Chapter 33
Nathan sat on Charlie's bed with his head in his hands. How could this girl not understand what just happened? Did she not feel anything about the way he touched her? What the fuck? He let go of his head and looked towards the bathroom door. For a brief moment, he smiled when the sound of the door lock engaged. With a small huff, he moved to the bathroom door and put his hand in the middle of it. Though the door stood between them, he could feel a larger chasm building. It was time.
"Charlie, we need to talk," he spoke to the door.
"About what? You didn't answer my questions." Nathan could hear rustling; Charlie was changing her clothes. A mental image of her naked body beneath his stirred his groin. Great! I'm about to lose her, and my dick wants to play again!
"I am not fucking with you," he replied in as neutral tone as possible. He didn't know if the door being closed was a good thing. One on hand, he didn't have to worry about her reactions stopping him from what he wanted to say. On the other hand, he couldn't tell if she was really listening. Reactively, he formed a fist and pounded once on the door.
"Hey buster!" Charlie yelled through her side of the door.
"I love you," he said softly. Nathan leaned his head against the door jam. There, I said it. The world could end, the apocalypse could overtake the last of humanity, but I told this infuriating, stubborn, achingly beautiful woman what I feel. He couldn't quite breathe. The air was tension-thick, clogging up his lungs.
"What did you say?" Charlie sounded perturbed. The faucet in the bathroom was turned on and running. The sound of clicking items came through the door.
Slightly louder, Nathan spoke, "I love you."
Charlie whipped open the door. She was already changed into her comfy clothes. Nathan's body reacted to the sight of her in a tank top and pair of panties. Sure, the large robe was helping cover more flesh; it was open in the front, teasing him with some of her skin and the juncture of her legs barely covered in panties. Nathan knocked his head against the wall and gritted his teeth.
"Okay, mumbler. Either say whatever you said, so I can hear it or get the hell out of my room." Charlie moved past him to the bed. She produced a hair tie and started pulling her hair into a half bun, half pony tail.
This time, Nathan spoke loud and clear. He made it a point to enunciate each word. There would be no confusion. No door to hide behind. No turning back. Let's get a move-on son.
"I love you."
Charlie spun around. The robe whipped further open, and the animal instinct in Nathan made him want to slide between her legs again. It was that male need to mark what was his. A smile played across his lips. It was now her turn to have her mouth drop open for awhile. Deal with that, Miss Righteous!
"What are you talking about, Nathan?" she demanded.
"I said I love you. Do you want to still argue?" He was now enjoying how she fidgeted with the seam of her robe.
"You are fucking with me again!" Charlie lashed out.
"Yes, I would love to taste and touch you again. I want nothing more than to be inside of you; however, that just the physical part. There's a lot more to this. Charlie, I love you." Charlie's eyes began to flash back and forth. He noticed she was trying to decide which door would lead to her escape.
"Don't you even think about it," Nathan growled. She had pushed this situation with her indignation. Now, she was going to participate in the conversation like an honest-to-goodness adult. Charlie's head snapped back over to meet his gaze. If he had known any better, there would be smoke coming out of her ears next.
"Charlie, I love you. Not some girl from the bar. Not some girl who spends more time dying her hair than having an actual conversation. I want you. I want the vodka-drinking painter who has insomnia. I want the girl whose OCD only allows her to keep liquids on the top shelf of the refrigerator. I want the girl who wears Mr. Bubble t-shirts and watches bad 80s movies with me. I only want you. I love you!"
By the time Nathan was done with his romantic if not irritated tirade, Charlie was sniffing back her tears. This was only the second time he had ever seen her cry. Tears welled up in her eyes and broke free to stream down her cheeks. There was something tragically adorable about how she took on the look of a red raccoon and wiped her nose on the sleeve of her robe. Nathan crossed the room and gathered her in his arms. At first, he expected there to be a fight. Instead, Charlie melted into him, burying her face in his chest. After a moment, the flight response tried to take over when she stepped backwards, but Nathan held onto her, never breaking his hug.
When she looked up at him, he smiled and said, "I love you." The girl looked like a miserable mess with tears running out of her eyes, and snot dripping out of her nose, but that was exactly the reason why he loved her. She was strong and ever-mindful of her emotions. However, the few times he had really seen her release her emotions to be angry or sad, those were the best moments of his life. They were the moments that he truly got to see Charlie.
Chapter 34
Sunlight was streaming through the window. It lit up his covered eyes. His body felt like a lead weight that was not able to move. Muscles that never got much in the way of exercise were screaming. Nathan looked down his body and saw Charlie's head resting on his stomach. Her eyes were closed, and her breathing was even if not steady. Her hair was spread out across his abdomen and legs. Nathan closed his eyes for a moment and took a very deep breath, wanting to savor the moment. When his eyes opened again, he looked over to the alarm clock. It was already 10:30 in the morning. They had been up most of the night hashing out the details of their interlude. Charlie complained she was too fat and not pretty enough. He would counter with a compliment and a memory of a time she looked amazing. The only conclusion reached was he was not allowed to use the l-word.
