Charlie Ch. 01-04

Nathan simply nodded his head and leaned over his keyboard to begin typing. He was working through the possibilities that her suggestions had brought forward without actually having to say a "maybe you are right" comment. Charlie chuckled and looked back to her story. It was still a bit difficult to jump back into the inner workings of a romantic novel. There was always the give and take by providing enough plot to build the characters and interjecting enough sexual content to keep the reader interested. Even then, how many synonyms can you use for penis without it sounding too cliché? How many ways can you describe an orgasm before it just becomes tiresome and lame? Lame duck? No, more like lame dick. While there were times it would simply be easier to type the down and dirty actions, but it had to sound pretty too. Back to cliché shopping on aisle ten.

Charlie and Nathan continued to work for the next hour. Periodically, he would look over the top of her computer at her. She would stick out her tongue and continue typing. When it was time for a cigarette break, she drifted outside. Nathan made a coughing, choking sound in her wake. That was simply remedied by a show of her middle finger. While standing outside by the curb, Charlie ran through the number of pages that needed to be created each day in order to meet her deadline. Seven pages a day. Didn't sound like much, but when the creativity tank was on empty, it would be like pushing a minivan up a hill. Long, tiresome, boring, and likely to kill her if she didn't keep moving. She pushed a few stray strands of hair behind her ear and flicked the cherry off of her cig. Depositing the butt into the standing ashtray by the door, she scooted back to her seat to continue typing.

"Time to switch. I need to know if I'm on the right track," Nathan blurted out as she pulled her legs into a pretzel under her. She nodded and slid her lap top over to Nathan while he did the same. Charlie popped on the Track Changes option in the Word document and began proofing Nathan's paper. She could tell that every time she typed something that he was nervous, constantly shifting in his seat and glancing at her often. He depended on her to actually find errors in logical thinking; she depended on him to help keep things real in the sex scenes within her book.

"Did you really write love pickle here?" Nathan laughed as he pointed at the screen of her computer. "You wanted him to insert his love pickle into her barrel? Are you shitting me?" A rolling chuckle burst out of Nathan. He quickly covered his mouth when he saw a mother/child combo look over in his direction.

"Yes, I wrote love pickle. I couldn't come up with anything else at the moment, and when I did a Find All, I realized that I've already used cock fifteen times. I had to get past the wording and get to the action. Happy?" Charlie felt a bit defensive, but as the sound of the words seeped into her brain, she too realized that it was a bit absurd and giggled softly under her breath. "Tell me, is the scene too much?"

"Well, you have your heroine with her leg wrapped around his neck in a very weird position, and it doesn't sound like the man has come up for air in the last four paragraphs. She is going to asphyxiate the poor guy! Let the man bring his head up from her pussy to breathe once in a while. What about a bit of romantic dialogue here?"

"Just how romantic can it be when a guy has his head stuffed between a girl's legs? Remember, I go for reality. I would like to think at that time and place, there isn't much in the way of conversation. Licking, groaning, finger insertion, and maybe a bit of biting make sense. Romantic conversation, no way."

Nathan ran his hand through his hair and shook his head. Returning to the computer screen, he started typing.

"What are you doing? Stop that!" Charlie reached across the table and tried to shut the top of the computer. Nathan swatted her hand away and kept pushing keys with one hand. To keep the swatting to a minimum, he caught her wrist and held it lightly on the table. Charlie huffed and puffed, telling him to lay off with the shenanigans, but he continued with his typing. Finally, she pulled her arm out of his grasp. With both hands available, Nathan continued with his frantic typing within her story. At least I had a backup of the file in the case that he added some really asinine crap to it. Charlie shook her head and returned to Nathan's computer, making more comments about his thesis.

After about 15 more minutes of typing, Charlie had enough. Fate knows what drivel he added to the story. It was bad enough that she was writing drivel herself, but she could only imagine what testosterone-filled hoopla he would add about the size of every male character's appendage or the massive heft and size of each female's breasts. Not every man was well endowed and not every woman had a large set of mammary glands. Sometimes, characters just needed to be real people who had normal bodies and awkward sexual moments.

