Chapter Text
Charlotte considered herself a confident person, rarely bothered by things that commonly induced anxiety in others; she never struggled with public speaking, she knew her stuff when it came to exams, and people could say whatever they wanted about her without it getting to her. The only steady source of anxiety for Charlotte was her job, worrying about Ray and Henry when they got themselves in trouble.
It made sense to be uneasy in life or death situations, sure. Tonight, however, shouldn’t have had her stomach flipping like it was.
She was on her way to the Harts’ house for a sleepover, and for the first time, it wasn’t with Henry and Jasper; Piper had invited her, along with a few of her other friends.
Charlotte chalked her nervousness up to never really being close with other girls before. Sleepovers with the boys usually just involved watching movies and playing video games—and retreating back into her notes, studying for whatever exam they had coming up when Henry and Jasper started flirting with each other without even realizing it.
Boys were stupid, especially those boys, but talking to them felt comfortable. Predictable. They were her best friends, and she enjoyed their company.
Not that she didn’t enjoy Piper’s company, of course, but it was just…different. They started hanging out more when Charlotte began tutoring Piper in her summer courses, and once Piper’s grades jumped from C’s to A’s with Charlotte’s help, they got together for more study sessions. She’d be over at the Harts’ house whenever she wasn’t working at Junk N’ Stuff, even if Henry wasn’t there, and she and Piper would take breaks to just talk.
It was fun, Charlotte decided, having a girl to talk to. Even if she felt uncomfortable whenever Piper brought up boys as a topic of conversation.
“Oh my God, isn’t he so cute?” Piper would say, shoving her phone in Charlotte’s face to show her whatever boy she’d come across on her TwitFlash feed.
“Oh, yeah, he is,” Charlotte would reply, not really understanding what would make a boy cute, but desperate to make that connection she’d seen in movies and TV her entire life.
It was the only thing Charlotte ever felt insecure about, because it was quite literally the only thing she couldn’t understand. There weren’t any notes she could study about boys or what made them attractive, no classes where she could ask questions about that sort of thing. Every girl her age just seemed to know what it meant.
Charlotte could at least pride herself on being smart enough to play along, like on the rare occasions when there was a reading check in AP Lit and she hadn’t read the assigned chapter the night before because of a Captain Man-related emergency. There were usually enough context clues to help her still make an ‘A’.
But at a sleepover with Piper and three of her friends? Of course there was going to be boy talk, and Charlotte was scared her cover would be blown. Hell, since Piper and her friends were all two grades below her, they’d probably ask how many boys she’d kissed before! Maybe even if she…Ugh. Charlotte couldn’t even bring herself to finish the thought.
It almost made her turn around and go straight home once she was standing on the Harts’ front porch with her duffle bag weighing on her shoulder, but Henry suddenly opened the door, narrowly avoiding crashing into her.
“Oh, hey Char, are you here for Piper’s sleepover?” It was good to see Henry, and she silently hoped he would be staying, too, so she would have an escape in case things got too awkward with the girls.
“Yep. Are Piper’s friends here yet?”
Henry’s eyes widened and he pressed his lips together.
Uh oh. That face was never good news.
Henry quickly shut the door behind him, joining Charlotte out on the porch.
“Yeah, uh, so,” he started, wringing his hands nervously, “Something, something, Jana Tetrazini called Marla a bitch in their group chat, and Marla said she was only acting like a bitch because of whatever reason, and then someone else said something, and…I stopped listening to Piper at that point. Everyone’s mad at everyone else, and no one is coming over tonight.”
Charlotte was surprised to feel some tension leave her body with that news.
“Oh. Should I just go, then?”
“No, you should actually go and try to calm Piper down, because I don’t think she’d forgive you if you also didn’t show.” He moved to step off of the porch.
“Wait, where are you going?”
“Movie night with Jasper.”
Charlotte didn’t have to ask why they wouldn’t stick around with her and Piper; Piper was probably in a foul mood, and the boys already had their date night planned.
She wished they’d admit it was a date night; if not to her, then at least to themselves.
“Okay, have fun, then,” she waved as Henry continued down the path, “and tell Jasper I said ‘hi!’” Henry gave her a thumbs up without turning around.
Charlotte took a breath before opening the door.
