"What are you doing tonight?" Oz asked sheepishly, almost one year into
their perfect relationship.
"Actually, I have a really hot date with this very sexy man I stole from my best friend," she said, peering around teasingly, as if hoping to spot him in the living room.
"Do you?" he asked, leaving his arms wrapped around her waist.
"I'm just waiting for you to ask me," she said flirtatiously, leading him to her bedroom.
Oz dropped his bag onto Charli's bedroom floor. She absentmindedly turned on the stereo. She sang along as she pulled a pair of silky blue cargo pajama pants and a white button-up shirt out of her top dresser drawer.
Oz sat on the bed and watched her take off her shirt, revealing an almost sheer pink camisole with no bra. Her dark hair fell over her shoulders as she bend over, sliding her skirt easily down her golden brown legs. She then pulled the silky blue fabric over her smooth limbs.
She picked up the shirt.
Oz stopped her. "Do they always match?" he asked.
"Do what always match?" she asked, pulling her shirt on.
"Pink top... pink thong," he said, staring at her dreamily.
She looked at him, stopping after only buttoning two of the shirt's buttons. "Do you mean to tell me that in the many months you have seen me in my underwear you have never noticed that they always match?"
"Yes, but I was hoping that would make you stop getting dressed."
"It's cold!" Charli said. It was soon to become noticeable through the thin camisole.
Oz opened his arms.
"I'll keep you warm, Suga!" he said in a very trashy voice.
Unable to resist his "charm," Charli allowed herself to be pulled down onto the bed on top of Oz, kissing him softly. He let his fingers run through her hair, then down her back as he kissed her neck. His hands found the small buttons on her shirt and began undoing them.
"My, my, my... It is cold in here," he commented, noting the raised bumps through Charli's camisole as he slid the white shirt off her arms.
"Cold isn't the word I would have used," she said in his ear, smiling at him suggestively.
Oz continued to run his fingers softly over Charli's body. They finally made their way past her waist to do some very thorough exploring.
George Reagan walked into his house early the next morning, Charli's birthday. Charli and Oz were upstairs, completely unaware that Charli's dad had come home from Boston early.
Oz sang, "Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Charli Bear, the sweetest, sexiest, most beautiful, funniest woman in the world and the love of my life... Happy birthday to you.
Suddenly, they heard the front door open and close. Charli looked at Oz urgently, and the two quickly dressed.
George was climbing up the stairs. Charli was pushing Oz out of the window when he opened the door. It was too late. He had seen Oz's van in the driveway, and could now see his head framed in the window.
"Hey Dad," Charli said as nonchalantly as possible. This doesn't look good. "What's wrong?" As if I don't already know.
"We'll discuss it later. You there... I suggest you leave. Maybe Charlotte can call you... I wouldn't wait by the phone," he said threateningly.
"That's ok, I'll just go with Oz," Charli said, helping her boyfriend back in through the window.
"I don't think that's the best thing to do right now." I'll make sure she never sees this boy again.
"Ok," Oz said once he was inside the house. "Nice to see you Mr. Reagan. Bye Charli," he finished, walking out the door. Charli followed him downstairs, showing him out.
"Are you sure you want me to go?" he asked, his voice full of concern.
"I can deal," she whispered back. "I'll call you when we're finished."
Oz kissed her on the cheek and left, feeling horrible about deserting her.
Charli turned to find her dad standing behind her.
"What was that boy -" George began.
Charli interrupted, "His name is Oz."
"Whatever. Why was he here this morning?" George asked, irritated.
"It was nothing. He came by to wish me a happy birthday," Charli replied.
George started, then paused. "That's today?" He furrowed his brow. Charli's mouth fell open. Her own father had forgotten her own birthday, and he was there when she was born. Oz, her more than perfect boyfriend, knew when it was. He could even tell Charli when she had eye doctor appointments, or even when she would get her period. But George, her own father, didn't know her birthday.
"How could you not know my birthday?" Charli asked, shocked, in a low voice. "You, of all people, just... forgot?"
"It happens... sometimes. Are you sure it isn't in winter?" he asked, looking puzzled, but not too deeply concerned.
Charli was exasperated. "No, that was Rose's birthday... December 17..." she shouted. She cringed when she remembered her sister.
Charli and Rose were only a year apart. When Charli was ten, her dad and stepmother took their daughters to see the Grand Canyon in Arizona. It was a magnificent sight.
