20. FRIENDSHIP

20

FRIENDSHIP

B ells banged against the glass door as Charlotte entered the diner she used to work at.

Now called The Sizzlin' Griddle, the atmosphere felt so different after ownership changed hands a second time since her old boss Ricky left.

They'd done a lot in the time she'd been away.

Fifties music played from a jukebox in the corner, with records hanging from the ceiling. The entire diner now had a fifties theme. It suited the original style of shiny red leather booths, black-and-white checkered flooring, and chrome-wrapped bar. She often wondered why Ricky never embraced the concept.

Lazy, that's why.

The staff appeared diverse, no longer limited to pretty girls under nineteen. Her old boss had a type.

Gone were the skimpy server outfits, replaced with the cutest black hoop skirts with white poodles on them, big belts in the same color as the frilly petticoat the server wore—pink, blue, green, or yellow, and dainty shirts with glittery name tags matching the server's color. Other servers wore pressed slacks and white button-down shirts with black suspenders. Their bow ties and name tags also varied in color.

They made her feel underdressed in her white denim shorts, lavender tank top, and matching short-sleeved overshirt.

"Charlotte!"

At the sound of Riley's voice, she whirled around from her focus on the new dessert display.

On her knees in the booth, Riley waved her arms as if Charlotte weren't looking right at her. She looked so out of place in the bright and vibrant diner in her black band T-shirt over a fishnet undershirt. Charlotte couldn't see what else Riley wore, but she would put big money on it also being black—and some kind of boots, definitely boots. At least her pink pixie haircut fit.

Blaire sat across from her, laughing at Riley's antics. Layla sat next to Riley, peering over the booth's back with a soft, sympathetic smile, doe eyes wide.

Charlotte approached their booth and slid in next to Blaire, but not before she caught a glimpse of the cut-off, black jean shorts Riley wore over sheer black stockings and short combat boots. Called it.

"Ooh, new earrings?" Riley leaned across the table and flicked the tiny purple cloud earrings dangling from Charlotte's ears.

"Nah. I've had these since high school. Found them when reorganizing my closet last night."

Riley slumped back in her seat. "I still want those bat earrings you used to wear."

"You can have them."

"Really?" Riley's face brightened, mouth parting with all her top teeth showing as a wide smile overtook her face .

Charlotte nodded.

After her run-in with a vampire, she didn't want to have a reminder like that hanging around. Can vampires actually turn into bats? It wasn't like the man flew after her, so she had her doubts.

"So, how did Sara and Elizabeth take the news?" Blaire asked, turning to face her.

"They weren't disappointed in me."

"Told you it'd be fine," Riley said.

Layla looked between them, confusion lining her forehead. "What's going on?"

Riley turned to Layla, propping herself up on her knee, resting her arm on the back of the booth. "So you know how we said Charlotte is coming back for the rest of the summer?"

"Yeeeeah, but I didn't know why."

"How about let Charlotte explain it," Blaire said with a soft smile.

"Crap. Sorry, sorry. I'm just really excited you're home, and like, there's so much you've missed…" Riley trailed off, lowering herself back into her seat. "Sorry. Just excited," she repeated with a mumble.

Charlotte laughed. "You're fine." It had been too long since she experienced Hurricane Riley—as Aiden so affectionately called her—in person.

A server approached, her black hair twisted into a French knot with a big pink flower on the side that matched her flamingo pink petticoat. She wore Hollywood glam makeup that made her appear younger, but Charlotte suspected she was closer to her ma's age. "Hey there, hon. I'm Jessica. Will you be having something too?"

"What's good now?" Charlotte asked, looking at the others.

"Layla and I got chicken fingers and waffle fries," Blaire said.

"Cheese fries and milkshake," Riley added. Her lips twisted, and she turned to the server. "Actually, can I get another shake? Dreamy Creamy this time."

"Yep." Jessica scribbled a note on her notepad.

Charlotte looked up at her. "Do you have honey mustard?"

"Sure do. The creamy kind, not that tangy stuff."

"I'll get the chicken fingers too, then. Can I get cheese on waffle fries?"

"Don't see why not. Just like putting it on the regular ones. Potato's a potato, darlin'."

"Okay, that. Oh, and maybe a soda? Whatever you have. Pepsi or Coke."

"Want a filler?"

She blinked. "A what?"

Jessica gave her a patient smile. "We have a bar with all sorts of goodies you can add to your drink. Lemons, limes, syrup shots like strawberry, cherry, caramel…" She tapped her blood-red lips with the end of her pen as she mulled over the options.

"Do you have cherries?"

"Yep. I usually put a shot of cherry syrup with a handful of maraschino cherries in my soda. Want something like that?"

"Yes, please. If that's okay."

"Sure it is. I'll get that right out to you."

When the server turned away and went to put in the order, Layla muttered, "I like the tangy honey mustard."

Riley and Blaire chuckled.

