Saturday Night School

Charlie called Michelle the next day. She picked up and immediately started talking. "Charlie, I've been thinking about it, and it's so wrong that you came to spy on me last night. Like, what did you think I was doing?"

"Come over," he said.

"What?"

"Come to my house."

"Is your mom there?"

"Yeah. She's here now, but she'll probably go out later. Come over and let's talk in person."

So Michelle came over, and although she spent a little over four hours at his house that Sunday, they didn't say a single word to each other about the previous evening. Neither of them seemed inclined to discuss it. In Charlie's mind, the event had become another secret rendezvous, similar to their midnight encounter in the Macy's parking lot, something that felt too much like a dream to be analyzed in the daylight. He suspected that Michelle felt the same way.

They ate waffles. They lounged on the couch watching old movies on the TV. Around two o'clock, Mrs. Tucker went out to do some shopping, and Michelle was naked less than a minute after she left. They had sex in the backyard, and Michelle gazed up at the sky the entire time.

While she rinsed off in the upstairs shower, Charlie sat by himself on the couch, flipping through the channels on the TV. He paused on one of the HBO channels and watched a bit of the movie in progress: a quartet of attractive twenty-something men walked through what appeared to be a street festival. They jostled through crowds of people, but had no trouble carrying on their conversation as they walked, talking about the fun they were going to have. One of the men caught site of a pretty woman walking on the other side of the street; their eyes met, and she smiled at him, but the flow of the crowd pulled her away. He stretched up, trying to see her over the throng, but she was gone.

Presumably, he would run into her again later in the movie. It seemed like a scene that would set up a later encounter. Charlie never found out. He heard Michelle coming down the stairs and he changed the channel, still looking for something for them to watch.

Michelle was fully dressed when she appeared, and she stood next to the couch without sitting. "Charlie, I should go."

"Now?"

"Yeah. I need to head home."

Charlie stood. "Okay. I'll walk you to your car."

"All right."

It wasn't a far walk this time; Michelle's car was parked right in front of his house. It was odd to see it sitting right there. Every other time she had come by, Michelle had parked a block away, on a dark side street, and when it came time to say goodbye, they did it in the darkness, with Michelle wearing next to nothing. This would be a first: bright daylight, and Michelle fully dressed.

Charlie glanced at her as they walked along the front path towards the sidewalk. "Can I ask you something?"

"Okay."

"Your parents. Do they know you're here?"

"Yeah. Mostly."

"Mostly? What does that mean?"

"Well... I don't tell them everything." She stopped and looked at him. "They know that I'm in a student film you're working on. They know that I'm with you right now. I told them I needed to meet with you, to talk about the movie. I didn't tell them I was going to your house, and I'm not going to tell them what we did here. Obviously, we haven't been talking about the movie, have we?"

"No."

"And I'm not going to tell them we just had sex in your backyard. I mean, that makes sense, right?"

"Right." He watched her while she searched for her car keys in her purse. "I just wondered if they knew about me."

She paused her search and looked up at him. "Well, they know I'm spending time lately with a boy named Charlie," she said. "And I think they strongly suspect that I like that boy Charlie. But they're not pressuring me for information. They're going to wait for me to tell them."

"Okay."

She smiled. "You have to trust me when I say this: you should be in no hurry to involve my family in this thing of ours. My parents are super nosy and my sisters are worse. They're going to want to know everything about you. Everything about us. How we met, what we do when we go out. I don't know if we're ready for that kind of interrogation yet."

Charlie nodded thoughtfully as he considered facing her parents and answering their questions. How did you meet our daughter? At school, while she was walking through the hallways naked. What do you do when you take our daughter out? I usually strip her naked. In public. Then I have sex with her.

Who am I? I'm the bad guy. The guy you don't want her to date.

"Here they are." Michelle held up her car keys. She stepped forward and gave Charlie a quick peck on the lips. "Bye!"

"That wasn't much of a kiss."

She shrugged. "Your mom might come home. I don't want her to see me giving you one of those Greenholt Gardens kisses in front of her house. Probably not a good idea." She grinned and started to walk around her car to the driver's side door.

A thought came into Charlie's head and he voiced it without thinking. "If I asked you to take off all your clothes right now, would you do it?"