"Give me my computer back," Charlie announced as she pushed Nathan's computer in front of her away. Nathan smiled as he pressed the keyboard command to save. Charlie sighed and pulled her computer back to its rightful place. Time to see what damage had been done and figure out how long it would take to repair it.

After taking some time to re-read the story from the beginning, Charlie realized that Nathan's "additions" weren't that bad. Not exactly her writing style, but not bad. When she looked up from the screen, she couldn't help but smile at the shit-eating grin that covered Nathan's face. He even made it a point to lean back in his chair and clasps both hands behind his head.

"Huh? Huh? Not bad? Right?"

"Okay, Cheshire cat, lay off with the grin. You did alright. I do question a few things that you added, " she replied, "but . . ."

"But what? What I wrote was good!" Nathan tried to grab Charlie's computer, but she quickly pulled it onto her lap.

"You added some good ideas, but I can tell you right now, no man spends that much time or attention on a girl's chest. It is usually just enough licks and gropes to hopefully prime the engine before the actual sex starts. Also, there really isn't that much kissing either."

"Really now? What makes you the expert?" Nathan picked up his coffee and swallowed a large gulp.

"Nathan, really! Can you honestly tell me that as a normal, red-blooded American male you do all of this with your one-night stands?" Charlie reached into her lap to begin shutting down the different programs she had opened previously, and that included the copy of her story.

"Since we are speaking honestly, yes, I do."

Charlie let out a bit of a scoffing laugh and began to pack up her computer. Her hair fell back in her eyes, and she swept it back behind her ear. She also pushed her reading glasses up to rest on the top of her head. Nathan took her cue and began to pack up his computer too. Pretty soon, the only items left on the table where their coffee cups.

"Listen little miss not-getting-any, what I do with my lady-callers brings them a great deal of satisfaction. If it means I have to forego some of my normal male urges, I will go out of my way to spend some extra time on the frequently overlooked naughty bits."

"First of all, you make sex sound academic. Second of all, here's the translation; you spend extra time sucking on their tits and talk to them dirty while you are sliding in and out. Naughty bits? Who is kidding who now?"

Nathan stood, shouldering his computer bag and grabbing her bag along the way. When Charlie reached out to take her own bag, he simply skirted past her to the door. He even used his foot to hold the door open for both of them. Realizing this left her hands free, Charlie reached into her purse and snagged another cigarette. After lighting up, she stepped off the curb to keep the smoke away from him. Nathan shook his head. He stepped off the curb and used her computer bag to shoo her back onto the sidewalk. Slowly, they began the trek home. Nathan continued his fake coughing periodically as they went.

Chapter 3

"Now, my dear, sex can be any way any person wants it. You, as the writer, should know that. If I want sex to sound a bit academic when I speak to you about my exploits, that is my business. Would it be better if I told you I put my head between a girl's tits and did a motor boat? No!"

"I'll give you that," Charlie wanted to get away from the argumentative tone in Nathan's voice. Her brain was still too full and too scattered to have a logical discussion about sex with Nathan. "By the way, how did things go on the date with the new girl last night?"

The serious expression on Nathan's changed to more of a "girlfriend, let me tell you" posture. "I thought I was going to have a set of blue balls before it was all over!" Nathan gasped.

Charlie smiled to herself and kept walking. She tuned into Nathan's story as a distraction from the buzzing inside her own brain. "Okay, spill the beans. Why were you going to die with a set of weirdly-colored testes?"

"The date was normal. Dinner was okay, and at least she could hold a conversation. I dropped her off at home with a hug and kiss. Well, Sheila showed up at my door after I got home last night. In fact, it was right after I saw you on the porch. She was tapping on the door, trying to be all coy or something. I figured why not. Let me tell you! That girl has a fucked up way of treating a man's dick," Nathan inhaled sharply and shook out a leg as a small reminder of the evening's events played in his own mind.

"Oh really? Did she call it George and want to pet it and feed it like the other rabbits?" Charlie let out a small snort as she amused herself with her own literary comments.

"I wish, dork. At least I would have stood a chance of getting off! Okay, here's the deal," Nathan explained as he spoke with his hands, punctuating certain ideas with extravagant gestures.

