Trigger Warning: an attempted rape occurs in this chapter.
The next few days were a flurry of various Welcome to College activities. They had suite meetings with the RA, a sophomore named Valerie, who Eden was pretty sure wanted to sleep with Charlie, but which Eden was sure would not be allowed. There were meetings with their academic advisors that included a dinner along with the rest of that faculty member's other new advisees; Eden's group went to a pizza parlor downtown while Charlie's advisor took their whole group back to her house for a homemade dinner. Then, there was a cleverly disguised comedy duo that Vallance brought in one evening for a performance. Just when everyone was laughing, they all realized there was actually a message about rape and consent happening and the show took a sharply serious turn after that. It was in the middle of that performance, when the guy up front was asking for volunteers from the audience that Eden realized she was going to have to become more comfortable talking about sex, because it seemed that was all anyone wanted to talk about around here. Eden spent the rest of the night sweating uncomfortably in her seat in the auditorium while Charlie grinned like a Cheshire cat beside her every time they caught each other's eye.
Eden and Charlie were able to attend most of the activities together and it wasn't long before Eden actually considered Charlie to be her friend and not just a sweet, horny mystery that lived with her to be unraveled.
Nearly once a day, however, Charlie would get a strange phone call that Eden could only hear Charlie's side of. They usually went something like this:
"Hello?"
"Oh yeah, hey. Yep. This is she. You got my number from Vince?"
"No, he was right," Charlie would say and laugh. "Well, I might be."
"Of course. How much?"
"Okay, yeah. That's totally fine."
"I promise." More laughter.
"Can we meet outside the student union in like 20 minutes?"
"Yeah, I'll be the devilishly attractive brunette."
"Mmmm, we'll see about that." More laughter that annoyed Eden.
"See you there."
Whenever Charlie received one of these calls, Eden would pretend to be very busy color-coding something or perusing the course catalogue so she could plan out every trimester of her four years at Vallance. She generally always blew her cover immediately afterward, however, by suggesting they watch a movie or walk to the coffee shop downtown because, of course, Charlie would decline and say she had to meet someone. Then Eden would offer to go with her and Charlie would say no and disappear for an hour or so and Eden was pretty sure she was slightly drunk one time that she came back. It was driving Eden crazy. From what she could tell from eavesdropping, Charlie was either selling or buying something. She didn't want to jump to any conclusions, but really, it was all pretty suspicious. She'd only known Charlie for a few days and if she was honest with herself, Charlie did seem like the kind of person to be involved in illegal activities. It sort of scared Eden, but it also excited her just a little bit, too.
The fourth time it happened, Eden decided to causally happen to be going out as well.
"What are you doing?" Charlie asked, eyeing Eden suspiciously as the girl stood up and gathered some things into her bag.
"Oh, I was just heading out," Eden replied casually, throwing her messenger bag over her shoulder.
"You weren't heading out before I got that phone call," Charlie said frowning.
"Just because I did not voice my intentions to you doesn't mean I wasn't going out."
"Okay," Charlie said, drawing out the vowels of the word. "And just where the hell are you going?"
"To the mailroom!" Eden announced, happy that she'd already planned this far ahead in her scheme.
"We both checked our mail after breakfast this morning," Charlie shot back at her.
"Well, is it a crime to…I'm expecting a package, so I want to check again," Eden fumbled unconvincingly.
"Oh? Who from?" Charlie questioned, typing something quickly on her phone before she turned off the screen and slipped it into her pocket.
"From my aun…cle," Eden grimaced as her words got caught somewhere between "aunt" and "uncle." This wasn't going well.
"You're getting a package from your ankle?" Charlie asked smiling.
"No! From my aunt and uncle," Eden corrected herself, feeling extremely embarrassed. With the goal in mind of figuring out what Charlie was up to, though, she pressed on. "Shall we?"
Charlie grabbed her hat off her desk and tucked her wallet in her back pocket, all while snickering.
"Your keys?" Eden prompted as Charlie made to walk out the door.
"I always forget those damn things," Charlie said, slapping a hand to her forehead and doubling back to grab them off her dresser.
On the way down to the lobby, Eden made sure to walk behind Charlie on the stairs so she could see if she made a break for it. Charlie seemed completely at ease, however, and sauntered her way out of the building like she had not a care in the world. Once outside, though, just as Eden was heading left, Charlie veered right.
"Where are you going?" Eden piped up. "The student union is this way."
"Yeah, I know," Charlie smiled, pulling her hat off so she could run her fingers through her hair.
Eden was temporarily dazed by the action along with Charlie's smirk. "Well, isn't that where you're meeting your…friend?" she asked after mentally shaking herself.
"Change of plans," Charlie informed her. "We decided to meet elsewhere."
"Oh," Eden moped, stomping her foot in consternation before she could stop herself.
"Problem?" Charlie asked, beaming at Eden's little hissy fit. She was so adorable when she was mad.
"No, no," Eden recovered quickly. "It doesn't matter to me where you go or who you meet."
Charlie stepped toward Eden, just a little too close to be strictly friendly, and lowered her voice. "Maybe next time you should just try to follow me," she suggested. And then she winked.
Eden's voice stuttered slightly as she forced out a laugh. "I don't know what you're talking about," Eden stated stubbornly even though Charlie clearly knew what she had been doing the whole time.
"Sure," Charlie said, walking backwards away from her roommate, hands shoved into her pockets now. "And I don't think you're adorable when you stomp your foot like that."
Eden spun on her heel to leave, but suddenly remembered what they were supposed to be doing that evening. "Wait!" she called out.
"Yes, dear?" Charlie responded, turning back as well, eyebrows raised questioningly.
"The Theatre Open House—" Eden said.
"Is in an hour," Charlie finished for her. "I'll meet you outside the Lincoln Center then. An hour should be enough time to check your mail, shouldn't it?"
"Ass," Eden huffed, but she couldn't help smiling a little, too. "Don't be late!"
"Wouldn't dream of it," Charlie grinned.
As Charlie headed off campus to meet up with another one of Vince's frat brothers, a guy named Dave, she repeated the mantra she had adopted after she and Eden's first day together as roommates.
"I will not get a crush on my roommate, I will not get a crush on my roommate, I will not get a crush on my roommate," she murmured.
It had only been a week and the task was already proving difficult. If only she wasn't my roommate, Charlie thought for the thousandth time. It was only the fact that they lived together that was making Charlie's fledgling crush problematic. She knew that an awkward hook-up or failed dating attempt would make for an unbearable living situation so Charlie was doing everything she could to keep her hormones and feelings in check. It was proving very, very difficult.
A couple of blocks off campus was the Sigma Chi frat house. Like the other frat houses around campus, it was very large and kind of dirty looking. There was a mismatched assortment of furniture on the large porch, the grass was cut, but overgrown up against the house and other areas the lawn mower couldn't reach easily, and there were various flags hung in the windows instead of curtains. The house was white with a dingy brown coating but Charlie couldn't tell if that was from thinning paint or dirt. She'd been to the house once already, the day before last, to meet up with a guy who needed help buying a Psychology book. Now she was meeting Dave because he couldn't afford a Norton Anthology for his Intro to Lit class. As she approached the house she spotted an average sized guy dressed in board shorts and tank top sitting on the front steps. He waved to her when she turned up the front walk.