She half expected Piper to be yelling and throwing things across the room after the drama Henry described, but instead, she was just sitting on the couch, scrolling on her phone.
Piper looked up when she heard the door open and greeted Charlotte with a smile; it was an odd reaction from someone who needed to be ‘calmed down.’
“Hey, is everything okay? Henry mentioned something happened between you and your friends.”
Piper shrugged. “Yeah, Jana’s on her bullshit again. This has been happening at least twice a week for the past month, and it’ll all blow over by Monday. Again.” She groaned.
“You…wanna talk about it?” Charlotte asked hesitantly, making sure the door clicked shut behind her before stepping down into the room.
“Not really, they’re all just being kinda lame. At least you’re here, though, so we can still have a nice night,” Piper perked up as she said the last part.
Charlotte smiled; she liked to see Piper happy.
“Let’s go up to my room so you can put your bag down, and then I want to get changed into pajamas before we do anything else.”
“Sounds good,” Charlotte said, and she finally felt the remaining tension leave her body.
They headed up to Piper’s room, and when Piper opened her dresser to pull out pajamas, Charlotte dropped her bag by the air mattress that Piper had already set up. It was the same one that Jasper used to use when the two of them slept over, before Henry stopped bothering with it, insisting instead that Jasper should just share his bed. Charlotte was glad she got to keep dibs on the couch.
Charlotte looked over to Piper to ask if she had noticed how close Henry and Jasper seemed to have gotten recently, but stopped when she saw the girl’s bare back as she slid her arms through the holes in her t-shirt, preparing to pull it over her head.
Charlotte felt her eyes lingering longer than they had any right to be. She wondered for a moment if Piper’s skin felt as soft as it looked.
It was…an odd thought to have.
She faced away from Piper again to get changed into sweatpants and a t-shirt, and once she was done, she turned to see Piper sitting at her vanity and going through some of its drawers.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m pulling out my favorite palettes and nail polishes so we can do makeovers,” Piper responded, holding up an eyeshadow brush for emphasis.
Charlotte didn’t care much for makeup and didn’t own more than a liquid eyeliner and concealer for sudden outbreaks, but the way Piper had them laid out made her want to go for it; she’d finally get the true sleepover experience.
“I don’t have any foundation or concealer in your shade, but honestly,” Piper used one of her hands to gently hold Charlotte’s chin, examining both sides of her face before letting go, “your skin is flawless and there’s not even anything to cover up.”
Charlotte was half-expecting some kind of jab to follow the compliment, but reminded herself that she was not at work. It was just Piper, and it was refreshing to hear genuine praise regarding her looks.
“I try to follow a good skincare routine,” was all she replied, suddenly feeling a little embarrassed for no reason.
“Girl, it’s working!” Piper turned to pick up two of the palettes she pulled out, one with blues and purples, the other with reds and oranges, showing them to Charlotte, “I have other ones, too, but do any of these colors catch your eye?”
“Um,” Charlotte looked at what Piper had held out in front of her, a little overwhelmed with the options. She loved the purple, but for some reason, she felt as if it would be the wrong answer. Finally, she settled on saying, “Surprise me?”
“Oo, okay, sure.” Piper smiled and flipped the covers back onto the palettes, “Go sit on my bed, close your eyes, and I will surprise you.”
Charlotte followed her instructions, gently climbing onto Piper’s bed and sitting crosslegged at the foot of it. She heard shuffling from Piper, possibly looking for more makeup or tools, and then felt the side of the mattress sink slightly from her weight, as she arranged herself to sit across from Charlotte.
“Okay, are you ready to start with eyeshadow?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Charlotte replied, nodding her head.
“Okay, just tilt your head up a little and hold still.”
Charlotte did as she was told again, only jumping a little at the first contact with the brush. “Sorry,” she said, unintentionally wrinkling her brow as she did so.
“It’s okay! Just, relax your forehead for me, too.”
Charlotte didn’t reply; she only focused all of her energy on controlling her facial muscles to stay neutral and perfectly still. To keep her mind from wandering, which would make her expressions reflect her thoughts, Charlotte paid close attention to what Piper’s motions felt like on her eyelids.
