Two days later, Charlie was back at Greenholt Gardens. He sat on a stack of boxes in a small storage room at the back of the snack bar. The room had a small window with a view of the parking lot. Charlie checked his phone for the time. It read 10:06 PM.
Vanessa was late.
He could hear Michelle's footsteps, pacing back and forth across the floor of the snack bar. She had intended to keep watch with him in the storage room, but she was too nervous to hold still. He heard her footsteps approaching, and her face peeked in. "Is she here?" she asked.
"Not yet."
"Oh god..." Michelle disappeared to continue her pacing.
At 10:12, headlights appeared at the entrance to the parking lot, and Charlie watched a black BMW with tinted windows pull into the lot. The car parked next to Michelle's car. The door opened and Vanessa emerged. She was dressed casually, in black yoga pants and a black fleece jacket over a bright red tank top. She crouched down to glance in Michelle's car, and then, seeing no one there, looked around, puzzled.
"She's here!" Charlie called, unnecessarily, because he could already hear Michelle opening the door to the outside. Probably she had heard the sound of Vanessa's car. Charlie hurried out of the storage room; his job was to hold the door so that Michelle wouldn't get locked out.
He didn't know what Michelle had planned; she didn't tell him and he didn't ask. But he couldn't miss the significance of her arranging to meet Vanessa at Greenholt Gardens after it closed. He knew this was going to be more than just a conversation.
Michelle had let the door close behind her. Charlie pushed it back open just as Vanessa was saying, "...a strange place to meet. How do you even get into this place so late at night?" Vanessa glanced past Michelle, seeing him in the doorway. "Oh. And there's Charlie. So you're finally going to tell me that you two are a couple?"
"Yes," Michelle admitted. "We're a couple."
"It's been so obvious," Vanessa said, then quickly amended, "To me, I mean. I don't understand why it's been a secret. Why didn't you just tell me? You didn't trust me?"
"Come in," Michelle said quietly. "I do trust you and I'm telling you now. You'll understand."
"Fine." Vanessa smiled sweetly at Charlie. "Hey, Charlie. How're you doing? Talia says hi. She didn't have a chance to say goodbye to you at the party." Vanessa coolly sauntered past Charlie into the interior of the snack bar. "You disappeared so suddenly. You both did. But don't worry. Talia and I covered for you."
Michelle followed Vanessa inside. Anxiety was clearly displayed on Michelle's face and her hands trembled slightly. Charlie fought the urge to reach for her and comfort her.
Vanessa stood in the middle of the snack bar, looking around as if she was a prospective buyer of the place. "How are you able to get in here?" she asked.
"Charlie is friends with the security guard," Michelle said.
Vanessa looked between them. "So this is where you two have been meeting? Your secret spot where you can be alone?"
"Kind of," Michelle said. "Charlie's also been using this spot to film one of his movies." Michelle explained how they had been using the Gardens as a filming location. Vanessa listened, her frown growing as Michelle described her role in the film and several nights of filming with other actors.
Finally, Vanessa interrupted. "This doesn't make sense, Michelle. I don't understand why you've kept all this a secret from me. None of it seems like a big deal. Do you really think I would care that you're acting in a student film?"
Michelle's hands were clasped nervously in front of her. "There's more," she said quietly. "Will you come outside?"
Vanessa nodded. She seemed to sense Michelle's anxiety. Michelle led them outside, and Vanessa silently followed.
They stood on the hill overlooking the gardens. The Concert Meadow stretched out in front of them, lush and green, and the lily pond that bordered it chirped and hummed with nocturnal frogs and insects. The air was cool and had the scent of spring flowers. "Isn't it beautiful?" Michelle said.
"It is," Vanessa agreed. "I've never been here at night before. It's lovely."
"Lovely and empty," Michelle said. "No one else is here at night. That's why we like it." Michelle took a deep breath. "Vanessa... do you want to know how Charlie and I first got together?"
"Okay," Vanessa said. Then she stared at Michelle. "What are you doing?"
Michelle slowly undid the buttons at the front of her blue dress. Her hands visibly trembled as she fumbled with the buttons. "We were both at the school on Saturday. He was working there, and I was just walking through the halls. I want to show you how I looked that first time, in the hallway at school."
Vanessa glanced between Michelle and Charlie, clearly confused. "Are you undressing?"
"I want to tell you something about myself," Michelle said. "Charlie knows it, and other people know it, and I want you to know it, too." Michelle slipped the dress off her shoulders and wiggled slightly so that it slipped down her body to her feet. Underneath, she wore a black bra and black panties. She met Vanessa's eyes as she reached back to undo her bra. "When I ran into Charlie at the school that day," she said, "I was naked. I was walking through the school naked, and he caught me doing it." Michelle let her bra fall to the ground.
At school, Vanessa always projected an aura of cool confidence, as if she could handle anything. This was the first time Charlie had ever seen her look unnerved. Despite Michelle's assurance that Greenholt Gardens was closed and empty, Vanessa still looked around to see if anyone was watching. It must have seemed to her that Michelle was stripping in a very public location. "You were walking through our high school, naked? Why? Why would you do that?"
Michelle tugged her panties down her legs and stepped out of them. She stood naked in front of her best friend, her hands behind her back. "Because this is me," she said plainly. "This is what turns me on. I love to be naked. And I especially love to be naked when I'm not supposed to be."
"You? But you're shy! Aren't you?" Vanessa looked like she was struggling to reassess several years' worth of assumptions. "I mean, I thought you didn't like to flaunt yourself... you're not like some of the others..."
"I know. I act shy. I've always been scared that people will figure me out," Michelle said. "Like how I am. And I've always been afraid of myself, too. I don't want to start acting a certain way and go too far and do something I'll regret later."
"Like what?" Vanessa asked.