Loving Charley (16 page)

“Yeah.” She makes a quick
trip to her room and returns with a handful of condoms.

“Oh, my! She’s gonna be
pissed!” I laugh.

“I know, right? But, I
can’t wait to see her face,” Anna says. “Where’s that disco
lamp?”

“It’s in my room from the
last pre-game.” When Caroline returns with it, she’s also carrying
a pair of shiny, new handcuffs. After placing everything perfectly
on the futon, we cut off the lights and go to Caroline’s room to
enjoy a Friday night and wait for the main event to return a little
later.

We spend the next two
hours playing
Never Have I
Ever
. I only drink one glass of PJ and
then turn to Choice Cherry Gold after that. Knowing that it has got
to be close to time for Georgia to return, we check out who is on
the stoop. I see Joe.
Bingo!

“Hey, y’all. Excuse me. I
think I have our lookout.” I make my way out to Joe, and as I
approach him, he stops mid-conversation.

“Squirrel, you got that
look. What’s goin’ on? Everything okay?” he questions like a big
brother.

“It’s perfect, but I do
need your help with just a little something.” Pulling him to the
side, I tell him what we’ve been up to, and he has the same
reaction that I did. She’s gonna kill us, but of course, he’ll play
along, too. He agrees to text me when they are walking toward the
stoop to give us time to turn on the “boob” lights, and then I go
back upstairs.

Within ten minutes, I get a
text from Joe.

Joe: Let those lights
shine!

Me: Gotcha!

Tori hurries across the
hall and hustles back to Caroline’s room. What I hadn’t prepared
for was the loud bass of music bumping from her room. “What? We
needed the full effect. Caroline, turn ours up too, so Georgia
doesn’t notice at first.” Caroline turns up the dial, and Katy
Perry’s “Dark Horse” is all I can hear.

Georgia and Tucker wave as
they walk by, and we try our best not to blow our cover. As soon as
she’s past us, we jump up and hustle to the doorway to see what
happens next. She turns the doorknob and instantly flushes beet
red. A look of confusion is written all over her face. Tucker
doesn’t say anything, but you can tell it’s caught him off guard as
well.

Georgia turns off the radio
and then flips on the lights. As she starts to turn around to
confront us, we beat her to it.

“We just thought we’d help
with the postdate show. Y’all like it?” Tori states more than
questions.

Georgia tries to speak, but
it’s a blubbering mess. Tucker, on the other hand, nails it. “It
would have been perfect if it was a pair of thongs.”

Her mouth falls open, and
she manages to ask one question, “How did you know when we’d be
back?” As I start to explain, I’m cut off.

“‘
Cause I was the lookout,”
Joe says as he peeks from around the stairwell. He turns to us.
“Y’all didn’t think after they made it in the door I was just gonna
hear about this secondhand, did ya?”

“Of course not,” I
say.

“I appreciate y’all trying
to help me out, but next time, just let me handle it,” Georgia says
proudly.

We leave them alone and go
back to Caroline’s room, and Joe joins us, too. We spend the next
thirty minutes reliving what just happened. Then, we enjoy the
night until we can’t keep our eyes open. We excuse ourselves one by
one and go to our rooms or someone else’s. I most definitely go
back to my room and dream of my Cash Money.

The next morning, I wake up
to a phone call from Piper who is hysterical. I’m afraid to ask
what has happened, because I can probably guess. She got drunk and
kissed a guy. That’s like her freakin’ trademark.

“Piper, calm down. What’s
wrong?”

“Char, last night when I
was out, this guy kept trying to buy me drinks. I let him buy me
one, and of course, I got it from the bartender, but he wouldn’t
leave me alone. After a while, he finally got my drift, or at least
I thought, and then I figured it out. Something about him seemed
off. What if he was the guy that took my picture that Dylan sent
you? He has always tried to talk to me, and I have always blown him
off. What if he tries to hurt me?”

Not knowing exactly what to say, I
take a deep breath. “Piper, did he try anything?”

“No, after the one drink
and me being a total bitch, he left me alone. Last night, I didn’t
think much about it, but this morning that thought woke me
up.”

“Have you talked to Joe?” I
ask.

“Hell no! He’d be down here
and ready to beat someone’s ass. I need someone that can help me
talk though it.”

“Aight, so here’s what I
think. Yes, it can be a possibility, but it’s unlikely. I wouldn’t
want to toss it to the side, but I also wouldn’t freak myself out
about it. If he took your hint, then let it go. Keep your guard up
and tell someone there you trust. That way if you go out, and he’s
there, there’s another set of eyes on him. And, I would tell Joe.
Don’t keep it from him. He’s got a good head on his shoulders. Just
tell him to listen to everything first.”

“That was kinda my thought,
too. I just needed to hear it from someone else. I’ve been on edge
so much since I got back. I mean, knowing what I thought was
everything and then knowing what I didn’t know existed has been
harder than I thought.”

“I’m sorry I haven’t been a
better friend. This affects you too, and sometimes I just think
about myself in the situation.”

“Don’t even say that, Char.
Your situation is important. This is minor compared to what you’ve
experienced. Thanks for listenin’ this mornin’. Love
ya.”

“Love ya, too. Now, call
Joe,” I demand.

I hang up and roll back over, but I’m
unable to sleep with the thought that Piper might be
right.

Chapter 23

Throwing my covers off me, I get out of bed,
unable to shake that thought from my mind. No one, and I
mean
no one
,
better mess with Piper. I grab my shower caddy, dollar flip-flops,
and towel, praying a shower will clear my mind and I won’t do
anything drastic.

As I stand in my room
toweling off my wet hair, I hear a knock and then Joe’s voice. When
I open the door, it’s very evident that he has spoken to Piper and
is a total wreck. He comes in and takes a seat on my
bed.