They had a gentle firmness to them, a perfect echo to how Charlotte saw Piper as a person. If Charlotte only had one word to describe Piper, it would be ‘assertive.’ Not ‘angry,’ not ‘pushy,’ not ‘aggressive.’ Piper could be aggressive, but never with Charlotte. Not even today, when Henry said that Piper would need to be calmed down after the group chat fiasco.
Charlotte then remembered their first tutoring session where she sat at the Harts’ kitchen table, nervous to correct Piper after getting some practice problems wrong. She expected the girl to rip the page in half, throw it in Charlotte’s face, and stomp off in a tantrum.
Instead, Piper sighed and slumped back in her chair, defeated. “Of course they’re wrong. I have no idea what I’m doing, and all the teacher keeps saying is that ‘we’ve already been over this, so you should know it already.’”
Charlotte smiled; she could work with that.
“I wouldn’t say ‘no’ idea. It looks like you were on the right track until,” Charlotte used her pencil to point at number four, “here. Was it the decimal that threw you off?”
Piper leaned forward again, surprised to hear actual feedback. “Yeah. What am I supposed to do?”
“First,” Charlotte said, copying the problem down onto another sheet of paper, “Can you start it over for me? Talk me through what you were thinking.”
Piper gave her a look that said ‘no, that's dumb,’ but took the paper anyway. She started the problem, explaining each step as best she could. When her reasoning became incorrect, Charlotte interrupted her.
“That’s the right step, but it should happen to that eight, instead,” using her pencil to point it out. Piper tilted her head, and Charlotte let her think through the ‘why’ to see if she could figure it out without flat out being given the answer.
Then, it clicked. “Oh my God, I’m an idiot. I remember this now.” Piper frantically continued the problem with the correction and arrived at the answer, slamming her pencil down to punctuate the fact she was done.
It made Charlotte smile again. “You’re not an idiot, Piper. You just needed a nudge in the right direction, and they’re called practice problems for a reason. Can we take a look at the next one?”
Piper nodded, picking her pencil up again and copying down the problem, working through each step like she did the last one. She looked to Charlotte when she got stuck, and Charlotte prompted her, giving her time to process what should come next. They worked like that for a while, and once they finished correcting the original assignment, Charlotte gave her a new set of problems to solve.
Piper got all of them right on the first try all on her own, and Charlotte nearly clapped for her.
“Nice work. Are you okay if we move on from math for now?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Piper replied, already opening another folder to show Charlotte her last chemistry test.
Charlotte didn’t realize how fun it was to tutor. She supposed having a receptive student like Piper is what made it fun, as opposed to when she did homework with Henry, only for him to copy her answers.
Comparing Piper and Henry suddenly pulled Charlotte back to the present, and she briefly imagined how Henry would do her eye makeup. She’d probably end up looking like a toddler who got into her mom’s makeup bag, and she couldn’t help but let out a small laugh.
Piper lifted the brush off of Charlotte’s eyelid. “Hey, stop moving—what’s so funny?”
“Oh, nothing. I was just thinking about something.”
“Well? Share with the class.”
“It’s really nothing. I was just thinking about how different you and Henry are. When it comes to studying, at least.”
“I’m a better student than him, right?”
Charlotte nodded. “Oh, yeah. One-hundred percent.”
“And also a better…everything else, too?”
Charlotte laughed again. “I mean, probably. I don’t think he’d do a very good job with makeup.”
“Didn’t you and Jasper say he wears makeup, like, regularly?"
Right, the ‘makeup excuse’ from…when was that, Henry’s birthday?
Charlotte quickly recovered. “Doesn’t mean he’s good at it; it’s not like we do each others’ makeup at sleepovers like this.”
Piper laughed and continued applying eyeshadow to Charlotte’s eyes.
“I’ve always wondered. What do boys do at sleepovers?”
Charlotte would’ve rolled her eyes if Piper didn’t need her to be still. “A whole lot of nothing, lately. The three of us used to game for hours at a time, but…” She trailed off, unsure if Henry’s obvious crush was something she should be discussing with his sister.
Piper continued the sentence for her. “...but now, he and Jasper won’t stop making goo-goo eyes at each other long enough to actually do anything together?”
Charlotte snapped her eyes open in shock, making Piper quickly pull the brush back.
“Oh my God, you’ve noticed that too? I thought I was going crazy.”
