Day 13 - 4:15 pm
"My best friend did something semi-sexual." Kristie squealed out of the opened taxi window as she let the cold wind hit her rosy cheeks. Charlotte tried to get her to be quiet and whisper, but it was to no avail. She pulled Kristie's hand to get her to sit back down and roll the window back up. The two of them were heading back to their dorm room after their short trip to the grocery store to pick up a few essentials.
After Charlotte came home yesterday, Kristie wanted all of the details as to why she came back with that stupid 'I just did something amazing' grin on her face. Of course, she told her blue haired best friend everything, and Kristie felt like the proudest mom alive. It honestly wasn't much, but she said that she'd rather Charlotte do that than nothing. The cab pulled up to NYU, and the two girls stepped out with their bags in hand.
"I mean, come on. Who are you and what did you do with the real Charlotte?" Kristie giggled as she skipped ahead of her, doing a couple of spins on the asphalt. "I remember when you said that you would never participate in such 'vile acts' with someone, yet here you are dry humping his crotch." She smirked as she began motioning her hips back and forth, humping the air to tease her. Charlotte rolled her eyes as she gently pushed Kristie's shoulder.
"You're so dirty, I wouldn't be talking smack if I were you. I caught you and Andy making babies on our kitchen counter before." Charlotte snickered as they reached their dorm room. She unlocked the door, both of them lugging groceries over to the dining area of their room. They began to place things away in cabinets and their mini fridge before Charlotte tapped her finger against the island in the center of the kitchen. "I believe it was right here." She flashed Kristie a smirk.
Kristie responded by flipping her off with her free hand as she used her other to put away the last bag of chips. "You know what? Screw you. We used a condom." She huffed as she made her way back to Charlotte, whispering in her ear as she passed by. "I can't wait to catch you and Cole screwing on the coffee table or some weird shît like that." She laughed as she reopened their door. "Come on, let's go get dinner you loser." And with that, she left the room for Charlotte to trail behind.
"Oh, I guess you decided to go to dinner with me since you're not eating Andy's–" Kristie threw her hand over Charlotte's mouth before she could finish, scolding her for using that kind of language. Charlotte couldn't help but laugh as she walked with her towards the little diner on campus. Last time she was here, she was met by a very unwelcomed guest. "Anyways, last time I was here, Harry showed up." She let out a small sigh as she rubbed her arm gently.
Kristie frowned before she placed her pale hand on her shoulder, giving her a feeble smile. "If he shows up this time, I'll kick his butt. Okay?" This made Charlotte laugh, lightening the mood almost immediately. The two of them walked into the diner, finding that it wasn't very busy. The young host perked her head up, and she flashed them a warm smile as she led them to a small table for two. Kristie and Charlotte sat down, and the host gave them their respected menus.
Charlotte and Kristie held small talk as they looked over their menus, trying to find something to drink. Kristie was complaining about how they couldn't serve alcohol to minors, and it just made Charlotte giggle at her ditzy comment. Her eyes traveled around the restaurant until they landed on the beautiful girl who was her waitress last time. She was the one who covered her meal for her, and the one who told her if she needed any help to call her over.
She had dark, brown eyes and black hair. Her teeth were as white as snow, and her smile could have lit up a room. The waitress walked over to their table to take their drink and food orders if they already knew what they wanted. Charlotte ordered sweet tea, while Kristie ordered some strange combination of Dr. Pepper and Sprite. Food wise, Charlotte ordered a burger basket, while Kristie ordered a chicken tender basket. The waitress left with their orders.
"Hey, that's the girl who helped me out last time I was here." Charlotte leaned over the table to whisper to Kristie, who just gave her a quizzical look. She rolled her eyes as she looked back over to her. "She gave me my food in a to go bag, didn't charge me for it, and told me that if I needed security called on Harry to just tell her the secret word that she had wrote on the back of my receipt." Kristie mouthed an 'oh' to her as the waitress brought them their drinks.
"She's in my art class. I think she's our grade, but she's older than we are since we both skipped a grade." Kristie shrugged as she took a sip of her strange drink combination. The two girls both skipped a grade in their earlier years coincidentally, causing them to be a year younger than their peers in their sophomore college classes.
