Charlie Ch. 05-08

Chapter 5

Charlie's eyes felt like they had been glued shut. It took a herculean effort to open them. There was a steady stream of fuzz on the television screen. Nathan's legs were propped up on the coffee table. The pillow and her head were now completely in his lap. As the rest of her body gained a bit of consciousness, she realized that one of his hands was wrapped in her hair. The other one rested on the side of her body. She shifted her head slightly to look up at him. His head had lolled forward, and a small snore was coming from his lips. She smiled and held down a laugh as the snoring got progressively louder. Sleep wasn't done with her. She could feel her body beginning to give out on her again. Traitor!

She shifted onto her left side and snuggled her head further into the pillow. It was so warm. Nathan's head lolled back onto the edge of the couch. The hand in her hair began to gently rub her scalp. The hand on her side shifted with her and was now resting across her chest. Yeah, it felt like a brick laying on her chest, but it also gave a sense of security that she had come to appreciate within her best friend. She closed her eyes and drifted off again.

The next morning, Charlie woke in her own bed. Actually, she was laying on top of her covers. The blanket from the couch was sitting covering the lower half of her body. She sat up and tried to rub the sleep out of her eyes. It was then that she noticed that Nathan was sleeping in the chair in the corner of the room. He looked completely uncomfortable squished into the chair's confines. Her eyes darted over to the clock on the table next to her bed. Oh god! Thank you Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny! She had slept for 11 hours. She got off of the bed and walked over to Nathan. Charlie gently pushed his shoulder and whispered for him to wake up. Nothing!

Fine, he can wait. A shower was calling her name, and her toothbrush was absolutely singing about the joys of fresh breath! Leaving Nathan in the chair, she padded off to the bathroom. She closed the door behind her and began her earlier morning bathroom rituals. With the water running in the old claw foot bathtub, so it could heat up, she stripped out of her comfy clothes. Taking a moment to look in the mirror, she poked at the flesh around her belly. Too much of it! The whole container of kung pao wouldn't help either. Everything on her body was a little too big for her taste. Knowing her critical eye wasn't going to help her shed weight in front of the mirror, she climbed into the tub. The water sluiced down her back, wetting her hair. The comfort of the steam made her sigh. Taking a few moments to shampoo and condition her hair, Charlie enjoyed moving the water through her hair. Considering its length and how tedious it could be at times, it was one of those girl things to have long hair. It was one of those readily identifiable factors that people remembered about her. The real honesty is that most times she was too lazy to get to the hairdresser.

Then, there was the click. Her heart jumped and skipped about four beats.

"Nathan?"

"Yep, just need to splash some water on my face real quick."

"Can you wait for me to finish? A little privacy please!"

"What? Nothing I haven't seen before. Pipe down, pip squeak!"

Charlie froze in the shower. Sure, Nathan and she had been close enough friends for a long time, but there were some boundaries that they had never crossed. Holding hair while puking, okay. A hug after a good cry that comes with a bad break up, acceptable. Peeing with the door open, no! Sharing a toothbrush, hell no! Being in the same bathroom when one or the other was naked, a huge fucking no!

"Nathan, out of the bathroom. Now!" Charlie looked around the bathtub, and typical, there was nothing there to really help her feel less naked. A shampoo bottle and razor weren't going to provide much coverage.

"The corrections you inserted in my thesis were spot on. I've always have some problems with my comma usage."

"Nathan, you are an idiot when it comes to any punctuation. Get the fuck out of my bathroom!"

The panic in Charlie's voice had really begun to rise. Rule #1: Men don't see her naked. Ever. She didn't like being naked in front of herself. No need to impose that level of doom on another human being. Her heart pounded in her chest as small thought of "Get out!" repeated over and over again. She was going to kill him. Call 911.

Chapter 6

Nathan had pulled back the shower curtain and stepped into the shower with her. Granted, he was fully clothed, but the main idea was she was naked. Her throat began to close. Looking left and then right, there was no way out except through Nathan. Doing the only thing she could think of to shield her body, she stepped up and grabbed a hold of him. Her arms latched to his waist and pulled him in a hug.

"What's the big deal? I've seen you dress and undress for the past six years. We can discuss privacy when you begin dressing with your curtains closed." Nathan answered as he planted his hands on her hips.

