Chapter Text
"So where are we going today?" Charlotte asks Greg, he is finishing packing the lacrosse equipment in the trunk while the brunette waits patiently propped up against the side of the vehicle.
"I'm not sure yet" he finishes and raises his arms to close the trunk slamming it right after
"What do you want to eat?"
Greg approaches, standing in front of Charlotte and preventing her from looking at anything around her.
"Hm…" She extends the murmur signaling that she is weighing her options and tilts her head a little to the right just in time to see a tiny creature clad in leather and with the brown roots of her hair growing out, Natalie Scatorccio.
"Something Italian". Charlotte smiles to herself at her speech.
Like the brunette, the blonde has a reputation, for reasons far more interesting than Charlotte's, but it's still something that makes her captivating. Natalie is recognized both for her gothic grunge clothing style and for her surprising intelligence, in math olympics she stands out and always generates a stir among newbies who would never expect a regular weed user to be able to complete a logarithmic equation. Charlotte already carries the burden of being the rich and hot girl, for people who are born with this part of life already predetermined there is a crossroads when starting the social life where you can choose between the path of goodness and that of perversion, Lottie is not explicitly evil, she's the worst kind of mean girl: the one-use passive-aggressive methods.
The two have no known compatibility and maybe that's why deep down, well repressed in Charlotte's chest there is an irrational interest in Natalie, if the blonde was a simple bad boy it wouldn't be half as funny for Lottie, but there's something there , the intelligence, the dimples, something sublime that captivates Charlotte, so she keeps her eyes on the shorter one walking to her gray 1980s JEEP CJ5, the spring breeze making her hair even wilder.
"Pasta? Really? Well, this is going to fuck up my diet—" Greg starts to speak but is cut off by Charlotte who turns her attention to him.
"You can always order something within your carb limits" Charlotte backs away from the car body, her body pushing against Greg's in the process, she runs a hand down her short skirt to get rid of the dust "let's go."
She grabs Greg by his white shirt chest and gives him a gentle tug before letting go and walking around the front of the car to the passenger door.
★
Charlotte was at the biggest music store in her small town. The ground floor was exclusively for a variety of string instruments and keyboards, a piano was always exposed behind the glass, sometimes the owner of the store, a small Asian man with black hair, played and the melody of the keys took over the whole street. There was a narrow staircase that led to a mezzanine with islands and shelves filled with CDs, cassettes, vinyls and all sorts of vintage music-related knickknacks.
There wasn't a soul alive on the ground floor, but she could hear it going over her head, so soon someone would show up and, in the meantime, she wandered around the shop, admiring the models of basses and ukuleles, evaluating the types of strings, and judging the designs of the picks exposed on the counter.
"What do you need today, Charlotte?" The man appears coming down the stairs with a closed cardboard box in his hands.
"A tuner, mine died last week."
"May your old friend rest in peace" He goes behind the counter, the box in his hands is placed somewhere hidden there. On the wall behind the counter are hung different models of tuners and pickups. "Do you want a model like your old one or a different one?"
Charlotte's old one is a classic Boss TU-3 that she got for her birthday along with a red and white Fender Jazzmaster.
"I think it's good to keep the model…" She says and the man nods in agreement turning to the wall looking for the tuner, "ah! Actually, if you have the 3W you can give it to me, I've been researching, and I think it can serve."
More footsteps are heard coming from the mezzanine, which the brunette finds strange since that space doesn't seem to be very frequented, someone with heavy soles stomps down the stairs and Charlotte turns around to satisfy her curiosity.
The hem of a long dark blue skirt appears and then a brown leather belt, which looks like a black shirt with a round neck and over it a leather jacket. OK.
Natalie goes downstairs and finding her there shouldn't surprise Charlotte so much, Natalie gives the impression of someone who likes vintage things but judging now by the brooch pinned to her jacket, she's not there as a customer, but as an employee.
The blonde reveals a bit of surprise in her expression when she recognizes Charlotte there wearing black tailored shorts and a simple tank top — also black — with spaghetti straps.
