Charlie's Angel

When Charlie was in high school, he had two distinct sets of friend. One group included people who were in most of his honors classes. Most of these kids would fit the classic definition of "nerd". They were smart, many were socially-awkward, and their idea of humor was... let's just say different than the average high school kid. Of course, not all the kids in the honors classes were nerds. Some of the kids in his classes -- both boys and girls - were incredibly popular. But Charlie was not among them.

His other group of friends comprised the kids that lived in his neighborhood and with whom he played before anyone knew what a nerd was. Many of them moved into the neighborhood before they even started school, so a lot of them knew each other since kindergarten. By the time they got to junior high, when the schools started separating classes based on proficiency in a given subject, friendships had been well-established.

A couple of Charlie's friends from the latter group were among the most popular boys in high school. One was a basketball star and one was on the swimming team. They both had girlfriends in high school -- really hot girlfriends. And Charlie spent lots of time with his friends and their girlfriends. Because he was the oldest among his friends -- he just missed the deadline to be a year ahead -- he was the first one to get his driver's license. That made him a hot commodity his sophomore year!

Some would say his friends were using him, often asking him to drive them to their girlfriends' houses, but he didn't feel that way. His friends truly liked him and were genuinely nice to him; he just viewed it as doing a favor for a friend.

And that was typical of Charlie -- he was simply a really nice guy. Even all the girls in high school who knew him thought he was really nice -- but very few girls REALLY knew him. Because in addition to being a really NICE guy, Charlie was also a very SHY guy. Especially when it came to girls. In many ways, his social skills with girls were exactly what some would expect when they think of the term "nerd".

But the funny thing was that he was perfectly comfortable with and really well-liked by some of the hottest girls in the high school... as long as they were his friends' girlfriends. He'd joke with them, they'd tease each other, and they simply acted like really good friends. It seemed like such an odd situation: the most beautiful, popular girls were his friends, but he got nervous talking to the "average" girls.

But to Charlie, it made perfect sense. THESE girls weren't girls he was trying to impress so they'd want to be his girlfriend -- he knew they were out of his league. These girls were just friends, friends who happen to be his best friends' girlfriends. He could be himself around them. He didn't worry that they wouldn't want to go out with him or that they'd make fun of him; they were just friends.

It would be an understatement to say Charlie was not terribly experienced with girls. The only girl he ever really kissed was Fran Thomas, and it wasn't exactly the way he pictured his first passionate kiss.

Toward the end of the summer, just a couple of weeks before everyone would be leaving for college, Fran called Charlie.

"Hi, Charlie, it's Fran. I was wondering if I could stop by to talk to you this afternoon."

Charlie was confused. Fran was a friend from his classes -- another member of the nerds. Charlie thought she was nice, but he certainly didn't have any interest in her from a dating standpoint. They sometimes studied together at school but never even got together outside of school.

"Uh, yeah, I suppose so," he finally replied after a pregnant pause.

"Great," Fran said. "Umm, it's kind of personal. Is anyone else at your house? I'd like to talk to you privately."

This confused Charlie even more.

"No, nobody else is here."

"Great," she said, sounding excited. How about if I come over at 2:00."

"Uh, okay," Charlie replied, still confused by the whole thing.

At 2:00, right on the dot, Fran rang Charlie's doorbell.

"Hi, Fran," Charlie said, as he opened the door.

"Hi, Charlie."

"C'mon in."

Fran walked in and sat on the couch in the family room.

"Please come sit next to me, Charlie." He did.

"So...," Fran started, suddenly feeling shy and awkward. There was a long pause.

"So," she continued, "I have a strange request slash favor slash suggestion."

Charlie laughed. "Lots of slashes in that sentence," he said.

Fran laughed, too, which put her a little more at ease.

"Okay, here goes nothing," she said. "I don't date a lot. And when I say not a lot, I mean never."

Charlie smiled. He could relate.

"I don't think you do, either," she continued. Charlie nodded his confirmation.

"When we go to college next year, who knows what will happen. I hope to date, and I'm sure you hope to date." Again, Charlie nodded.

"So...," Fran started again, and then let out a big sigh. "So, I think we should practice kissing."

Charlie's eyes popped open. "You want to practice kissing? ME?"