"Charlie?" he asked in a surprisingly gently tone.
"The one and only!" she said coming to a stop. "Actually, Charlie is kind of a common name, isn't it? I should come up with a better opening line."
The boy laughed appreciatively "Yeah, you probably should," Dave replied.
"So I was wondering if we ordered this book online, do you think you'll get it in time for class?" Charlie asked, cutting to the chase. "I really want to avoid the bookstore right now. My roommate is trying to spy on me."
"Uh, yeah, it's still four days before classes start and my lit class is Tuesday and Thursday. So…yeah, we could get it online," he said, working it out in his head that the book would most likely arrive in time.
"Cool, let's do that, then. You got a computer?" Charlie asked.
"Yeah, it's inside," Dave said and waved his hand over his shoulder motioning Charlie to follow him into the house.
Inside, Charlie was met with a chorus of greetings from the boys milling around the house. Although Vince had only told a select few of his brothers about Charlie's offer to help them buy text books, he'd made it known that Charlie was awesome and had helped him out with something and the entire fraternity had basically adopted her.
Any time one of them saw her on campus, even if Charlie hadn't personally met them yet, the Sigma Chi would greet her by name and usually offer her a high five. Charlie found it all very enjoyable. Her smile widened as she walked through the house with Dave, saying hello to everyone.
It didn't take long to order the book online and soon Charlie was telling Dave the same thing she had told the rest of the guys. "Just buy me a bottle of booze some time and we'll call it even, okay? I really just want to help. And if you know anyone else who can't afford a book or two give them my number."
The guys' reactions to Charlie's generosity had been pretty much the same every time; suspicion followed by hesitant acceptance and then a genuine outpouring of thankfulness and a few offers to pay her back. Charlie always brushed the offers off, though. Honestly, she just felt that no one should have to stress over something as stupid as their school books and she had more than enough money to go around, so why wouldn't she help?
Eden had been waiting outside of the Lincoln Center for ten minutes, sitting on a wooden bench just outside of the building's patio underneath a large oak tree. She had arrived 20 minutes early, though, so she couldn't be mad at Charlie for being late. Yet. She wished she could just go in by herself and start making friends and sniffing out whom her competition for the best parts might be, but she was too nervous. She wanted Charlie with her so that people could see that she wasn't alone and she already had a friend.
Eden hated the beginnings of things. She always loathed the first day of school. She always made friends eventually, but meeting them and not intimidating them or frightening them with her intensity and drive was difficult for her. She preferred the middle of things. In fact, she had decided after she had acted in her first play that her absolute most favorite time in the whole world was intermission. It was such an exhilarating time; you'd already finished the first half of the play, which meant the audience was hooked, and the whole theater was bustling and alive with chatter. But it was just the beginning. There was still a whole second half to perform. It was the perfect time. This, sitting on this bench and waiting for Charlie, was just the first act. She had to remember that. Her nerves were at a fever pitch. What she needed was a good stage manager to calm her down and make sure that the lights would come on at exactly the right moment. Eden wished that, like Charlie, she already had people calling out to her from across the campus or in the hallways at the student union, but that just wasn't her. She'd have to put some time in before that was a common occurrence in her new college life.
Eden was so nervous, fidgeting on the bench, that she didn't even notice Charlie approaching her from on the sidewalk that ran parallel to the building's front. Upon reaching the bench, Charlie sat down soundlessly beside her roommate, leaned back, and stretched her arms out behind them both along the back of the bench.
"Why are you so nervous?" Charlie asked quietly once she was settled. She expected Eden to be startled by her presence since she was pretty sure that Eden hadn't noticed her yet. Eden seemed to be aware of her on some subconscious level, though, because at the sound of Charlie's voice she merely leaned back and settled herself underneath one of Charlie's outstretched arms and stared out across the lawn and the criss-crossing sidewalks that stretched between all the buildings.
"I hate making friends," Eden sighed.
"Why? Meeting new people is so fun!" Charlie stated, baffled by Eden's mood. She thought the other girl would be ecstatic to get started with her involvement in the theatre department.
"I think I'm kind of…off putting? My friends in high school all told me that they thought I was intimidating when I first met them," Eden responded. "I'm kind of a handul."
Charlie did her best to push aside the comment that popped into her head— that, yes, Eden's breasts did look like they would be a perfect handful— and be a supportive friend instead. "Well, I think you're great. And anyone who doesn't is just a fucking moron."
Eden smiled widely at that. "I'm glad I have you Charlotte," she replied wistfully and leaned her head onto the girl's shoulder, deciding to ignore how right the position felt and how much comfort she found in the presence of her roommate.
"I have an idea," Charlie smirked down at Eden.
"Oh geez," Eden laughed. "What is it?"
"We can play 'Yea or Nay,'" Charlie said excitedly, bouncing slightly at the prospect.
"And what exactly is that?" Eden asked.
"It's when you look at someone and say if you'd tap that or not," Charlie said.
"You're incorrigible," Eden giggled, shaking her head.
"Oh come on, it'll loosen you up," Charlie whined. "It'll be fun! I promise."
"Fine," Eden said. "Shall we?" She stood up and waited for Charlie to stand as well and then the two walked into the building together.
The entire lobby was filled with freshman milling around, some of them in groups, others standing by themselves. The Lincoln Center housed a great many things. Upstairs were classrooms and a few of the business offices. Downstairs, where the girls had walked in, was the art department with the drawing and painting studios, as well as a small gallery that usually had some form of show up. As far as the theatre department went, there was the main stage and a smaller recital hall on the first floor. Then, in the basement, there was a black box studio, the greenroom and backstage area for the main stage, scene shop, costume shop, prop storage, and the art department's sculpting studio had its home there as well. It was by far the largest building on campus and there was always something going on inside, no matter the time of day.
Eden felt small just walking into it all, but Charlie didn't let her slip back into her nervousness. "Okay, 11 o'clock," she whispered to Eden.
"What? It's 5 o'clock," Eden said glancing at her watch, not sure what Charlie was on about.
"No! The position! Seriously?" Charlie huffed when Eden looked clueless. "Okay, picture yourself at the center of a giant clock. Like it's laid out on the ground all around us. So directly in front of you would be 12 o'clock and directly behind you would be 6 o'clock. Got it?"
"Ohhhh! Is that why people in movies always say stuff like that?" Eden asked, comprehension dawning over her features.
"Yes. Now, would you or would you not get down with the fella at 11 o'clock?"
Charlie watched as Eden mentally worked out where 11 o'clock was and then looked over at the guy who was perusing the art gallery by himself. He was a little scrawny, in Charlie's opinion, but looked like he showered regularly and had a decent hair cut.
"Ew, no," Eden answered immediately.
"Agreed," Charlie commented as the two moved further into the lobby.
"Okay, 4 o'clock," Charlie mumbled, casually pulling off her hat and running her fingers through her hair.