On the second day of the trip, Rose decided she was unsatisfied with the far-away view of the canyon from behind the guard rail. With no one around, she climbed over the rail and crawled to the edge.
When Charli saw her older sister, she ran to the gate.
"You've got to see this, Charli!" she said, turning to look at Charli.
"The gate's not close enough?" Charli asked timidly.
"Just try it!" said Rose.
"If mom and dad see you, you're dead meat!" Charli said angrily.
Rose caved and stood up to join Charli on the safe side of the rail. A small piece of the ledge crumbled under Rose's weight and she slipped, barely catching herself. Charli could see her sister's small hands cling to the ledge. Charli looked beyond her sister to the gaping hole, sucking her sister into it.
Immediately, Charli climbed over the gate to reach her sister. Her sister's desperate cries were drowned out by the incessant pounding in Charli's ears.
Charli grabbed her sister's hands and pulled her slowly up the ledge.
When Rose was waist-level with the ledge, she insisted that she could climb the rest of the way herself. Charli scrambled to the rail to hold on. She had never been a big fan of heights.
Rose finally got her right knee firmly on the edge of the canyon. Charli drew a relaxing breath.
A much larger piece of the sandy platform broke under Rose, this time too far for Rose to reach.
Charli watched, horrified, as her sister fell to her death. "Charli!!!" she screamed.
Charli knew she would never see her sister alive again. With tears streaming down her face, Charli scrambled back over the gate and cried out to her parents...
The only thing Charli could remember from the next hour was the image of Rose's body being drawn up from the canyon. Though she never saw the body, the sheet-covered lump on the gurney was certainly not shaped like her sister.
"The last thing she ever said was my name," Charli told herself over and over.
After that day, George had changed. He was mean, cold, bitter, and distant. He wrapped himself up in his work and lost nearly all contact with Charli and her mom. He took no notice in the good Charli did but focused completely on the bad. He blamed Charli for Rose's death.
"Charli, you know you shouldn't bring up your sister. It was over ten years ago," George scolded. "Now, what was Iz doing in your room?"
"It's OZ!!!" Charli shouted. "And if that's all you came here to ask me, I think I'll go find Oz," she said, heading to the door.
George stepped in her way. "No! No more Oz!" he cried. "I insist, Charli!"
Her heart froze. "What?" she stammered. "I'll date Oz if I want to! I'm twenty-three years old! I can take care of myself... Who gives you the right to tell me who I can and can't date when you aren't even home to meet him! We have been together for almost a year! Where have you been?" she screamed. "He's been here for me more in the past year than you have in my whole life!"
"He's no good for you!" George retorted. "Your grades have been slipping -"
"My grades?" Charli could not believe what she was hearing. "I graduated already! The only reason I'm still living here is so you'll have some place to come home to for one month of the year! Oz is going to finish college next year in Arizona and then that's it... We're getting married!"
"You will do as you are told, or else," George fumed.
"Or else... what?" Charli retaliated. "You'll punish me? Maybe come home for more than two days at a time?"
George dropped his voice to a deadly growl. "Charli, I am a man of business. You know that. You should realize by now that I have connections. Do you realize that one phone call can keep Az from ever setting foot inside another school again?"
He had done it. If she really loved him, she would give in. Charli could not believe what her father just said.
"If you do that, then I will never speak to you again," Charli said defiantly.
"This is ridiculous," George said.
"Do you love me, Dad?" she asked.
George was caught off-guard. "Now that's a silly question. I wouldn't be doing this for you if I didn't love you."
"I think it's the other way around," Charli sighed, defeated. "Why won't you let me be happy?"
"I want you to be happy," George said. "That's why I'm simply making a few decisions for you that I don't think you are mature enough to handle."
"Please don't," Charli pleaded. "Please don't make me leave. Please don't make me give up the one thing that makes sense to me. I won't be back. I won't be here the next time you walk through that door," Charli said calmly.
George's face fell in disbelief. He thought of reconsidering, but pride stood high above the love of his daughter.
"Charli, I know you're upset, but I assure you I'm doing this for your own good. You have tonight to tell him it's over. After that..."
Charli looked hard at her father. He was not the same man she knew twelve years ago. She nodded her head meekly. She knew when she had been beaten.
"I'll go pack my bags," she said bluntly, heading upstairs.
Because Charli had been staying with Oz more and more, most of her things were at his apartment. She cleaned out her room in no time at all; mementos were the only items left in her father's house.
