Chapter 42
TROY
It was almost impossible to leave the house.
When Charlie walked down the stairs, wearing her LARP costume, I couldn’t control myself.
I dragged her to the couch and begged her to ride me.
Now I’m about to park in front of Andreas’s building and I’m sporting another boner.
All it took was a glimpse of Charlie’s golden leg peeking out from the slit in her skirt.
“Ready?” I ask in a gruff voice.
“Yeah.” Her eyes drop to my crotch. “Oh, babe. Again? Did you accidentally take Viagra?”
“No, that’s all you, darling, and that dress.”
She glances outside where a few people wearing costumes are walking in and out of the building. The whole campus is one big Halloween party.
“I could help you out.” She reaches for my zipper.
“Oh my God, Charlie. I love you.”
Her hand stops, her eyes rounding as she stares at me. Neither of us speaks for a moment. I don’t dare to breathe.
What the hell did I just do?
“You love me?” she asks, breaking the silence.
“Hmm.” I rub the back of my neck, tongue-tied all of a sudden. How fucking ironic.
“Troy?”
I look away, leaning my head against the car seat. “Fuck. I swore I wouldn’t open my big mouth. Please don’t get weird on me.”
She reaches for my hand. “Why would I do that? I mean, my hands are magical. They get guys to tell me they love me all the time.”
There’s humor in her tone, but even so, her comment triggers my jealousy. Frowning, I turn to her. “Please don’t say that, not even as a joke.”
She leans across the gap and kisses me softly on the lips.
“You’re going to ruin your makeup,” I whisper.
“I don’t care.” She eases off and stares into my eyes. “Were you scared to confess your feelings to me?”
“Afraid I would freak you out? Yeah.” I run a hand through my hair. “This is all new to me. I’ve never felt this way before. Unsteady, unraveled.”
“I feel the same way,” she murmurs.
“You do?”
She nods. “I think I’ve spent the past few weeks equal parts terrified and ecstatic. When I look at you, it almost hurts, like a sweet agony. You rob me of air, Troy.”
My heart skips a beat. She might not have said “I love you”, but fuck if that doesn’t come close enough.
I reach behind her head, tangling my fingers in her hair. Then I lean closer but stop short of kissing her, remembering the reason I can’t. “Damn it. Curse my stupid idea to wear skull paint on my face tonight.”
A loud knock on Charlie’s window makes her jump back and shriek. Paris is outside, grinning like a maniac.
“Holy shit.” She places a hand on her chest.
“Come on, Troy. Save sex in the car for the way back home,” the idiot shouts.
She rolls her eyes at me. “Let me guess. That’s Paris.”
“Yep, that’s him.” I pat her thigh. “Come on. We’d better go before more people start to think we’re doing what he said we were.”
I get out of the car first, sprinting to circle around it and help Charlie out.
Paris and his date are waiting for us by the curb.
After introductions are made, we walk together to Andreas and Danny’s apartment.
Even before we reach the front door, we can hear the loud music echoing in the hallway.
This isn’t a dorm building, but because it’s on campus property, most of the residents are students at Rushmore.
Paris and his date enter the party first, but just as Charlie and I are about to cross the threshold, she grabs my arm. “Oh no. We forgot the head.”
“No we didn’t, babe. While you were getting ready, I dropped it off. Danny is in the know. He’ll place the head in the fridge and signal us.”
“I wish Fred were here to see this.”
“I’d have invited him if Andy didn’t have an issue with your friend,” I say.
“I know.”
She takes my hand, and we head inside.
* * *
Twenty minutes after we arrive at the party, Danny gives us the two-thumbs-up signal. The place is full but not completely packed to the gills. But most importantly, Andreas isn’t drunk out of his mind yet. We want him lucid for this.
“Hey, Andy, we’re out of Perrier,” I say.
“There’s more in the fridge,” Danny pipes up from the other side of the counter.
Charlie gets her camera ready.
Andreas turns to the fridge. “You and your fucking Perrier, Troy. I swear to Go—” He jumps back, almost falling on his ass. “Motherfucker. Jane!”
I move closer, getting a prime view of Andreas’s panicked face. I bet he looks ashen under his makeup.
“What’s Andy freaking out about?” Paris pushes him out of the way. “Holy crap. That’s freaky.” He pulls the prop from the fridge. “Dude, is this your sister?”
I flatten my lips, trying not to laugh. Now that I got used to the sight of Jane’s severed head, it doesn’t bother me as much anymore.
“It sure is,” Charlie replies for me. “Hey, Andreas. Say cheese.” She points the camera at him and takes several pictures.
Still stunned, he doesn’t lash out at Charlie like I thought he might.
