A BATHROOM LINE
edited as of december 1st, 2020
A group of twenty seven-year-olds sat in a circle. One girl, with her blonde hair tied into piggy-tails, pulled at the strings of the rug. This girl hates everything about school: the people, the teachers, and lunch food. For them, this was the first day of the school year and not one of these kids knew each other.
The teacher, a prickly old lady who should've retired years ago, begins the day with the kids introducing themselves. The blonde girl was the sixth to be introduced and, with a brunette's luck, had the same first and last name as her.
Finally, when it came to her turn, the brown-haired girl said, "My name is Charlotte Bolton, too."
The teacher laughed. With her many teaching years, she assumed Charlotte was joking. "Now, now. What's your actual, full name?"
"It's Charlotte Mary Bolton," said Charlotte, who no longer liked this teacher.
Mrs. Poplawski hums to herself. "Do you have any nicknames? Maybe Charlie or Lottie?"
"No."
The woman nodded. "Well, I guess both of you two will have to introduce yourselves with your middle names. Charlotte Mary and Charlotte..." She looks at the blonde Charlotte to give her middle name.
"Charlotte Claire."
---
With a new adventure in store, this round Charlotte found herself transported into a silent, empty TARDIS from the Eleventh's era. "Whew!" She exclaims, waiting for someone to appear. "Good thing I didn't die in that explosion." Still, no one.
Realizing they were probably outside, Charlotte groaned. She needed to shower and take those braids out, but they could be done later that day. So, leaving the TARDIS, she finds herself in the storage room of a boat. Feeling the wooden boat move with the waves, she used the TARDIS to regain her balance before closing the door.
Up above, a hatch leads to the ship's deck. Unfortunately, after climbing the ladder and pushing up on it, Charlotte found it was locked. Hoping a pirate stood near it, she knocked repeatedly up on the hatch.
Just seconds later, a bearded man in 1600s pirate attire opens the hatch, only to point his sword down at her with a scowl. "Who are you?"
"Charlotte Mary Bolton," she answered out of habit, just how she has since she was seven. "Have you seen my friends?"
---
With everything back to normal, and once the pirate and siren adventure finishes, Charlotte takes a shower and finishes the day, not with sudden teleportation or falling asleep, but besides the printer far deep in the TARDIS library. Her album was to the side as she was ready to tape in a new picture.
As the picture printed out, she turned to see the Doctor walking up to meet her. "Hi," she greeted.
"Putting in another photo?" He guessed.
"Yeah." The photo of Ross comes out, and she cuts around it. "I've only put in two so far and one is in the future, so it's not even in there right now."
The Doctor glances at the book on top of the printer. "May I..."
Charlotte shrugged. "I can't see any of them, so yeah, go ahead." Finishing up cutting out the photo, she looked over his shoulder. While he seemed to be relishing in the photos, Charlotte stared at blurs.
He points at one in particular. "That was at the Pond's wedding," he filled her in. "The photo is us with Rory's great-aunt Dorothy."
Charlotte laughs. "Why were we hanging around his great-aunt?"
"You'll find out..." His eyes squint, trying to find the exact amount of time. "A long time from now." The Doctor's face goes blank, in a moment where he finally figures something, before grinning.
"What is it?" asked Charlotte, knowing that look.
"I know exactly how to fix your no-pictures-in-the-album problem."
She tilts her head, curious. "How?"
He takes her hand. "Come on!" shouts the Doctor before running out of the library with her. Down the TARDIS corridors, she ran behind him as he opened a door into a storage area. Letting go of her hand, he rummages through the shelves as she browses around.
Hanging on a hook, a god-awful green blazer was gathering dust. She spots the TARDIS Amy made when she was little and found insects in a resin mold beside the mini-TARDIS.
"Charlotte," said the Doctor from behind her. She turns around, only for him to take a sudden photo of her with a hand-held camera.
She blinks from the camera's flash. "Its flash is on."
"My bad," apologized the Doctor. "No time to waste, hurry!"
