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Charlotte was about to spend some quality time with Netflix when her phone buzzed. She picked it up immediately, smiling at the thought of a text from Mike. She’d just seen him a few hours ago, and she was already eager to hear from him again.
But the text wasn’t from him, and she tried not to be disappointed.
Did you have practice sex with Mike last night? Nicole asked.
Charlotte typed a quick response. Nah, he told me he liked me and we had sex of the non-practice variety.
To her surprise, she didn’t get a response.
Probably for the best.
Now wearing her favorite pair of pajama shorts, a geology shirt, and no bra, she made some coffee and fired up a particularly gruesome, twisted movie to make up for all her sappy feelings.
Charlotte was halfway through the movie when someone knocked on the door. People rarely knocked on her door without notice, with the exception of political canvassers during election season. No reason to answer.
“I know you’re in there,” said a familiar voice. “I can hear you watching a movie.”
“Nobody’s home,” Charlotte muttered.
Which was, of course, the worst way to convince someone that nobody was home.
Sighing, she paused the movie and opened the door.
To her horror, Nicole, Rose, and Amy immediately walked in and took off their shoes. Three people in her quiet apartment.
Argh.
Sierra had probably wanted to come, too, but she’d be at work.
“What’s this about?” Charlotte asked, even though she knew the answer.
“We want to hear about your night,” Rose said.
“I sent a text to Nicole.”
“A very intriguing text,” Nicole said. “Only one sentence, and we want details.”
“Of course you do.” Charlotte went to the kitchen and poured some Baileys into her second cup of coffee. She also brought out a bag of salt and vinegar chips.
“A kind gentleman held the door for us,” Amy said, “so that’s why you didn’t have to buzz us in.” She gestured to the TV. “What are you watching?”
“Just something light about serial killers to calm myself down.”
The frozen image on-screen was particularly gory. Charlotte turned off the TV so as not to further offend her friends’ delicate sensibilities. She sat down on the couch. Rose and Nicole joined her, and Amy grabbed a chair from the dining room table.
“So, how was the sex?” Nicole asked. “Was it enjoyable non-practice sex?”
“It was acceptable,” Charlotte said.
Unfortunately, after her terse answer, she couldn’t help smiling.
Goddammit.
Stupid Mike, giving her stupid orgasms and making her feel good.
“Looks like it was amazing.” Nicole nudged Charlotte’s shoulder.
“I want to hear about how he confessed his feelings,” Rose said.
“Well, I suggested we have practice sex—”
“You did not.”
“I did. And he said no, he couldn’t have sex with me without it meaning something. And apparently he had a crush on me when we were younger.”
“How sweet! He’s been pining after you all these years.”
“I highly doubt it,” Charlotte said. “Though he’s not as experienced with dating and sex as I’d assumed.”
“As I said, he’s been pining after you for years.”
“Can I get back to my movie now?”
“Very funny,” Nicole said. “You have guests to entertain.”
“So, your feelings for him aren’t purely plutonic?” Amy said.
Charlotte frowned.
“Your shirt.” Amy gestured toward it.
Charlotte looked down at the shirt she never wore out of the apartment. It said “My Feelings are Purely Plutonic” and had an illustration of a rock.
“What are plutonic rocks again?” Nicole asked. “We must have learned about them in that geology course we all had to take in first year, but I remember almost nothing from it, except the prof always brought a hockey stick to class.”
“They’re a type of igneous rock,” Rose said, “aren’t they?”
“Igneous rocks that form below the surface,” Charlotte said. “As opposed to extrusive rocks, which form at the surface. Crystal size—”
“We did not come here for a geology lecture,” Nicole said.
That was unfortunate. Charlotte would prefer geology over their previous topic of conversation.
“Are those salt and vinegar chips?” Amy asked, making a face.
“Yeah,” Nicole said. “Charlotte’s favorite.”
“Gross.”
“Look,” Charlotte said. “I didn’t invite you over to insult my chips and interrupt my geology lectures. In fact, I didn’t invite you over at all.”
“I know, I know,” Nicole said. “Which is why we aren’t staying long. But it’s not every day a guy declares his love for you—”
“He didn’t declare his love for me.”
“Okay, declared his like. Whatever. Anyway, it’s exciting news.”