"Hey?"
"Hey"
They greet each other, it's awkward and polite.
"Here, Charlotte" The man places a box of the tuner on the counter and the brunette looks away from Natalie, paying attention to the shop owner who is now giving a speech about the device.
This time, it wasn't Charlotte who was intrigued by Natalie, but the contrary.
As if the perhaps privileged information that Charlotte Isobel Matthews is a musician gives a little more substance to Natalie's inane stereotype of her. The blonde finds herself amused looking at Charlotte leaning against the counter talking to Mr. Christopher about guitars, strings, frets, straps, and other items on the instrument, seeming genuinely curious and interested when Chris started talking about some new item that she had no prior knowledge.
Natalie didn't expect to bump into a different version of Charlotte during the first week of her summer job.
★
Autumn is Natalie's favorite season; she enjoys witnessing the change of color of the leaves and visiting Melissa's family farm and being immersed in that cozy atmosphere that only a wooden house with a wood stove can offer.
She would come home with a wooden crate in her hand full of pumpkins that she would use to make bread and failed attempts at scary lanterns, and apples that served to make some sweets with Van and cider with Taissa.
In the trailer she could have had a nice mother-daughter moment as they cooked and talked about everyday banalities, but as has been usual her mother isn't home this Thursday afternoon, it's AA afternoon which comforts Natalie's chest a little.
She revels in her annual domestic acts while listening to a light pop rock playlist just to keep her spirits high. There's flour on the small counter and there's a big bowl of butternut squash left over that she'd take to Misty once she put the loaves in the oven. She has no plans to spend more than necessary in Misty's presence so time should be on her side.
Despite the weather starting to cloud over, she takes her blue bicycle — since her mother took the car — and pedals to the yellow two-story house with a pot full of pumpkin in the backpack slung over her back.
She struggles and even so ends up being rented for about 10 minutes by Misty Quigley who got excited when explaining about the gastronomic competition she was going to participate in that weekend.
"Sorry, Misty, but I really have to go, or my house could burn down. Text me the address, maybe I'll drop by, okay?"
She said already walking away, walking backwards away from Misty who agreed and waved goodbye.
Greg wanted to put his arm around Charlotte's shoulders, but the girl was wearing heels that made her almost the same height as him. It seemed impossible for him to reach Charlotte, he has no idea what to call their relationship, because they are not friends, but they are not a couple and neither are friends with benefits, since Charlotte acts more intimate with him publicly — like now that they're holding hands — but they're never alone enough to threaten to push a barrier.
It's too confusing for his head, and they need to clear things up before the guy freaks out.
"Look! It's Misty" Charlotte points somewhere in the distance, where Greg recognizes near a candy apple stand Misty with her big glasses and Natalie with her inseparable jacket.
"Oh yeah, she's going to be in the pie competition if I'm not mistaken. She looked excited as she chatted with coach's youngest son."
"Javi?" The two then begin walking slowly, stopping at a few other stalls along the way to postpone any encounters they may have with Misty occasionally.
"I think so, he helps with the equipment on Thursdays" Greg stops and looks at a counter with small carved wooden figures, finding a cute kitten that he intends to buy later and maybe give as a gift to Charlotte.
"I didn't know Natalie was Misty's friend" Greg looks at Charlotte strangely, as if the confirmation of that friendship had been said at random.
"They're both nerds, I'm not surprise" Greg walks away again, his hand guiding Charlotte's who mechanically moves as she watches the two blondes interact for too long.
Charlotte doesn't know if people notice that she takes too long looking in whatever direction Natalie is, but she always does, and if no one notices she must be very good at hiding it — which is a lie, for God's sake, she's so fixated on the blonde that doesn't even look where she's stepping — or they don't say anything for some reason.
Misty says something to Natalie that makes the leather clad girl want to turn away but is stopped by Misty's hand on her arm who says something else - Charlotte wishes she wasn't too far away to get a lip read - then Misty attention is sidetracked by the stall girl who is holding two apples wrapped in chocolate and sprinkles. Misty turns to pick up the treats, and when she's distracted by thanking and setting the values, Natalie completes her interrupted movement, quickly turning towards Charlotte and catching the brunette in the act.
