The Virginity Bet [#Wattys 2015]

Chapter 21

Caleb suddenly stood up and held out his hand. Charlie grabbed it without hesitation and he pulled her up, saying, "I know something that will get your mind off of this."

Charlie raised an eyebrow, unsure. "Come on, Charlie. Live a little. For once in your life, just let go."

She nodded, letting his words sink in. "I'm in."

-----

"Caleb... what are we doing here? What is this place?" Charlie asked, bewildered. She stared at the Italian cuisine in front of her.

He laughed and grabbed her hand, pulling her into the tiny restaurant. "My uncle owns this place. The food is amazing."

"I dont really have an appetite." She interrupted.

"We're not here to eat. Just follow me." He let her into the restaurant. Caleb waved to a few people until he spotted a blad man with an obvious shade of stubble. "Uncle Benny!" Caleb hooted.

Uncle Benny walked over and threw his arms around Caleb happily. "So great to see you, son!" He cooed, and then grinned at Charlie. She smiled back at him.

Caleb introduced the two, then excused the two of them. "Mind if we go upstairs?" He asked.

Charlie's eyes widened and she wondered about how wrong that must have seemed.

Uncle Benny simply grinned and tossed Caleb a key. So Caleb led Charlie up a stairwell, turned a key in a door, walked up a few more staircases, the key again, and Charlie suddenly felt a breeze on her face.

They were on the roof. They walked over to the edge, which thankfully, had a safety railing. Charlie looked over and the sight was breathtaking. Lights lit up the streets, and the breeze was slamming her hard in the face. But it felt good.

Caleb pulled out a flask, and Charlie suppressed a laugh. How old fashioned of him. he took a swig, then pushed it to Charlie. She thought about it for a moment then told herself, "No thinking tonight." And she drank it down. The alcohol burned at her throat, but she kept it in, and pushed it down.

After taking a few more sips, the burn was gone. So they stared at the view while passing the flask back and forth, until they were both tipsy.

Caleb grinned, "We aren't really supposed to do this. That's why they locked the rooftop, but I think we could both use the thrill." Charlie gave him a questioning look, and Caleb staggered to the other side of the roof, pulling a stumbling Charlie.

She gasped and stepped back as she saw the unmistakable rope of a zipline.

"Who knows w-where this will even l-land." She stuttered, a little bit scared.

Caleb rolled his eyes, "No thinking, right?"

Charlie nodded, and said to Caleb, "I'll go first."

So Charlie hooked her arms around the string, and secured a safety vest attached to the rope around her. "Pull the string when you get to the bottom, Charlie." Caleb directed. Charlie hazily nodded. "Promise you'll b-be right behind me?" She whispered, her lips centimeters away from his neck.

His lips were swollen as he nodded. "I promise I'll be right behind you."

And sure enough, as Charlie screamed at the top of her lungs, she descended down the zipline. It zoomed past buildings and her eyes gleamed as her heart melted. The wind slapped at her face, and it did hurt a little bit, but the fun of the speed she was moving out distracted her from it. She felt Caleb's presence a few feet behind her, but surprisingly, he wasn't screaming. She turned her head back to see he was inhaling, taking in the view that they were rolling past at an intense speed, not at all frightened.

Charlie pulled the string once she reached the concrete, which was covered by a net. She dropped in it, and once her butt hit the net, she laughed loudly. Caleb toppled down beside her a few seconds later.

"Can we go again?" Charlie asked, when suddenly a flashlight blinded the two laughing kids. A police officer glared at the two, handcuffing them, and pushing them into the back of a cop car.

"Officer? What are we being punished for?" She asked in a flirty, drunken voice.

"You two kids were trespassing. I swear the authorities need to shut down that little italian place on the corner. This is a serious offense. You two are in a shady part of town, and you're lucky I found you before some shady hood kids did." He warned in a stern voice.

"Oh, officer hunky hunky." Charlie giggled. "You're so cute. I like a man in uniform."

Caleb glared at both Charlie and the officer. "I could've handled a few shady hood kids, bro." he addressed the cop.

The cop told the both of them to shut up as he pulled into the station and put the kids in holding.

-----Present Time-----

And that's how I ended up sitting in a jail cell beside Caleb.

"Why are we going to be here for a long time?" Caleb asked impatiently.

"Neither of your contacts picked up the phone." The officer said with a smug look on his face. The two kids glared at him. "Can we atleast get a phone call? I'm pretty sure we have the right to it."

The officer snarled at them, "Yeah well, you two just used yours up. And no one answered, so it must suck to be you right now."

Charlie sighed. They had already been sitting in this cell for a few hours. Charlie guessed it was somewhere around 2 AM, and she was suddenly feeling very sleepy, so when a tall man in a suit strided into the room, she thought she was dreaming.

"Who are you?" The officer snarled at the man.

He held up a card of some sort. "My name is Jeremy Harper."

Harper? As in my last name Harper? Charlie thought.