Charlotte preferred the creamy stuff. It wasn't as strong of a mustard flavor and tasted sweeter, but she wouldn't tell Layla that. Instead, she asked, "What's a Dreamy Creamy?" It sounded like a candy popsicle, but she didn't know how they turned it into a milkshake.

"Creamsicle ice cream turned into a milkshake. It is so good. It's new on the menu. I mean, they revamped the whole thing when the last owners bought the place, but they added this a few weeks ago," Riley said, once again rambling, her volume rising with her excitement.

The mention of Creamsicle made her mood sour. It sucked to wake up that morning to her pillows not bearing the scent of the creamy orange dessert.

"What's wrong?"

She looked up at Riley. "Hm?"

"You look sad."

"I'm good."

Hoping to distract Riley, she looked at Layla. "I'm back because I don't like my major. I don't know what I want to do, but staying up there is too hard. I want to be with my family."

She left it simple. Explaining it a dozen times was getting old.

Layla nodded. "I get that. I've never been away from home either."

From what she remembered, their situations were very different. Layla's parents were apparently overprotective and didn't see her as an adult until she turned twenty. She still had a couple of years to go.

In Charlotte's case, she didn't want to leave her family. They weren't pushing her out, but they wanted her to feel confident in the world without restrictions. Quite the one-eighty to Layla's upbringing.

"Oddly enough, my parents want me to look into enrolling at Blackthorn Academy," she said, shaking her head. The idea still sounded silly.

When no one spoke, she looked up at the others. Layla's eyes had rounded in frozen surprise, and Blaire and Riley were staring at one another. They looked to be communicating something without words. A sharp sensation pinched Charlotte's chest. She didn't have that connection anymore with Blaire.

"At least I don't have to deal with my unwanted friend," she said, changing the subject now that the mood turned tense.

She knew the reality. Blackthorn Academy wasn't for people like her.

Riley stared at her while she dipped her waffle fries in gooey cheese. "What unwanted friend?"

"Blaire didn't tell you?"

"No."

She set down the fry and dusted salt from her fingers as she prepared herself to inform the two girls staring at her in question about the things she didn't tell her mothers. Everything except the crazy run-in with Mr. Fangs.

By the time she finished explaining the hellacious experience, Riley's mouth gaped, for once speechless.

"And you didn't tell your parents?" Layla sounded as horrified as she looked.

"No. I didn't think it would be worth it to add the extra stress. Especially if I never go back to Athens." She picked up the fry again. "Besides, if I decide to return, they'll talk me out of it if they know there's a stalker up there." She took a bite of the cheesy fry.

"No shit," Riley said, scoffing. "You're not going back up there. I don't get why you didn't come home sooner."

"I wanted to finish my classes, so I at least kept my credits. I couldn't leave before the twenty-first, or I couldn't transfer everything."

Blaire set down her drink. "Why the twenty-first? Your classes were only a couple months?"

"Classes started May fourteenth. My midterm presentation happened on June twenty-first. If I didn't pass, I couldn't leave until I did remedial work. My advisor said I could transfer my credits, since I passed, so I don't have to stay through July for the rest of the extended summer session. "

"You're still not going back," Riley muttered.

Charlotte laughed. "You know, you sound like your brother."

"Ew. Don't say disgusting things like that."

"Well, if I didn't agree to let him stay, he would have made me come back," she said, lifting the glass of specialty cherry Coke and taking a sip. The cherry syrup gave it an extra kick she liked.

"Made you?" Layla tilted her head in question.

"Ah… um." How did she explain the weird feeling she experienced around Aiden that made her want to do what he told her to? His protective instincts made him a little overbearing and a control freak, but something about it stirred an instinct of hers to either defy or yield to him, depending on the circumstance. "He has a way with words?" That sounded lame to her own ears.

Riley stirred her straw in her milkshake. "Don't let him push you around. He means well, but when he cares about someone, he is like a dog with a bone. Won't back down, even when he's wrong. I've been living with it for eighteen years, I know."

"He's not pushing me around," Charlotte said, frowning. "Anyway, he's acted really weird since we got back into town, so I don't think there's much to worry about."

"What do you mean?"

She looked at Blaire. "Well, before he came up to see me, we would talk most every night."

"Hold up." Riley leaned on the table with her elbows. "Every night? I knew something was up between y'all."

"It wasn't like that. We played games together, were friends. He kept the homesickness at bay. Kept my mind occupied."

Layla looked at her empty plate as the table fell silent.

Blaire leaned back against the wall. The sunshine streaming through the window made her blonde hair glow. "What was it like having Aiden stay with you?"

"Well, he's come up before, but never overnight. He only stayed the first night because we lost track of time, but then the next day there was the break-in, and well… you know the rest."

Riley quirked an eyebrow. "So what's the deal now?"

Charlotte looked at Riley. "What deal?"