“How could anyone not notice them? I would think they’d be more inconspicuous with their relationship. Ugh.” Piper made a face, grossed out by her brother.
This was boy talk Charlotte could handle, and she felt vindicated knowing she wasn’t alone.
“No, no,” Charlotte corrected. “That’s the craziest part. They swear they’re not in a relationship.”
Piper’s mouth dropped open. “What?”
“Right?!” Charlotte couldn’t believe this: both the fact that she was finally talking to someone about Henry and Jasper, and the fact that Piper also thought they were dating. She felt like Paul Revere.
“And they’re not just…bullshitting you?”
“You said it yourself: they’d try way harder to hide it if they didn’t want anyone to ‘find out.’ They’re also really shitty liars, so I’d know if it wasn’t the truth.”
Piper barked out a laugh. “They’re even dumber than I thought.”
“It hurts to be around their stupidity.”
“Okay,” Piper said, “I want you to tell me more, but first, let me do your eyeliner.”
Charlotte closed her eyes again, almost vibrating with excitement in anticipation of the conversation they would have. She flinched when she felt Piper’s knuckle resting on her cheekbone to help steady her hand.
“You good?” Piper asked, leaving her hand where it was.
“Yes, sorry.”
Charlotte almost flinched again when she felt the liquid eyeliner touch her skin; it was a bit cold, but she quickly relaxed into Piper’s touch.
Piper was skilled enough to nail it in two swipes before moving to Charlotte’s other eye and painting on a matching wing.
Charlotte couldn’t believe that that was it. “Damn, how did you get it that fast on the first try?”
“Jana said it was impossible for anyone to get their eyeliner perfect so fast, so I practiced. A lot.”
Of course Piper learned out of spite. It was very Piper of her.
“Now leave your lids half open, I want to add mascara.”
“Oh, I can do that myself—”
“No! You can’t see the look until it’s completed. Trust me.”
Charlotte sighed with a smile. “Whatever you say.”
She liked the attention that Piper was giving her. She also liked how intensely Piper was staring at her eyes—not into them, to make eye contact, but just at the work she was doing. It was comparable to watching Piper concentrate on her homework, but with a slightly different emotion on her face that Charlotte couldn’t quite name.
Satisfied with her mascara application, Piper pulled back from Charlotte’s face, checking to make sure everything looked even.
“Can I see, now?”
“One more thing—close your eyes again and open your mouth.”
“My mou—why?” Charlotte asked, taken aback by the request. Her stomach suddenly felt odd.
“Lipstick, why else?”
“I don’t know why else, that’s why I asked! And why do I have to close my eyes for that?”
“So you don’t see the color. I want you to be surprised.”
Fair enough. Charlotte just did as she was told, closing her eyes and leaving her mouth open enough so Piper could apply the lipstick that she wanted.
She was careful to stay still, nervous to mess up Piper’s work. When the lipstick touched her lips, she could hear her heartbeat get louder; she supposed she really didn’t want to ruin what Piper was doing.
“Okay, now go like this,” Piper instructed, rubbing her lips together, and Charlotte mirrored the motion.
“Good?”
“Almost, hold on,” Piper leaned forward, using her thumb to wipe some stray lipstick off the corner of Charlotte’s mouth, “There. Now you can look.”
Charlotte scooted herself off the bed and moved across the room towards Piper’s vanity. When she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, she could only stop and stare at her reflection.
Charlotte knew she was pretty, but Piper’s artistry made her feel beautiful; Piper had chosen the purples that Charlotte was too afraid to pick for herself. Her eyes were dramatic, the mascara accentuating Charlotte’s naturally long lashes, and her lipstick was a deep violet to match her eyes.
“What do you think?” asked Piper, joining Charlotte’s reflection in the mirror.
“I look amazing. I love it.”
“For the record, you already looked amazing without makeup, but I’m glad you like it.” Piper put an arm around Charlotte’s shoulder to pull her in for a half-hug, throwing up a peace sign with her other hand and posing in the mirror.
Charlotte laughed and copied her peace sign. She loved being a girl with Piper.
“Okay, wait, let me get a pic.”
Piper released Charlotte’s shoulder to keep her peace sign, taking a selfie with her rear camera in the mirror.