Then, there was the first-thing-in-the-morning need to pee, but he didn't want to disturb the sleeping beauty resting on him. Unfortunately, biology won out. Nathan tried to ease Charlie off of his body easily; yet, there was no way to get her and hair unwrapped from him without some extra movements. Nathan nudged her gently. Her sleep-glazed eyes opened, taking a moment to focus on him. When the fog of sleep cleared, she smiled and stretched. Nathan took the opportunity to move out from under her body and head towards the bathroom. After relieving himself, he grabbed the tube of toothpaste and spread some of it on his finger; he also brushed some on Charlie's toothbrush. Giving her toothbrush a quick dousing of water, he opened the door. He rubbed his teeth. Charlie was already out of the bed. Her womanly body was covered with her standard clothing fare. He watched as her breasts move while she made the bed. He appreciated the curve of her ass as she bent over to pick up clothes.
With a mouth full of toothpaste, he gurgled, "Nice view!"
Charlie flipped him the middle finger as she continued collecting clothes off of the floor. When she did turn to him, she saw only one thing that would truly make her feel better than coffee. She scrambled across the room and grabbed the toothbrush from his hand. She pushed past him into the bathroom and shut the door.
"Hey! I need back in there," he exclaimed through a mouth of paste and saliva. He stood there waiting for the door to open. Instead, there was the sound of running water in the sink and the toilet flushing. Finally, the door opened, and Charlie emerged. Nathan scrambled back into the bathroom to empty his mouth; he even stopped to rinse with some extra mouth wash that was available. After re-entering her room, he found it was empty. There were noises coming from downstairs, so he grabbed his towel from the bed and wrapped it around his waist, making his way down to the kitchen as well.
The smell of brewing coffee was already filling the kitchen and hallway. His tired body perked up at the aroma. Charlie stood in front of her computer screens, holding a cereal bowl with one hand and clicking the mouse with the other. She stopped to spoon the flakes into her mouth as she read the email that was on the screen. Nathan moved in behind her and encircled her waist with his arms. His body decided it was time for another biology lesson. Being that close to her made his cock respond.
"Want some?" Charlie asked as she held up the cereal bowl. Nathan kissed her neck and took the bowl from her hands. She sat down at the computer and began typing response to the email. Nathan moved into the kitchen while he ate. He stopped long enough to pull two coffee cups out of the cabinet. He made their cups of coffee, his with milk and hers with flavored creamer and sugar substitute. Charlie pretended to focus on the computer screens, but was it really not the case. Nothing really happened. I can ignore this. It was one night. He doesn't know what he is talking about.
When Charlie entered the room, he could feel her presence. He handed her the cup of coffee he made. She held the cup with both hands as she leaned against the counter. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched her. She seems relaxed. After taking a few gulps from his own cup, he leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. She smiled and walked back to her writing room. Cup in hand, Nathan made his way out the backdoor. He needed to get showered and dressed. This was one "walk of shame" that made him completely happy.
Charlie heard the door close while she sat on her computer chair, and she drew her legs up to her chest. With her head resting on her knees, her mind re-played the movie of last night's events in her mind. All of the touches, caresses, and kisses came back to her with the same intensity that she felt as they were happening. Don't you even think for one minute that boy actually loves you. You aren't like that, and he is kidding himself. Come on, you've seen the girls he has brought home in the past. You can't even begin to compare.
Even with these realistic thoughts lurking in the back of her mind, there were still so many questions running through her mind. The biggest question was about the "l" word. Yes, he said it. So? She catalogued all of the women she had seen come and go from his life over the years. Never in their conversations about relationships had she heard him say that he loved any of them. Never had Nathan expressed more than a passing interest in any of them. It then dawned on Charlie that he always made it a point to come back to her after each one of those women left. Their relationship post-mortems always included a bottle of wine and a fresh pizza. For her, it was crying and getting a hug. But with Nathan, he seemed almost happy that his relationships had failed. Of course he was happy. He got to continue playing the play boy. There should have been a ticket wheel hanging outside his bedroom door. Now serving 2,834!
Charlie let go of her knees and pulled up her story file. She began typing. For the first time in a long time, she did not have the story mapped out. She was simply typing anything and everything that came to her mind. It was only fitting that the scenes that she typed strongly resembled her time in bed with Nathan the night before. When she looked up at the clock two hours had passed without any writing fuss or strain. The story was moving along much more quickly than the days before. When her hands stopped moving, the Nathan thoughts came back to haunt her. Charlie decided around page 11 of typing for the day that she was going to ignore the whole situation. She could not afford to lose him as a friend, and putting anymore energy (either emotionally or mentally) meant she was hoping for something that wasn't true or really there. It's over. It never even started.
Time for more pages in someone else's love story.
Chapter 35
