Homeomorphism - Step 0

Charlotte was having trouble getting it out. She knew that Hayley would agree to anything she said right now. It would be so easy to take her back to the house. To seduce her. Take advantage of her. Ruin her.

That was the plan.

It had always been the plan.

But now, all of a sudden, ruining Hayley didn't seem so easy.

Charlotte didn't get along with others. She was abrasive and judgmental, always searching for the worst in people, unwilling to let them get close. But, despite her best efforts, there were still some who managed to sneak through the cracks. Her father and brother, of course. Avery, whom Charlotte had met in middle school and bonded with over their shared cynicism and criticality. Mia, who had forced her way through Charlotte's prickly exterior, shielded by nothing but her infectious optimism and warmheartedness. And now Hayley.

Charlotte had felt it growing within her since their first meeting, but it was tonight that she finally understood why. She had anticipated Hayley's confession. She wasn't sure when it would come, but she knew it would, so she had prepared exactly how she would react, equipped to exploit it to its full extent. But when it had actually happened, her behavior wasn't practiced. The joy she felt, the smile she couldn't contain, was real. Nobody had ever trusted Charlotte as much as Hayley did in that moment. She was so open. So vulnerable. It made Charlotte feel wanted. Needed. Loved.

Charlotte had already made a mistake by kissing Hayley earlier. Not because she didn't want to - God, she wanted to - but because it was too early. As close as they had grown, Charlotte realized that she still wasn't familiar enough with Hayley's insecurities to avoid hurting her if their relationship became physical. If she invited her over now, Charlotte was terrified of what it would mean. What Hayley might interpret it as.

Charlotte's thoughts were interrupted by a small voice.

"I could come over?" Hayley asked, sounding unsure of herself.

Charlotte's heart raced. She wanted to say yes. So badly, she wanted to say yes. But the word scared her.

"Um...if you do, I wouldn't...try anything. I promise. I just thought we could lie together and keep taking maybe?"

Hayley laughed innocently, sounding almost embarrassed at the suggestion. "I know you wouldn't try anything."

Guilt washed over Charlotte, suffocating her.

"I- Do you really want to?"

"I really want to," Hayley whispered, lifting her head from Charlotte's chest, "let me text Soph so she doesn't worry."

***

The energy in the car was one of giddy excitement as the girls drove back to Charlotte's house. As they walked inside, Hayley couldn't help but express her awe.

"Jesus Charlotte, this place is nice. You live her alone?"

"Yeah, it's my dad's," Charlotte replied dismissively, clearly disinterested in the subject.

Hayley took the hint, grabbing Charlotte by the shoulder and pulling her inwards playfully before venturing off on her own. She wandered around the house, inspecting every corner of every room, as Charlotte got ready for bed. It was significantly cleaner than Hayley had expected, almost meticulously so. Charlotte emerged after half an hour, freshly showered, with a spare pair of clothes draped over her arm.

"I have these for you, I think they'll fit. You can use a pair of my shorts too, if you want, but I promise you don't need to."

Hayley took the clothes, including the shorts, from Charlotte's outstretched hands with a shy smile. Even though Charlotte knew her secret, Hayley still felt safer with a pair of shorts on as she slept.

"Is it okay if I take a shower, too?"

"Of course."

Hayley stepped out of Charlotte's bathroom dressed in a t-shirt and pajama shorts that would be baggy on Charlotte but fit Hayley well.

"Do you own any clothing that's not black?" Hayley asked sarcastically.

"Gotta keep up appearances," Charlotte shrugged, flipping her jet black hair as she did.

Hayley slid into bed at Charlotte's invitation, the two girls immediately returning to the position they had been in at the top of the mountain. Charlotte on her back, holding Hayley who rested her head on Charlotte's chest. They talked for another hour, but as the night grew late, their conversation slowed, drowsiness setting in. They repositioned so Hayley was spooning Charlotte, a position that made her uncomfortable at first, holding her hips back so they wouldn't touch Charlotte.

"I can be big spoon if you want." Charlotte offered, turning her head over her shoulder.

"No, no, its okay. It's just...new for me." Hayley relaxed her core, letting her hips press gently against Charlotte.

"Hey Hayley?" Charlotte's voice sounded scared, the same way it did when she confessed so long ago.

What more could she have to reveal?

"Yeah?"

Charlotte didn't respond for a long time, the silence in the room growing as thick as the darkness.

"Never mind."

Hayley didn't push it, instead just tightening her hold.