“Is it okay if I post this?” Piper asked, holding the result out to Charlotte.
Charlotte didn’t really understand the need to put everything on social media, but it was a great photo of them, so she said it was fine.
“Nails, next?” Piper asked, putting her phone back in her pocket.
“You don’t want me to do your makeup?”
“I do, but we can talk and do nails at the same time, and I need to hear more about Henry and Jasper now.”
Charlotte never considered herself to be one to partake in gossip, but it was hard to not want to when Piper was so excited about it.
“Okay, so, when did you first notice that they were getting, like, close? More than the regular friend stuff, I mean,” Charlotte started as Piper began pulling nail polish bottles from her drawers.
“Ohhh, my God, honestly? Years ago.” She pulled out a shimmery purple and held it up to Charlotte’s face, trying to color match the makeup that was already applied.
“Really?”
“Yeah, when I got to middle school—which would put you guys in…eighth grade?” She did the math in her head.
About the same time that Henry started as Kid Danger, then.
“This color good? It matches,” Piper said, and when Charlotte nodded, Piper brought them to get settled back on her bed, unscrewing the bottle and taking Charlotte’s hand in hers to start painting, “when you and Henry both started working at Junk N’ Stuff, Jasper started hanging around a lot, and he would not shut up about my brother.”
“In a normal way, or in a ‘having a crush’ way?” Charlotte asked, watching Piper’s hands as she expertly brushed on the polish.
“Hmm. Actually, I don’t think Jasper showed any signs of it being a crush until you and Henry got together and he started moping.”
When she and Henry—?
Oh, when Ray made them tell Jasper a fake secret before they could trust him with the ‘Kid Danger’ secret.
“Jasper told you about that? He wasn’t supposed to tell anyone.”
“No, actually, Jasper did a great job at keeping it a secret. He just tased himself so much that he passed out and spilled it in his sleep.”
Charlotte had more questions, but didn’t think she should ask them; she let Piper go on.
“I’m glad you and Henry didn’t stay together. You’re too good for him, really.” Piper reached for Charlotte’s other hand.
Should Charlotte tell her?
Yeah, she felt like she should tell her.
“Henry and I were never actually dating, you know,” Charlotte said, and Piper paused.
“What? So why did Jasper tell me—”
Charlotte carefully twisted the truth. “We…thought he might be bad at keeping an actual secret if the need arose, so we wanted to test him, just in case.”
Piper looked up from Charlotte’s nails. “Are you serious? I listened to him complain for nothing?”
“He was complaining about us ‘being together’?”
“Yes, he kept going on and on about how his best friends loved each other more than him, and how Henry wouldn’t want to hang out with him anymore, blah blah blah.”
“Interesting.”
Piper finished up with the first coat on Charlotte’s nails and handed her a bottle of dark red to be painted in return. Charlotte took it, careful not to ruin her own nails, and took Piper’s hand.
“Sorry in advance, I don’t think I can do yours quite as neatly. I can’t remember the last time I painted my nails.”
Piper smiled encouragingly. “It’s okay, it’s not about looking the best, as long as you have fun doing it. Besides, you’re good at everything, so you’ll do fine.”
Charlotte smiled, feeling heat in her cheeks. Once again, it was nice to hear genuine praise from a friend.
Speaking of friends, they still had more to cover.
Charlotte’s hands were a little shaky as she moved a lot more slowly than Piper had, but she began to work on the girl’s nails. “Okay, so what else have you noticed?”
“Other than how Jasper’s mood dropped every other week, when Henry would start dating a new girl?”
Charlotte nodded; she did notice that, as much as Jasper tried to play the role of a supportive best friend. “Yeah, other than that.”
“I don’t know, I don’t really talk about anything with Henry. He definitely liked the girls he was with, but he was never too sad when the relationships ended because Jasper was always there afterwards, following him around like a lost puppy.”
Charlotte hummed in agreement; Henry did get over his breakups pretty quickly.
“Do we think Jasper knows he likes Henry?” Charlotte asked, bringing Piper’s hand closer to her face so she could carefully paint her pinkie nail while avoiding the cuticle.
“Probably? He’s not super shy about being gay. He probably keeps the crush to himself so he doesn’t have to risk something happening to their friendship.”