Fran laughed a little. "Oh, c'mon, Charlie. It's not like I'm asking you to have sex with me. I've just never really kissed a guy, and I don't want to act like a goof the first time I kiss a guy at college. If you're as naïve as I am on this topic, we can learn together. If you're an expert because you've passionately kissed a hundred girls, you can teach me."

Charlie let out a huge laugh. "Yeah, I don't think it's quite been a hundred. If we do this, that will bring the total to one."

Now Fran laughed.

"Look," she said, I know this is weird. But wouldn't you like some experience before you go to college?"

Charlie nodded.

"Or am I so ugly you can't stand the thought of kissing me?" she asked, knowing full-well she was a decent-looking girl, even if not a beauty queen.

"No, no, no," Charlie quickly objected. He actually thought Fran was pretty. "It's just a strange request."

"Yeah, I know," she said. "But I trust you, and I was really hoping you'd help me."

Charlie sat there quietly for a few seconds. Then he thought kissing Fran wouldn't be so bad.

"Okay, I'm willing to give this a try," he said. "But I don't really know what I'm doing."

"Shit, Charlie, neither do I. That's why I thought we should try with each other. We won't make fun of each other for doing it wrong. Hell, I won't even know if you're doing it wrong!" They both laughed.

Charlie turned a little toward her. "So should we just do it?"

Fran nodded. Charlie moved his head toward her, put his lips on her, and gave a very soft kiss. It was similar to the way you'd kiss your favorite sister, but he held it for longer. Fran responded by pushing her face toward him to increase the force, but that was it. After ten seconds, she pulled back and smiled.

"That was nice," Fran said, but now let's try it again with tongues."

Charlie gulped. He knew people French kissed, but it sounded scary when Fran said it out loud. Without another word, Fran moved her head toward Charlie as she tipped her head to the side. As soon as their lips met, she opened her mouth and pushed her tongue forward. Charlie's mouth was closed, so she licked his lips.

Charlie finally got the idea and opened his mouth, letting her tongue slip in. Once he got over the psychological disgust of another person's tongue touching his, he suddenly started to enjoy it. He pushed his tongue back hard against Fran and into her mouth. She pulled back.

"Wow, that was... something. But maybe you shouldn't be so forceful -- at least at first."

"Sorry...," Charlie said, looking down.

"Hey, don't apologize. We're both learning here, right?" She gave him a reassuring smile, and he smiled back. They tried it again.

This time, Charlie initially let Fran be the aggressor. He slid his tongue back and forth against hers, but he didn't push into her mouth. At least not initially. After a bit, he started pushing a little harder. Fran responded by letting his tongue enter her mouth but continuing to let them slide back and forth over each other's. It felt so good, Fran suddenly let out a soft moan. She really liked how this felt. She put her arms around Charlie and pulled him toward her.

Even though she wanted this to be a purely clinical experiment, she was getting excited. She pulled back again and took a deep breath.

"Shit, Charlie, that was GREAT!" she said with a big smile.

Charlie smiled, too. "Yeah, I really liked it, too. Can we try again? You know, practice makes perfect."

Fran laughed. "Yeah, let's try it again."

They kissed again for a minute.

"Mmmmm" came out of Fran's mouth, without stopping the kissing. She was enjoying this much more than she expected. This was the most intimate moment either of them had ever had with someone. Much to Fran's complete shock, she also was getting wet.

Fran had a very brief argument with herself in her own head. Without breaking the kiss, she grabbed Charlie's hand and put it on her breast. Charlie was stunned, but not complaining. He gently massaged his first breast.

A much louder "mmmm" came out of Fran's mouth this time. She was feeling things she'd never felt before, and she really liked it.

Charlie continued to gently massage her breast as they continued their passionate kiss. He, too, was in new territory. He didn't know how he got here, but he was not complaining.

After a couple of minutes, Fran broke the kiss and pulled back. Charlie immediately took his hand off of her breast. She smiled at Charlie.

"Jesus, Charlie, I think you're a great kisser!"

Charlie laughed loudly. "I must have a good teacher. That was wonderful." Then he got embarrassed and looked down. "I'm sorry if wasn't supposed to keep touching you, but it felt so good."

"Hey, I started it," Fran said. "You didn't hear me complaining, right? You really made me feel good, Charlie. But I think we'd better stop now." Charlie nodded. "But I really enjoyed it."

"Me, too," Charlie said.

For a few minutes they awkwardly talked about getting ready for college and when they were each leaving. Finally, Fran said, "Well, I gotta go."