Charlie gritted her teeth together. "You are doing wonders for my self-esteem right now. Get your hands off of me!"

"Self implies it come from you, within yourself." He removed his hands and let his arms dangle at his sides.

"Fine! You are doing nothing for my sense of modesty. We can get into a discussion about semantics at some other time, you asshole!" Charlie couldn't bring herself to let go of Nathan; that would mean more skin exposure than necessary. She felt his head begin to tilt down.

"Eyes on the ceiling, buddy!"

Nathan's head snapped back up. Charlie pulled her head away from Nathan's chest in order to make sure Nathan was complying with her request. His head was completely tilted back with his line of sight nowhere near her body. Charlie's heart continued to pound as she frantically tried to think of a way of how to get out of the tub without flashing an unnecessary skin. Shit! Shit! Shit!

"What now?" asked Nathan as he stood there breathing normally meanwhile she was sucking down gulps of air as fast as her lungs could process the oxygen. She could hear the edge of a chuckle in his voice. God, she was going to beat the crap out of him when this was said and done. He was not going to live through this experience. A jury of her peers, other women, would completely understand.

"I am trying to preserve my sense of dignity. Give me your shirt," she demanded. Her hands were moving up his back, trying to peel the shirt off of him from behind.

"I have to move my head to do that," Nathan responded. She felt his arms begin to move, and she lurched to hold onto him more securely. What she didn't expect was the small kiss that was laid on her forehead. Why the hell would he do that right now? What the hell!?

"Got you thinking about something else beside being naked," he whispered in her ear. Charlie dug her nails into his back as a reminder that he had a different task at hand.

"Okay! Okay!"

Nathan reached his arms up towards his head. She noticed he was doing the back of the shirt tug that many guys use to remove that particular piece of clothing. It came over the top of his head. Charlie started to have a moment in which she might be able to breathe. He pulled his arms out of the shirt rather awkwardly.

Now, there was a new problem. The cloth that was to be her guiding light and savior in this crap shoot was bunched up in front of her between them. There wasn't going to be a way to maneuver it without her putting some space between her body and his. Charlie grabbed onto the shirt and managed to wretch it free from the space between their bodies. Once the fabric was free, she began to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Mabel, I see the light, and I'm coming home.

"You know you are like the MacGyver of teasing," Nathan interjected as he rested his head back in his ceiling stare position.

"Am not." Charlie flipped her arm around in order to straighten out the now wet cloth. It was becoming an impossibility, but with her level of perseverance, anything could be accomplished. Slowly, but surely, the fabric was freeing itself, so it could hang normally.

"Well, you keep wiggling your naked body against me, and we will need to talk about the birds and the bees. You're not doing anything for my sense of modesty." It was at that moment that Charlie registered the feeling of something hard pressing against her stomach.

"You are a dead man!" Charlie hissed. She punctuated each word with anger as she continued to wiggle the fabric of the t-shirt free of itself. Once it was finally in the position she wanted it, Charlie pulled it closer to her body, quickly interjecting it between their bodies. She stepped back, hoping that it would at least cover enough of the naughty bits. So much for dignity. She was standing naked, barely covered with a wet t-shirt, her hair hanging in limp wet chunks. Yeah, her dignity has just rinsed down the drain.

"Now, get out!" Nathan couldn't mistake the level of fear and frustration vibrating in her voice.

Nathan began to move, and it only was the natural male instinct to let his eyes drift lower than Charlie would have liked. Sure, all of the funs parts were covered, but the gentle curve of her hips jutted out from the sides of the material. He was also seeing more leg than Charlie really ever exposed to anyone. When his gaze finally drifted back up to her face, her eyes were strained and pained. He only saw fear, frustration, and panic. She was actually trembling and biting her lip. All of it was more endearing that she knew, but he knew he had already pushed his luck over the edge of saving. He moved the shower curtain aside and stepped out of the bathtub.

Charlie's knees couldn't hold her any longer. She sat down on the floor of the bathtub and furiously rubbed her eyes. She wasn't going to cry about this. She wasn't going to cry about this. Not Nathan! Not the one last person in her life that she really felt like had not screwed her over in some shape or form. However, with this whole little stunt (and let's not forget his admission about watching her dress through the bedroom window), Charlie felt really alone in her shower. Alone and now cold as the hot water was running out. She heard the same click that came as a harbinger of doom for this whole situation. The door was closed, and she was really alone. The new click signaled the end of her current misery, and it gave her a green light to exit the shower.