Instead, he turns to me, wide-eyed. “What the hell, Troy? That was a sick joke. I’ll have nightmares for days.
I need a drink.” Fumbling through the kitchen, he opens several cabinets until he finds a bottle of Patrón, something he usually hides at parties.
He might come from money, but he’s stingy as fuck.
Charlie walks over to me, giggling. “Oh my God. That was so epic.”
“Did you get everything, babe?”
“Oh yeah. I got the moment on video and then several pictures. Man, Jane is going to love this.”
I watch Charlie text my sister, keeping a goofy smile on my face. The crazy feeling in my chest seems to expand. The words Charlie told me in the car make total sense. It’s a sweet agony to stare at her and keep my hands to myself when all I want to do is kiss and love her.
Man, I have it bad.
Unable to resist the temptation any longer, I wrap my arms around her waist and bring her back flush to my chest. Leaning close to her ear, I whisper, “I wouldn’t mind going home now and having my wicked way with you.”
“Troy, we just got here,” she replies feebly.
I bite her earlobe. “So? We pranked Andy. That was the highlight of the party.”
“When you put it that way,” she whispers, leaning against me. “I have to use the restroom first.”
Reluctantly, I let her go. While she’s away, I step into a conversation with Paris and Puck about today’s game. It’s easy to lose track of time with those guys. I’m laughing about a joke Paris told us when suddenly, someone yanks my arm, turning me around.
“Charlie?” I frown, noticing her furious expression. “What’s going on?”
“What the hell, Troy! I can’t believe you would take Ben bungee jumping behind my back!”
“Calm down. Why are you yelling at me? He had a great time.”
“Really? You call this a great time?” She shoves her phone in my face. I have to step back and pry the device from her hand to see what she’s trying to show me.
It’s a video of Ben jumping. Someone caught the whole thing, including when he lost control of his bladder.
And then later, there’s a shot of him in wet pants.
I can’t hear what the person who shot the video is saying, but the name of the video makes it clear that it’s nothing kind: Watch this idiot pee in his pants while bungee jumping.
HILARIOUS. If the headline wasn’t bad enough, the comments that follow are vile and disgusting. It makes me see red.
Charlie yanks the phone from my hand and strides away.
“Where are you going?” I follow her.
“Leave me alone, Troy.”
She bumps into someone coming in and bounces back. Fate would have it that Brooke is the one who collided with Charlie.
“Hey, where’s the fire?” she asks with an uncomfortable smile on her face.
Charlie glances at her and, before I can do anything, shoves Brooke so hard that she trips on her high heels and falls down.
“What the hell!”
I’d stop to help her up, but Charlie is already out in the hallway. I can’t let her leave in that berserk state.
“Sorry, Brooke,” I yell as I run after Charlie.
Charlie took the stairs down and is already one floor below when I catch up with her. I grab her arm, making her stop.
“Babe, please. Don’t be like that.”
She yanks free from my hold. “Don’t be like that? Troy, do you have any idea what this video will do to Ben when he sees it?”
“You don’t know if he will.”
“Oh my God, Troy. Wake up. Of course he will. Do you know how I came across this disgusting footage? Some guys were watching it and laughing like hyenas.” Angry tears roll down her cheeks, making me feel even worse than I already do.
“I’m sorry, okay? Ben was the one who suggested bungee jumping. We couldn’t have known that would happen.”
“I could have! It’s not the first time. Damn it, Troy! And how did you even get the operators to let him jump? He’s a minor.”
“He said he got your parents’ permission.”
“That’s bullshit. They wouldn’t have done that.” She throws her hands up in the air. “Ugh! I can’t talk to you right now. I have to go home.”
“I’ll take you.”
She raises her hand, halting me. “No. I’m too angry. It’s better if you leave me alone.”
I get into her personal space. “No, I’m not going to back down, Charlie. You’re acting completely irrational. You don’t need to talk to me, but I’m taking you home, and that’s final.”
She shoots daggers from her eyes, and from the way she’s clamping her jaw hard and flaring her nostrils, I know she wants to lash out again. But thankfully, she simply whirls around and continues her trajectory down the stairs.
The five-minute drive feels like an eternity. We’re seething in silence, and that will only make the resentment fester. I can’t believe she lost it like that because of the video. Yeah, it’s bad, but she could have talked to me without causing Armageddon.
She’s out of the car as soon as it stops. I stay put and let her march up to the front door and disappear inside without following. I’m too fucking angry, and if I go in, God knows what’s going to happen. I don’t want to make things worse.
I need to cool off, but sitting in the car alone won’t do, so I turn the engine on again and take off.
As I drive without direction, I wonder how you can love someone so much and hate the things they do.