Defying Gravity Ch. 04-05

4...

I've heard people tell of heart stopping moments. I didn't take it as serious as I should really. The slam of a door downstairs stopped mine. Mom jumped from the bed. She winced in pain as she slipped her arms into her robe. Had I been more alert I would have realised that she had been naked from the waist up as we were making out. Without a glance Mom hurried from my room.

Footsteps trailed upstairs and then a door closed. I heard the door open and then voices coming from their room. Something within me made me exit my room and walk down the landing. I was heading towards their voices. As I closed on their room I realised what had triggered my actions. They were arguing.

"Get out!"

"This is my bedroom." I saw the shadows move across the landing.

"Then you can have it; I'll sleep in the spare room," Mom replied.

I was too late and standing on the landing when she burst out of the doorway. She came to a shuddering halt the instant she saw me. I don't know who was the more stunned. Dad appeared at the door. When he saw me his face fell.

"What's going on?"

"This is between me and your mom," dad replied.

"Mom?"

"Just go back to your room Danny," she answered.

Dismissed and pissed, I turned away and walked back to my room. I closed and locked the door. Turning off the light I lay on top of the bed. Every sound in the house was magnified by my imagination. I heard a brief exchange of muted voices on the landing and then, first of two doors being closed loudly.

Sleep was hard to come by and I was showered, dressed and out of the house before either Mom or Dad had stirred. I didn't want to face either of them and was too early for class so headed to a local diner for breakfast.

There were only a few dawn birds in the diner when I parked in the street out front. Most were from the plant. The family run diner hadn't changed in three generations as proved by the photographs of the original eatery hanging on the walls. I decided to sit at the counter instead of occupying one of the booths.

"I'll be right with you." Charlie's voice shocked me from my thoughts. I'd forgotten that she was covering for Becca the next two weeks as Becca had exams.

"No worries," I answered. My voice had the same effect on Becca's sister. Running on autopilot she knew that someone had entered the diner and was now sitting at the counter but had still concentrated on the customers' orders that she was serving.

"Hey," she called out.

"Good Morning," I replied and smiled. Having served her customers she wandered along the counter.

She said, "And a very good morning to you too."

I looked into her sparkling blue eyes. "Hi."

"Can I get you some coffee, or would you like tea?"

"Tea would be good," I answered. Charlie dropped a bag in a cup, poured over hot water and then placed it on the counter before me. "I'd recommend the ham and eggs."

"OK."

"How do you want your eggs?"

"Scrambled," I replied.

"Would you like pancakes or toast?" Charlie asked

"I'll have whole wheat toast."

Charlie smiled. She looked at me for a second or two. "Is everything OK?"

I nodded. I'm not sure if she believed me. She disappeared into the kitchen. I heard her shout my order. Five minutes later she re-appeared carrying two plates loaded with ham, eggs and a side or of toast. A nod of her head indicated that I should follow. Charlie settled in the back-most booth. She placed both plates down and slid into the booth.

"Don't let it go cold."

"Yes Mom," I answered. I earned a glare.

We ate in silence.

"Danny, can I ask you something?"

"Sure," I answered between mouthfuls of ham. Inside, I wasn't as sure as I sounded.

"Would you like to go to the movies with me?"

"Sure...I mean, yes, I would like that."

Charlie smiled.

"We could go to Rossi for a pizza after," she hurried on. "Or we can eat before the movie; if you'd prefer?"

"That sounds like a date," I ventured.

"Is that a problem?" Her voice failed her.

"No," I replied. "Pizza and a movie is classic first date material."

"It is, isn't it?"

We chatted for the next five minutes and then Charlie's break was finished. I watched her at work for the next half hour and we exchanged a few words as she passed my booth.

"There's a new Johnny Depp movie on at the Mall," Charlie called out as I was leaving for school.

"OK." I said that I would call her after school.

"Hey Daniel," she called out as I was leaving. "Nice hair."

I nodded, "I'll tell my style guru that you like her work."

Mom sent an IM at lunch. Finding her cell on the kitchen table, I had sent her a message before leaving the house that morning, knowing that she would only get the message once she had gone to the kitchen the start making dad's breakfast. I let her know that I would get breakfast out and that I would be late home as I was working. Her first message asked if I was ok. I replied yes and reminded her of my earlier message.