Chapter 7

She wrung out the shirt and slapped it over the shower rod. She then reached out and grabbed her towel. A quick drag of the towel across her skin did the job. She used the towel to rub the extra water out of her hair. Thankfully, she had put her robe back in the bathroom. It felt like her mind had shut down. Nothing was making sense, and even her other thoughts felt like piles of rubbish. Why did Nathan get into the shower with me? Why did I eat the entire container of kung pao chicken? Should I add a dominatrix scene to the new novel? Again, nothing was making sense. Her brain was trying desperately to focus on anything but what had just happened.

Another saving grace. He wasn't in her room when she opened the bathroom door. She quickly skirted over the curtains that hung on either side of her window. Those fuckers were going to remain closed from now on. Her eyes quickly glanced up, and wouldn't you know it, Nathan was standing in his window. He was standing there with that Cheshire cat grin still covering his face. He had already changed out of his wet jeans and was holding them in his hand. Charlie flipped him the middle finger and pulled the drapes closed. Needing a couple moments to collect her thoughts, she sat on the edge of her bed. What the ever-living, fucking, holy hell, shoe-wearing dog just had happened?

Doing the best thing she knew, she decided that 1) she would kick the crap out of Nathan and 2) she was going to ignore this little stunt thereafter. That was the key, get back to normal. She still needed to type her pages for the day. Laundry was waiting in the downstairs. The plants in Deloris' apartment needed a good dose of TLC. There were things to be done. All of it would be done clothed.

Charlie grabbed her pair of jeans that she wore the day before and hefted them over her hips. Today was her favorite Lucky Charms t-shirt. It was soft and green and something comforting. She walked back into the bathroom and pulled a brush through her hair, probably brushing way too hard. Some large clumps of hair were showing up in the brush. Feeling a bit too trapped for her taste, she chucked the brush at the mirror. Better get this over with. She pulled the wet t-shirt off of the shower rod and made her way down the stairs. Wouldn't you know, the bastard was going to make it easy to kill him. The only problem was the bloody mess would be in her apartment not his.

Nathan was sitting at her kitchen table with a bowl of cereal. Charlie marched over to the table, snatched the bowl from its resting place, and threw the wet t-shirt in his face. He actually had the gall to sit there in shock and awe holding an empty spoon.

"Here's the deal. I am going to talk, rationally I hope. You are going to sit there like a good little boy who actually owns a brain. Comprende? Good. First of all, thank you for the sleep last night. I appreciate your willingness to help me. Next, not sure what fucking demon from hell possessed you to walk in my bathroom. I don't know what kind of brain aneurysm occurred for your mental capacities to completely lapse, but climbing into my bathtub with me was definitely wrong! What the fuck, dude? Are you serious? I would have never expected that from you. I thought you respected me and my personal space just a bit more than that." Charlie was pacing around the kitchen as she tried to keep her volume from moving into a flat out yell. She slammed the bowl of cereal into the sink.

"I thought . . ." Nathan started to speak. Charlie's head whipped around on her shoulders. The look in her eyes told Nathan that it would be better for him to close his mouth immediately. Thankfully, he did just that.

"Good call, asshole. I hope you got an eyeful. I also hope you enjoyed your last bowl of cereal. This is going to be the last time you walk into my apartment without so much as a fucking knock on the door. Guess what? Doors are being locked from now on. Fuck!" Charlie screamed the last word with clenched fists in the middle of the kitchen floor.

Nathan stood up quietly and pushed in the chair he was using. He walked over to Charlie, looking down into her eyes. They were the same smiling eyes that looked at her every day for the past six years. She tried looking for the hint of disgust at having seen her naked. She sure as hell tried to find the glimmer of remorse. Both weren't there. Just the same smiling Nathan eyes.

