Charlie sighed as she realized Logan's house was much farther away than she thought it would be. She texted Caleb: Caleb! So srry, won't be home for awhile. House is 2 far!
She smiled at his immediate response: U owe me big time, prude. I'll b waiting for that ice cream!!
She had said back to him: Don't w@it up, asshole. Might decide 2 stick around for round 2 at the party. (;
About an hour and a half later, Charlie parked in her driveway and ran to the front door. She placed her keys on the nearest table and grabbed a pint of strawberry ice cream from her fridge along with two spoons. She crept up the stairs so not to wake anyone up. It was still really early in the morning. She remembered Crystal and felt bad, so she walked to her room and poked her head through the door.
Charlie winced as she saw her sister with her dress ajar. She still had her heels on, and she looked far from peaceful. She walked over and pulled her sisters shoes off. Then she rolled the blanket up to her shoulders and quietly tiptoed out of her sisters room.
She smiled giddily and walked to her room, expecting to see Caleb sitting in his room listening to music, waiting for Charlie.
Her pint of ice cream fell and two spoons clattered on top of it as she looked through Caleb's open window.
A girl in only her bra and underwear was laying on the bed in a seductive position. Charlie heard a door open and a grinning Caleb stepped into his room wearing only boxers. He walked up to the girl in his bed and licked his lips.
Charlie could feel her heart racing.
Caleb joined the girl on his bed and he started unhooking the straps of her bra. She laughed, "You're really good at unhooking bras."
He smirked, "It comes with experience."
Charlie suddenly couldn't bear to watch anymore of this and she pulled her blinds back to cover the scene unfolding and slipped on her headphones. As much as she tried to hold them back, a stream of tears ran down her face. She told herself she didn't care. She told herself that she didn't even like Caleb, even though deep down, she knew she was lying to herself.
-----
Later in the afternoon, Charlie lay on her bed staring at the cieling above her. There were fake glow-in-the-dark stars arranged on her cieling. She smiled sadly at the memory of her father sticking those stars up there.
"Dad! I went to Miranda's house and like, her room had little stars on the roof!" Charlie had pouted. Her dad chuckled, "Are you sure you're feeling okay?" He teased. Her cute little glare widened and she said, "Can you put stars on my cieling too, daddy?"
Then she went back to a time in eighth grade. Charlie had been dating Luke for 2 years. At the time, they were both stretched out on Charlie's bed, and her head was on his chest while his arm was around her shoulder.
They had looked up at the stars and Luke had nudged her. "You see that one in the corner?" Charlie nodded. Luke smiled, "I'm naming that one Charlie. Because it's the brightest."
Charlie shook the troubling thoughts away. It was all a lie anyway, she told herself. He never really loved me, she thought.
Charlie glanced at her phone, and to her dissapointment, there weren't any missed calls or texts from Caleb. Not that she would talk to him anyway.
There was a knock on the door and Crystal came in uninvited. "Charlie." She mumbled.
Charlie sighed, "I'm so sorry for yesterday, Crys. How did you and Luce get home?"
"Uh, it's fine. We just got a ride from one of Lucy's classmates. I think her name was Lauren or something. But... that's not important. What's important is the fact that I have a major hangover that is seriously killing me." She said softly.
Charlie frowned, "Great. My 15 year old sister drank alcohol last night."
Crystal rolled her eyes, "Please. I saw you drinking once with Luk-" She topped herself suddenly as she realized she was about to say the name of Charlie's one and only ex boyfriend.
Charlie suppressed a tear, "You can say his name, you know, he's not some sort of unspoken person." She joked, but it hurt her to even talk about him.
Crystal gave her a knowing look and changing the subject, "So what were you up to last night? Lucy and I looked everywhere for you but like you totally vanished. Except the car was still there."
Charlie apologetically smiled, "Funny story, actually. Did you know Logan has a 7 year old brother?"
Crystal stiffened, "I'd rather not talk about Logan."