Charlotte would never admit it—God, no—but it actually was somewhat exciting that her friends were here. Though she certainly wasn’t going to spill lots of details about Mike, it was nice to talk about him...a little.
“Are you in a relationship?” Amy asked.
“Yes.”
Amy bounced in her seat. “This is such great news!”
“Indeed.” Charlotte grabbed her poor rejected salt and vinegar chips, stuffing some into her mouth.
“I’ll put him down as your plus one for my wedding. It’s less than a month away, and I need to confirm the numbers soon.”
To her annoyance, Charlotte liked the idea of Mike being her date for a wedding. And Amy’s wedding wasn’t all that far off. They’d still be seeing each other then, right?
“Let me ask him first,” she said.
“Excellent.” Amy beamed.
“We’ve seen him before, but we haven’t really met him,” Nicole said. “We need to ask him lots of questions. Make sure he’s good enough for you.”
Charlotte instantly felt protective of Mike. “Uh, go easy on him.”
“Well, clearly we didn’t do a good enough job with the last one. He proposed to you at a ballgame and he preferred table syrup to maple syrup.”
“I can’t believe you remember that.”
“I can’t help it. It was so shocking.”
“Don’t worry, Mike gave me real maple syrup with my pancakes this morning.”
“I like this guy already,” Rose said.
Okay, it was nice that her friends were looking out for her, but Charlotte had reached her socializing quota for the day.
As if understanding this, Rose stood up. “We’ll get out of your hair so you can watch something with blood and murder.”
“The description even promised cannibalism,” Charlotte supplied helpfully.
“Or you could join us for a late lunch,” Amy said. “There’s a restaurant nearby with Ojibway-style tacos.”
“No, that’s okay. I’ll stay here with my movie and salt and vinegar chips. What kind of chips do you like?”
“Sour cream and onion,” Amy answered.
“Those are my second favorite.”
“And dill pickle.”
“Dear God, get her out of here.”
A few minutes later, everyone was out the door and Charlotte was back to enjoying her movie and the dregs of her coffee.
And, okay, thinking about Mike in peace.
* * *
After dinner, Charlotte tidied up her bedroom. Not that her bedroom was a pigsty, but she’d probably have company here soon, and it could do with a little cleaning. She was putting away the duster when her phone buzzed. She reached for it a little less eagerly than last time.
But this time, it was Mike.
Thinking of you, he said.
Aw, wasn’t that sweet.
In fact, he texted a moment later, I’m doodling eggplants on my notepad.
He followed this up with an eggplant emoji, then a photo of his doodled eggplants.
Those are very fine eggplants, she said.
She debated whether to add a winky face, ultimately deciding against it. But she went to her desk and drew an eggplant on her little notepad, just because.
And then she found herself doodling hearts.
WTF. What was happening to her?
She felt slightly off-kilter and out of control. She couldn’t remember ever feeling like this before, although perhaps she’d just forgotten, seeing as the last time she’d started a relationship was eight years ago.
It was unsettling.
Charlotte liked her usual routine. Change was scary.
But you want this, she reminded herself, and he’s good to you, even if he woke you up by screaming because he’d seen a spider.
She took a deep breath, then sent him a text about Amy’s wedding.
* * *
They were supposed to take things slow, but even though it had only been a day, Mike had already texted Charlotte to say he was thinking of her, and he’d agreed to be her date for a wedding. He wouldn’t deny that he’d grinned like an idiot when she’d invited him.
What was the etiquette for the early stages of a relationship? Should he text her every day? Would that be too much? How many eggplant doodles should he send her before it started to seem really weird?
He was out of his depth.
You’re going to screw this up, Mike. You think you’re good enough for her? Ha!
He pushed that aside and reminded himself of all the things he’d done that his parents had said he’d never be able to do.
When his phone buzzed, he leapt to check it.
When will I get to see your eggplant again? Charlotte asked.
He wanted to tell her to come over right now but settled for suggesting next weekend.
Then he called Mason to ask for more restaurant advice and tell him that he and Charlotte had progressed from practice dates to real dates.
It was good to have people in his life who were actually happy for him and didn’t think he’d screw everything up. He’d come a long way from his childhood in Ashton Corners.
But the best part of his childhood, Charlotte Tam, was part of his life again. He’d try his hardest to do right by her, and hopefully not scream the next time he saw a spider in her company.