Three minutes later my cell started to ring.

"Hey."

"Hey yourself," she answered. We were silent. "Danny, is it true?"

"Is what true?"

"Damn it Danny, I'm talking about you and my sister going on a date."

"Is it OK?" I asked uncertainly and was greeted with loud laughter.

"OK," Becca screamed. "It's better than OK."

There was a moment of absolute quiet.

"Danny, did you think that me and you..." Becca's voice cracked and failed her.

"I..."

"Dan Carter, you are my best boyfriend, I love you but I'm not in love with you."

"I just..."

"Chillax," she yelled. "Charlie couldn't wait to tell me about you two going out on a date. She is so mad about this, it's unreal."

"She is?" I asked.

"Danny, she's been waiting for you to ask her out on a date since before you...."

I stared into nothingness. "Were burned?"

I heard Becca's sharp intake of breath. "Yes."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"She told me not to. I'll tell you this though; she would have said yes if you'd have asked her to go with you to the senior prom."

That single revelation had me stunned. It would be later, the more that I thought about it, that I understood more about why Becca had lead the revolt against Jane.

"Hey, are you still there?"

"But she was going out with that Dave guy," I croaked. I hadn't liked him since I was invited home by Becca one afternoon and found Charlie and her guy sunning themselves on the deck. He had come across as a serious buttfuck.

"He was just a friend." No, I argued in my head, he was a buttfuck.

"You should have told me," I said finally.

"Danny, I just did. I'll also tell you this. If you hurt Charlie I'll chop off your dick and beat you with it." I swallowed as a very vivid image appeared in my mind.

I laughed. I heard Becca's laughter too.

"You wouldn't do much damage with it."

"That's not what I've been told."

"What?" I yelled.

"And don't be late picking her up." Becca cut the call. I could still hear her laughing from across town. I was late getting to my next class.

I was easily able to swap shifts at the gas station; something that Uncle Bob turned a blind eye to just as long as the station was manned. There was no one home when I arrived. Leaving my bike in the garage I entered through the kitchen. The house was silent. I hurried to my room. I lay on the bed and closed my eyes for an hour. Waking I stared at the bedside alarm until the time pierced my brain. I was late. Quickly showering I headed out. Neither Mom nor dad was home when I left.

I dialled Mom's cell but it was switched off. I left a voice mail message and added that she could call me any time.

Charlie and Becca were sitting on the swing set on the front deck when I pulled up in the street outside their parents' home. Sliding from behind the wheel they were heading down the garden walk as I walked around the hood, arriving at the passenger door with just enough time to open the door.

"You're late," announced Becca.

"He's not," Charlie answered instantly and then turned to me. "Don't pay her any attention Daniel. You're not, you are exactly on time."

In truth, I knew that I was early. It didn't bother me because Charlie had spoken.

Have I told you about Charlie? I guess I mentioned that she was Becca's older sister. She was and is by all of eleven minutes. Charlie mentioned that for those eleven minutes was the only time that she had her mother's complete attention.

The day we met at junior high I could tell them apart. They may have been identical twins but I knew Becca from Charlie. People asked me how but I couldn't tell them as I'm sure that they wouldn't believe me if I did. They tried to fool me one time. It didn't work and they both stopped talking to me for three weeks after their trick backfired in the school cafeteria. It was Charlie that made the first move to bridge the gap between us when, during one lunchtime, she walked past the table where she usually sat with the want-to-be cheerleaders and sat at the geek table, taking the seat next to me. Not to be out done by her sister Becca plonked herself in the seat on my other side.

"You look really nice," I said to Charlie.

"Nice!" Becca cried out. "She looks nice? What kind of word is that?"

I felt my embarrassment burning across my scarred cheek. I had to turn away.

"Can't you just leave Daniel alone? Why do you have to spoil everything?" Charlie's sad voice struck me deep in my chest.

"Sis I..."

"We should get going," I interrupted. Becca gave me a strange look as if I had two heads. Instinct took over and I turned to hide my scars. I know that Becca realised what I had done; she had witnessed it too many times when we had been out. Only this time she was the person that I was hiding from.

I closed the passenger door and hurried around to climb behind the wheel. I heard Becca talking to her sister through the glass but paid little attention as I fired up the engine.