***

Charlotte woke up late to the smell of pancakes. She emerged from her room groggily, unable to contain her smile at the sight of Hayley dancing faintly over the stove. Charlotte took a moment to admire her, watching her bare feet shuffle on the kitchen tile as swayed from side to side, her long brown hair, up in a ponytail and looking just as lustrous as ever, wagging back and forth. Charlotte crept forwards, taking advantage of the fact that Hayley had her headphones in to sneak up on her and scare her with a "boo!"

Hayley jumped backwards with a yelp, almost throwing her spatula.

"Don't do that!" she whined with a smile.

"Sorry, couldn't help myself," Charlotte smirked, leaning over the stove to take a whiff of the sweet aroma.

"Sorry, I kind of raided your kitchen."

"Are you kidding? You can come over and raid my kitchen whenever you want if it means I get pancakes cooked for me."

"Oh, you want some too?" Hayley asked, her tone mockingly apologetic. She opened the oven to display the impressive stack within. "Sorry...I didn't even think about you. These are all for me."

"Uh huh," Charlotte rolled her eyes with a smile, poking at Hayley's perfectly flat stomach, "you gotta make your lies believable, Strickland."

The girls spent the entire day together. They played games, forcing each other to do embarrassing things and reveal awkward secrets. They walked to a sandwich shop for lunch, Hayley opting for a salad despite Charlottes insistence that she "absolutely had to" try the Flying Dutchman. Hayley introduced Charlotte to Love Island, much to Charlotte's protest. Charlotte showed Hayley her tattoos, Hayley especially enamored by the large moth Charlotte had across her right ribcage, amazed that Charlotte got it "just because she thought it was cool." Eventually, after the sun had set, sitting leisurely on the carpet of Charlotte's living room, they got on the topic of school.

"Wait, wait, wait," Charlotte said in disbelief, "how the fuck do I not know your major."

"Oh my God," Hayley laughed, "I totally don't know yours either."

Charlotte threw her hands up in astonishment. "We've talked, like, nonstop for the past month. What the fuck?"

Hayley shrugged acceptingly. "Well, I'm-"

"Ooh wait, no, no!" Charlotte interrupted her. "I want to guess."

"Mmmkay," Hayley said with a smile, leaning backwards onto her hands.

"Okay, lets see." Charlotte looked Hayley up and down, studying her intently, as if there was some clue hidden on her body that would give away the answer.

"You're fit as fuck, so I'd say nutrition, but I feel like I've heard the other girls on the team talk about how smart you are before, so it's gotta be more intense than that. I'll go...microbiology?"

"Nope," Hayley shook her head with a grin, "but I've taken a micro class before if that helps."

"Hmm...chemistry?"

"Colder."

"Physiology?"

"Mmm..warmer."

Charlotte screwed her eyes shut tightly, thinking as hard as she could.

"...neuroscience?"

"Yep. That's one of them," Hayley beamed, proud of Charlotte.

"One of them?" Charlotte yelled in astonishment. "What else?"

"I'm doubling in Neuroscience and Computer Science."

"Oh my God," Charlotte looked at Hayley with a sneer, "you are a fucking nerd." Hayley smiled bashfully, taking it as the compliment she knew it was. "Why'd you choose both?"

"I don't know...because I could?" Charlotte looked at Hayley quizzically. "I just...have this thing where I need to prove I can do anything. Everything. So I just chose two that I thought would be hard. To be honest, I don't really even like either one, not very much, at least."

"I can't even imagine you in a computer science class. All the guys in there must drool all over you."

Hayley rolled her eyes, but she didn't deny it. "Okay, my turn."

Charlotte sat up straight, presenting herself gleefully as Hayley began to mull over her options.

"Hmm...engineering?"

Charlotte's mouth fell open. "What the fuck? How'd you know that?"

"Well, you're smart. You're clearly methodical," Hayley motioned to the pristine living room surrounding them, "but I know you're creative too..." Hayley paused, giving Charlotte one last up and down, "so...engineering."

"Damn," Charlotte fell backwards in defeat.

"Mechanical or electrical?" Hayley asked.

"Um, aerospace, obviously" Charlotte said sassily, lifting her head to look at Hayley like she was stupid.

"Woah." Hayley's filled with awe.

"Nah, just kidding. Mechanical. I actually did electrical for a little while, but that was just to learn the basics, it wasn't really what I wanted."

Hayley nodded, her eyes glued to Charlotte's, wordlessly encouraging her to elaborate.