The question froze her. She turned back towards him, clearly shocked. Her eyes were wide and her mouth quivered

She spoke softly, "Are you asking me?"

His question was answered. Yes, she would take off all her clothes. Not only that, but she was on the verge of doing it, maybe seconds away from doing it, just because he had suggested the possibility. A moment ago, she had been reluctant to give him a long kiss for fear that his mom might see. Now, suddenly, she was ready to strip completely naked in the middle of the road.

"No," he said quickly. "Keep your clothes on. It was just a question that popped into my head."

She looked relieved but the tension didn't leave her. His question had given her a jolt. She looked down, squeezing her keys in her fingers.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I shouldn't have asked. That was rude."

"It's okay." She raised her eyes. "Charlie... you know I trust you so much. You're the only one who knows my secret. The keeper of my secret." Her eyes begged him to understand the meaning of her words. "I've given the key to you. Because I don't trust myself with the key. I know I can't control myself. I know it and you know it, too. I can't make good decisions. I'm too addicted to this secret of mine. But I trust you. I trust you to know when the time is right, for me to let go. You understand what I'm saying, don't you?"

"Yes," he said. But he didn't really understand.

"Bye, Charlie. I'll see you in school." She got into her car and closed the door. He watched her drive away, her red car glinting in the light of the sun, a cloudless blue sky above. He remembered how she looked up at the sky while they had sex, as if that was the way she always wanted it to be. As if she was meant to make love without walls, without a ceiling, out in the open air, completely free.

***

He ran into Ronni and Jennifer in school the next day, just outside the library. "Hey!" Jennifer greeted him. "How'd it go over the weekend? Did the disguise work?"

"Yeah, it worked. Thanks again."

Jennifer eyed him critically. "Your face looks red. You ripped the beard right off, didn't you?" She shook her head in disapproval. "You know better than that. What happened with your girlfriend? Did you catch her in the act?"

"No. She caught me," he said. "The disguise worked, she didn't recognize me. But my phone rang, and she recognized the ring. She knew it was me."

"Oh, no! What did she say? Was she mad?"

"Yeah. I don't blame her. In retrospect, it was a stupid thing to do, spying on her like that."

Jennifer laughed. "I guess so!"

"You didn't do any work on your movie yesterday?" Ronni asked.

"No," Charlie said. He had planned to drop by the school to do some editing, but then he invited Michelle over instead. "Maybe I'll stay after school today and do some work on it."

"I came by the school yesterday," Ronni said. "I thought you would be editing. Because Wednesday is our last filming day, right?"

"Yeah. Wednesday. You came to the school yesterday?"

"Uh huh. I thought you would be here. It's all right. I'm free after school, I can join you in the editing bay."

"Okay."

"We need to have our list of shots ready. Wednesday's probably going to be our last chance. So we should prepare as much as we can before then."

"You're right," Charlie said.

"I'm curious to see your film," Jennifer said. "Will you show it to me when it's done?"

Charlie nodded. "Sure."

Jennifer laughed. Everything made Jennifer Addish laugh.

Charlie stopped by the bathroom on the way to his next class and checked his face. He could see a streak of red running across his chin, but it wasn't too obvious. Jennifer just had sharp eyes. Anyone who noticed the redness would just assume he had spent too long in the sun over the weekend.

When he came out of the bathroom, the hall was nearly empty. He checked his phone and saw that he had two minutes to get to class. It was Euro Lit, and Ms. Landers wasn't strict about tardiness, but he still increased his pace. He didn't want to walk in too late.

When he turned the corner, he was surprised to see Vampire Vanessa at the other end of the hall. She was alone, walking down the middle of the hallway towards him. She wore a red dress and black boots that came to her knees. Their eyes met, and he felt a sudden surge of apprehension. They were going to walk right by each other. Should he say hello? Vanessa was Michelle's best friend; he couldn't act as if he didn't know her.

As they approached each other, Charlie said, "Hi, Vanessa." He half-expected her to walk right by him without saying anything in return. Instead, she stopped right in front of him.

"Hi, Charlie," she said. "Did you have a good weekend?"

He was surprised. She wanted to have a conversation? The bell was about to ring. But she gazed at him as if she had all the time in the world. He had to admit that she intimidated him. Apart from being very attractive, she was also very confident. She was the kind of person who could walk up to a complete stranger and talk to them without feeling at all awkward about it.

