After The Bet

10

"I lost the best thing that had ever happened to me. I lost her."

Cole

It had been weeks since I last saw her. I thought maybe I'd bump into her in the apartment halls, or even when we were getting ready in the joint bathroom that was shared between our rooms. Nothing.

Kristie wouldn't speak to me, no matter how hard I tried. Andy was my roommate, so he was almost obligated to speak to me. He wouldn't answer any questions regarding Charlotte's absence though.

Dylan also cut off contact with me. After that little weasel swooped in to take her home after that party we went to, he blocked all of my social media accounts and my number. He didn't show up to any of our gatherings. It was like he fell off the radar too.

I tried to keep my distance from my old group of friends as much as I could. They were a painful reminder of what I had done to lose her.

It wasn't all their fault though. I'm the one who recorded the video and showed it to them for a quick buck. Money didn't mean anything to me after she stepped out of my life. I lost purpose.

"Cole." Andy's lazy morning voice called to me, snapping me out of my daze. "You've been staring at the ceiling for half an hour now, go out and do something."

A small groan came from my lips. I kicked my feet over the side of my bed and hoisted myself up. With a slouched stance, I drug my feet towards the bathroom.

Looking in the mirror, I didn't even recognize myself. I had dark bags under my eyes from many restless nights. My dark hair was overgrown, and I was in desperate need of a haircut. My face started to have breakouts on it from the stress I caused myself. I looked dead.

I couldn't sleep. I needed to know what happened to her, but not even in a way to receive closure. I don't deserve closure. I just wanted to make sure she was okay.

Kristie opened her side of the bathroom door. Her hair was now dyed black and she had a few more tattoos. She chopped her hair off to her shoulders, but it was still the same Kristie who always took care of my former baby girl.

Her eyes were cold as they stared at me. She quickly turned her head to the sink to get her toothbrush. She didn't even stay in the bathroom, for she started walking out after she had toothpaste on the bristles.

I waited for her to come back in the bathroom. She had to know where Charlotte was. A couple minutes later, she came back in to spit her toothpaste out. She was about to turn away before I lightly put a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't touch me." She spat her words out as she roughly moved my hand off of her.

"Then stop ignoring me."

"I have every right to ignore you, don't act like you're the victim."

"I'm not the victim, I just want to talk." I sighed, looking at her with my best innocent puppy dog look I could pull.

"Don't give me the puppy eyes." Kristie snapped at me, raising her voice. "You hurt my best friend. You–"

The door on my side swung open, revealing a very grumpy looking Andy behind it. Unlike me, he was more clean cut looking. His hair was shorter now, and he had taken out his lip piercing.

"Pookie-bear, just come to ours if you want to cuss him out. It's been weeks now." Kristie furrowed her brows as she stormed past me.

"Pookie-bear?" I couldn't help but chuckle, but Andy just shrugged his shoulders.

We went back in our room, and Kristie was pacing the floor. Obviously she was upset and angry, you could practically see the steam coming out of her ears.

"I'm over here now, what do you want, âsshole?" She gave her best fake grin after she said that, continuing to pace.

"Look, Charlotte was your roommate. You have to know where she is."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"That's a load of bull, I know you know where Charlotte is." I clenched my fists as I spoke in frustration.

"Even if I did, I wouldn't tell you." Kristie spat back with the same level of aggression.

"Woah woah woah, I had her come over here so you guys could talk, not fist fight." Andy sighed as he wrapped an arm over his girlfriend's shoulders.

"Where is she?" I repeated myself.

"You won't see her again, I can promise you that."

"Why not? We go to the same school still. She can't skip class forever."

At that, Kristie dropped her focus. Her eyes left mine and traveled towards the ground, and she nervously scratched the side of her arm. It was a nervous tick she had picked up whenever she was hiding something.

"Kristie, why not?"

Her eyes traveled back up to mine, and there were tears brimming the edges.

"She's not coming back."

"What do you mean–" I didn't even get to finish my sentence.

"Because she dropped out."

I stood in stunned silence for a moment, trying to take this in. Charlotte loved school and going to class. She was just that kind of student. She wanted to get her degree more than anything. There's no way she dropped out.

"Why would she drop out?"

"Oh I don't know." Kristie said sarcastically, grabbing her phone and tossing it to me. "A couple days after she found out about the bet, this was sent to everyone's phone on campus. So you tell ME why she dropped out."

I looked down at what Kristie had on her screen. It was a burner phone number. The text said "Innocent Campus Virgin Fücked By Older Student. This Shît Is Priceless!"

The look on my face went from worried to angry. My hands were shaking as I saw the video attachment under the text message. I don't know who did this, but when I find out, they're going to pay.

"Who else saw this?" I tried to speak, but my words came out hoarse and broken.

"The whole NYU student body. It was sent out as a mass text, but they only left your number and Charlotte's out of the loop. Charlotte wasn't even back going to classes yet, she was walking back from the dining hall when it was sent out. The video was uncensored, and you got a glimpse of her face. All people did was stare."

"This is all my fault." I set Kristie's phone down on the table and dropped to my knees. I ran my fingers through my hair as I squeezed my eyes shut. I couldn't even imagine the pain she went through, and I was in that video too. "Where did she go?"

"I don't know."

"Don't do this Kristie, where is she?"

"I don't know." Kristie yelled at me, her eyes never leaving mine. "I called her mom the other day and she never came home, apparently she told her mom she was visiting some friends for a few weeks, so she wasn't very concerned. I've tried calling her, but her number has been disconnected. She's off the grid, Cole."

I stayed where I was on the ground. I'm the reason she dropped out. I'm the reason she's missing. Everything bad that has happened to her all led back to me. A small tear trickled down my already red cheek as my mind began thinking of every worst case scenario.

"Where the hell are you, Charlotte."

•

Did y'all expect me to make everything rainbows and butterflies? If you did, I regret to inform you that you were WRONG. Cause men ain't shît (okay I'm kidding but you know what I mean).

So I actually still have some of you that are keeping up with chapters which makes me so happy! I'll continue to update since I still have readers (:

Hope everyone is having a good day!