"I, um, just had a lot of ideas when I was little. Ideas for machines and stuff. Machines that could..." Charlotte trailed off. "Just random stuff. So, I wanted to do something that would teach me how to make them real. And then I learned about mechanical engineering and I thought it sounded like the coolest job in the world."

"And?"

"And...turns out the degree itself is boring as fuck. But so is everything, and it has actually taught me how to build stuff, so I think I made the right choice." Charlotte paused, looking unsure of herself. "I...um...actually build stuff in the garage sometimes...if you wanna see?"

Hayley sprung to her feet excitedly, making Charlotte smile. "Obviously I want to see."

The girls walked through the kitchen into the garage, Charlotte leading the way and Hayley trailing eagerly behind. As expected, the room was assembled neatly and deliberately, every one of Charlotte's tools, sketches, or scraps of metal having its own assigned spot. Hayley took her time, stopping before each and every piece, admiring Charlotte's craftsmanship with wonder and amazement, eventually reaching the far corner of her workbench where, hidden beneath a shadow, a shiny piece of metal glinted. Intrigued, Hayley picked it up.

"Um, Charlotte?" Hayley turned around, doing her best to mask the mischief on her face with an innocent curiosity. She held in her hand a small, hollow cylinder, polished to a shine. It was curved, with the end slightly bulbous, looking remarkably like a soft penis. "What's this?"

Charlotte's face turned bright pink as she rushed over to Hayley and lunged for the apparatus held between her fingers. Hayley quickly raised her hand, ensuring that it remained well beyond Charlotte's reach. That didn't stop Charlotte from hopping up and down, pawing at Hayley's body in a futile attempt to retrieve it.

"Hayleyyy," she whined "give it to meee."

"Nope. Not until you tell me what it is."

Charlotte shrunk away, biting her lip nervously. "I don't...it's not..."

Hayley gave her no reprieve, only a smirk. "Come on Thompson," she said, mocking Charlotte's tendency to call Hayley by her last name, "spit it out."

"I- it- its for a sculpture I'm making."

Hayley lowered her arm slowly, her expression a mix of surprise and intrigue. "You're making a sculpture?"

"I...um..." Charlotte sprang quickly towards Hayley, snatching the metal penis from her hands in the blink of an eye and throwing it haphazardly into an open drawer. She spun around, a look of accomplishment on her face. "Ha!"

Hayley nodded begrudgingly, admitting her defeat.

"Are you really making a sculpture?"

Charlotte shrugged. "Guess you'll have to wait and find out, Strickland. Now come on, get out of here before you find the life sized robot I made that looks like you." Hayley giggled, turning on her heels and walking out of the garage.

"You know what show you'd love?"

"Please don't say Love Island again. I'll kill myself if I have to spend another second watching hot people complain about living with other hot people."

Hayley cackled. "No, not that." She spun around to face Charlotte, walking backwards. "Lego Masters."

Charlotte stopped dead in her tracks, squinting at Hayley with disbelief bordering on disgust. "What the fuck did you say?"

"Lego Masters!" Hayley reiterated passionately. "It's this one where they-"

"No, no, hold on. Excuse me. You watch a show about Legos? The children's toy?"

"Yeah!" Hayley's face was marked by pure excitement. "It's basically like a baking show, but instead of baking, they have to build stuff out of Legos! Sometimes it gets really technical and I think you'd enjoy seeing how they do it!"

Charlotte couldn't sustain her exaggerated revulsion. While the thought of Hayley, one of the most sophisticated women Charlotte had ever met, sat before a television watching grown men play with Legos had truly shocked her, it didn't last for more than a moment. The delight in her voice and on her face were too pure, as if the only thing she could focus on was the fact that she would get to share one of her favorite shows with Charlotte. It was an innocence that Charlotte hadn't seen before, an innocence that signaled Hayley's comfort, making Charlotte happy. A smile crept across her face.

"Okay, deal."

Hayley squeaked in joy.

"But if we're gonna do this, we need to get some wine first."

"Oh, yes, good idea."

"There's a grocery store down the road," Charlotte offered, "we could honestly walk there."

Hayley nodded, but quickly stopped, her eyes growing wide in excitement. "Oh wait! I have a better place. It's on campus so we'd have to drive there but trust me it's worth it."

Charlotte gave Hayley a look of eager curiosity. "Okay, I'll bite."

As they pulled into the parking lot of Cosmopolitan Liquor, Charlotte's confusion only grew. The store was rundown, looking like it hadn't been property serviced in years. "What, do they do a student discount here or something?"

"Just watch," Hayley said with a smile.

Hayley strolled leisurely into the store, Charlotte close behind like a child following her mother.