"Yeah," he said. "It was good."

"I saw a movie," she said. "With Michelle, Saturday night. 'Night Crew'. Have you seen it?"

"No." Now the hall was empty, except for Vanessa and himself. "I heard it's bad," he said.

"It is. It's bad. Did Michelle tell you it was bad?" Vanessa watched him, waiting for his response. The bell rang. Vanessa ignored it.

Did she know something? "No," Charlie said. "I just heard the reviews were bad."

Vanessa nodded. After a moment, she said, "There's a party this weekend."

"Really?"

"Yes. Glenn Mack is throwing a party at his house. Should be fun. He throws good parties."

"Oh. Okay."

"He's throwing a party because he hopes Michelle will come," Vanessa said. "That's what I heard. Actually, I heard it's the only reason he's throwing a party. So Michelle will come."

"Really?" Charlie had been trying to keep an expression of indifference on his face, but he knew he let it slip when he heard this information. "Who said that? Cody?"

"Yes. That's who told me." Vanessa tilted her head. Her eyes were dark brown; they looked almost completely black. "You should come to the party, Charlie. It'll be fun." She let her hand rest briefly on his shoulder as she passed him. The heels of her boots tapped on the floor, moving away.

Charlie was already brooding over the news. He felt like an outsider, trapped on the perimeter while another man made moves on the woman he loved. It was the movie theater all over again. He could go to the party, but what would he do there? Stand awkwardly to the side, watching while Michelle interacted with Glenn? Or aggressively hang on Michelle, wherever she went, and do his best to ruin any hope Glenn had of a relationship with Michelle?

The second option sounded good.

Charlie checked his phone. He was eight minutes late, and Ms. Landers relaxed attitude towards tardiness only went so far. He hurried down the hall.

***

"Vanessa said that?"

Charlie sat in his car, his phone pressed to his ear. "Yeah. Did you know about this party?"

"She knows about us." Michelle's voice was subdued. "Can you tell me again what she said? Like, word for word?"

"I don't know if I can remember," Charlie said, but he tried anyway. After he was done, he asked, "Is that what you're doing Saturday? You're going to the party?"

"I don't know. Probably." She paused. "Do you want to go?"

No, he thought. To her, he said, "You mean, go with you? Together?"

"No," she said. "You go in disguise. Wear a fake beard. Then I'll sneak over to you at some point for some sex."

"You're joking."

She giggled. "Of course I am! Just show up, Charlie. I'll be there while you're there. I'll leave when you want to leave."

"But not together."

"That's up to you, Charlie. I'll be there with Vanessa and my other friends from cheerleading. If you want to talk to me, come talk to me. If you want me to be with you, then come and get me."

"Vanessa said that Glenn is just throwing a party so he can be with you," Charlie said. "That's literally the only reason he's throwing it. To hit on you. Maybe it's not a good idea for you to go? He might get the wrong idea if you're there?"

"My friends are going to be there," Michelle said. "A lot of people will be there. I don't think he's throwing the party just for me."

"Vanessa said he was."

"She said that's what Cody told her. It doesn't mean it's true."

"So what if it is? What if he comes over to you?"

"Charlie..." Michelle spoke in a low voice. "Last week, I told you that you could go out with Ronni if you wanted to. Instead, you put on a disguise and went to the same movie theater I was at, so you could spy on me. Remember? And I was sitting there, and Glenn was sitting right next to me. I could've stayed with him. You know what I did? I snuck away to be with you. Do you see what I'm saying?"

"Not really..."

"You picked me and I picked you. So don't worry about Glenn."

Charlie frowned. She told him he shouldn't worry about Glenn, but it was less than a week before that she had implied she would probably be with Glenn if Charlie hadn't entered her life. She had told him to ask Ronni on a date...

Ronni!

"Ah, damn it!" he swore.

"What?"

"I forgot I said I would do some work on the movie after school. Ronni said she would come by the editing bay and help. We're trying to get as much done as possible before Wednesday."

"Oh, you better go then."

"You're still good with Wednesday, right?"

"Of course. That's the last day, right? You'll be done with the filming?"

"I think so."

"Awesome," she said. "I can't wait to see it when it's done."