"I think she means with him acting weird," Layla said.

"Yeah, that."

"I don't know."

She hated lying to her friends. She wanted to be closer to them and have something meaningful again, like she once did with Blaire, but if she couldn't tell them the truth, what kind of foundation was she creating?

"Why do I not believe that?" Blaire reached out and grabbed Charlotte's hand resting on the table. "I know you, Char. It's all over your face. What happened when he was there?"

Her eyes burned, and she willed her body to absorb the liquid emotion brimming in her eyes.

"Did he hurt you?" Riley said, rising. "I will kick his tail. Then I'll let Mama kill him."

"No!" Charlotte shouted, then looked around at the packed diner. A few people looked at her and she shrank into the seat. "No," she whispered. "He didn't hurt me… Not physically." At least they couldn't see the faded bruising from his bites on her stomach and breast. The marks on her hips were gone, and the one on her neck she covered well enough with makeup.

"Then what did he do?" Blaire's hand squeezed hers.

"Nothing. He was there for two weeks, and everything was great for the first week. I mean, except for the stalker stuff. Everything changed the day before I decided to come home. "

"What happened?"

Her elbows thunked on the table, rattling the silverware as her hands cradled her forehead. Her food sat forgotten. "We slept together."

"You already said that," Layla said, lifting her water and taking a sip.

"I don't think she means sleeping in the same bed," Blaire said with caution. "Do you?"

Riley smacked a hand on the table, leaning forward, whisper-yelling. "You banged my brother?"

"No one says banged anymore," Blaire said, suppressing a laugh.

"Fine." Riley rolled her eyes, waving her hand from side to side with each euphemism she uttered. "Bumped uglies, boned, did the horizontal tango, rode the skin bus into tuna town—"

"Stop!" Blaire threw a fry at Riley.

Layla's eyes were so wide she looked like a cartoon character.

"Don't put it like that," Charlotte grumbled, cringing. "Any of that. But yes, we had sex . And it was amazing, and I hate myself for it."

"But she can't—"

Riley's hand clamped over Layla's mouth. "Nope."

Charlotte's eyebrows rose, mouth parting. "What in the world?"

"Nothing, nothing." Riley waved a hand, dismissing the odd interaction as Layla looked at her with exasperation, brushing her ruffled mocha hair from her face. "But seriously. You had sex?"

"Yes. I just told you," Charlotte said with a groan. "He had a nightmare, and when he woke up, he… He acted in a way I'd never seen before."

"Nightmare? Shit. He's still having them?" Riley's face fell. "I thought it got better. "

"He said he didn't have as many when he was up there, but he still had them occasionally."

"That's good, at least." Blaire let go of Charlotte's hand and propped her head on her palm, elbow on the table. "You said he acted different? What did you mean?"

It felt weird. Her friends were looking at her like an anomaly. Asking questions that didn't feel intrusive but bordered on clinical. Asking what happened, how Aiden was different. She expected silly questions from maybe Blaire, like if he was good in bed or something, but this felt different. They seemed concerned and a little put off by the idea she and Aiden had sex.

"I've just never experienced him so aggressive and intense before. Not that it was a bad thing. Just new." She shrugged. "I mean, everyone acts a little different when they sleep together, right?"

"Sometimes," Blaire conceded.

Riley's cheeks tinted. "Yep. Absolutely."

Blaire laughed. "Apparently, Seth is very different behind closed doors."

"Huh?"

"He's a dom."

Riley swatted Layla's arm. "No, he's not!"

"It sounds like it from the way you describe him."

"How the hell do you know about doms?"

"I have access to the internet, you know. Just because my parents shelter me doesn't mean I'm ignorant."

"Bless your heart," Riley muttered.

"Anywayyy," Blaire said, trying to get the conversation back on track. But Charlotte didn't mind the detour. It felt so good to sit and joke with her friends and ignore the awkward situation she found herself in. To be happy for once in what felt like ages. "So what went wrong? If it was so good, then why are you upset?"

She sighed, slumping against the squeaky leather booth. "The next morning, he seemed fine. Touched me. Seemed affectionate… but then, nothing. He kept his distance but acted like he always did. Then when we hit Rosebrook Valley? Bam. It's like someone put up a wall between us. I haven't heard from him in a couple of days since he drove me back home."

"He didn't seem like anything was wrong, did he?" Blaire asked Riley. "Lukas said he seemed weird, but I thought nothing of it. Figured he was getting settled back in."

"I've only seen him once. He seemed fine, but I wasn't paying attention honestly. I kinda chewed him out for being gone so long and not letting me visit." Riley at least had the good sense to look embarrassed by her behavior.

Layla shook her head. "I haven't seen him at all."

"I'll get Seth to talk to him," Riley said. "Maybe he'll mention something."

Charlotte's stomach clenched when Blaire and Riley shared one of those looks again. She wondered if they knew more than they were sharing.