Charlotte remembered Jasper mentioning being attracted to guys once or twice, but she didn’t put much thought into it when he brought it up. She didn’t understand how he could realize that men were attractive.
She moved Piper’s hand back to look at the work she’d just done. As predicted, her work didn’t look as good as what Piper had done for her, but Piper smiled when she saw them anyway, blowing on them to help them dry before giving Charlotte her other hand.
“So,” Charlotte said, dipping the brush back into the bottle and starting with Piper’s thumb, “Do we think Henry knows he likes Jasper?”
“Hell no,” Piper deadpanned, “and I’m willing to bet that it has to do with being trans. Like, he’s made up some stupid rule in his head where he can’t like men because it would just make him a ‘straight woman,’ or something.
“Hmm.” Charlotte replied. It was such a roundabout way of thinking, which meant that it probably was close to Henry’s actual reasoning.
“You have a lot of thoughts about this.”
“Girl, don’t come for me. Jasper is over all the time to hang out with Henry and I’m stuck with nothing else to do except think about them. C’mon, tell me: are they like that at work, too?”
Ah, right. Work. And Charlotte couldn’t even talk about how ironic it was that Jasper told her about his little crush on Kid Danger before he found out the secret.
Charlotte thought about the way Jasper ran to the tubes whenever Ray and Henry returned from a mission, ready to help in case Henry had gotten hurt. The way they complimented each other when they forgot that Charlotte was still in the room, working at the computer. The way Henry frequently went upstairs just to chat with Jasper during his shift if he wasn’t needed in the Man Cave.
She’d have to lie a little, but the ideas were the same.
“It’s even worse at work, actually,” She finished Piper’s last nail, and Piper took her hand back to blow on them all at once. “I have to spend a lot of time in the basement to…keep track of inventory with spreadsheets on the one computer we have, and Jasper mostly watches the counter. Our boss likes to steal Henry for help with the odd jobs, and the number of times Jasper will come downstairs just to complain about how he wishes Henry were around more, that it’s not fair Ray keeps me downstairs instead of him, and so on and so forth.”
“Oh, yikes,” Piper replied, shaking a bottle of clear polish to go over Charlotte’s purple nails, asking for her hand back.
Charlotte gave it and continued, “And, last week, when Ray and Henry took longer than usual to do something away from the store, it was a huge reunion when they got back. The two of them got really dramatic, saying ‘I’d never thought I’d see you again, I missed you so much,’ and they went on and on. Mind you, it had only been about five hours at that point.”
“Gross.”
“Right? I mean, it was kind of cute the first time it happened, but this is a regular occurrence.” Charlotte could understand their display of affection when Henry returned from the more dangerous missions, since there was the genuine possibility of something bad happening to him, but when they were dealing with Jeff? Come on.
Suddenly, Piper’s phone went off and she put the polish brush back in the bottle to free her hand up and silence the alarm. Charlotte waited for an explanation.
“Oh, I set an alarm so I wouldn’t forget—they’re doing a marathon of Dog Judge tonight to prepare for the season finale next week. Did you want to watch? We can move this stuff downstairs.”
Charlotte smiled. “Sounds fun, let’s do it.”
The girls carefully grabbed some of Piper’s makeup, brushes, and the clear polish so they could finish Piper’s makeover as they watched. Once they got settled on the couch, tuning in to the right channel, Piper quickly finished Charlotte’s other hand, and Charlotte started the clear coat on Piper’s as they talked about what was happening on Dog Judge.
After their nails were all finished, Piper talked Charlotte through every step of the makeup process, regularly checking herself in a hand mirror, and Charlotte was grateful for the specific feedback. When Charlotte almost started to beat herself up for not knowing what she was doing (after all, she was supposed to know everything), Piper only reassured her, explaining how long it had taken her to learn how to do makeup properly.
If it was coming from anyone else, Charlotte would have thought they were just trying to make her feel better, but Piper was being one-hundred percent honest, telling her what should be redone (her eyeliner, for example, which took Charlotte many, many tries to make even, as she never did a dramatic wing on herself) and what she had done well on the first try. Charlotte appreciated the candidness of the interaction; there were no secret meanings hidden behind Piper’s words, no latent disappointment as if Piper had gotten impatient and said it was good enough only so they could move on.