Again, they ran out of the room with no clear idea for Charlotte of where they were going.
---
After the short journey, the TARDIS comes to a stop. With a grin, Charlotte glances over at the Doctor then to the door. Trying to get what pot he was stirring, she tilted her head while glaring at him. She goes over to the door, only for her face to drop in confusion.
Joining her, the Doctor rested his elbow on her shoulder as they looked out on the city before them.
"I was thinking we were going to, I don't know, some alien planet with some trees that speak or something." Charlotte sighed dramatically, just trying to push his buttons. "But, no. We're in Sheffield. Modern-day Sheffield."
"Well, for you, it's two years in the future." When she doesn't say anything, he elaborates, "Since you're from 2016, and this is 2018. We could go-"
Charlotte interrupted his sentence. "No. No, no, no. Now that we're here, we may as well do whatever you were thinking."
"Smile," he told her.
Charlotte's eyebrows scrunch. "What-" Her question is answered when the Doctor brings the camera above their heads and snaps a photo wherein she looks flustered and he smiles.
That's what the Doctor planned on doing; taking photos of their trip to Sheffield. Once hearing his not very thought out plan, Charlotte had no choice but to agree on it. And with her agreement, they were off. However, they only got a few feet away from the TARDIS when Charlotte stopped. "Shouldn't we leave a note for them, in case they wake up and we're still gone?"
Sighing, the Doctor picked out an old receipt from his jacket and a pen. Resting the receipt on his palm, he says the words he scrawls out on it, "'Went out. See you in a jiff. Doctor and Charlotte.'" Opening up the TARDIS, he put the note in front of the door. Glancing back at Charlotte, he tilts his head. "What?"
"Oh, nothing..." They begin walking and Charlotte whispers under her breath, "'jiff.'"
Charlotte, in her peripheral vision, saw him do a mocking impression of her, but when she turned her head, saw nothing of the sort.
Throughout the day, they walked more than they ran. Charlotte thinks, for the first time in this universe, she's been in a city without running once. It was nice, don't get her wrong, but she couldn't help but feel like there was something wrong. Everything was too calm: the air, her heart, her breath. There were no aliens, no corrupted time-space continuum.
For a moment, on a nature walk, they leaned over the railing to admire a waterfall. It isn't as impressive as the Niagara, nor did it twist her stomach like pictures of the diamond waterfall on Midnight, yet it was stunning. The fast-moving water runs over the rocks, weathering each one down bit by bit.
Each of these rocks is going to break down into sediments, then they'll build themselves up again. Now, however, at this creek, no visitors thought of these rocks like that... for this place is one worthy of royalty. No matter who they happen to be, this corner of the map breaks you down in its utopian bliss with the splash of water and the caws of birds far off.
Charlotte took out the camera from her pocket and snapped a photo of the Doctor- where, still leaning over the railing, he looked out on the waterfall and beyond it. Blinking, still knowing they have to turn off that flash, the Doctor turned to her.
"I think we have enough photos," said Charlotte. "I didn't want to put five in, but sixteen?"
"Ready, then?"
"Yeah. Just, one second." She takes a photo of just the waterfall. "Seventeen."
They walked back to the TARDIS slower than they left it. Halfway to the ship, Charlotte stopped in her tracks in front of a bench, followed by the Doctor, he asked, "What is it?"
"I have to use the restroom," said Charlotte. "Be right back." As she nearly ran into the restaurant behind the bench, the Doctor sat on the bench, taking the newspaper left underneath the bench to read as he waited.
Inside of the restaurant, Charlotte swerves through the high top tables to the bathroom in the back of the restaurant. Unfortunately for her, as per usual, the women's restroom had a line snaking miles out of it. After asking a middle-aged lady if she was in line, which she was, Charlotte stood behind her.
Crossing her arms over her chest, the brunette tried to be patient. Trying to do some deep breathing to pass the time, she was interrupted by a tap on her shoulder. Jumping out of her skin, Charlotte turned to a woman not far older than she with a blonde bob.