"Danny..." Becca called out as we pulled away from the curb. I caught Charlie looking in the mirror to see Becca standing on the sidewalk where we had left her.

I drove in silence as Charlie fought unsuccessfully to stop her tears.

"Why does she hate me," said Charlie finally. It took it to be rhetorical because, for one thing, I didn't have an answer.

I turned left at Mason when I should have turned right. Watching the movie was now a bad idea. Instead I was heading for the baseball diamond. It was the place where I had gotten hurt and where I also sought solitude and peace of mind. There were half a dozen cars parked in the lot and I purposefully parked at a distance from them. Turning off the engine I finally spoke.

"Becca called me during the lunch break." I knew that I had Charlie's attention now. I could feel her eyes on me. "She was fit to bust as she told me that it was about time that the two of us were getting together."

"She was?"

Charlie was asking for reassurance.

I nodded. "She also threatened me that if I hurt you than she was going to hurt me."

Charlie laughed and cried. It was a strange, strangled sound that filled the truck cab. I couldn't help but smile.

Suddenly Charlie must have realised that we weren't at the Quadrant.

"Where are we?"

I grabbed my cell and punched in the number for Rossi's. I ordered two pizza, loaded, no anchovies and no olives, and sodas to be delivered to the ballpark lot. The order arrived inside fourteen minutes. One minute later and they would have been free. It could have been me but they were the best tasting pizzas yet. When I looked over at Charlie she had tomato sauce on her chin as she took another slice. I guess it wasn't me after all.

"This was a better idea than a movie," Charlie commented.

"It's not the classic first date," I answered.

Charlie laughed, "Daniel, we've been friends like forever, so we know each other. First dates are like interviews and this was never going to be a typical first date. This is way better."

I didn't answer.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," I replied.

"Why did you agree to go out on a date with me?"

"Why did you ask me out on a date?" I countered. I could see that my answered had knocked her confidence.

"I said yes because I wanted to be here on a date with you." Charlie smiled warmly. "I don't ask people out because I look like this."

Charlie angrily slapped my arm.

"Don't you dare think like that," she yelled at me. "If they can't see what a handsome man you are then more fool them and it's their loss and my gain."

I looked surprised.

"So you have plans for more than this date?"

Charlie's flushed with embarrassment.

"So what if I have?" she fired at me defensively.

"No worries, just wanted to know in case Mom asks me what's going on between us. I won't lie to her so I guess that I should say that you are my girlfriend."

"Then that would make you my boyfriend," Charlie added.

"It's OK with me if it's OK with you?" Charlie nodded. I smiled. I had a girlfriend.

"There's one thing though." I heard the other shoe hit the floor with a reverberating and thunderous crash.

"I've been accepted to USC on the early graduate scholarship." I was pleased and saddened at the same time.

"That's great news."

Evidently I didn't see what Charlie was searching for.

"What about you and me?"

Charlie was staring out of the windshield. I could see that her hands were tightly clasped. The knuckles on her left hand were visible and white. I unfastened my restraint. Grabbed the empty pizza box and shoved it on to the dashboard and slid across the bench seat.

"I was assuming that there would still be a 'you and me'. Unless you thinking something different?"

Charlie leaped from her seat and straddled across my lap. All uncertainty and her doubts were cast out of her mind as she mashed her lips to mine. Charlie literally and figuratively took my breath away. I felt her take my hand and move it to her breast. She then covered my hand with hers to prevent its escape.

Wow, I thought, I'd reached Second Base.I'd never even managed a hit in my short little league career. Maybe I was a late starter.

There was now something I could master at the baseball park. Charlie let out a soft moan and pushed the tip of her tongue into my mouth.

"God, I'm so turned on." Her voice was muffled by mine as she spoke. Charlie's fingers were clawing at my hair as she fed hungrily on my lips.

"Oh God!"

I felt her push my hand inside her shirt. My fingers instinctively curled around, to cup her bra encased breast. I felt Charlie squirm on my lap and felt a hard ridge pressing into my groin. I pushed my hips forward on the seat and felt her push back. I was a hard as granite.

"My God Daniel," she moaned. "Love me."

I caressed her breast and felt the growing hardness of her nipple. Sliding my thumb over the hard raisin I felt it grow erect. Charlie pushed down with her hips. Her hand moved between us and I felt her free her breasts from her bra. I slid her nipple between my fingers and pinched it gently.