Eden spun around and stared at a guy that was leaning back in a chair and doing something on his phone.
"Can you be a little more subtle, please?" Charlie hissed, grabbing Eden's shoulder and turning her back around. She stumbled a little from the unexpected force of Charlie's hand on her shoulder and fell into the other girl's chest. Her eyes went wide as she straightened back up and Charlie cleared her throat loudly and pulled her hand away from Eden.
"Well? Is he more your type?" Charlie asked, trying to keep her heartbeat under control with Eden staring at her like that only a few inches away from her face.
"Eh," Eden shrugged rather noncommittally. "Not really."
"Seriously?" Charlie asked, glancing back at the guy on his phone. He was classically handsome—slightly muscular, strong jaw, dressed casually with a hipster sort of beanie on his brown hair. "I wouldn't kick him out of bed."
"Moving on," Eden snapped as the guy looked up and made eye contact with Charlie, grinning at her. She grabbed Charlie's upper arm and steered her towards the main auditorium where everyone was heading.
The two took a seat near the front and middle of the auditorium at Eden's urging, but this made it much more difficult to play Yea or Nay. Charlie immediately started finding reasons to casually look over her shoulder, though, so she could continue to keep Eden's mind off of her nerves.
She spotted a guy behind them that looked like he was a football player—big, beefy, blonde and wearing a jersey. Maybe Eden likes jocks? Charlie secretly hoped so. She was basketball player, after all. Dammit, no, Charlie corrected herself, she didn't want Eden to like her that way. She had to remind herself that a lot lately.
"5 o'clock. The big, blonde one," Charlie said into Eden's ear.
Eden looked around discreetly until she spotted the boy. "No, definitely not."
"You don't like jocks?" Charlie couldn't help but ask.
"Jocks are fine," Eden said. "I just don't like him."
"Okay…" Charlie said, her brow furrowing.
This scenario went on for another 15 minutes while they waited for the theatre professors to come out and give them an overview of all the ways they could get involved in the department. Charlie would spot a cute or good-looking guy and then give the coordinates to Eden who would look him over and ultimately reply that she didn't like him and wouldn't be interested in sleeping with him.
Suddenly it occurred to Charlie that she and Eden had never discussed their sexualities. Okay, scratch that. They'd never discussed Eden's sexuality. Charlie was assuming she was straight because that would make her own life a lot easier and less complicated. The more she thought about it, though, the more she realized that she wasn't basing that assumption on anything. Eden had never mentioned past relationships or celebrity crushes or anything really. Charlie looked at her roommate, eyes narrowing suspiciously.
"Eden, do you even like guys?" Charlie asked.
The look on Eden's face was priceless. At first she looked shocked, but then her features contorted into utter confusion. It reminded Charlie of a person's face when they saw something from far away and whatever it was looked strange and distorted and they couldn't place what it was until they moved close enough to see it properly. Eden turned her head and looked Charlie directly in the eye before she responded.
"I've never thought about it," Eden said. Her voice sounded small and shocked.
"What do you mean?" Charlie asked, dumbfounded. "Haven't you ever had a crush on anyone?"
"Oh…no," Eden responded, glancing away from Charlie to stare in horror at the floor.
Charlie really didn't know what was happening. "Did you say 'Oh no' like 'shit!' or 'oh…no' as in you have, in fact, never had a crush?"
"I…think we should talk about something else," Eden stated, clearling her throat.
"Eden, come on!" Charlie declared. "You can't just leave me hanging like that."
"Okay, well, excuse me for not wanting to discuss my sexuality when I've only just realized that I have never even given it an ounce of consideration before," Eden hissed at Charlie.
"How is that even possible? Didn't you have any hormones in high school? Any…urges?" Charlie rambled off, yanking her hat off so she could run her fingers through her hair.
"Why do you do that?" Eden asked.
"Do what?! Ask you questions?" Charlie responded.
"No! That thing with you hair! You're always running your fingers through it. Why?" Eden demanded.
Charlie looked at her own hand like it was a foreign object. "I don't know. It's just a habit, I guess."
"Well…it's very…distracting," Eden huffed.
Charlie smirked at her. "Like, good distracting?" she asked, wiggling her eyebrows.
There was a very pregnant pause that filled the air between the two before Eden finally stuttered out a response. "N-no," she responded weakly. "Can we just…oh thank god, it's starting."
The professors, two men and a woman, were finally walking up on to the stage and were shortly addressing the group of freshman, telling them about the shows that were being put on that fall and when auditions would be as well as passing around sign up sheets for the various shops they could volunteer in. After the talking portion of the open house was over, that professors split them into smaller groups and led them around the building on a tour, so that if they had signed up to work somewhere they'd know where to go the next week. It was a lot of information to take in and the girls didn't have any opportunity to talk for a while.
After the tour, though, they were informed that there were snacks set up out in the lobby and the professors encouraged them to mingle and meet some of the other students that they would likely be spending a great deal of time with.
Charlie had stayed close to Eden through the tour, but was doing her best not to add to any anxiety that her roommate might be feeling by questioning her any more while in front of the theatre professor. She was still Charlotte Cole, though, so she couldn't help but want to explore the possibility that Eden might be into girls. So, after they had each grabbed a plate of cheese and crackers, and settled themselves on a bench, she glanced around the room and picked out a redhead that was standing and chatting with a couple of other people directly across from them.
"Redhead at 1 o'clock," Charlie said casually, stuffing a cracker into her mouth.
Eden glanced up and spotted the girl, then looked over at Charlie with one eyebrow cocked menacingly. "That's a girl, Charlotte."
"Well spotted. Would you do her?" Charlie asked, turning her attention to the cheese on her tiny paper plate.
Eden looked back over at the girl and considered her for a moment. She was cute and she had a nice smile, but…wait, what? Eden really didn't think she could have a crisis over her sexuality in the lobby of the Lincoln Center. It was just too much. So her brain shut the whole thing down.
"No. Of course not," she replied off-handedly.
"Okay, 9 o'clock," Charlie tried, pointing out a butch girl with short blonde hair.
"No," Eden said, barely looking over at her.
"11 o'clock," Charlie said, spotting a gorgeous girl with long dark hair and light brown skin that looked like she could be a model.
"No, not really," Eden answered, her eyes scanning over girl in question.
"Are you kidding me?" Charlie laughed. "That girl is beautiful! Holy shit. How can you not like her?"
"I don't know," Eden shrugged. "She's not my type."
"Well, I'm starting to think you don't know what your type is," Charlie sighed. "Which isn't a bad thing. It just makes this game pretty boring."
"Sounds like you like her," Eden commented. "I mean she is pretty."
"She's gorgeous," Charlie admitted. "I would DEFINITELY—"
"Okay! I get it," Eden cut Charlie off, not at all wanting to hear how badly her roommate wanted to have sex with the girl who was now sitting down on one of the benches across from them. "Guess you aren't rooming with the most beautiful girl on campus after all," Eden added quietly, surprising herself with the comment.