"Everything started out okay and good. I spent time kissing all the right parts like her mouth and neck. When I finally moved down to her chest, she went nuts! I thought the girl was going to come out of her own skin. She was riding my leg like a cowboy on a prize bull. When the time was right, I took my nose dive. I wouldn't say she tasted all that great, but at least it wasn't like licking a fish."

"Oh my god! Are you kidding me? You wanted me to include romantic conversation in my story, and you just compared some poor girl's vagina to fish licking?"

"Let me finish please," huffed Nathan as he re-situated his computer bag on his shoulder. "Any way, a couple orgasms later, she was all gung ho about giving me a chance to come too. Yip hip hurray for me! I got out of my pants, and the little sergeant was already at attention."

Charlie glanced side ways at Nathan after the little sergeant comment. A weird smile was twisting across her face, and Nathan swatted at her arm. Charlie jumped out of the way but continued walking forward.

"And?"

"And that girl thought the height of my sexual pleasure would be laying my cock on her hand and kissing it like a butterfly. I'm talking these insanely soft little kisses."

"What? No hand movement? No licking? Please tell me the girl actually did something besides pucker up and kiss it?"

"Nope, all I got were butterfly kisses."

Charlie busted out laughing. At one point, she couldn't catch her breath. She could imagine some poor prim and proper woman wearing a large Sunday going-to-church hat and white gloves. This paragon of virtue in her mind's eye sat correctly with her ankles crossed. The only thing out of place was a detached penis laying in the palm of her hand. The look on her face was a bit sour as she had to pucker her lips in order to a kiss. Based on this imagery, Charlie couldn't stop laughing. She stopped to hold onto her side and stomach as cramps set in from the muscle spasms.

"It wasn't that funny at the time!" Nathan exclaimed as he tried to hold back his own laugh. Pretty soon, both of them were laughing hysterically. Charlie started making puckering, kissy faces at Nathan, and they broke out in another fit of giggles. When they could slowly calm down and breathe, they began walking again.

"That couldn't have been it," she managed to cough out as she wiped the tears of humor out of her eyes.

"After an hour of that madness, she decided it was time to go home. She literally gave me a kiss, got dressed, and walked out the door like she had just given me the best orgasm of my life. Needless to say, I rubbed one off before my nuts exploded, and then I watched Terminator for awhile before I fell asleep."

"Aww, a man after my own heart. Masturbate and then watch a chick flick." Nathan began laughing again, and Charlie just shook her head. It wasn't long before they reached the courtyard of their complex. Charlie looked up and noticed Edna was reading the paper on her own porch. Charlie waved, and Edna screamed her hello.

"Okay, masturbation man, I've got to get some more pages done if I am going to meet my quota. Take a look at my notes in your thesis. Let me know if there is anything else you want to discuss."

"Will do, kiddo." Nathan reached out and kissed her on the forehead. Oddly, Charlie did always feel like a little sister to Nathan. He handed her the computer bag he was holding and backed away in the direction of his apartment. She turned back to her own back door and entered.

Chapter 4

Back at the desk, Charlie hefted her computer out of its bag. While waiting for it to boot up, she turned to her stereo system and grabbed the OneRepublic CD. Turning it to "Apologize," she refocused on her story. The typing continued as she managed to reword much of the items that Nathan found necessary to add to her story. She even considered the idea of romantic dialogue for a moment and then shook it off. Not my style! Allowing the beat of the song to help dictate her typing speed, she jumped full force into the story. Suddenly, a loud beep came from her computer bag. She fished her phone out of it and pulled up the waiting text message. It was Nathan.

Nathan: Take another shot at love!

Charlie: Shut up and apologize, bitch!

Nathan: Never silly rabbit. My tricks aren't for kids.

Charlie: Keep your penis in your pants and let me work.

Nathan: Where do you want me to put my penis then?

Charlie got up and entered the kitchen. She yelled through the window, "Perv! Shut up already!" She returned to her desk to find one last text message.

Nathan: You know you love me!

