Obsessive Love Disorder

10

October 1, 1996
Billy

"Mornin', Mr. Robins!" I skip into the room with a goofy grin on my face and my hair swept back from the cool morning air. My teacher looks up from his desk and lands his focus on me, then waves me off and turns back to whatever paperwork he's doing. Harsh treatment, but I expect nothing less from him. I just shrug it off and make my way to my seat, right behind where Charlotte's already pulling out her notebook and pencils. 

"Hello, gorgeous," I tease, ruffling her hair. I don't know why I keep doing that, but she hasn't complained yet so I'm gonna keep it up. She sends me an annoyed look, but it's easy to tell that she's trying to hide a smile. 

"Hi, Billy," she responds, turning around in her seat as I settle in for class. I think she notices my unusually good mood, her eyebrows shooting up and my fidgeting hands and consistent grin. "Okay... what's going on?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're all... excited. And you're actually here on time. That's new."

I feign offense and lean in closer. "C'mon, Charlotte. I've been doing better with that." She rolls her eyes and starts to turn back around, but I grab her shoulder and make her face me again. "Okay, okay. I'll tell you. It's finally October!"

Charlotte just stares at me, her face carefully blank. "So?"

"So? It's almost Halloween! This is literally the month that is dedicated to all things terrifying and gory!" I explain, waving my hands around wildly. She laughs a bit at the motions I'm making, which makes me feel good. It's rare that I can get her to laugh openly. 

"I forgot that you're a horror freak," she says. "This definitely makes sense now." She flips her long hair over one shoulder and begins to fidget with the zipper on her hoodie. I can't help but watch her fingers move quickly around the small piece of plastic — her nails are chewed up and there's hangnails on every one, obviously a sign of how stressed she constantly is. Now that I know about her financial shit, I guess I can understand why. Even though they're all fucked up, I still find her hands to be quite nice and soft-looking. Christ, I'd love to just grab one of them right now and bring them to my lips, kissing up her arm and to her neck. I know she'd get all embarrassed, but she'd secretly love it. 

"Billy?"

I snap my head up to meet her eyes. Damn, I must've zoned out again. That's been a bad habit of mine recently, but I enjoy getting caught up in her features and imagining just what I could do. 

"Yeah?" I reply, covering up my staring with a sleek smirk. 

"You didn't hear what I said."

"Oh, fuck, I'm sorry. Just..." I pause, trying to come up with some sort of excuse. "Just didn't get a lot of sleep. You've got my attention now, I promise." 

Charlotte rolls her eyes and opens her mouth to speak, but the abrasive sound of the school bell cuts her off and Mr. Robins stands up to start class. She shoots me an apologetic look and shuffles in her seat to face the board, while I lean back in my chair and begin the process of zoning out for the rest of class. 

I'm not sure how much time goes by, but at some point, Charlotte's hand rises over her shoulder. I don't notice it at first, but she eventually clears her throat subtly and drops a piece of paper on my desk. I unfold it, reading her messy handwriting quickly:

I was going to tell you that I have a horror movie collection at home, if you want to borrow any tapes or DVDs.

I smile a bit as I grab my pencil, scrawling out a quick note underneath hers. 

Better offer: I come over to your house and we watch one together. 

Quietly, I reach forward and hold it over her shoulder, right next to her ear, and she retrieves it from my grip. I watch as she scans the note and picks up her pencil to reply. With the same process, I get the note again and read it. 

Only if you bring popcorn.

I hold back a chuckle as I draw a little smiley face and a meeting location on the paper and toss it back to her, settling back into my seat and resuming my zoning out. Though, I do notice that Charlotte looks over her shoulder at me, her cheeks flushed bright red. God, that's cute. 

~~~

I told her to meet me at the fountain after school so I could walk her home, but I definitely had a better plan. 

"Billy, what're you doing?"

I pull up next to her in my car, left arm hanging out the window and my stereo turned up to max volume. "Taking you home, of course!"

She looks around at the other students nearby, who have stopped their conversations to gawk at her. She angles her head towards her feet and quickly shuffles over to the passenger side, hopping in and buckling up. "I fucking hate you."

"Very intimidating," I reply, throwing on a pair of sunglasses and driving out of the school parking lot. Charlotte looks out of her window with her head propped in her hand, staring as the trees and buildings fade away into the dense forest. 

"Turn left here," she suddenly orders, pointing ahead. I obey, slightly confused. "What's over here?"

"My brother. I gotta pick him up from school."

I shrug and follow the rest of her directions until we end up in front of Davey's school, where groups of kids hang out and wait for their parents. I immediately notice Davey sitting on a bench with a few other boys, laughing wildly and shoving each other. Charlotte rolls down the window as we get closer, yelling, "Davey! Pack up, let's go!"

The kid looks up, obviously shocked to see his sister in some random car, but he eventually looks past her and sees me behind the wheel. I wave, and he smiles nervously. He gets to the car, climbing into the backseat, and I speed off as quickly as I came. 

"How was your day, Davey?" Charlotte asks. 

"Huh? Oh, it was okay," he starts. I see him holding a piece of paper with colorful scribbles all over it. He then hands it to Charlotte hastily, his eyes angled down. "I made this for you. To say sorry for being such a jerk that night you babysat."

I sneak a peak at the paper — it's a drawing of the two of them in some sort of outdoor setting. I can't help but admire the way Charlotte smiles down at it, her features smoothing out and her eyes looking beautiful and soft. I almost have to pinch myself to stop looking and focus on the road again. 

"Thanks, buddy. I love it," Charlotte finally says, reaching back and giving her brother a small punch on the shoulder. It seems his mood immediately brightens. 

The car settles into a comfortable silence, nothing but the blasting music keeping us company. I've already memorized the route to Charlotte's house, so the rest of the trip goes by quickly as I wind down the streets. Every few seconds, I check on her and see how she's doing, and every time she's still looking out the window.