"She seems nice. Maybe we can be friends with her." Charlotte smiled, receiving a nod from Kristie. The girl came back up with their food orders, setting them down before she asked if they needed anything else. "Actually, I know you're working right now, but if you have some time then we were wondering if you'd like to sit with us." Charlotte grinned at her.
The waitress nodded, a small smile coming to her lips as she pulled an extra chair up to the table to sit on. The girl pushed a piece of her perfectly curled hair behind her ear as she looked between the two of them. Kristie was currently stuffing her face with chicken, but Charlotte was more interested in the waitress instead. "What's your name?"
"Cierra Corbin." She said, twiddling with her fingertips in her lap. "What about you guys?" Her voice was sweet, yet a little bit shy. Charlotte had a feeling that this quiet voice wouldn't last very long if they became friends. Everyone needs some time to open up to new people.
"I'm Charlotte Aldaine, and this is Kristie Cox." Charlotte motioned her hand towards Kristie, who just gave a small nod since she had fries stuffed in her cheeks like a chipmunk. "Hey, I don't know if you remember me or not, but I just wanted to thank you for what you did last time I was in here." It then hit Cierra that she did remember Charlotte. Last time she had seen her, some jerk was was clearly bothering her and would not take a hint.
"Oh honey, don't worry about it." Cierra beamed as Charlotte took a bite out of her burger. "I don't like seeing men do stuff like that to girls. He was obviously bothering you, and that curly headed mole rat doesn't know how to treat a lady. Us women have to stick together." She winked at her, giving them a light laugh.
"I like you already, and you've only been here for about five minutes." Kristie said as she finished up. She wiped her mouth with her napkin before she tossed it onto her plate. Honestly, Charlotte had never known anyone who ate as fast as that girl did. "You should come with us to the Winter Social. It'll be fun." Kristie grinned.
"I'd love to." Cierra returned the smile. "Can we bring dates from other schools? My boyfriend, Antonio, goes to another University nearby. They don't have a Winter Social like we do." She shrugged her shoulders before looking between the two of them again.
"Yeah, you just have to get him a ticket." Charlotte spoke up, taking a final sip of her drink. "We'll be going with our boyfriends too. We were planning on meeting up in the university's garden to take pictures." Kristie's jaw nearly dropped to the floor as she shot Charlotte the 'we will talk about this later' look. She completely forgot to tell her best friend that Cole asked her to be his girlfriend last night.
"That sounds great." Cierra nodded as she heard her name being called from the kitchen. "Sorry girls, I have to help clean up before I leave." She said as she stood up and moved her chair back to its appropriate table. Cierra scribbled a phone number down on the back of their receipt. "Text me if you girls need anything." She grinned before she hurried off to the back.
"She was nice." Charlotte grinned as she finished up the last of her meal. The two girls left her a decent tip before they headed out of the restaurant. "I know that we both have our dresses for the Winter Social next Tuesday, but we need to schedule an appointment to get manicures and pedicures on Monday." She noted as she wrapped her arms around herself. The temperature outside was getting cooler, so cool that the girls could see their breath in their air.
"Already way ahead of you." Kristie smirked as she pulled out her phone and began to dial numbers on the keypad. The phone rang for a few moments before a woman with a very thick accent picked up the phone. "Yes, hi. I need to schedule an appointment for my friend and I for Monday. Manicured and pedicures for both of us." After a couple seconds of silence, Kristie's brows furrowed in aggravation. "What? No I don't need a Brazilian wax." Charlotte couldn't help but to chuckle at Kristie's annoyance with the lady on the phone.
Meanwhile at Ian's apartment...
"Why the fûck did you tell Kristie that I may hurt Charlotte?" Cole spat at Andy. Currently, he had his fists latched to the front of Andy's shirt and had him slammed against the wall. Andy may have been strong, but not even close to how strong Cole was. Especially when he was pissed off. "You slipped and told her that you had a hunch that I was just using Charlotte. That's meddling with the bet. You could have ruined everything." Cole yelled at him, his grip tightening. He wasn't even as mad about him potentially ruining the bet, for he was more angry at the fact that Charlotte could have easily found out that he placed a bet on her.