Finally, Piper had picked out a color of lipstick for Charlotte to use on her and held her mouth open so Charlotte could apply it.
Charlotte rested part of her hand on Piper’s jaw to steady it, the shakiness suddenly returning to her hands.
She admired how soft Piper’s lips looked and how soft the girl’s skin looked in general. Something in Charlotte wanted to hold the side of Piper’s face and rub a thumb over her cheek just to feel how smooth it was; she then shook the thought away, focusing back on Piper’s lips to apply a layer of red lipstick to them, careful to not overline them as Piper had warned.
When Charlotte pulled back, Piper rubbed her lips together to smooth out the lipstick and picked up the mirror again, pursing her lips to make sure it was up to her standards.
Charlotte didn’t want to look away for some reason, so she just stared. She didn’t think she did Piper’s makeup as well as Piper did hers, but Piper was beautiful from the start, so it didn’t matter much.
“Girl, you did a great job, don’t look so worried!” She batted her eyelashes in the mirror, admiring the blend of reds she guided Charlotte to apply to her eyes.
“Worried? I’m not worried,” Charlotte replied, “I just hope you like it.”
“Of course I like it; you’re the one who did it, and it looks great.” Piper offered a comforting smile, and Charlotte reminded herself that Piper wasn’t one to lie for the sake of someone’s feelings. “Now, I’m gonna make some popcorn, if you want to turn down the lights a bit so we can see the TV a little better.”
Charlotte nodded, getting up to turn the dimmer down without shutting the lights off entirely.
As she sat back on the couch to wait for Piper to return, Charlotte realized that she hadn’t felt this happy in a long time. She loved Henry and Jasper, of course, but now, getting so much undivided attention from Piper, she didn’t realize until now how much she had started to feel like a third wheel around the boys. She had buried herself in work and her studies in an attempt to ignore how lonely she felt, though she was constantly surrounded by people.
Why did it take her so long to connect with Piper like this?
And…why did her chest ache a little when she thought about returning to work tomorrow, meaning she would have to leave Piper and the joy they created together here tonight?
“Hey, what’s up?” Piper asked suddenly, returning with a bowl of popcorn as promised.
“Hm? Nothing, why?”
“Are you sure? You look…concerned about something.”
Charlotte was not used to the attention, and it made her heart hurt again, just for a moment. Neither Jasper nor Henry would have noticed such a subtle drop in her mood.
Charlotte liked feeling seen, and she figured she could be honest with Piper.
“I was just thinking about having to go back to work tomorrow. You know, with the boys. They…aren’t as fun as you are.”
Piper smiled. “And they pay so much attention to each other that they forget you exist?”
Charlotte chuckled. “Honestly, yeah.” She couldn’t help but let her smile falter as she started to think about them again, grabbing a handful of popcorn.
Piper watched Charlotte as she chewed, and Charlotte felt like she was under a microscope. She was surprised that she didn’t hate the feeling. Not when it was Piper.
“Do you think Henry and Jasper might treat you better if they actually got together?” Piper asked.
“Well, it’s not like they treat me poorly, they’re still good friends to me,” Charlotte defended them, though she wasn’t totally sure why.
“Yeah, I know,” Piper said, “but, maybe they would realize they were ignoring you if they could put their own feelings aside? Like, if they get together, then they’ll know they don’t have to constantly be thinking about whether the other one likes them back, and the three of you can be close again?”
Charlotte considered it for a moment. It seemed backwards that she’d be less of a third wheel if they started dating, but at the same time, it made some sense. It felt bad that her friends were better friends to each other than they were to her, but it would feel way less bad if the reason for that would be that they were officially a couple.
“I guess so, maybe. But they’re both too stupid to figure it out for themselves, so it’s never going to happen.”
“Unless…” Piper said, a smirk forming on her dark red lips and a mischievous look appearing in her eyes.
“Unless…?” Charlotte repeated, waiting for Piper to explain herself.
“Unless we nudge them in the right direction.”
Charlotte wasn’t sure she liked where this was going.
“You want to meddle in your brother’s love life?”
“I wouldn’t call it meddling. I just want to…be a good sister to Henry and make sure he’s happy. And, be a good friend to you, by making sure your friends are being nice to you.”
“Piper—”
“Oh, come on, like you’re not sick of them acting like that? Not even a little?”