She grumped slightly under her breath and put her fingers back to work. When she next glanced at the clock, it was already 8 p.m., and she had managed to finish a total of 10 pages for the day. Nothing like a bit a breathing room when it came to her writing deadline. Charlie pulled up her inbox and finally opened the email from Debbie. She took a few minutes to respond by stating the story would most likely be finished within the next two weeks. That would give her an extra week before the official deadline. That should be enough cushion room to keep Debbie from going into heart failure. After clicking the send button, Charlie's stomach registered the break in work and decided to grumble its own displeasure at being ignored.

Charlie stepped into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. After opening the door, she immediately bit her lip. Nathan, the dumb ass and nag that he enjoyed being, decided to mess with her OCD. He left the bag of chicken on the top shelf of the frig. Only drinks belong on the top shelf. Charlie bent over to begin rearranging items to get them back in their correct order.

"Nice view!"

She looked over her shoulder and glared at Nathan. It was only when she saw the bags of Chinese food in his hands that she relaxed a bit. Only a little bit.

"Just what do you think you are doing by bringing that into this house?" she demanded in a voice as stern as she could muster. She stood up and turned towards him. Her hip was holding open the frig door. Crossing her arms would make for a good show of disdain. Yeah, disdain for Chinese food? Yeah, that is really going to happen.

"Well, I noticed that your expiration dates were all set for the next couple days, and I didn't have anything else to do besides have dinner with my best friend." His smile was one of those of hoping to avoid trouble and also being slightly proud of himself for being her food (and hopefully!) sleep savior.

Giving up on the show of irritation, Charlie closed the frig and moved to grab some forks out of the draw next to the sink. Nathan stepped up next to her and gently nudged her with his elbow. That smile was still there. Charlie shoved him back with her elbow, wanting to drive home the point that she could take care of herself. The elbow shoving continued a few more times until Nathan caught a hold of her and spun her into a hug.

"Get the movie ready. I'm going to get into my comfy clothes," she said as she wiggled out of Nathan's arms and handed him the forks. Upon reaching the stairs, she took them two at a time. Upon entering her room, she peeled off her t-shirt and jeans. Normally, she would grab just her tank top, but with Nathan in the house, it always meant a pair of men's pajama bottoms too. Once everything was properly covered, she pulled her hair out of the ponytail and threw the hair tie onto the bathroom counter. Only then did she make her way back down the stairs.

Nathan looked up from the couch and registered the change of clothes with a small nod of the head. He already had the movie waiting on pause. Her favorite blanket that she kept on the back of the couch was spread out next to him on the cushions, and the wonderful smell of Chinese food wafted through the air. Her stomach grumbled loudly enough that Nathan actually turn to her and laughed.

"Eat much?" He handed her the nearest container and then pressed play on the DVD player. The beginning credits for Valley Girl flashed on the screen. It was definitely the beginning for "Chinese comfy movie" night. The idea of sleep rolled through the back of her mind. She grabbed the fork already stuck in the container and began to lay waste to the box of kung pao chicken. Stopping only a few times to drink a glass of ginger ale that Nathan had gathered for her. Once she reached the half way point of the container, she tried to set it down on the table, but Nathan put his arm in front of the box, indicating he didn't think she was done. Charlie held onto the box and continued eating. Her stomach was starting to hurt from filling it with so much food at once. Once the carton was empty, she held it to the side, so Nathan could look inside and see it was empty. With another small nod, he grabbed it from her hand and placed it on the table.

Charlie sat back on the couch with her legs crossed, leaning her head back and closing her eyes. The lack of sleep had invaded her bones. Without much ado, it flooded her muscles. She realized it had been four days she any real amount of sleep. It also dawned on her that she snapped at Nathan earlier at coffee when he asked about her amount of sleep. She turned her head, ready to apologize. As if he were reading her mind, Nathan simply shook his head and grabbed the edge of the blanket. That was Charlie's cue to crawl underneath. She undercrossed her body and stood up slightly. Nathan pulled back the blanket even further. Magically, a pillow appeared under his right arm. She didn't even have the energy to ask how it materialized. Instead, her weary body sank into the couch, and she leaned against Nathan. The movie continued its journey of boy-meets-girl, boy-loses-girl hum drum. Charlie let out a loud yawn and further settled into her curled position. Sleep began to take her when she felt a strange sensation at the top of her head.