"I didn't mean to. I was drunk, and you seriously need to back off." Andy groaned as he tried to push Cole off of him, but his death grip was not letting loose anytime soon. Rage was set in his green eyes as he stared at the tattooed male against the wall. He could have beat the living daylight out of him for what he had said. "Fine, since you won't get your panties out of a wad, what do you suggest that I do to make up for it?" He questioned, doing his best to keep his cool as he looked at a very enraged Cole.
Everyone else in the room was just watching them quietly, not saying a single word. In their minds, what Andy did was not justified. Even if he was drunk, he shouldn't have butted in with the bet in the first place. "Keep your dâmn trap shut, that's what you need to do." Cole shoved him out of his grip before he stormed away from him, putting his fingers against his temples. "You guys should've seen how broken she looked as she walked into my dorm yesterday." Cole muttered more to himself than anyone else.
"Cole, it's been thirteen days since the bet was first placed." Ian sighed as he watched Andy grumpily waltz over to a chair before he sat down on it. Dylan didn't say anything, he was actually very uncomfortable with this whole bet and wanted it to end already. He wished that he could tell Charlotte, but Cole would murder him if he did that. No sarcasm intended. "Have you even done anything with her?" Ian asked, taking a swig of his beer.
"We've made out and grinded some, but that's about it." Cole said openly as he plopped down onto the couch face first. His head had been pounding this entire day, and he couldn't shake off this strange feeling that just wouldn't go away. It was mentally painful, but he couldn't quite explain it. "I also gave her a hickey." He shrugged as he sat up on his elbows to look at the others.
"I guess that's some progress considering that she's a prude." Becky snickered as she leaned over so that her boobs were hanging out of her shirt. If Cole had been in this situation last month (which he was), then he would most definitely stare. Now, it felt wrong for him to stare at the fake breasts of another woman. "I'd say I'm surprised that it's taken you this long, but considering who you're trying to bang it's understandable." She said as she blew a big, pink gum bubble. Becky then spat her piece of gum out of her mouth before she grabbed a joint from the coffee table.
"That's why we gave him thirty days you bimbo." Kylie scoffed as she tucked a piece of her long, brown hair behind her ear. "I see you two walking around campus all the time. She's actually a cute girl, and it looks like you have her wrapped around your finger." She smiled as she made a twirling motion with her index finger. Cole didn't say anything to her, because he had this gut feeling that her words were not true. Charlotte actually had him wrapped around her finger.
"Yeah, well this video better be some high quality pornographic shît." Becky cackled as she stood up, putting the joint that was in between her fingers up to her lips. She made her way over to Cole before she took a seat right on his back since he was still on his stomach. Cole groaned as he pushed himself up, flipping Becky off of his back and onto the floor. She hit the floor with a cry, shooting Cole a nasty look. "Douchebag.." Becky grumbled as she flicked her joint away from her.
"So, are you taking her to the Winter Social then?" Liam asked, his arm lazily around his very quiet girlfriend. Him and Cole haven't talked much since this whole bet blossomed. For one, Liam's girlfriend hated the bet and didn't want her boyfriend to partake in such a crude deal. He also just didn't care about what happened, he just cared that he either made some money or lost money.
"Yeah, we're going together." Cole let out a small sigh as he stood up, motioning a hand between him and Andy. "His girlfriend is best friends with Charlotte, so I'm stuck with his emo âss the entire night." Cole smirked as he walked over to the kitchen counter to grab his keys. "I'll see you guys later." He said before he walked out of the front door and down the steps. After he left the apartment complex, he got into his old car before he drove back to campus.
Once he reached campus, he took his keys out of the ignition before he began his hike all the way to his dorm room. As he walked down the stone paths of the university, he spotted the two girls walking back to, what he assumed was, their own dorms. He saw his beautiful girl, her hair down her back in a long braid and her light skin covered by an oversized red flannel and leggings. She was smiling so bright that the sun couldn't even compete with her. He loved her smile, for it was one of his favorite things about her.
His headache pounded stronger that night, so strong that he just couldn't fall asleep.
Over 4.2k reads, I can't believe it. Thank you guys so much for commenting, voting, and reading! You guys are the reason I keep writing (:
Sorry if this chapter was slow/boring, but a lot happened these last few chapters so I had to have some kind of filler!
Also, anyone pick up the correlation of Cole's guilt being linked to his headaches?
Day 14 will be Cole's birthday (aka next chapter) and I'm excited.