I tend to be very flighty and get writer's block a lot so I'm very sorry, but I definitely want to finish this story. I've grown to love Charlotte, and I hope you all do too. As always, all disclaimers apply and any and all feedback is much appreciated!
xoxo
Charlotte tossed and turned all night long, staring at the four corners of the tiny bedroom. George Luz had kissed her. Or had she kissed him? She wasn't sure at this point. It was a mistake, that was all she knew. Getting intimate with any of the men at this point would only cause problems, potentially leading to her dishonorable discharge before she saw any type of action. No, she would nip this in the bud before it even started, even if it hurt.
Morning came, finally, with the orange sun slowly peaking out from behind the trees. Lottie had a sharp headache that made her wince at the bright light and quickly draw the curtains. She must have fallen asleep at some point during the night because there was a glass of water and an aspirin waiting for her on the night table, probably from Jane.
After a refreshing shower and a lot of warm tea, Lottie threw on her OD's and headed out to the mess hall where she was sure to find some of the men. There was a good chance that most men would still be in bed, nursing hangovers of their own, but she couldn't stay cooped up in that house for too long. Not with there being so much on her mind.
Charlotte was pleased to see a couple of men from her company were sat at a table, munching on the army-provided food. She crinkled her nose at the smell, deciding her stomach was not up for eating just yet, and made her way over to the table, sitting down between Liebgott and Bill.
"Morning boys." Lottie murmured, leaning against Bill as she spoke.
"Morning dollface. You look like shit." Bill chuckled, picking up a biscuit and offering it to her.
Charlotte snorted, rolling her eyes and pushing the biscuit away. "You sure do know how to make girl feel special." She reached for the cigarette he held in his other hand instead, pouting as he held it out of reach.
"He's right, princess, you look like shit. Did you sleep at all?" Liebgott nudged her, offering her his cigarette he had just lit. She quickly snatched it from him with a grin, her need for nicotine overcoming her manners.
"Not really, I couldn't sleep for some reason." Lottie shrugged, chewing on her lower lip. She knew the reason, but she wasn't exactly about to advertise that. She nursed the cigarette, finishing it quickly and dropping it beneath the table. "Besides, we start field maneuvers tomorrow and I guarantee Sobel will get us killed, so I want to enjoy my last day of life." She smirked, looking between the two men as they nodded in agreement.
The door to the bar opened again and in walked the one person she had not wanted to see, George freaking Luz. He spotted the trio and made his way over, that signature smirk appearing as he made eye contact with her. She flushed, her whole body becoming hot with embarrassment, and stood up, knees knocking into the table.
"Sorry, gotta go, bye!" Lottie snatched the biscuit that had been previously offered from Bill's mouth, kissing his cheek when he yelled in protest. She looked over her shoulder as she reached the barn door, frowning as she saw the hurt cross over George's face. She couldn't talk to him though, not yet.
George sat across from the two men, frowning at the space between them. "What's her problem?" He grumbled, pouting childishly.
"Hell if we know, she just sat down two seconds ago. Maybe it's...that time of the month." Malarkey perked up from the end of the table, shivering at the thought of her womanly time.
"No, that's not for another two weeks." George muttered, looking up to meet the bewildered look of all three men. "What? It's true. Don't tell me you can't keep track of that shit, she goes nuts."
"Whatever you say, Luz."
Charlotte leaned against the side of the barn. The guilt from leaving George high and dry like that weighing on her stomach almost as much as her hangover. She frowned at the biscuit in her hand, throwing it into the grass nearby when her stomach gurgled in protest before starting towards the shooting range.
The shooting range was her place to mull things over. She spent a lot of time there back in Kokomo, being the police chief's daughter, so it was almost like a comfort blanket. She expected it to be empty, as it was early enough, so when she spotted Talbert at the far end she frowned. He turned his head as she approached, spotting her quickly. No chance at running away now, she thought miserably.
Charlotte planned to simply ignore him, choosing the farthest target away from him to give him space in hopes he would leave her alone. Unfortunately, she was wrong, and as she signed out the ammo from the battalion office that was stationed there, she watched from the corner of his eye as he came storming over.
Before she could ask what he wanted, he held up his hand to stop her from speaking. "Don't talk, just fucking listen to me, got it?" Talbert stared down at her for a moment before cupping her cheeks with both hands and crashing his lips to hers.
Charlotte was stunned. All expectations of how this conversation would go went out the window. She instantly melted into him, her childhood crush rearing its ugly head as she gripped the bottom of his OD jacket and pulled him flush against her body. After a moment, too long of a moment for her brain to like, she came to her senses and pushed him away roughly, her own hands coming to rest on her cheeks where his hands had just been.
