Bloodcurse

Michelangelo

Charlie doesn't break eye-contact as she takes a sip of the coffee I made her. There's lipstick on the paper cup when she places it down on the table again.

"You're Adam's brother?"

I nod, watching her bring the drink back to her lips.

"I knew it. Had to be him, my asshole brother wouldn't touch anyone else with a ten-foot pole."

"And you're..."

She narrows her eyes at me. "Careful now."

Jesus... she's terrifying when she wants to be. "You're... Charlie."

"Keen observation," she says sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "Adam never mentioned you."

Okay, that stings. "Well, he's not the only one good at keeping secrets."

Charlie sneers at me. "Tell anyone and I'll rip your balls off."

My brows shoot up. "I wasn't going to."

"Yeah, right," she growls, tapping her nails on the table. "Then what do you want?"

"I just want to talk," I admit, feeling weirdly shy all of a sudden. "I was surprised to see you here."

"How did you know who I am, anyway? Are you stalking me or something?"

I wince. "No... I had a feeling. You seemed familiar, somehow."

"Don't tell me Grayson showed you our childhood pictures," she says with a grimace.

"I only saw one picture," I tell her. "It was on Caden's computer."

Her expression instantly softens. "You know Caden? Is he doing alright?"

"Yeah, he's good, don't worry. Just really busy."

Charlie nods absentmindedly, seemingly forgetting to be hostile for a moment. "I haven't seen him in, like... forever."

"I'm pretty sure he misses you," I say delicately, not wanting to bring down her wrath on me once again. "You're his desktop background."

She smirks. "Liar."

I shake my head. "No, really! It's a picture of Grayson, Caden, his sister and you. Um, I think it was a birthday party or something?"

Her teeth show as she grins, and I'm momentarily mesmerized. "Oh, I know which one you mean... I have a copy of that somewhere. I look miserable, don't I?" She laughs softly. "You notice how my hands aren't showing in the picture?"

Trying to remember the details of the photo, I shrug at her as a vague idea forms in my mind. "Yeah, I think so. Why?"

Charlie leans back, taking a swig of coffee before she answers. "I had on bright pink acrylics. My parents didn't want them in the picture, so they made me sit on my hands."

"Wow, that's pretty messed up..."

She shrugs with a small sigh, and I notice her calm expression become more forced. "They never accepted me. It was always 'don't be such a sissy' or 'why can't you be more like your brother?'" She chuckles maliciously. "They were too dumb to see he wasn't any better than me, but I wasn't."

"You mean because he's gay?"

Charlie arches a brow. "What else?" She mimes a rainbow with her hands. "A fairy and a transsexual. My parents did a fantastically crap job raising us conservatively."

"They're in Indiana, right?"

She rolls her eyes and shrugs exaggeratedly. "How the fuck would I know? But yeah, last I checked. They're such hicks, they'd probably die before leaving their home state."