Charlie stopped with a cracker halfway to her mouth. Eden sounded sad. She had to be imagining things. Eden couldn't be jealous could she? Had she actually taken what Charlie had told her that first day to heart? Well, even if she hadn't, she clearly remembered what Charlie had said. She knew this was a make or break moment. Even if she didn't think it was a good idea to get together with her roommate, Eden wouldn't always be her roommate. Charlie knew that if she ever, ever wanted to have a chance with Eden, the next thing that came out of her mouth was crucial.
"I mean, yeah, she's pretty, but her hair is kind of boring. Don't you think? Curly hair is way hotter. And she's a bit skinny for my taste," Charlie tried to say as casually as possible. "I like girls that have more…curves."
Eden definitely perked up at what Charlie said, but tried to brush it off like she didn't care. "Oh, that's…interesting."
The two sat in silence for a few minutes; neither of them not wanting to disturb whatever had just passed between them.
Eventually, Eden spoke up. "She looks kind of lonely."
"Who?" Charlie asked. She hadn't been paying attention to the fact that Eden was still looking over at the girl they had been discussing.
"The 2nd most beautiful girl on campus," Eden said, grinning at Charlie.
"Oh, her," Charlie said, grinning right back. She looked over to the girl and had to agree that she looked a bit sad and definitely alone as she looked around the lobby.
"Can I mess with her Eden? Just for shits, please?" Charlie pleaded, turning to face her roommate. Neither girl missed the implication of Charlie literally asking Eden for permission to jokingly flirt with another girl, but neither acknowledged it out loud, either.
Eden looked between Charlie and the girl for a moment before heaving a sigh and saying, "Go ahead. But when you're done, I'm going to invite her to sit with us."
"Deal," Charlie replied.
After that, Charlie got her game face on; seduction eyes and just a hint of a cocky smile pulling at her lips. She put down her plate and stared across the lobby at the girl as hard as she could. It didn't take long for the girl to feel Charlie's eyes on her and she looked up and found the source. Charlie started off slowly. She just raised her eyebrows at the girl once and smiled at her a little bit. The other narrowed her eyes at Charlie, her head cocked slightly, and raised her hand slightly in greeting. Charlie ran her hand through her hair then and leaned back a little, looking the girl up and down before winking at her and puckering her lips to insinuate a kiss. The girl looked at Eden this time, looking slightly worried about Charlie's behavior, and glanced back at Charlie before looking to Eden again. Charlie figured she was trying to wordlessly ask if Eden knew what was going on. But Eden, gem that she was, just smiled innocently and continued to eat her crackers. When the girl looked back Charlie, she went all in and ran her tongue along her top lip, then she raised her eyebrows a few times and motioned with her head to the side before gesturing between herself and the girl.
What happened next surprised Charlie, though. The girl looked her up and down, made a sort of half grimace and she looked appraisingly at Charlie as if she was trying to decide if she was interested or not, and then looked over at Eden again, with a smile. Then the girl stood up and made her way over to them. But instead of approaching Charlie, she went right up to Eden, who looked up at her with a scared look continue to crunch on her crackers.
"Hey," the girl said to Eden, "you busy later?"
"What?!" Charlie interjected. "I was giving you my best moves!"
"Oh were you? I thought you were having a fit or something," the girl deadpanned.
Eden burst out laughing at the open-mouthed disbelief on Charlie's face. "You deserved that!" Eden cawed at her roommate.
"You told me I could!" Charlie shouted back at Eden, then turned back to the girl and said, "Come on, you knew I was hitting on you, right?"
"I had my suspicions," the girl answered coolly. "But, it was still pretty odd. You should work on your approach. Maybe a little more subtlety."
"Being subtle is no fun, though," Charlie said, smiling up at the girl. "I'd much rather be forward. Wanna be friends?"
She laughed at that, but looked agreeable. "Sure," she responded then stuck her hand out to Charlie. "I'm Emily Fields."
"Charlotte Cole, but I go by Charlie," Charlie responded. "And this is Eden Renmark."
"I have to apologize for my roommate," Eden said. "She can be very rude sometimes and I'm afraid I don't always have the energy to keep her in line."
"Don't worry about it," Emily laughed. "It was pretty funny and I have to admit, it did break the ice. You never answered my question, though."
"Oh! Were you serious?" Eden said, gulping audibly.
"Well…yeah. If you want to, I'd love to hang out with you sometime. It doesn't have to be tonight," Emily said nervously, wringing her hands together.
"Mother fucker!" Charlie said, and both of the other girls' necks snapped over towards her. "Sorry, I uh…I'm gonna go get some more crackers and shit." Charlie stood up and shuffled away awkwardly, hating herself for ever flirting with that stupid, pretty girl who was now trying to STEAL Eden away from her. "Fuck me," she mumbled, now mindlessly pouring a third handful of crackers onto her plate.
Charlie glanced back over at Eden. Emily was now sitting down next to her and they were both laughing and smiling at one another. Charlie just glowered at them and headed in the direction of the door.
On her way out, she passed the guy who had briefly smiled at her earlier before they'd gone into the auditorium, and she handed him her overflowing plate of crackers saying, "Here, have some crackers."
He looked confusedly at her and as he accepted them. "Thanks?" he said. "Hey, I was wondering—"
"Sorry, not interested," Charlie mumbled and walked outside.
Charlie had made it about halfway back to Craft Hall before Eden caught up to her, out of breath. She had obviously just run after her.
"Why…why did you leave?" Eden breathed out heavily, crouching with her hands on her knees.
Charlie was definitely surprised to see her roommate. She figured she'd be out the rest of the night with Emily. She couldn't blame her, either.
"You and Emily seemed to be hitting it off," Charlie shrugged. "I didn't think you needed my assistance anymore, especially if you were going to go out with her."
Eden let out several more deep breaths, shaking her head as she did so. "I'm not going out with her," she said simply.
Charlie just stared at her Eden, who had caught her breath again finally, with a hesitantly hopeful look on her face.
"I told you earlier," Eden said, crossing her arms over her chest, "she's not my type. But we decided to be friends."
Charlie smiled, a bit wider than was probably advisable for someone who wasn't supposed to be developing a crush on her roommate.
"So you want to go to dinner now?" Eden asked.
"Sure," Charlie said, both girls falling into step, heading toward the cafeteria in the student union. "We just ate all those crackers, though."
"Charlotte," Eden said in exasperation as she linked her arm with Charlie's, "you have to eat more than crackers for dinner. They have almost no nutritional value."
"If you say so," Charlie laughed, thinking to herself that the campus looked absolutely beautiful that evening and that Eden's arm in hers was probably the reason for it.
The next day, Friday, was move-in day for the upper classmen, and that night was also the party at Sigma Chi that Vince had invited Charlie and Eden to attend. The two decided to spend the morning at the coffee shop downtown so they wouldn't have to endure the absolutely overwhelming amount of people that were pouring into campus. That afternoon, Eden made Charlie help her work on her monologue that she was going to use to audition for the fall main stage, The King and I. Eden was, to put it mildly, thrilled when she found out that she would be able to audition for one of her favorite musicals for her very first show at Vallance. Charlie was sure that if anyone else had been Eden's roommate, they would have flat out refused to listen to her recite the same two paragraphs for literally three hours, but she didn't mind one bit. She liked watching Eden perform and helping her make sure that she had her lines down perfectly. By the time dinner rolled around, Eden was happy with her memorization and felt that with a few more days to run through it she would be ready for her first college audition. After dinner, the two decided to go on a stroll around campus and then headed back to their room to get ready for the party that night.