They both stood up, and Fran hugged Charlie. He wrapped his arms around her.

"Thanks, Charlie. I'm really glad you helped me. I'm gonna feel much better the next time I'm with a guy. Plus, I REALLY enjoyed practicing."

She leaned in and put her lips on Charlie's. As if they were long-time, experienced lovers, they both opened their mouths and had one last passionate kiss. Then Fran said good-bye and walked out the door.

Charlie leaned against the closed door and started laughing. He couldn't believe what happened over the last hour. He kissed a girl -- with his tongue -- and he felt her breast over her shirt. Yep, he thought, I'm ready for college!

When Charlie went to college, not much changed in the dating department from what it was in high school. He was still shy and awkward around girls he liked or wanted to date, but he was very comfortable with his friends' girlfriends -- especially his roommates' various girlfriends.

His roommate, Dylan, was a sophomore. Charlie assumed they purposely paired freshmen and sophomores in the same school to help the freshmen "learn the ropes". Like Charlie, Dylan was in the Engineering school. And it really did help, since Dylan could help him choose classes for his second semester, let him know which classes would require more work, and just make him feel a little more comfortable.

Dylan was an okay roommate, except when he told Charlie to find someplace else to sleep at night because he "needed the room". He could be a bit of an asshole when he was drunk, but Charlie could tolerate it. But Charlie really hated it when Dylan spoked degradingly about women. He sometimes made fun of girls he thought were ugly, and that really pissed off Charlie. Charlie sometimes told him he was being a jerk when he talked like that, but Dylan just laughed it off.

When Dylan started dating Crystal, she was around their room a lot. They both dated other people, too, but they hung out together a lot. And Charlie was surprisingly comfortable with Crystal. She was funny, smart, and absolutely beautiful, but she didn't intimidate Charlie because he wasn't trying to date her. She, too, was a freshman, planning eventually to go to Medical School. Toward the end of the first semester, she and Dylan didn't seem to be seeing each other as much.

After the Christmas break, Charlie was sitting alone in his room the first day he got back. It was a basic dormitory room, with a bed and a desk along each long wall, and a dresser between the desks under the window. On either side of the door was a small closet with a light brown bifold door. There was a bookshelf over each of the desks with a fluorescent light underneath to light the desk. Since this a newer dorm, the furniture was in pretty good shape.

Charlie was surfing the internet when there was a knock on the door. He walked over and swung the door open.

"Hi, Crystal," Charlie said, with a huge smile.

"Hey, Charlie, how are you doing?"

"I'm great, thanks. But Dylan's not back yet -- he's not coming until tomorrow."

"Yeah, I know," Crystal replied, walking into the room. "Actually, we haven't been seeing each other lately. But it was really quiet on my floor, so I thought I'd come see if you were around."

Hearing that made Charlie happy. He smiled as he closed the door. Crystal sat at Charlie's desk, and Charlie sat on his bed.

"How was your Christmas?" Charlie asked.

"It was great, thanks. I was happy to be home with my family. I mean I love being at school, but it was good to go home. My sisters and I laughed and played the entire two weeks. How was yours?"

"Mine was good, too," Charlie said. "It was good to see family and some of my old friends. We all compared notes about our schools, classes, everything. I didn't see some of them at Thanksgiving, but everyone was home over Christmas. I had a great time."

They talked for a while about all sorts of stuff. Then Crystal brought up one of her favorite topics with Charlie.

"You know, I think Melissa on my floor likes you."

"Really?" he said. "She hardly knows me."

"Sure she does. We've all eaten dinner together a bunch of times. She knows who you are. You should ask her out."

"Yeah, I don't think so."

"C'mon, Charlie, we've got to find you a girl. Okay, let's figure out who we can find for you." Crystal grabbed a legal pad and pen that were lying on Charlie's desk and sat down next to him on his bed.

"Let's make a list of what you're looking for."

Charlie laughed. "Forget it, Crystal."

"Uh-uh," she replied, laughing with him. "We're doing this. Okay, first question: Tall or short"

"Okay, that one's easy. Given my height, short might be weird. Definitely taller."

"How tall," she said. "Six feet? Maybe seven?" They both laughed.

"I'll go with 5 foot 7."

"Okay, we've got a start," Crystal said. She said it out loud as she wrote it down. "Five foot seven. Next, what about hair. Blond, brunette, redhead or do you like purple." Again, they both laughed.