"Hiya, mister!" Hayley shouted excitedly, catching Charlotte off guard.

"Oh, hey there!" The clerk shouted back with a smile.

"How ya doin" Hayley cooed as she walked towards the wine selection. Charlotte wasn't sure what was happening. Hayley's voice was ditzy, emulating that of a stereotypical sorority girl. For a moment, Charlotte assured herself that it was just the voice Hayley put on when she spoke to strangers, but Charlotte had heard that before, and Hayley never sounded any different.

"Oh, just fine. Is there anything I can help you ladies find?"

"Hmm, I dunno. Charlotte, what do you want?"

"Uh..." Charlotte's mind was elsewhere, trying desperately to process the situation. "Whatever. I'm fine with anything."

Hayley walked daintily up to the counter. Charlotte could see her lean conspicuously over the counter as she spoke.

"What would you recommend?"

"Oh boy, well, let me come have a look." The clerk inched his way past the counter and lumbered over to the wine selection, followed closely by a bouncing Hayley. They passed Charlotte on the way, still standing in the same place she had been when they entered.

"Let's see, let's see. This one is very popular, but this one is my personal favorite. This and that pinot over there."

"Hmm, this one is cute," Hayley said, picking out a bottle that the clerk hadn't even pointed at. "Is this one any good?"

"Oh yeah, that one's great. Not very sweet, though."

"Perfect," Hayley clutched the bottle to her chest, grabbing a second one and strolling back to the counter. She flashed a smile at Charlotte as she walked by, one brimming with wicked amusement. Charlotte smiled back reflexively.

The clerk shimmied his way back behind the counter and rang up the bottles.

"Do you have a girlfriend?" Hayley asked innocently. It wasn't something she would normally ask, but with Charlotte here, she wanted to show off.

"Me? Oh, no" the clerk laughed uncomfortably, "I don't think the ladies like me very much."

"Hey. Don't say that."

Charlotte's stomach turned. Hayley's voice, oozing with compassion and sympathy, was the exact same voice she used to speak with Charlotte. The voice that had whispered so tenderly in her ear. The voice that had comforted her. But now, as a bystander watching Hayley's interaction, it was so obvious to Charlotte that her tone was soaked in insincerity and malice.

The clerk had no idea, speaking to Hayley with so much friendliness. So much hope.

Just like Charlotte had.

The confusion Charlotte had been feeling since they walked in melted quickly into sadness, but that sadness was slowly evaporating atop a white-hot anger that raged beneath. Anger, not at Hayley, but at herself. Everybody was under Hayley's spell. Everybody. Charlotte was the only person who saw through her. The only person capable of exposing her for what she truly was. The only person who could stop her. And yet, from the very moment she first tasted the sweet satisfaction of Hayley's validation, Charlotte had been addicted. Obsessed with the possibility that Hayley might actually like her - need her - Charlotte had fallen, just like everybody else.

"Girls like strong men," Hayley continued. "I mean, strong ones. Not those dumb little frat boys that work out in flannel pajamas. I mean men. You know...the ones that can put us in our place." Her voice was sultry, dripping with eroticism, practically dirty talking in the middle of a liquor store.

Charlotte, driven by her overwhelming anger and a newfound sense of purpose, finally stepped forward so she was at the counter, leaning over it suggestively just as Hayley was doing. She was certain that she looked like a little girl standing next to Hayley, but she played into it, looking up and into the clerk's beady eyes with an innocence she rarely displayed.

Hayley looked beside her, Charlotte's presence boosting her confidence. She reached out, taking the clerk's big, meaty hand in both of hers, splaying his fingers and holding it up against hers.

"Mmm," she moaned, "see?" She held it up to Charlotte, whispering to her just loud enough for the clerk to hear, "can you imagine what this would feel like wrapped around your throat?" Charlotte smiled sheepishly, biting her lip and pretending to blush.

"Anyway," Hayley said, dropping his hand with a thud, acting like nothing had happened, "how much do we owe you?"

The clerk tried to speak but no words came out, only a wet cough. He was visibly sweating, more than usual, at least.

"Forty f-" he squeaked out, clearing his throat again. "On me."

"What was that?" Hayley asked, clearly having heard him, wanting him to say it again.

"You can- uh...these are on me, today."

"Oh my god!" Hayley bounced on her toes, "you're so sweet!"

"My plea- pleasure..."

Hayley snagged the bottles off the counter and spun around, seeing Charlotte do the same in her periphery, swaying her hips as she always did on her way out. "Bye, bye, mister" Hayley purred.