Charleston Downs

Leviticus Also Lies

That night I turned the pages of Charlie's sketchbook over and over in my mind, continuously returning to the same page. My pencil face staring back at me, his carefully drawn eyes piercing deep into my consciousness and his charcoal voice whispering to me - taunting me. I sat up in my cold bed, glancing over at the digital square that read 3:54am, I huffed and sank down into the covers. It was too early to get up and too late to go back to sleep.

Molly blew in through the french doors early in the morning, in a chrysalis of towels and robes.

"You didn't realise our garden joins straight to yours? There isn't even a fence, there's actually a path right behind those bushes." She pointed, pleased with herself. Her smile seemed wider without the frame of her deep red lipstick. "I just wanted to give you this for the party." She handed me a red geranium, "it's for your lapel, it'll match the one in my hair." She planted a kiss on my lips and breezed out again.

Molly had engraved into my working memory the events of tonight and their specific order. This had led to my being fully dressed and ready a full hour before I needed to be. I sat in the kitchen gazing at the wall clock wishing away the hour, like a painting in a gallery framed by the granite countertops. I sat by the breakfast bar projection on an old wooden stool, accompanied by a second lonesome stool. Suddenly, I heard a feverish tapping and looked around to spot Charlie knocking at the french doors. I let him in.

"Molly just sent me round to let you know she's running a little late, she'd prefer if you came round a quarter of an hour later."

I didn't mean to, but I let out a heavy sigh.

"I know." Charlie smirked, "Molly can be a handful when it comes to social occasions."

"I didn't realise the importance of arriving fashionably late to your own party - but not too late!" I laughed.

Charlie was about to leave but I asked him to stay, "Can I get you something to drink?" I offered, removing two beers from the inside door of the silver refrigerator before I'd received an answer. I couldn't bear waiting a further 45 minutes alone. Some people actually enjoy spending time in their own company. I'm not one of them, time alone reminds me of who I really am.

Charlie confessed he wasn't much of a drinker, but took the beer all the same. He sipped cautiously at the bitter liquid while I tried to divulge more information about the mysterious boy. I was eager to find an explanation for the sketch that had plagued my thoughts for the past day, but unwilling to directly mention it - so I asked him about his hobbies.

Charlie seated himself on a dark, wooden kitchenette stool and leaned casually against the granite countertop. His teal corduroy trousers were slightly too short and exposed his sockless ankles, his shirt was a light blue and white pattern, rolled up sleeves and loosely buttoned missing the top two and exposing his pale chest. He moved the brown bottle from his soft lips and slid it onto the countertop, gently dancing his long fingers around the neck.

"You don't really want to know about my hobbies, do you? That's boring." He picked up the bottle again and swigged.

"You're good at the piano." It came out as more of a desperate plea than I intended. Charlie looked at me down the length of the bottle.

"Mr. Sutcliffe, the piano is boring. So is art, that's another hobby of mine. Boring. In fact, my whole family is boring." His head lolled slightly and he drank again, finishing the bottle.

"I'm sure that's not true."

"Oh, it is!" He chimed, walking to the fridge and retrieving another bottle by himself. He flicked off the cap with the bottle opener, took a heavy gulp and then pointed unsteadily at me. "I want to talk about something interesting."

"What's interesting?" I asked, unsure where the conversation was going and playing the situation like a game of chess.

Charlie slumped back onto the stool, his floppy brown hair falling across his eyes. He took another swig from the second bottle and then swiped his curls up with his hand, revealing two orbs of deep green, they searched around with a hungry curiosity.

"You." He giggled and said it again. "You're interesting. Tell me about you." He leaned forward, head resting on hand, orbs questioning.

I smiled. "There's nothing to tell." I picked up my beer, still the first one, from the countertop and sat on the stool next to Charlie. "What do you want to know?"

The conversation collapsed into silence, for what seemed like an eternity we just looked at each other. Charlie gazed at me with his big, deep green eyes and the space between us seemed to grow smaller.

Charlie's lips met mine in a swift motion. His kiss was gentle and hesitant, he pulled away and focussed his green eyes on mine. I was too stunned to react and my mind too cluttered with aversion therapy. I was powerless. He leant in and kissed me again, now more passionately. He wrapped his arms around me. I felt his soft lips against mine. "We can't." I tried to whisper, but it was lost in the echo of the shattering of my beer bottle, fracturing into lots of little shards, splintering across the kitchen floor.

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Now that's a twist I bet you didn't see coming! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, please vote to show your support! Also comment to let me know you were here and what you thought! :-) Happy Reading!