"Fuck...you can't just do that to me! Fuck you, you can't just come up and kiss me like that after everything. You can't do that." Lottie shoved him again, her eyes glaring up at him.
"What, so you can kiss Luz but you can't kiss me? Got all these guys chasing after you so I'm not good enough for you?" Tab sneered down at her, eyes flashing anger and jealousy.
"What the fuck are you talking about? You were spying on me?" Charlotte sputtered out. She couldn't believe him. What gave him the right to treat her like this after everything he had done to her?
"No, fuck you, you don't get to call me a whore. I have moved on. I'm all glued back together now, I've fixed myself after you broke me. I can do whatever the fuck I want to repair what you broke. You don't get to call me a whore." She jabbed her finger into his chest as she talked to create emphasis.
Tab knew he had crossed a line as tears brimmed in her eyes, threatening to expose her true emotions of sadness rather than just anger. "Shit...fuck, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that, I fucked up, okay? I'm sorry." Floyd hung his head, staring down at her feet. His emotions were getting the best of him, jealousy turning him into a person he did not want to be. "Just...seeing you with him made me second guess everything."
"Well, you did say it. You did. I don't know what happened to you. I don't understand what changed. But you need to fix it. Fix whatever problems you have, fix whatever territorial bullshit jealousy issues you have. You threw away whatever relationship we could have had a long time ago." Lottie set her gun down on the nearby platform, crossing her arms over her chest. "I miss my friend, Floyd. We were best friends, and you destroyed that friendship."
"I know, Charlie. It was all my fault. I'm gonna make it up to you, I promise." Tab tentatively reached out again, resting his hand on her shoulder. When she didn't flinch away, instead leaning her cheek against his hand with a soft smile of remembrance, he took it as a good sign. "You better, Floyd. Because I have a whole group of friends who would kick your ass otherwise." The two laughed at that before he pulled her into a hug, coming together in the familiar embrace.
"Friends then?" Floyd murmured against her hair, smirking as he felt her giggle softly.
"Maybe. We'll see how this goes. But kiss me again and I'll show you how good I am with a knife too. Now let me get back to shooting."
It was approaching lunch hour by the time Charlotte left the range. Tab had left long ago to find his bed, exhausted from his own lack of sleep. She was walking down the path toward the mess hall, head down and deep in thought when she heard her name being called. It took her a moment to wake her from her thoughts and she only looked up when a pair of hands gripped her shoulders and stopped her from walking into them.
George Luz.
Charlotte flushed again, looking up to meet his eyes. George was on the shorter side for most men but he still had several inches her.
"Hi." Lottie said after a moment of silence, and he grinned in response.
"So you're talking to me again?" Luz smirked, dropping his hands and moving to stand beside her so they could walk together. "I've been looking for you all morning."
"I've been at the shooting range." Charlotte shrugged, and George nodded slowly, understanding.
"Doing some thinking, I see." He lit a cigarette and offered it to her, allowing her to take a drag before grabbing it back.
"You know me so well." She smiled up at him, moving off the side of the path and sitting on a nearby bench. "Look, George, we need to talk...about last night."
"Yeah, I figured that was coming." He followed her over to the bench, sitting beside her and stretching his arms across the back.
"I just...I don't want to lose you as a friend. You're too important to me." Lottie turned toward him, hand resting on his knee as she spoke. "This is not the time nor the place for a relationship. I could get kicked out, and so could you. And we're too close to deployment to risk that happening."
"You know, I'm really good at keeping secrets, princess. Scout's honor." George smirked as Charlotte threw her head back in a laugh.
"Somehow I don't believe that, Georgie." She laughed, leaning into him as he put his arm around her. "But, maybe one day, one day when this war is over, we can revisit this conversation." Lottie looked up to him, smiling as she met his eyes.
"Alright, fine, heart breaker." George chortled as she gasped, pinching his side. "Yow! Okay, fine. But I'm holding you to that, princess. When this war is over, you are going to buy me a beer and we're having a long conversation about this."
Charlotte paused, pretending to think it over before holding her hand out to him. "Deal."
George raised his eyebrow, lifting his hand from the bench and unceremoniously spitting into it before reaching to grab her hand. Lottie quickly pulled her own hand back, gagging. "You are so gross, George Luz." She stood abruptly, squealing as he chased after her, following her up the hill toward the mess hall, just in time for lunch.