"Uh-oh. Spill, missy!" Charlie encouraged her sister, even though she knew now that Crystal had no chance of being with Logan since he was "dating" Kylie.
"Ugh. It's just. I felt like he was flirting with me but it wasn't real, you know? Like he would lead me on and then suddenly dissapear. You would think he has a girlfriend or something." She joked bitterly.
Charlie looked at the ground, "How weird." She mumbled.
Charlie decided she wasn't going to say anything about Logan and Kylie to anyone until she confronted Kylie herself.
Crystal nodded, "I know, it's totally weird. I think he might be gay."
Charlie almost choked at this. She held back her laughter, "Maybe." Then she remembered what she saw Caleb doing earlier with the mystery-whore of the week, and she felt sad again.
"Hey, Char? Are you okay?" Crystal said, placing a hand on Charlie's shoulder, as if sensing her new change in mood.
She looked up, "Oh. I'm fine." No I'm not, she thought.
"No you're not." Crystal stated.
"Oh sis, you know me so well."
"What's going on?"
Charlie sighed, "It's really not that big of a deal. It's just... boy trouble."
"Caleb?" Crystal guessed.
Charlie nodded.
Crystal sighed, "What happened?"
Suddenly Charlie felt the need to tell Crystal everything. So she told her every detail from the minute she got into the car driving home to what she saw when she did get home, including showing Crystal her texting conversation with Caleb.
"Wow." Crystal said.
"I know... I'm trying not to like him, but I can't help it. I like him so much, and here he is sleeping with some bimbo. Her name's probably like Chloe, or Precious, or like Kassandra with a "K".
Crystal giggled and then her expression turned serious, "Are you sure it's Caleb that you like and not just the idea of him- of having a boyfriend?"
Charlie let out a dramatic sigh and her head fell into her hands, "I honestly don't know anymore."
Crystal shook her head but smiled, "The taste you have in men still hasn't changed."
"What do you mean?" Charlie asked curiously.
"I mean... you know who."
"Say it." Charlie whispered, needing to hear her say his name.
"Do I really need to?" She said softly.
"Yes." Charlie begged.
"I mean Luke."
Charlie nodded and Crystal continued, "Luke- I swear, he is like the exact same as Caleb."
Charlie gulped, "Yeah, he was an asshole too. At first..."
"Tell me about him. This is the first time since it happened that you've actually been willing to talk about it. I'm proud of you, Char."
Charlie's breath got stuck in her throat. Finally, she whispered quietly, "He was so on-edge. I swear, when I met him, he was in a really bad place. His dad used to beat him and his younger brother. Did you know that? He had scars and bruises. Permanent ones. Everyone was so scared to talk to him. But one day at lunch I just got up and sat next to him. We sat in silence for two weeks." Charlie sadly smiled at the next part, "But after that two weeks, he said, 'nice socks' because my socks weren't matching, and we started talking. He was so scared, Crys. He didn't have anyone. But he got better. He got nicer and sweeter, but he was still sad. He had that look in his eye, you know? Then one day, he was just happy. Just like that. I thought I changed him... I thought he loved-" Charlie stopped because she was at a loss of words.
"Yep." Crystal shook her head, "You like Caleb because he's so broken that you feel like you need to fix him. You don't have to fix everything, Charlie. Sometimes... things are just broken beyond repair."
Charlie softly smiled, "Thanks Crys. You know, I like the way we've been getting close in the past few days, Crys. You're the best sister I could have asked for."
Crystal scoffed, "Don't get too mushy on me, nerd!"
Charlie laughed loudly and Crystal winced, holding her hand to her head, "Damn this hangover."
Charlie smiled, "Get some sleep Crys. There's Aspirin in the 2nd drawer to the left of my bathroom."
Crystal breathed a sigh of relief, "I love you, Char."
She walked out and once Charlie thought she was out of earshot, Charlie whispered, "I love you too, Crys."
"I heard that!" Crystal yelled playfully, finally leaving Charlie to collect her thoughts about what she was going to do about Caleb.