Charlie moaned again.

I felt Charlie release her hands from between us and then thrust them between our gyrating hips. Her hands went to my denims. She popped the buttons with expert fingers. I felt my cock leap for freedom. Charlie plunged her hand inside my denims.

"My God, it's bigger than I imagined."

"What!"

Charlie was staring into my face.

"Yours is my first," she said meekly.

I leaned forward and kissed her soft open lips.

"This is mine too."

Charlie's eyes opened wide. "I heard that you and Jane..."

I shook my head before she could finish and replied, "I heard that you and that college guy did it after the Senior Prom."

Charlie didn't answer immediately.

"He had planned it all but I didn't let him."

I closed my eyes and whispered, "thank you God."

"He wasn't who I wanted to be with."

I tenderly kissed her lips.

The inside of the truck was suddenly filled with light. The first thought to invade my mind was the police and how would I explain this to Charlie's parents.

I had enough time to push Charlie off me and fasten my denims before a shadow moved outside the truck. Mom's face suddenly appeared at the passenger door. Before I knew what was happening Charlie was being bundled into the Jeep. Mom ran around to my side of the truck.

"Mom, what's going on?"

"Slide over," she ordered. "I'm driving."

I stared at her for a few moments and then, slowly, unclipped my restraint and slid across the bench seat. I fastened the passenger belt as Mom started the engine. The underside of the body was peppered with gravel as Mom slammed the gear shift into reverse and stamped her foot down hard on the accelerator. Making a 180 she pulled out of the parking lot and tailed Aunt Paula's Jeep. We were heading in the opposite direction to where we lived.

As I watched her I realised that I hadn't seen the woman behind the wheel. She was focussed beyond anyone I had ever seen. Her eyes seemed to see everything and look everywhere. She was seeing the road ahead and the road we had travelled. We turned into the street where Charlie lived and pulled to a halt four door down. Mom shifted in her seat.

"I need your cell phone." He hand was outstretched. I handed her the phone and watched dumfounded as she removed the back cover and pull out the battery and SIM card. She then dropped the pieces into a plastic bag, which disappeared from sight.

I looked through the windshield and saw Aunt Paula walk with Charlie to her front door. She went inside and then reappeared at the door with Charlie's Mom and Dad. Aunt Paula spoke quickly and then ran to her Jeep. Aunt Paula lit off from the kerb. Mom stomped on the gas and followed, keeping about ten car distance from the fender. Glancing in the wing mirror I caught sight of a silver Ford SUV pull in behind us. I could see Uncle Bob behind the wheel.

I remained silent during the remainder of the journey. We headed towards Denman, taking the exit for the waterfall and then taking a quiet road into the hills. Finally we reached our destination; the Den River Inn. Uncle Bob unloaded three cases from the trunk of the SUV. They contained his and Aunt Paula's clothes in two of the cases. Mom's and my belongings were in the third and largest case. We entered the hotel as a group and Uncle Bob and Aunt Paula checked us in. We would have three rooms on the first floor, 23, 25 and 27. Uncle Bob gave Mom the key card to 25 and the passed the key card for 27 to Aunt Paula.

The atmosphere was strained. When Mom started to walk towards me I turned away and waited at the door to the room. Mom opened the door and entered first. I waited.

"Better get inside Danny." I looked at Uncle Bob.

"Do as Bob says," added Aunt Paula. I turned and looked at her. They were standing just behind me. I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Not until someone tells me what is going on."

I was firmly shoved in the middle of the back. I stumbled over the case and crashed face first to the floor. Scars and carpets do not play well together. The burning in my face quickly spread across my jaw. I slapped away the hands trying to help me up. Uncle Bob was standing at the door, now closed. Mom and Aunt Paula were closer; they were standing at the end of one of the twin beds in the room. It was their hands that I had slapped away.

"Way to go you asshole," I said in a cold angry voice. Mom took a step forward. "Just leave me alone."

She took another step.

"I can't do that."

I shook my head. "The hell you can't. There are two other rooms, use one of them."

"I can't do that."

I closed my eyes.

"Why? What the hell is so vital that I can't be alone after the crap that you three have just put me through?"

"Paula, can you order room service." Mom took charge. "Have you eaten?"