"Alright, so what time does the party start?" Eden asked, looking through her side of the closet for something to wear. "7? 8?"
Charlie just laughed at her as she turned on some music and fell backwards on to her bed, stretching out until she was comfortable. "You're so funny, Eden."
"And what exactly was funny about what I just asked?" Eden said, moving over to Charlie's bed so she could glare at her.
"Seriously?" Charlie said, cracking open one of her eyes and looking up at Eden. "College parties don't start until like 10 or 11."
"What? Why do they start so late?" Eden asked, flabbergasted at this new information.
"Fuck if I know. They just do."
"Well, it's barely 7:30! What are we supposed to do until then?" Eden huffed. "It'll only take me like an hour to get dressed and do my hair."
Charlie hoisted herself up onto her elbows with that mischievous look on her face that Eden was noticing made her heart beat a little faster every time she saw it. Though, whether the reaction was out of fear or something else, Eden wasn't quite sure.
"You wanna drink with me tonight?" Charlie asked.
"Why do I feel like you've made it your life's mission to corrupt and embarrass me?" Eden asked.
"You've never had alcohol before?" Charlie asked, though she just sounded curious, not like she was judging Eden.
"My mom let me have some wine, once, last summer," Eden said, "but it tasted like I was drinking liquid mildew and I felt like I was going to throw up afterward."
Charlie laughed at that. "Yeah, I'm not a big fan of wine, either, but it'll do in a pinch."
"How would we even get alcohol, Charlie? Neither of us is 21."
"If you want to drink with me, I can get us some stuff," Charlie said simply. "Just leave it up to me. But only if you want to. If you don't want to drink, I'll totally stay sober with you."
Eden walked around the room a few times and then leaned up against her desk, studying her nails closely and glancing over at Charlie a few times before she finally decided.
"Okay, yeah," Eden said very quietly, nodding a little and biting her lip.
Charlie jumped up from her bed with a big smile on her face. "Don't be nervous, okay? I promise I'll take care of you. I won't leave your side all night."
"I trust you," Eden said, and went back to her closet to finish picking out her outfit.
"Alright, I've gotta go make a call. I'll be back in a little while," Charlie said excitedly. And then, without even thinking about it, she kissed Eden on the cheek and skipped out the door.
Eden froze, a dress in her hand as Charlie ran out the door. Her entire face felt like it was on fire, radiating out from the place where Charlie's lips had just brushed. For some reason, the peck made her rethink the dress she had been pulling from her closet. For some reason, it made it want to wear something a little bit sexier. She went to her dresser instead and pulled out her smallest pair of jean shorts and a v-neck tank top. Then, in her closet, she pulled out a sheer black button down to put over the tank, leaving the top 3 buttons undone. As a last touch she put on a long necklace that dipped just into the top of her cleavage. Though she would never admit it out loud, Eden was well aware of the fact that she had great tits and tonight she felt like showing them off a bit. As for the shorts, it was still summer, sort of, she told herself, and it would probably be warm at the frat house if there was a lot of people dancing.
45 minutes later, she was just finishing up putting her make-up on when Charlie came bounding back into the room, looking victorious with a bottle of Peach Smirnoff in her hand. When she saw Eden, she stopped dead, and her jaw hit the floor.
"Oh my fuuuuck," Charlie whimpered at a barely audible volume.
"Do I look okay?" Eden asked, a bit self-conscious now that Charlie was back and staring directly at her cleavage.
"Yeah," Charlie blurted out, letting her eyes rake over Eden's legs now. "Good. Very…fucking great."
Their eyes met for a few seconds, Eden wondering if she should say something about the kiss Charlie had placed on her cheek, or if it would be better if they pretended it didn't happen, but her thoughts were interrupted by her roommate.
"Cups?" Charlie nearly shouted, tearing her eyes away from Eden's and trying her damnedest to keep her thoughts away from her roommate's magnificent chest.
"Right! I have coffee mugs," Eden suggested.
"Perfect," Charlie agreed, moving to her mini-fridge and pulling out a bottle of orange juice. "I thought we could just mix these," she suggested, obviously referring to the Smirnoff and juice. "If that's okay with you."
"Um, sure?" Eden said. Never having had alcohol before, she didn't have much of an opinion on how they should be preparing it now.
"Cool," Charlie replied, putting the bottles down on her desk. "I'm just going to, uh…change and then we can…start the…drinking."
Charlie usually wore clothes that were slightly baggy on her, mostly jeans and t-shirts and the occasional basketball jersey. Eden did her best not to watch as Charlie stripped out of her regular clothes and moved around the room for a few minutes in only her underwear as she gathered what she was changing into. When she was finished, Eden took her in. Apparently, Charlie's going out attire was the opposite of her every day attire. She was wearing a skin tight, red tank top, black skinny jeans, and a pair of loosely laced black boots. She wasn't wearing her normal snapback hat either. She'd let her hair long wavy hair free and she'd run her fingers through it a few times until it looked like she'd just finished having sex.
Eden let out a long, loud exhale. She felt like her eyes were going to bug out of her head. Since she always made it a point not to look at Charlie whenever the girl was changing, she was rather caught off guard now that she could see the clear outline of abs through the tight tank top that Charlie was wearing.
Charlie caught her staring at her defined stomach muscles and couldn't help but smirk. She'd worked hard to get those abs. But she decided to play the modesty card with Eden and see what she would say. "Is the tank top too much? I could put on one of my t-shirts," Charlie suggested.
"No!" Eden answered, then calmed herself down a little and added, "No, you look very nice."
"Alright then," Charlie said smirking. "Do you want to just drink and hang out or do you want to watch something and play a drinking game?"
"I've never played any drinking games," Eden stated. "How do you play?"
"Oh, well, you make the rules up yourself, depending on what you're watching," Charlie explained. "So if we were watching….Friends, we could say you have drink anytime Joey says, 'How you doin'?'" Charlie finished with a spot on imitation of Joey Tribianni's famous pick-up line.
"The rules are specific to what you're watching, okay," Eden said, nodding. "Let's do that. What should we watch?"
Deciding on a movie was much harder than either of them had anticipated. Eden wanted to watch a musical or Casablanca or something classic and Charlie wanted to watch Star Wars or a comedy or Space Jam. Eventually they somehow came to a compromise of watching a few episodes of The Golden Girls and in no time at all it seemed they were both enjoyably tipsy and laughing, enjoying their drinks on Charlie's bed with Eden's laptop propped up between them.
"This is so much better than I thought it would be!" Eden said sometime during their third episode. "You're good at mixing drinks, Charlotte. You should always mix drinks for me."
"Okay," Charlie replied, giggling. "I'll be your official bartender whenever we drink together. I'll even name every single drink for you!"