"Why? Why would you do that? Can you at least tell me what the fuck you were thinking?" Charlie demanded with her arms flailing at her sides. Nathan continued with his infuriating smile. He grabbed one of her pseudo-epileptic hands and pushed the spoon into it. Then, again without warning, he kissed her forehead. Charlie calmed and stopped her erratic movements. That forehead kiss was disarming. Now, she looked like an idiot in the middle of her own kitchen, holding a spoon.

"Text you later," Nathan tossed over his shoulder as he shut the door. Charlie's mouth flopped open like a gasping fish. Stamping her feet on the floor, she began screaming again. The only thing that broke her temper tantrum was the sound of the back door opening again. Nathan stuck his head in the door, and his hand curled around to the door handle from the inside. He pushed down on the small locking button. Another smile and he closed the door. Charlie, now completely enraged, hurled the spoon she had been holding at the closed door. Only to make herself feel better, she yelled "Asshole!" too.

Chapter 8

After two cups of coffee and one round through her writing song list, she managed to calm down enough to put her fingers to the keyboard. The sounds of Enigma put her into a sort of trance conducive for writing. The music was soothing, slightly exotic and erotic. It helped keep on track for finishing seven more pages. However, it became difficult to concentrate on her own music with "Apologize" from OneRepublic was blaring through her kitchen window. Shaking her head, she got up from her writing desk and made her way into the kitchen. Nathan was in his kitchen window with sunglasses on. His head swaying back and forth like Stevie Wonder while he belted out the lyrics for the song. Charlie so wanted to laugh, but she couldn't let him see that she had given in. Instead, she closed the window and lowered the blinds.

Returning to her writing desk, she did turn up the volume of her music. Enigma wasn't going to cut it anymore. She filled in her "Greatest Hits and Hurts" list. Some Pink, Jann Arden, Amanda Marshall, Rusted Root and the like. When the player got to "U + Ur Hand," she jacked up the volume. Maybe Nathan would realize that Charlie was not his form of entertainment. She needed something to help her get out some energy. Realizing she couldn't sit staring at the computer screen any longer, she decided it was time to start the laundry. As she was stuffing a load into the washer, she heard the beep of her cell phone. Rolling her eyes back into her head, she could only imagine what was waiting on her phone. She set the wicker laundry basket back on the floor and walked to her writing desk. The phone was flashing a message waiting signal.

Nathan: Sorry! Still love me?

Charlie: You? Yes, you are sorry pathetic and mean fuck off

He wasn't going to get out of the proverbial dog house that easy. Charlie sat back down at the computer and got back to work. It was about an hour later when the door bell at her back door rang. She leaned to the side to see the back door. No shadow, no one there. What the hell is he up to now? Charlie trudged over to the door and opened it. No one there, but when she looked down there was a cup of coffee and a small brown paper bag.

Nathan couldn't stand it when Charlie was mad at him and was already resorting to bribery measures. Charlie leaned down to grab the coffee and bag. When she stood up, she saw Nathan standing in the middle of the courtyard. His hands shoved in his pockets with a little-boy-lost look on his face. Charlie stepped back and shut the door with her foot. Nope, not giving in. She'd eat the muffin and drink the coffee anyway.

The rest of the day was as uneventful as possible. Her brain droned out the necessary pages of soft-core porn for her novel. Feeling bad that she was running her computer into heat exhaustion, Charlie turned it off for the evening. Maybe it was time to treat herself with some reading of her own.

Beep! Charlie picked up her phone to see what new message was waiting for her.

Nathan: Eat!

God, the boy could piss her off. She didn't need a caretaker. She knew when to eat, when to sleep. Just for that, she would forego dinner. Ha! Charlie snapped off the music that was playing next to her desk, grabbed her phone, and headed up the stairs. Since she would spend the rest of the evening sprawled on her bed with a book, there was no reason she couldn't jump into her comfy clothes. It was back to the usual—tank top, panties, and oversized robe.

She jumped onto the bed and settled onto her stomach. Swiping the book off of her night stand, she dropped it on the bed in front of her. Laying her head on her hands, she stared at the closed drapes. Her room felt different with them sheltering the window. It was smaller, more cramped. She felt almost disconnected, but then her mind drifted back to the scene within the shower. Nathan's head up and back against the shower wall, so he could look at the ceiling. Her feelings of being fat and inadequate flared up like a fire, and confirmed that it was a good thing that the drapes were closed.