to me and Dad about things she wanted done while she was gone.

Mom does not travel light. Dad always teases her about all the luggage she takes on anything more than an overnight trip, and this was no overnight trip. Somehow, I was the one detailed with hauling both of her suitcases down to the car, including the big-ass one Mom could probably have fit herself inside of.

Dad excused his letting me do all the work by observing that he would have to haul them out of the car at the airport, so this was my turn. Yeah, Dad. You carrying them twenty feet from the car to the curbside valet is equal to me dragging them all the way to and down the stairs, then through the house to the garage... Sure.

I waited while Mom fussed with her stack of (heavy) presentation materials, fitting them in the big suitcase with her other clothes. I avoided looking too closely at what she was packing, so at least I did not see her underwear. To make sure I did not, I fixed my gaze on the huge photo of the London skyline she has had over the headboard of her and Dad's bed for longer than I have been alive.

It was weird. Mom liked to randomly replace or rotate out artwork around the house regularly, but that huge photo was never changed...

Regardless, I was sure that it was the safest place in the house to rest my eyes, as it kept me from seeing any clothing that I did not want to see.

But the reassuring photo was no help with the luggage when it came time to lug it all down and out to the trunk.

When he got back to the house from dropping Mom off, Dad took me out to Prime Point where we gorged on a huge steak apiece. Mom would have made us split just one of them between us, had she been there. Dad could tell that I was still feeling off, and he let me know subtly that he'd be happy to hear about it. I let him know just as subtly that I did not want to talk about it. He was awesome, as usual, and granted me a continuance.

But I knew it was just a continuance.

I would have to figure out whether to keep putting it off or not. If I procrastinated until Mom got back next week, then I'd have to put up with both of them. I wanted neither Mom's disapproval nor her pity. I'd fess up to Dad before then, but not now.

Instead, we had a long argument about how to buy my car, and whether to do it out in California, or buy it here and drive it out.

I was all for buying it here (and the sooner the better), and enjoying a road trip before college. My Dad went on at length about how that was a bad idea. And he was right, as usual. Damn him. The road trip might still happen, but we would rent a car if we could pull it off.

Monday was crazy at work, and being so busy was the best salve for my pride imaginable. I worked late, since we were going to press, and several of us were scheduled to be off Tuesday.

The movie I saw with Chris Tuesday night (Tony had a date of his own and blew us off) also lifted my mood, or it would have, had I not had an impromptu lunch earlier with Mary and Maddie's mom, Jessica. She had called, wanting to celebrate that she had unexpectedly closed a deal on her most expensive listing. Lunch was nice. What came after had my mood back to 100% long before the movie.

I had never fucked a woman in (mostly still in) a full business suit before. Jessica had told me, loudly, not to worry about sending it to the dry cleaners. That suit definitely needed to go to the dry cleaners by the time we were done.

So you can see why the movie just sort of cemented a return to my happy normal.

Then Mary had to blow off our date on Wednesday. Interning at a TV station made for some weird and inconvenient demands on her time. Having found this out, I was at a particularly vulnerable moment when Felix demanded I go to the resort dance with him again.

"No," I said, flatly.

"Oh, bullshit, dude!" he snorted, dismissing my dismissal. "You vanished for a long while after grinding on that hottie on Saturday. Don't try to tell me that even you didn't get a little action."

"There was a small amount of making out," I growled. There had also been a large amount of sex, but Felix did not need to know that.

"So, you have to hope she will be there again."

"She left Monday." I really did not want this conversation. But...

"So, even better. Time to show things weren't a fluke. I'll drive tonight. Pick you up at seven."

How do I let myself get dragged into these things?

It took me until almost the end of the day to realize I had let myself be bullied into it so I could demonstrate to myself that I could, in fact, act with integrity after all.

To that end, I actually attempted to wingman for Felix, with limited success. When I finally did peel off the friend of a girl he was interested in, the girl he was interested in did not stick with him for long. But I needed 15 minutes to extricate myself from the friend, who it turned out was very interested in me. She was kinda cute, but... no.

Then Felix went on to do just fine on his own, as usual, and I was left to hang out and watch the dancing. I was not interested in any of the girls here, but that did not mean I could not enjoy snacking on some eye-candy.

"Back for more dance lessons, Taylor?" said a voice beside me.

Charlotte. She had snuck up on me and was standing close enough beside me for us to talk over the music. This meant that she was pretty far inside my personal space, but hey. I had to admit that she looked good that evening, in another pair of loose-fitting jeans that nonetheless showed off her lanky curves. She was also wearing a teeshirt that was screen-printed to look like a Captain Britain uniform.

I wasn't sure it worked for her. Charlotte was not nearly as busty as Peggy Carter. And with her raw build and straw-blonde waves of hair, she looked more suited for a gender-swapped Captain America than Captain Carter.

"I am not back for more dance lessons," I said, more grumpily than I had intended. "I am back here to wingman for Felix again. To limited success."

"He looks like you've done a great job," Charlotte observed, pointing out Felix through the crowd on the dance floor. The girl he was with was almost but not quite shoving her ass into his groin right there in the pavilion.

"He got with her all on his own," I grumped. "The girl I helped him get with turned out to be wingmanning for

her

friend, who was interested in me. The two of them went their separate ways after one dance, and it took me forever to extricate myself from the friend!"

"An uggo, huh?" Charlotte laughed, elbowing me in the side.

"She was quite cute," I said, reflexively defending the girl... what had been her name? "I just wasn't interested."

"So you aren't interested in cute girls?" Charlotte challenged, but I sensed she might actually be wondering.

"I am fully interested in cute girls," I said firmly, trying and failing to avoid taking in her cuteness as I did so. I also sort of tried, and completely failed, to avoid being seen to do so. She took the implied compliment with a smug smile.

"Well, whether you came for more dance lessons or not," she said briskly, letting me off the hook, "you are going to get some." With that, she grabbed my wrist, not my hand, and dragged me onto the floor as the band struck up another 80's dance hit.

So, not off the hook.

The dancing was not that bad. First, I was learning to move by now... a little. Also, dancing made it much easier because I didn't have to avoid looking at Charlotte. When I get to looking too much, too appreciatively, things usually seem to happen. Things I was not looking for this evening.

This was not a good time in my life to go looking for more friendly sexual relationships. And while I still was trying to work out what had made everything so bad in the aftermath of what had been so awesome, I did know that if I never had another 'one night stand,' it would be too soon.