"Definitely blond," he replied.

"Okay, blonde," she repeated as she wrote it down.

"What do you notice first on a girl -- boobs, legs or ass," she asked.

"Actually," Charlie replied, "though this might surprise you, some humans of the male species actually look at a girl's face first."

"Sure, sure you do," Crystal said, expressing as much skepticism as possible. "But AFTER you've checked out her face for a nanosecond, do you look at boobs, ass or legs."

Without hesitation, Charlie replied, "Boobs."

Crystal laughed. "Sure didn't take you long to know the answer to that one, Mr. 'I look at her face'. Boobs," she again repeated as she wrote it down.

"What are we looking for -- Double Ds? Or do you prefer bigger?" Crystal said with a perfectly straight face until she started laughing.

"Once again, Madam, you have incorrectly assumed every human with a Y chromosome is in a homogeneous group desiring huge boobs."

"Really?" Crystal asked, again unable to keep a straight face. "Some of you don't?"

"Yes, Ma'am. I, for one, prefer small breasts. I find small breasts on a thin woman to be INCREDIBLY sexy."

"Okay," Crystal continued, as she wrote. "Small breasts. And I guess we can add thin body, based on your last comment."

Charlie nodded.

"And big ass or small ass?" Crystal asked.

"Definitely not big."

"Eyes?" Crystal asked.

"Yes, I'd prefer two," Charlie answered without even breaking a smile. Crystal punched him softly on the shoulder as she laughed.

"What color, asshole?" she asked.

"Blue would be perfect," Charlie said. Then he continued, "You know, it's not like I wouldn't go out with a girl who didn't have these attributes. I'm just describing what I consider the absolutely ideal, beautiful, sexy woman."

"Okay, got it," Crystal said. "Let's review what you're looking for. IDEALLY," she said with emphasis, then continued, "you're looking for a five foot seven, blond-haired, thin girl with small boobs, blue eyes..." Crystal's voice trailed off. As she read back the attributes, she realized she was describing herself. Neither of them said anything for a minute as Crystal stared at the paper and Charlie looked down at the floor.

Crystal closed her eyes for five seconds and realized how oblivious she had been. She opened her eyes and looked at Charlie.

"Charlie," she said very quietly, "do you know someone you like who looks just like this?"

Without looking at her, Charlie nodded.

"Charlie," she said, again quietly, "were you describing me?"

Again, without looking at her, Charlie nodded.

"Do you think I'm pretty, Charlie?"

He nodded.

"Have you thought about me, Charlie? Like you wish I was your girlfriend?" she asked, not quite crying but getting emotional.

Once again, Charlie nodded without looking at her. Crystal took Charlie's hand between both of hers and held it on her lap.

"Look at me, Charlie." He turned his head toward her. "Have you felt this way a long time? Like since you met me?"

"Actually," Charlie answered, also very quietly and with his voice breaking a little, "I've felt this way since even before I met you."

"Before you met me?" Crystal laughed. "Did I come to you in a dream?"

Charlie laughed, too. "No, it was the first day we moved into the dorm in the fall. You were unloading your stuff from the car right in front of me and my parents. You were wearing a pink polo shirt with a white trim along the collar and denim shorts. You had a Dodgers cap on and your ponytail was pulled through the back. And you were wearing converse gym shoes."

Crystal was shocked. "You remember exactly what I was wearing?"

Charlie nodded. "You also had gold dangly earrings, a gold heart necklace, and a French manicure. You have nice nails."

Crystal chuckled at the last comment. "You noticed my nails the day we moved in?"

"Yeah, my sister always talks about her nails, so it's something I notice."

Crystal gently grabbed Charlie's chin and turned his face so was looking right her, still holding his hand in her other hand.

"Do you like me, Charlie? I mean not just as a friend... you know what I mean. Do you really like me?"

Charlie nodded. "A lot. A real lot," he whispered.

Crystal realized there was a really nice, sweet, funny guy whom she liked who was in love with her. She always thought Charlie was great, but she didn't think he felt "like that" about her.

Crystal leaned her head toward Charlie's and gave him a soft, tender kiss on the lips. She pulled her head back and smiled at him. He smiled, too. Then she went back for another kiss, this time opening her mouth and letting her tongue slide into his mouth. For just a second, Charlie thought about Fran Thomas and silently thanked her. But that was the last time today he thought about Fran or anyone else except Crystal.