Charlotte doesn't have time to react, so she freezes with her eyes on Natalie who tilts her head slightly in clear doubt. Greg is caught in the lurch by Charlotte's abrupt stop and almost falls when Charlotte's gripped hand fails to complete a lazy step.
"All good?" He faces Charlotte and threatens to look in the same direction as her, only he is stopped by the girl's hand that touches his cheek.
"Yeah, I just thought I saw one person" She smiles falsely and slides her hand from her cheek to his shoulder wrapped in the yellow leather lacrosse team jacket "don't worry, come on, let's get something and go home."
It was frightening how meek Charlotte sounded, she squeezed his shoulder, and they started walking again.
Just before they left, Greg said he was going to wish Misty good luck, and Charlotte made her way to the car carrying some bags.
Greg didn't go to Misty, he ran to the wooden figurine stall, but the cute kitten is gone.
★
Natalie left the room with yet another promise to receive the best grade in the advanced calculus classes and a talkative Taissa on her heels.
In debate, Natalie was not guaranteed, in an essay she could even think of good arguments and an interesting repertoire based on pop culture, but she left so much to be desired in debates, perhaps it is the only academic activity that does not have a professor fawning over her for her abilities, which is far from a complaint on her part.
The debate that Taissa would dispute next week was an agenda involving the legalization of drugs and she was responsible for defending the permanence of the prohibition, which is the current scenario and should be easier to harping on the same string that conservative people, but she doesn’t stop reviewing your speech.
"Jeez, Tai, I should be the last person to put up with you talking about the harms of weed" They walk through the red double doors that lead to the cafeteria, the typical smell of school food and the incessant clatter of clanking forks flooding their brains quickly.
"Sorry Nat, I know you’re kind of 'fuck the consequences', but Van is mad at me for some unknown reason."
"No one should poke their nose into a husband-and-wife fight" Natalie recites at random, because she definitely doesn't agree with it but doesn't feel ready to embark on a resumption of actions with Taissa to find out which pissed off Van, not now. Tai laughs nasally in recognition of Nat's mania for quoting phrases like that when her brain deems it appropriate.
"But isn't your damn debate against Matthews? Why are you so tense? She must know nothing about political discussions" They head towards the buffet avoiding looking at the trays of food so as not to lose their appetite.
"You urgently need to be less ignorant, that woman manages to be the devil in everything she sets out to do" Taissa stares at the soy beef steak that has just found a home on her plate "She's one of the best in debate. It's always a silent competition between us to see which one is the best, you should watch it one of these days."
"You know I really wanted to go, but it's at the same time as the audiovisual club" The two leave with their trays for outside and sit at one of the vacant tables under a willow tree.
From inside the cafeteria, sitting at the table and showing off her legs very well hugged by her tights, Charlotte followed Natalie and Taissa with her gaze.
"Lottie, you’re listening to us?" Mari draws Charlotte's attention; she closes her eyes for a moment as she realizes the nickname Mari is not allowed to use.
"No, actually" Lottie's brown eyes meet Mari's in mock sincerity "what you're talking about?"
In addition to the two, the table is also occupied by Jackie who devours a natural sandwich and Laura Lee who fishes pear pieces with a plastic fork, the blonde being the only one in that circle who can say "Lottie" and not getting an eye roll.
“Winter Ball, Jackie was commenting that the council will decide the day later this week" Mari says, stealing a grape from Laura Lee's newly opened jar.
"Kind of short notice, right? We're almost into December" Laura comments.
"True, will be a shorter time to arrange everything, good luck to the committee" Jackie agrees, taking a bite that doesn't break a tomato very well and it hangs on the girl's lips until Charlotte catches it with her thumb and forefinger then put it over the table.
"You're on the committee, Jackie" she says humorously, bringing her fingertips to her mouth to wipe away the tomato and mayonnaise taste.