"Really?! I love things with names. What's the name of this one?" Eden asked taking another drink.
"Hmmm, we should call it…The Popped Cherry or something," Charlie decided.
"Why? There's no cherries in this at all," Eden said, staring into her cup. "I think I might be getting drunk," she added.
"Yes, you're probably drunk since this is your first time. And that's also why we should call it The Popped Cherry! Because it's your first time drinking. So we popped your alcohol cherry. Get it?"
"You think about sex too much," Eden frowned, her eyebrows furrowed. "Or maybe I don't think about it enough?"
"Oh god, you're going to be one of those philosophical drunks aren't you?" Charlie laughed as she got up to pour them each another cup.
"We could call it…The Runaway Cherry," Eden said, returning to her qualms about the drink name. "That would imply that there is no cherry to be found."
"How about just The Runaway," Charlie suggested. "It's short and sweet. And I think a runaway would also not have very many ingredients for their drinks, like us."
"That's good! I like that," Eden said, hopping off the bed as Charlie tried to hand her the refilled mug.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm writing it down! I'm going to keep a log of all the drinks you make for me and then when we graduate if you can't find a job, you can just publish it as a book or use it to get a job as a bartender. "
"You are so weird sometimes," Charlie said, shaking her head and shamelessly admiring Eden's ass as she leaned over her desk.
"Just you wait. You're going to be happy I decided to do this," Eden said, scribbling down in one of her empty notebooks the drink name, it's ingredients, the date, and a short synopsis of what they were doing and why the drink had been made.
"Come back to the bed!" Charlie insisted after a few minutes. "You're missing the end of the episode!"
"Okay, okay," Eden replied, running back to the bed and jumping on it, nearly causing Charlie to spill both of their drinks as Eden toppled into her. When she fell into her, Eden's hand landed on those abs she had noticed on her roommate earlier and in her inebriated state, she couldn't help but take a moment to run her hand over them. "Holey moley," she said, causing Charlie to flush a deep shade of red.
"Eden, what are you doing?" Charlie squeaked as Eden practically petted her stomach in awe.
"How did you get these?" Eden asked, poking at Charlie's ab muscles now.
"I did a lot of sit ups," Charlie shrugged. "You know, for basketball."
"I think I like basketball," Eden mused, taking her mug from Charlie's grasp and turning her attention back to The Golden Girls.
At about 10:30, both solidly drunk at this point, the girls finally headed out to the party at the Sigma Chi frat house. Almost as soon as they stepped outside, they could hear the music, very faint from so far away, but still audible. Eden wasted no time in linking her arm with Charlie's and hauling her off in the direction of the music.
"It's our first party! We're real college kids now!" she squealed. Charlie couldn't help but grin adoringly at her as they trotted off down the sidewalk together.
"Okay, so don't drink anything while we're there," Charlie said, her protective instinct kicking in as they got closer to the house. "I know some of the guys here, and they all seemed really nice, but you never know. Some douche bag could try to slip you something."
Eden was staring at her and nodding, her expression suddenly serious. "Okay. Remember, though, you said you wouldn't leave my side."
"I won't," Charlie smiled, happy to hear that Eden didn't want Charlie to leave her. "I just want you to be careful."
"Got it," Eden answered her. "No drinks at the house!"
They had reached their destination now, standing on the sidewalk in front of the large, dingy frat house. The music was loud and they could feel the heat wafting out of the door and windows. It was a little overwhelming.
"You ready?" Charlie asked Eden, grinning. Eden nodded firmly at her and they set off, up the stairs and into the house.
There was barely space to move in the dimly lit room that they stepped into. The entire first floor seemed to have been cleared of furniture and was acting as one giant makeshift dance floor. There were some strobe lights set up around the space, but other than that, there were only a few lamps scattered here and there. All the overhead lights were off.
Charlie had gone in first and she felt Eden, behind her, grab a handful of her tank top in her fist so they wouldn't get separated in the crowd. The feeling made her light headed as they started making their way through the overheated crowd, looking for a spot that was big enough for them to dance in. As they made their way through the house, it seemed like every single frat boy shouted out a greeting to Charlie. One after another, they pushed their way over to Charlie and slapped her on the back or gave her a high five, each of them telling her something along the lines of, "Hit me up if you need anything."
By the time Charlie had located a semi-empty corner and they had made their way over to it, Eden was giving her very suspicious looks. Charlie could tell she wanted to talk to her about why all these guys seemed to know her, so she immediately pulled Eden closer to her and started to dance so as to avoid the conversation.
Eden was a natural dancer, but she had never danced at a party like this or with someone. Charlie knew exactly what she was doing, though. She seemed like she was completely in her element, moving her body seductively close to Eden's without actually touching her and dragging her hands through her hair so she could pull it off of her sweaty neck, smiling all the while and mouthing the words to the songs she knew. Soon, though, Eden wasn't satisfied with just being able to watch Charlie as she danced and the alcohol coursing through her blood erased any thoughts of why she shouldn't just put her hands on the other girl's hips. So she did. But she couldn't shake her wonderings over what the hell Charlie was doing to make herself so friendly with all these frat boys. So she took the opportunity, as long as she was in Charlie's personal space any way, to ask.
Eden moved forward confidently, but as she did so, Charlie stopped moving, her eyes growing wide as Eden's wrapped her hands around Charlie's hips and moved up against her, continuing to dance. For a moment, Charlie just sort of stood there, gaping as Eden's danced on her. Then Eden met her eyes and she snapped out of it. Charlie tentatively moved her hands around Eden's neck and started to dance with her.
It seemed to Charlie that they should have always been dancing together, they so naturally complemented the way the other moved. It wasn't anything too dirty, they just moved to the music with their hands wrapped around each other. Charlie was just starting to relax and stop worrying about what it all meant when Eden pressed even further into her so she could speak into her ear and be heard over the music.
"How do all these frat boys know you?" Eden asked.
Even though it wasn't at all a sexy thing to say, the fact remained that Eden was speaking into Charlie's ear, less than an inch away, so she could feel Eden's hot breath and it sent a shiver down her spine that was difficult to ignore.
Charlie had to lean into Eden to answer her and she could have sworn she saw Eden lick her lips as she did so, but she was pretty drunk and could've been imagining things. "I did a few of the Sigma Chis a favor," Charlie answered deciding to be honest but vague.
Now the two of them were standing completely stationary, flush against one another, mouth to ear, Eden's arms wrapped around Charlie's hips still, and Charlie's hands around Eden's neck. It was quite an odd situation for the roommates to be in, but as they were both drunk and enjoying themselves, they simply continued their conversation.
"What kind of a favor?" Eden asked, her breath tickling Charlie's skin and causing her grasp at the thing nearest her hands, which happened to Eden's hair, in order to steady herself.
"None of your business," Charlie said. She tried to make it sound snappy, but it just came out as sort of sultry.
"Was it…a sexual favor?" Eden asked, a definite edge in her voice now that bordered between angry and possessive.
"Does it matter?" Charlie asked, gulping anxiously.
