The Collector.

Red Dress

I pull up in Jellybean at exactly 9:00pm.Fighting the urge to honk,I kill the engine and walk to the door,the garment bag folded over my arm.

After Calum left my hotel room,I decided on classing it up for the party.I'm sporting my black dress shirt-sleeves rolled up,of course-dark jeans,and my red Chucks.Even sprayed on my favourite scent.If Charlotte doesn't dig my get up,I'll expose her for what she is:asexual.

Grams opens the door after I've knocked only once.I guess she was expecting me.Her eyes drink me in,and a smile finds her mouth."If I didn't know better," she says,"I'd think the devil just showed up on my doorstep."

Normally I'd laugh my ass off at the irony of this statement,but I'm strung out,so I feel like shoving a bright light in her face and screaming,"What do you know?!"

Instead ,I smile as Grams puts an arm around my shoulder and lead me inside.I'm wondering if there'll be a moment when Charlotte glides down the stairs like she's a completely different person. But nothing like that happens. Charlotte is sitting at the kitchen table to my right when I walk through the entryway. She's eating a bowl of cereal, looking like she always does -unkempt.

I walk into the kitchen with Grams hovering way too close. Charlotte pushes her bowl away and stands up. There's an awkward moment where we half-hug  and half-fumble. Then Charlotte spots the garment bag over my arm.

"What's that?" Her eyes widen.
"It's for you, " I answer, holding it out to her. "Open it. "

Charlotte takes the garment bag and unzips the front .When she pulls out the red dress, Grand groans this long, " Ohhhhhh myyyy lorrrrrdddd. "

"You got this for me? " Charlotte asks. I nod,and she twirls around with it held against her like she dis in the store. "Should I wear it tonight?"

"That's the idea dummy. "I say, sitting down at the kitchen table.

"Grandma? " she squeaks.

"I'm right behind you baby. "

Charlotte and Grams head up the stairs toward her bedroom. Why it takes two people to put one dress on one body is beyond me. Charlotte's bedroom door clicks shut, and a few seconds later, the doorbell rings. Grams sticks her head out and yells down the stairs, "Man Child! Can you get the door? "

I head towards the entryway and listen as Charlotte tells her grandmother not to call me Man Child. When I open the door, Micheal and Annabelle are standing on the other side. Michael is holding two movies and a pizza box. His pinched expression looks like he just smelled his own asshole.

I take a few steps away and say over my shoulder, "by all means, come on in."