After disconnecting the call, Charlie got out of his car and took his usual route through the green door to the school. He found Ronni waiting for him in the editing bay. She had already opened the editing software and was organizing their footage.

"Hey," he said, out of breath. "Sorry I'm late. I was out in my car. My mom called me."

"It's all right," Ronni said. "You're not that late."

Charlie sat down next to her. He wasn't sure why he had concealed the fact that he'd just been talking to Michelle. The lie had come easily and he didn't question it.

***

Michelle brought several outfits to Greenholt Gardens on Wednesday. They planned to film the final scene in the script, and Michelle's character Gwen would complete the transformation that had been occurring throughout the film, where her outfits shifted from dark and conservative in the beginning to bright and provocative at the end. Michelle had easily selected the previous dresses that she wore in the film, but for the final dress, she had trouble making up her mind.

Charlie watched as Michelle held each dress in front of her. "This one? Or this one? Or this pink one? Were you thinking the last dress would be pink?" Some of the dresses she held up looked like they would barely fit her.

Charlie consulted with Ronni, and they decided on a sleeveless dress with a bright floral print. Michelle went off to change. Darren and Kim arrived while she was gone, and they walked to the day's filming spot, an area with tables and chairs near the Japanese Garden. After a few minutes, Nick arrived escorting Michelle. Charlie couldn't help watching her as she arrived. The dress was shorter and tighter than he expected, clinging to her curves and displaying her long legs. When he turned towards his actors, he could see Darren was also watching Michelle's arrival with appreciation.

"Beautiful dress," Kim commented. "Looks great on you, Michelle."

"Thanks." Michelle smiled and looked down. Their admiration was making her shy.

"We need to start," Ronni reminded Charlie. "We don't have a lot of time."

"Right," Charlie agreed. "Everyone in your place. We'll start with the wide shot."

Charlie went behind the camera and started recording. He signaled the actors to start the scene. The screen on the camera displayed what was being recorded. Darren on one side, Kim on the other, and between them, Michelle. Michelle in her tight flower dress, with her coy smile. She was meant to represent the secret love between the other two characters. The way the light glowed behind her, she looked like she had a halo.

Charlie felt more and more anxious as they went through their shot list. This was probably going to be their last chance to get any footage for the film, and wanted to get everything they needed. "That dress really catches the light," he murmured to Ronni while he focused the camera on Michelle. "Look at the way the colors pop on the screen. She's going to dominate the whole scene. Max and Ingrid are going to look like they were filmed in black and white compared to Michelle."

He had written the film as a ploy to have Michelle walk naked through these gardens. But now, on the last day of filming, he really started to feel like the movie might be something worthwhile. Something he could show to the film professors at Jefferson University, something they would appreciate. Maybe even something he could enter into short film festivals.

"We have a lot to do," Ronni kept reminding him. "Don't fixate on one shot." But when Charlie focused the camera on Michelle, he knew that he wanted her to look perfect on the screen. He wanted her to look like a star.

Eventually, Darren spoke up. "Fifteen minutes left," he said. "Do you have everything you need, Charlie?"

"Just fifteen minutes?" Charlie checked the clock and saw that Darren was right. The time had flown by.

"I can't stay longer than that," Darren said. "Not tonight."

"Same here," Kim said. "I have plans."

Charlie looked at Ronni. "Fifteen minutes. I don't know. We've got footage for every shot on our list. Is there anything we need to redo? Or should we shoot from another angle? Any thoughts?"

Ronni considered his question. Her eyes moved to Michelle and she studied the pretty cheerleader for a moment. "Yes," she said. "Maybe there's another way we can try the scene. What if we film it the way it was originally written?"

"What?" Charlie was confused.

"Michelle," Ronni said, "let's run the scene again, but how about this time, we try it without the dress? Actually, would you mind doing the scene completely nude?"

She said it so casually that Charlie could see the surprise bloom on Darren and Kim's faces as they realized what she had just suggested. Michelle's reaction was more immediate; she looked like she'd just been electrocuted. She stared up at Ronni with her mouth open, completely stunned.

"Ronni," Charlie spoke sharply. "Don't." He stood up straight, almost knocking over the camera as he did it. Didn't Ronni understand where they were? Who they were with? Darren and Kim weren't part of the trusted circle, and they never would be.