Charlotte grumbled, thinking about how similar Piper sounded to Henry in that moment, scheming something ridiculous. But, Piper wasn’t Henry, and Piper would definitely come up with something smarter than Henry would.
Plus, it would be nice to see her boys happy with each other, and she’d get to spend more time with Piper, too.
“Okay, fine. What do you think we should do?”
Piper’s grin broke into an excited smile, elated that Charlotte would agree with her, and Charlotte couldn’t help but smile back, knowing she had caused Piper to feel that way.
“Well, tonight, we should just focus on watching Dog Judge. Give me some time to think of a plan, and we can talk about it next week.”
That sounded good to Charlotte. She appreciated the fact that Piper wasn’t too eager to overlook the importance of thinking something through.
“Okay, I’m just going to grab my sweatshirt from upstairs, while there’s a commercial,” and before Charlotte could move, Piper stopped her.
“If you’re cold, you can just come here, then,” Piper grabbed a blanket from off the side of the couch, pulling it over her lap and holding it up for Charlotte to join her, and Charlotte did, shifting herself to be sitting under the blanket next to Piper.
Charlotte never really desired touch from others, but experiencing the warmth and contact with Piper’s body now, she understood the hype. They set the bowl of popcorn between them, taking turns grabbing handfuls.
She was comfortable in a way she had never been with the boys. She laughed at the TV, looking over to Piper to see her cracking up at the same things she was, and she liked to see Piper smile. She liked how the corners of her eyes crinkled, the way her left cheek raised just a tad more than her right, and how her laughter always calmed into smaller giggles before it stopped.
Charlotte could listen to the sounds of Piper’s happiness forever.
Henry was still talking with Jasper as Jasper took the keys from him to unlock the front door, just getting back from the movies. He assumed Charlotte and Piper would still be awake upstairs, doing…girl stuff? He didn’t know what their plans were, but he was so exhausted from the jobs he had during the week that he didn’t give it another thought, only looking forward to collapsing in bed with his best friend. Henry was grateful for the break from crime fighting tonight, since it meant he and Jasper finally got to spend time with each other outside of work.
When they got inside, Jasper immediately shushed him. The lights were dimmed, and the girls had apparently fallen asleep on the couch to that Dog Judge marathon that was still playing.
“Aw,” Jasper whispered, moving to get a picture of them. Charlotte was curled up, leaning against Piper’s body, and Piper had an arm around her shoulders, letting her cheek rest on the top of Charlotte’s head. They both had full faces of makeup on, though a little smudged now, and they shared the biggest throw blanket the Harts owned.
“Why are you taking a picture? That’s weird,” Henry hissed, trying to keep his volume down.
“I just want to send it to Char for the memories. Look, aren’t they cute?” Jasper tried to show Henry the photo he got, but Henry just turned away to go upstairs and get ready for bed. He could hear Jasper follow him close behind.
Henry couldn’t remember Piper ever cuddling with any of her other friends when they stayed over. Though, they usually fell asleep in Piper’s room, so maybe they did—was that weird?
Whatever. Henry obviously wasn’t interested in understanding what it was like to be a girl; been there, done that.
When he and Jasper were both in pajamas, Jasper offered, “Hey, since Char’s not with us tonight, did you want me to take the couch?”
“Uh, I wouldn’t mind just sharing my bed,” Henry replied, not committing to one answer or another; he hoped Jasper would choose to cuddle with him without having to outright ask him to.
Jasper only smiled brightly. “Sounds good.”
They both crawled under the covers, and Henry let his arm fall over Jasper’s body to hold him close.
“‘Night, Hen,” Jasper mumbled, already falling asleep.
“‘Night Jasp,” Henry replied.
Maybe it felt weird to see Piper and Charlotte curled up on the couch together because neither one of them were normally physically affectionate with anyone—at least from what Henry had noticed. He and Jasper, on the other hand, loved to share physical contact with each other whenever they could.
It just felt nice to have someone to hug! It was how they showed love to each other.
Platonic love, of course. No romantic feelings involved—Henry was straight.
He and Jasper were just best friends who had promised they would grow old together. That was all.
Henry let himself drift off to sleep, his mind filling with soft thoughts of Jasper before falling quiet.