"Yes," Eden replied instantly, her hands tightening and sliding up to grip Charlie's waist. "It matters."
"Wait. Is that what you think of me?" Charlie asked. Through her drunken haze, she seemed to have only just registered what Eden was implying. And suddenly Eden wasn't the only pissed off one between the two of them. "You think I'm just going to give blow jobs to half the fucking frat brothers here? Fuck you, Eden." Charlie pushed away from her roommate and headed for the door.
She knew Eden would follow her. There was too much tension coursing between the two of them for Eden to just let her walk away. Charlie could feel her, too, just a few steps behind her. She was insulted that Eden would ever assume that Charlie was handing out sexual favors just to become popular, and as much as she didn't want to even look at her at that moment, she was also glad that Eden was following her because she was drunk for the first time and as mad as she was, Charlie had given Eden her word that she wouldn't leave her. They would just have to have it out with each other back at their dorm room.
Charlie burst out the door and relief washed over her as the cool night air hit her skin. It really was too fucking hot in that house. She took a few deep breaths and then started down the steps. Something made her turn around when she reached the bottom, though. Eden. "Eden?" Charlie called out. She wasn't anywhere in sight now, though Charlie was sure she'd been right behind her a moment before. Panic ripped through her chest as she hurried back up the stairs and began combing through the crowd with her eyes. Charlie still couldn't see her anywhere and her heart was beating wildly in her chest. She started to push her way into the crowd once more, becoming more and more desperate to find Eden the longer she looked.
Finally, she spotted someone who could, at least, help her. Vince was making his way toward her, smiling broadly and holding a red Solo cup in one of his hands.
"Hey, you made it!" he yelled over the music.
"Have you seen Eden?" Charlie asked him, the worry evident in her voice. "We got separated."
"She just went out the back," Vince replied. "She was with a guy. He had his hand on her back so I thought they were together."
"They're not," Charlie replied, completely sober now, as she started to elbow people out of her way so she could get to the back door. She vaguely registered Vince calling out to a couple of his frat brothers and hurrying after her.
It felt like forever, blood pounding in Charlie's ears, before she reached the back door, which was propped open slightly, and found herself standing on the large back porch of the frat house, Vince and two other guys right behind her.
"Do you see her?" Charlie said, scanning the entire area around the house, trying to distinguish Eden from amongst the dozens of other students moving around the area.
"No," Vince replied.
"Dammit!" Charlie exclaimed, banging her fist onto the railing of the porch. "EDEN!" she yelled, praying for a response.
"Char—!" the response was cut off before Eden could even finish her roommate's name. But Charlie had heard it and she took off down the stairs, running in the direction she thought it had come from, which in the direction of the neighbor's backyard.
She bolted around the back of the neighbor's fence and saw, down at the far end, a guy who had his hand over Eden mouth while she struggled to get away from him. Charlie ran forward, ready to rip the guy's head off if she had to, but before she could even get to him, Vince and one of his friends were pulling the guy off of Eden and throwing him to the ground. Charlie saw Vince punch him in the face once before his frat brother pulled the guy back to his feet holding his arms.
"Aaron, call the cops!" Vince called to his other frat brother.
Charlie barely registered anything else that happened as she rushed forward and began to run her shaking hands over Eden's face and arms, checking her for any injuries.
"Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" Charlie choked out. "I'm so sorry, Eden. I'm so sorry I left you. Are you okay?"
Eden had tears running down her face and she looked terrified, but she seemed physically unharmed. She collapsed forward onto Charlie's shoulder and started to cry in earnest now that she was safe. Charlie just held her and continued to murmur a stream of apologies into her ear until she had calmed down slightly.
It wasn't long before the cops arrived. They arrested the guy who had assaulted Eden and took statements from Charlie, Eden, Vince and the other two Sigma Chi boys before leaving.
Eden seemed to be in shock. She kept trying to apologize to Vince because the sudden appearance of a police car had the college students clearing out of the party pretty quickly.
"I'm sorry I ruined the party," Eden mumbled, running her hand over her face as she and Charlie made to leave.
"Eden, please stop apologizing," Vince said, his voice sounding slightly raw. "You didn't ruin anything. That asshole was the problem, not you. There's nothing to apologize for. It was a stupid party. I'm sure people can find somewhere else to drink and dance."
"Okay," Eden nodded weakly.
"Thank you," Charlie said quietly to Vince as she and Eden left.
Eden kept a firm grip on Charlie's arm all the way back to their dorm, but she didn't say anything so Charlie didn't either. When they got inside, Eden seemed relaxed a little more. She changed into her pajamas and went into the bathroom to brush her teeth. Charlie followed suit, wanting to do anything she could to help Eden feel better. If Eden wanted to go to bed, that's what they would do.
Once she had her pajamas on, Charlie sat down on her bed and waited for Eden to reemerge from the bathroom. She felt jumpy, like she didn't want to let Eden out of her sight, even to use the bathroom. It was stupid, she knew that, but she felt so horrible. If she hadn't stormed away from Eden at the party, this never would have happened. She couldn't help but feel like she would never be able to forgive herself for what had almost happened to Eden.
When Eden came out of the bathroom, Charlie went in and, as fast as she possibly could, peed and then brushed her teeth. She didn't want Eden to be alone. Going back into the room, she saw that Eden had turned off the overhead light. The room was now only lit by the lamp next to Eden's bed. Charlie thought that maybe she wanted to sleep with it on tonight, so she headed toward her own bed to lie down.
"Charlie?" Eden asked quietly when her roommate came into her line of vision. "I know this is kind of a weird request, but would you….would you sleep with me tonight?"
"Of course," Charlie replied immediately and moved over to Eden's bed, climbing carefully into the space that Eden had made for her and snuggling down under the covers facing her roommate. She wanted to follow Eden's lead, to be silent until Eden's said something, but she couldn't stop herself form apologizing again. "Eden, I'm so sorry," she began.
"It's okay, Charlie," Eden interrupted her. "I'm sorry, too. What I said to you at the party, well, if you had said something like that to me, I would have stormed off, too. It was totally out of line. What happened…it wasn't your fault."
"Yes, it was," Charlie replied, her voice strained from the effort to not give in to her own tears. "I left you. I said I wouldn't and I left you."
"You came back for me, though," Eden replied gently. "You didn't leave me. You came back."
"But what if I hadn't been able to find you in time? What if that guy—"
"I don't want to think about that," Eden said sharply. "You did find me. Okay? We both screwed up tonight. But everything turned out okay."
Eden wrapped her arms around Charlie and hugged her close against her body, breathing in her vanilla scent deeply as she buried her face in Charlie's hair. Charlie wrapped her arms around Eden, too, and they stayed that way for a long time, just holding one another, reassuring each other that they were safe now.
Eventually, Charlie pulled back slightly and broke the silence. "I've been buying text books for them," she said, her green eyes locked firmly with Eden's deep brown ones.
"What?" Eden said, her brow furrowing slightly, obviously not following what Charlie was talking about.