"This the line?"
Charlotte nodded. "Yep." Sighing, she turned to her. "With this long of a line we may as well get to know each other, I'm Charlotte Mary Bolton." The blonde says nothing. "You?"
"Jo- Jo Smith," she answered. "So, are you from here?"
"Oh, um, no," responded Charlotte, trying to hide her laugh at the question. "Just traveling with some friends of mine... are you?"
Jo shook her head. "No, I'm traveling too. My friends that I'm traveling with live here, though. They're just over there." She points back to the sitting area, before pointing to the line ahead, and Charlotte realizes she has to move up. "Do you like traveling? I know people can find it... taxing."
"Yes and no," answered Charlotte. "I'm not exactly with the same group all the time, which I don't like. But traveling with people I care for? I like it. So, yes and no." She shook her head. "Also I just find it fun, even with some of the danger... car crashes are very serious, after all."
"What, were you in trouble with the law or something?"
"I decline to answer." Charlotte moved up again, now she is the third in line.
Jo chuckled. "No worries, I'm definitely not a cop. If I was, I wouldn't be a very good cop."
"I know you're not a cop," said Charlotte. She had no evidence for this claim, she just had a feeling it was so.
"That wouldn't hold up in court." Jo grins. "Good thing you never became a lawyer."
Taken aback, Charlotte's eyes widen. She isn't offended, she knew she wouldn't be a good lawyer, but she did consider it seriously a while ago. However, at the time it took her favorite professor not recommending the job to her to consider a different path for herself.
"Excuse me?" Charlotte replied, shocked she knew that. She waved her hand, dismissing it. "Whatever. It's just that's what I was considering a while ago."
Nodding, Jo apologizes. "I didn't know. What did you decide instead?"
Charlotte frowned. "Nothing, really. I had dreams of having a happy living, but there was never any job in it. Just me and..." She was close to saying her ex's name, just then did she realize he never showed up. "Me, I guess." Charlotte moved up again.
"You know, for a restroom line conversation, this was quite interesting."
Charlotte rubbed her wrist, where that watch once was, and laughed. "Never really talked to anyone in a bathroom line, so the introduction was interesting. You... just remind me of someone."
"Really, now."
"Yeah..." She bit her tongue. "Oh! My friend in the school-days, Charlotte Claire, had a similar hairstyle." Thinking back on it now, she and Claire probably shouldn't have seen each other in the first place with similar names.
Jo tilted her head. "That's it?"
"Yeah, sorry." Charlotte leaned forward. "You're not some movie star, right? 'Cause I'm not caught up on the movies at the moment."
"No, no, no. I just have one of those faces, usually people recognize me from somewhere. I was just caught off guard, is all."
Nodding, Charlotte realized that did remind her of someone else. "Yeah, my friend has a problem like that too. Except the wrong people always know it's him, which isn't good for us." She moved up again and was now the first in line for the toilet. "Finally," she exclaimed. "Sorry, Jo. Nearly goodbye, then."
"Yeah," Charlotte noticed, at that word, Jo seemed to tune out. Her eyebrows scrunched together, as she looked at the door in front of Charlotte. "Guess so."
While Charlotte definitely noticed something was off with her bathroom line buddy, she didn't want to prod. Instead, she asked her something she knew they had in common, "Where are you going after this?"
Jo shrugs. "It kind of just comes to me out of blue. Keeps me on my toes, in a way. And you?"
Charlotte gave a wry smile. "As lame and philosophical as it sounds, I don't choose the place, it chooses me." She paused, rolling her eyes at her seriousness. "But I hope it's fun."
The last woman walks out of the bathroom, and Charlotte nearly runs in, throwing up a casual wave to Jo as she did. Of course, Jo waved back, but once the door closed, she left the line.
_______
Next up: Aino (The Time of Angels Part One)
GIF IS FROM gif-hunts-for-you ON TUMBLR
a/n: halfway through lets go! In the second part a LOT is going to happen hehe you'll hate me 😘