“Joe, don’t think the
worst,” I state as calmly as possible.

“What do you mean? You know damn well
as I do that something’s not right.”

Everything within my soul
tells me that something is wrong, but I don’t want to freak him out
anymore. It’s no use because he can see in my delayed reaction that
something is wrong.

“I knew it. You think it,
too,” he says as he slams his hand on my mattress.

“Listen, I think something
is off, but I don’t want to jump to conclusions. I also don’t want
Piper scared to go out of her dorm room or live life. We need to
see what we can find out.”

“Now, how the hell are we
gonna do that? We are here, and she is there,” he says as he speaks
with his arms.

I pace the floor for a
moment, and then it dawns on me. “You said you met Dylan during
Senior Week. Was there anyone you remember that was going to school
with Piper? That might be where we need to start.”

Joe takes out his phone
and begins to scroll through his Facebook friends, and when I think
we are at a loss, he looks up. He passes me the phone, and I look
at it. The guy in the picture has skin that has been kissed by the
sun and shaggy, yet sexy, dirty blonde hair, and hazel eyes. He is
very much eye candy. I read his name. Blanton Marks.
Doesn’t ring a bell to me.
I pass the phone back to Joe.

“Blanton Marks goes to the
community college there. He was with Trent at the beach. I thought
it was weird to have them together, but they said they grew up
together.”

“I totally forgot that
Trent moved to Grassy Pond from down east when he was in middle
school, so that is a possibility. Should we send his pic to
Piper?”

“I think so, but let’s call
and explain first.”

After explaining our
hypothesis to Piper, Joe texts it to her while she remains on the
line with me. She pauses to look at it, and a gasp is all we
hear.

“That’s him, y’all. Ohmygawd, that’s
him. What am I gonna do?”

Joe snatches the phone from me, and I
know that he’s going to take control of this situation just like he
did Study Day when I thought my world was crashing down.

“Baby, listen to me. Don’t
freak out. I have an idea.” He waits for her to quit
hyperventilating before speaking again, “You usually see him out on
the weekends, right?”

“Yeah, usually Saturday
night at the Handlebar. He’s a local, and they are all the time
inviting us to parties and stuff at the beach. We never go ‘cause
something is just off about it all.”

“How about I’m taking you
out Saturday night? You show me a good time at
your
college. I get done with class
at noon Friday. Conditioning is that morning, so I can leave as
soon as class is over. Will that work?”

“I’d love for you to come see me, but
I also don’t want any trouble.”

“Oh, there’s going to be
no trouble because when I see him out, I’m going to let him know
you are
my
girl
and that I know his game. That should stop it, because from what I
remember that week, he’s a follower, not a leader. If he knows
Dylan’s in trouble, he’s gonna stop.”

Joe turns to me. “Do you want to
go?”

“I’d love to, but I’m not
sure. Since I have to go back home next week for court, I might
need to stay here, but… I don’t want you to have to go by yourself.
Let me think it over.”

Joe finishes talking to
Piper and hands me the phone again. She tells me to stay at
Southern. She knows that I’m torn, and knowing her, she honestly
wants alone time with Joe, and who can blame her?

After I hang up with Piper,
Joe and I really talk about what he thinks will happen. He was
honest with Piper, but he did say things might get a little messy
if Blanton doesn’t listen. Then, he realizes it would be better if
I stayed away. I don’t need to be involved with anything Dylan
related until this hearing is over.

Joe returns to his dorm,
and I call Cash and fill him in. He’s not happy to say the least.
In fact, he thinks we both should go with Joe. I demand that we
don’t because we can’t risk what conflict it could cause for next
Thursday. He agrees unwillingly.

Spending the remainder of
my Sunday keeping myself busy, I rearrange my room, clean, grocery
shop, and map out my week. It’s going to be a nerve-racking week
for not only me but also everyone I know. The next eleven days are
going to build more and more anxiety of going home and walking into
that courthouse to face Dylan Sloan.

Surprisingly, the week
flies by, and I meet Joe after class on Friday before he leaves to
go see Piper. My body feels like it has been wadded up, tossed
around, and put back together as he leaves. I’m terrified of the
possible outcomes for him tomorrow. He has so much going for him; I
just hope his past doesn’t come back to haunt him.

“Hey, can you give this to
her?” I ask Joe as I pass him a small bag.

He looks at me with a
smirk. “Fun Dip? Choice Cherry Gold?”

“Yup, it’s kinda our thing.
They make everything better. If I can’t be there, these are the
next best things,” I say with a shoulder shrug.

“Oh,
really
? I thought I was the next
best thing!”

“You’re probably right, but
this is my way of being there. Now, take care of her.”

Joe gives me a hug, and I
push back the tears as he gets into his Jeep. As Joe pulls away, I
go and sit at the picnic table to clear my head. I pull out my
phone and text Cash. I need to see him. It’s not a want. I need him
to hold me.

Me: Whatcha doin’ Cash
$?

After what feels like forever, he
replies.

Cash: Sorry, I was putting
a new belt on the tractor. What’s up?

Me: I need you.

My phone rings. As I
connect, he is already speaking.

“What do you mean
you
need
me?” he
asks with worry in his voice.

“Cash Money, I need
you.
”

“Oh my lord, Char-coal. I was about to
haul ass to the truck! You can’t text things like that.”

“What? Just ‘cause I’m not
in trouble you’re not gonna come to my rescue?”

“Oh, I’ll come to your
rescue, but you better really
need
me.”

“You know what I
need
? I need your
strong, hard working, and perfectly sculpted arms wrapped around me
when I close my eyes tonight. Do you think that’s
possible?”