"Vince and the other Sigma Chi guys. That's the favor I did for them," Charlie admitted sheepishly. "That night at The Gondola when I went to say goodbye to Vince, I gave him enough cash to buy his text books for the term. And I told him to give my number to anyone else who couldn't afford their books. That's who I've been going to meet. That's why I know so many of the frat boys and why they like me so much. Because even the one's I haven't bought books for know that I helped some of their brothers out with something."
Eden seemed at a loss for words. She looked at Charlie in awe for a few moments while she gathered her thoughts. "Oh, Charlotte," she finally said, shaking her head slightly as a tear slipped out of her eye. "You are the most confusing person I've ever met."
"What do you mean?" Charlie asked, feeling extremely vulnerable.
"You're just not what I expected," Eden clarified. "Every time I think I have you figured out…you go and do something like this."
"Like a…in a good way?" Charlie wondered aloud.
"So good," Eden told her. "You're such a good person. Much better than me."
"That's not true," Charlie responded, gently brushing a strand of curly hair out off of Eden's face. "You're good, too."
"Not like you, Charlie," Eden whispered, and then she leaned forward and kissed Charlie on the forehead, silencing any response the other girl may have had. "Let's go to sleep."
"Alright," Charlie said, leaning behind her to flick off the lamp.
Eden nuzzled into Charlie's chest, wrapping her arm tightly around the other girl and not sparing a single thought for what it meant that she wanted to be this close to Charlie. She could figure all that out later.
"Thank you for coming back for me," she whispered into Charlie's neck.
"Thank you for forgiving me," Charlie said back.
Soon they had both drifted off to sleep in each other's arms.
On Sunday morning, after Charlie and Eden had returned to sleeping in their separate beds the night before, Charlie was rudely awakened at 7 am by Eden's alarm clock.
She opened her eyes and frowned as she watched Eden silence the alarm and then climb out of bed.
"What are you doing? It's Sunday. Classes don't start until tomorrow!" Charlie croaked out.
"I know that," Eden laughed, already far too chipper given the hour as far as Charlie was concerned. The girl was obviously a morning person. "I'm going to church."
"Why?" Charlie groaned, pulling her blankets up until nothing but her head was poking out. "Your mom isn't here. You don't have to go."
"I know that, too," Eden responded moving over to her closet and pulling out a conservative dress to wear. "I want to go. I like church."
"There are people who exist that actually like church?" Charlie mumbled.
"Yes, there are," Eden quipped. "Now, go back to sleep. When I get back later though, I'm dragging you to brunch with me."
"Yeah, yeah," Charlie grumbled, turning over and pulling the blanket completely over her head. "Just keep it down, will ya?"
Eden grabbed her pillow from her bed and used it to smack the lump that was Charlie.
"Ow," the lump pouted, making Eden laugh as she headed off to the shower.
When Eden returned from church three hours later, Charlie was still fast asleep in her bed. She moved over to her roommates bed and flopped herself down on it unceremoniously, causing Charlie to groan slightly.
"Go away," Charlie said, gripping the blanket tightly over her head.
"Nope!" Eden said cheerily. "Come on, you're going to waste the whole day if you don't get up. Come to brunch with me!"
"You're so annoying!" Charlie huffed, throwing the blanket off of her head finally. "It's not even 10:30 yet."
"You're not going to make me go to the caf alone are you?" Eden asked, sticking her lip out in an exaggerated pout.
"Ugh," Charlie said, rolling her eyes. "You better let me nap later. I'm serious, Eden!"
"Okay, okay. I will," Eden said, moving off of Charlie's bed so the girl could get up and get ready.
Half an hour later, Eden sat down across from Charlie, placing her plate of waffles and eggs down in front of her. After settling herself in her chair, she looked over at Charlie, cocking her head as she took in what the girl had sitting in front of her.
"Charlotte," Eden began, "may I ask why you have selected four drinks and no food for your brunch this morning?"
Charlie rolled her head back and flopped her hands onto the tabletop dramatically, letting out a grunt of frustration.
"Because I can't decide things when I first wake up! It's too hard!"
"So instead you got four beverages?" Eden asked, trying her hardest not to laugh.
"Yes, okay?" Charlie responded before taking a drink of her chocolate milk.
"What did you even get?" Eden said, craning her neck to try and look inside the cups Charlie had lined up in front of her.
"Chocolate milk, orange juice, Mountain Dew, and fruit punch," Charlie said pointing to each one in turn.
"You need to eat actual food," Eden said, raising one eyebrow at Charlie disapprovingly.
"I told you, I can't! I don't know what I want!"
"For pete sake, you are such a baby sometimes," Eden scoffed, pushing her chair back and walking off in the direction of the food again.
Five minutes later she returned with a heaping plate of biscuits and gravy, which she plopped down in front of Charlie.
"Ooh, this looks good," Charlie said, grinning now. "Can I use your spoon?"
"You've got to be kidding me," Eden replied, but handed over her spoon nonetheless. "Is this how it's going to go every Sunday?"
"Only if you make me get up," Charlie grinned and started shoveling spoonfuls of biscuits and gravy into her mouth.
The prospect seemed oddly appealing to Eden as she, too, began to eat.
The next day classes started and Eden and Charlie both had a little trouble adjusting to their new schedules. Charlie got lost twice that first week and Eden had to make several trips back to their dorm room in between her classes just to unlock the door for Charlie, who had a bad habit of forgetting her keys. Eden had gone to her first history class thinking it was her math course and taken the wrong book with her. Consequently, she spent the entire lesson too embarrassed to listen to most of what the professor was saying and didn't have the assignment he had asked them to complete when she went back on Wednesday.
Eden had her audition for the main stage the following Friday, but she had to wait until the Wednesday after that to find out that she was cast as Tuptim in The King and I. The moment she found out she called Charlie to tell her, screeching so loudly into the phone that Charlie feared she might have hearing damage. That night Charlie took her out to a diner in town so they could celebrate. Eden was too excited to each much, but Charlie ate two plates of cheesy fries and spent the rest of the night trying not to puke them up while Eden said "I told you so."
Charlie started basketball practice the following week. Having something physical to do again relieved a great deal of the frustration she was feeling from all the sexual tension that she and Eden spent most of their days ignoring. It created a whole host of new issues for Eden, though, who it turned out, maybe did have a thing for jocks after all. The first time she saw Charlie completely decked out in her practice jersey and shorts with her hair pulled back in a messy bun, she had to excuse herself to the bathroom and splash cold water on her face.
Before they knew it, September was coming to a close and they had officially survived their first month of college. Although neither could exactly define it, they both knew they were more than just roommates. If asked, they would have said they were friends. Close friends. But Charlie sometimes fell asleep trying to think of an excuse to sleep in the Eden's bed with her again and Eden was having more and more trouble not looking whenever Charlie stripped down and changed clothes in front of her. For now, though, it was manageable, whatever it was. They both had classes and homework, rehearsal and practice. Eden always linked her arm with Charlie's when they walked somewhere together, though, and Charlie spent most of her free time helping Eden run lines and she was perfectly content to spend her weekends curled up with her roommate watching old musicals. They didn't talk about any of that, though.
