CHASING CHARLIE GRAY

16

"You wanna go to a party?

It was a random Friday after school and Charlie was hovering over me doing my makeup.

"How does someone without a phone even find out about parties?" I peeked my eye open to look up at her.

"I have my sources" She hummed.

"So you wanna?" She asked again.

"Sure but I probably won't be much fun"

"And why not?" She brushed over my nose teasingly causing me to scrunch up my face.

"I don't do well around large groups of people plus I'm a terrible drunk"

"Terrible how? "

"Needy" I admitted, rubbing my neck against my shoulder in embarrassment.

"I'll take care of you" She whispered softly down my ear, and I froze up as she pressed a soft kiss to my cheek before getting off me.

Ever since 'the incident' she'd kept her promise and stayed away or as far away as she could but the trouble was, I didn't want her to but I hadn't come up with a way to tell her that.

She'd hug me, kiss my cheek and touch me as normal but never crossing the invisible line she had created for herself.

"Come pick something out" She stood in front of her open closet, rifling through clothes.

By the time we were ready the sun had long since set and the air outside was chilly.

Charlie locked the front door and we headed to my car without a word and it was once I sat behind the wheel that something clicked.

"Wait if I'm drinking, how are we getting back?"

"I don't drink" She said nonchalantly, pulling her seat belt over her chest.

"But your not supposed to drive"

"I won't tell if you don't" She grinned at me.

She gave me the address and it wasn't far at all, maybe 15 minutes away. We listened to music on the way, Charlie laid her head on the window looking at the passing lights outside.

When we got to the house, it was very noticeable that a party was going on. There were people in the front yard hanging about with red solo cups in hand or straight up bottles of beer or the hard stuff.

"You ready?" She asked when we were parked.

I nodded.

Charlie grabbed my hand leading me through the throng of people and into the house.

Somewhere along the way I'd forgotten that Charlie Gray was indeed an Olympic swimmer, who was beautiful and friendly and would be popular with people our age. She said Hi to everyone while continuing to the kitchen at the same pace, keeping a firm grip on my hand.

"Pick your poison" She called, making her way over to the counter.

"Anthing is fine"

"Let's start off soft then" She poured beer into a cup and stretched it out to me. Before I could take it she pulled back.

"When's the last time you took any medication?"

"Monday" She handed the cup over.

"Aren't you supposed to be taking them regularly though?"

"I should which is why it probably doesn't work much, I don't like the way I feel on them"

"Well how do they make you feel?"

"Like the world is moving fast and I'm in slow mo" I took a sip of the beer and she laughed at my reaction.

She looked behind me and her face went stoic before she turned back to me. Charlie started to say something to me but the sound of Kate screaming cut her off.

"Oh my god Charlie!" She rushed over, pulling Charlie into a hug who looked so done with the interaction already.

"Fancy seeing you here" She sounded like a middle class suburban mom who ran into their neighbor at the grocery store and the thought made me chuckle but I tried to cover it up by gulping down the contents of my cup. Clearly I wasn't fast enough because Kate turned to me next with a not so nice look on her face.

"Oh I remember you, you're that weirdo from school who tried to ask me about Charlie. Is this your new girlfriend?" ignoring her completely, Charlie turned to me with raised eyebrows and a smirk.

"Don't get so cocky, it was before I met you. I was trying to get your number for the project" I dismissed chugging the rest of my beer before moving to get some more. The world tilted slightly and I grabbed the counter in front of me to stabilize myself.

"Drunk already?" Charlie laughed.

"Not quite but heading there pretty soon, I maybe should've mentioned that I'm a lightweight"

"The more I learn about you, the funnier you get"

After Kate realized she was being ignored she rolled her eyes before leaving the kitchen.

The party had died down a bit, we hadn't exactly arrived at the start anyway. We spent alot of time just talking and laughing. Charlie was trying to feed me m&m's earlier but my balance was off. She was sitting on the counter and my head was in her lap, the world was spinning and she was the only thing keeping me grounded.

"Are you okay?" She asked, running her hand gently down my hair.

"Nooo" I could tell my speech was slurred and if I tried to say anything else it would be unintelligible.

"Okay that's enough, time to get some water in you" She got down off of the counter slowly and I latched on to her.

Charlie grabbed a water bottle from the fridge before going back to the counter and sitting down and I followed, standing in between her legs.

She uncapped the bottle before trying to put it to my mouth but there was no way I would be drinking it.

Her eyes hardened at my refusal and she tried to force my head still but I wasn't having it.

She drank some of the water

"See? It's okay"

She tried again and made a sound of disapproval when I refused.

She scoffed, drinking some more water before filling her mouth up with it and angling my head under her, I opened my mouth obediently.

"Fountain!" I cheered and she laughed, wiping the little droplets that had never made it to my mouth.

"Did I just see what I just saw!" Kate was back.

"Go away kate" I mumbled, rubbing my head on Charlie's chest.

"Yeah, go away kate" she repeated.

"That's honestly so gross!" She shrieked.

I tugged on Charlie's shirt.

"Can we go home? She's making my head hurt" I complained.

"Sure thing" And just like that, she got down, grabbed my hand and we were heading back to the jeep.

"Did you have fun?"

I couldn't do much more than hum before I was slouching back against the seat, intent on napping until we got home.