Filed to story: In the Shadow of the Past Luna (Lily & James)
“I have never served a day in prison.”
“So you may be a serial killer, but you have never been caught?”
“Exactly.”
“So you would be a smart serial killer?”
“You could say that.”
Charlotte put her finger to her chin, pretending to be in deep thought. “I guess if my options are to go home and face my parents-who will know immediately that something is wrong with me- versus go up to your hotel room and get killed by a smart serial killer
“-your drunken self would choose the serial killer?”
“Yeah. But before you kill me, promise me that you will tell me the rest of your rejection story?”
“Deal.”
I do not know how Charlotte and I managed to hold ourselves together in the hotel gift store, but either the hotel worker just wanted our money or we did an okay job of seeming not completely drunk, because the gift shop sold us three bottles of wine, two bottles of champagne, and three bottles of tequila..
Charlotte and I then headed up to my room. Once there, I asked Charlotte what she wanted to start with.
She picked the champagne.
“Good choice.”
I popped the champagne bottle, but my drunk self did not think about where the cork might go, and so it ended up flying into one of the mirrors, shattering it. Charlotte started giggling, which made me laugh too. I poured the champagne into a plastic cup and handed it to her.
“You know, it is nice to meet someone who appreciates champagne. That she-wolf I told you about earlier? She actually told me that she prefers her mate to me because he likes beer, baseball, and pizza.
“WHAT?”
I nodded. “Right? You show a girl a nice time and take her to fancy restaurants and it turns out that she wants is f&&ing beer and pizza.”
“I hate baseball,”
she said seriously.
“I do not hate it, but it is not my favorite.”
“I hate it,”
she repeated. “Living here in Ravenswood, I am surrounded by baseball players. My dad works. for the baseball team as the team doctor. Everywhere I go it is baseball, baseball, baseball. And yet to me, it is just a bunch of nonsense. Grown men throwing an f&&ing ball around.”
I smiled. “You are not wrong.”
Charlotte and I both quickly finished our first cups of champagne, and I poured each of us another.
I
“Ready to tell me the worst part of your story with your mate?”
I asked.
She looked down embarrassed.
“Oh, come on, Charlotte. Don’t leave me hanging.”
“The night I met him, he called me a sl ut.”
“Why?”
“I was making out with a soccer player at the bar when he got there.”
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“Okay. Not ideal, but it doesn’t sound that bad.”
“Well… I was also straddling him….”
“Oh.”
“And maybe d ry hu mping him too.”
“Ohhhhhhhh.”
“Yeah.”
Charlotte did not say anything for a while, and I started to feel bad for her.
“You know, I lost my first mate because I was a sl ut too!
“Yeah?”
“Yep.”
I then proceeded to tell Charlotte the whole sordid story with Evelyn. Even as drunk as she was, she listened intently and hung on my every word.
When I was done, she did not look at me with disgust. She did not seem judgmental at all. Maybe it was just the alcohol talking, but it felt nice.
“May I ask you a question?”
she asked.
“Of course.”
“So… you have been with a lot of females, right?”
Had anyone else asked me that question, I would have been offended. But from Charlotte’s tone, I could tell that she was not asking that to be mean.
“Enough, yeah.”
“Can I ask you something? And will you be honest with me?”
“Sure. Liquid honesty,”
I said, holding up my cup.
“My mate said that my boobs are too small and that it makes me look less feminine. Is he right?”
“Stand up and let me see.”
She stood up.
“You are wearing a baggy sweater. Take it off.”
Charlotte gave me a look.
“You want honesty, right? Take it off and let me look.”
Charlotte shook her head, but nevertheless took off her sweater.
“Camisole too.”
“Are you trying to answer my question or get laid?”
she asked.
“You want honesty, Charlotte. I cannot answer you about how your boobs compare to others unless I see them.”
“So bra off too?”
she asked sarcastically.
I smirked. “I was not going to go that far, but I certainly will not complain.