The following day included a field training exercise, with one team being lead by Winters, and the other being lead by Sobel. Charlotte had drawn the short straw and had landed herself on Sobel's team. They were jogging through a field when he abruptly made them stop and take cover behind a giant flower bush. She followed the men, crouching behind the bush and waiting as Sobel suspiciously eyed the map, flipping it over repeatedly.
"Hey, Perconte? Sobel got us lost again, didn't he?" Frank turned toward Charlotte at the question she posed, nodding miserably. "Yeah, he's lost."
"Fucking Christ." Luz muttered as he jogged up beside her, crouching next to her and peering through the leaves.
"Luz? Can you do Major Horton?" Luz looked up, a grin coming across his already mischievous features.
"Does a wild bear crap in the woods, son?" George immediately adopted Major Horton's telltale drawl, swinging his rifle over his shoulder and moving to stand beside Frank. Lottie followed after him, giggling quietly as she pulled off her helmet, smoothing her hair back where the rain had plastered it to her forehead.
"Maybe the good major can goose this schmuck? Get us moving?" Perconte grinned, and the men around tapped Luz's shoulder in encouragement.
"No, no way, I can't." Luz began protesting, but the men around him wouldn't have any of it.
"You gotta, Luz."
"Yes, Luz, you gotta."
"C'mon, Luz, do it just this once."
George's eyes moved over to Lottie's, seemingly asking for permission. She shrugged, smiling slowly. "Just this once, Georgie."
"Alright, princess, if you say so." Luz grinned and raised himself into a standing position beside her, clearing his throat a few times before bellowing out, "Is there a problem, Captain Sobel?"
Charlotte slapped a hand over Muck's mouth as he nearly guffawed, leaning into him as she held back her own laughter. She raised her free hand in a shushing motion to her own mouth, unable to stop the silent laughter from escaping her body.
"Who said that? Who broke silence?" Sobel's angry reply was heard from across the field, and if it wasn't for Luz looking down at her for any encouragement she might have been worried.
"I think it's Major Horton, sir." Tipper replied, fighting his own grin. "Maybe he's moving between platoons?"
"God bless you, Tipper." She giggled.
"What is the goddamn hold up, Mister Sobel?" Luz bellowed out again, and Lottie held onto his leg, snorting in laughter she had long since been able to stop.
"A fence, sir...a barbed wire fence!" Sobel called back, now clearly buying into the facade George had manufactured.
"Oh, that dog just ain't gonna hunt!" He quickly shushed the fellow men, putting his own hand over Lottie's mouth as she snorted again. "Now you cut that fence and get this goddamn platoon on the move!"
With that, they were off, stepping through the cow field and over the remnants of the barbed wire fence. Later that evening when it became clear to the rest of the company that Major Horton was currently on leave in London, Charlotte knew it would come back to bite them in the ass.
The following afternoon she sat along a stone fence with Nixon and Winters, chatting with them about the mini basketball they were watching. Bull was dominating the game as he was the tallest, easily shooting the baskets. Frank, Malarkey, and Ramirez were doing their best to keep the ball away from him, not keeping track of points but just having fun.
"Why aren't you playing with them, princess?" Nixon smirked at Lottie as she rolled her eyes.
"Not you too! That nickname is not the one I was hoping would stick." She pouted, resting her hand on her chin childishly. "Basketball is not my sport. I played softball in high school, it's all about hand-eye coordination. And I'm not tall enough to reach the basket." She shrugged, and the three of them chuckled at her expense.
A moment soon after a jeep came barreling down the road and in between the four men, earning loud protests at the interrupting of their game. Sobel's steward approached the trio, saluting the two men and simply nodding at her. She snorted, rolling her eyes as soon as his glance had refocused on Winters.
"Lieutenant Winters? With Captain Sobel's compliments, sir." He held out the letter, saluting again Winters had taken the letter before getting back into the jeep and taking off down the road.
"Oh, for crying out loud." Winters muttered after a moment, and Lottie tried her hardest to peer over Nixon's shoulder.
"Misspelled court-martial." Nix chuckled, and Charlotte scoffed, hopping from the stone wall to look at the letter.
"Of course he did." Charlotte took that as a sign to leave, so she handed Nix her cigarette and walked across to join the group of men. She quickly stole the ball from Perconte, dribbling it for a moment before asking Bull for help. He lifted her off the ground, high enough for her to dunk the ball into the basket, and she bowed once he had set her back on the ground. She eyed the two Lieutenant's as they held a somber conversation, and she knew this wouldn't end well.