Charli took the third and final bag out to her car. Her father finally caught on and followed her outside.
"Charlotte Reagan, you are being childish!" he shouted as she slammed the trunk of her Explorer Sport.
Charli's voice dropped to a venomous tone. "Well, George, how does it feel to have killed the three most important women in your life in one fell swoop? You weren't there to save Rose, you abandoned Mom, and you crushed my heart!" She paused to take a breath. "I've promised to leave Oz, so you had better not touch him, do you understand me?"
With that, she jumped into her car and sped toward Shelby's apartment nearby.
Charli banged loudly on Shelby's door.
After a few seconds, Shelby was at the door. Charli fell into her arms.
"Charli... Oh, God, what happened?"
Charli began to stutter and sob the whole story to her best friend.
"You don't have to leave, you know," Shelby pleaded.
"You don't understand... If I stay, he'll ruin my life. What's worse, he'll ruin Oz's. I could never live with myself, Shelby, I just couldn't."
In two hours Charli was supposed to meet Oz. She had made Shelby promise not to tell him her plans.
Charli had a very good friend in New York, Sam Adams, who was more than willing to take her in as long as she needed a home and a friend. Charli would leave as soon as she could. In the meantime, she had her birthday date with Oz... And she had to break up with him.
Charli gave Shelby the key to Oz's home. While they were out, Shelby would collect everything she could find of Charli's and bring it to her house.
Charli took a long shower, finally letting her tears flow freely until she gained her composure. She had to make herself perfect for this date.
The date was more perfect than Charli could have imagined. Oz took her to a carnival a town over and spoiled her rotten with treats and even won her a stuffed animal. Charli had never been to a carnival before and had the time of her life.
"Actually, I have a really hot date with this very sexy man I stole from my best friend," she said, peering around teasingly, as if hoping to spot him in the living room.
"Do you?" he asked, leaving his arms wrapped around her waist.
"I'm just waiting for you to ask me," she said flirtatiously, leading him to her bedroom.
Oz dropped his bag onto Charli's bedroom floor. She absentmindedly turned on the stereo. She sang along as she pulled a pair of silky blue cargo pajama pants and a white button-up shirt out of her top dresser drawer.
Oz sat on the bed and watched her take off her shirt, revealing an almost sheer pink camisole with no bra. Her dark hair fell over her shoulders as she bend over, sliding her skirt easily down her golden brown legs. She then pulled the silky blue fabric over her smooth limbs.
She picked up the shirt.
Oz stopped her. "Do they always match?" he asked.
"Do what always match?" she asked, pulling her shirt on.
"Pink top... pink thong," he said, staring at her dreamily.
She looked at him, stopping after only buttoning two of the shirt's buttons. "Do you mean to tell me that in the many months you have seen me in my underwear you have never noticed that they always match?"
"Yes, but I was hoping that would make you stop getting dressed."
"It's cold!" Charli said. It was soon to become noticeable through the thin camisole.
Oz opened his arms.
"I'll keep you warm, Suga!" he said in a very trashy voice.
Unable to resist his "charm," Charli allowed herself to be pulled down onto the bed on top of Oz, kissing him softly. He let his fingers run through her hair, then down her back as he kissed her neck. His hands found the small buttons on her shirt and began undoing them.
"My, my, my... It is cold in here," he commented, noting the raised bumps through Charli's camisole as he slid the white shirt off her arms.
"Cold isn't the word I would have used," she said in his ear, smiling at him suggestively.
Oz continued to run his fingers softly over Charli's body. They finally made their way past her waist to do some very thorough exploring.
George Reagan walked into his house early the next morning, Charli's birthday. Charli and Oz were upstairs, completely unaware that Charli's dad had come home from Boston early.
Oz sang, "Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Charli Bear, the sweetest, sexiest, most beautiful, funniest woman in the world and the love of my life... Happy birthday to you.
Suddenly, they heard the front door open and close. Charli looked at Oz urgently, and the two quickly dressed.
George was climbing up the stairs. Charli was pushing Oz out of the window when he opened the door. It was too late. He had seen Oz's van in the driveway, and could now see his head framed in the window.
"Hey Dad," Charli said as nonchalantly as possible. This doesn't look good. "What's wrong?" As if I don't already know.
"We'll discuss it later. You there... I suggest you leave. Maybe Charlotte can call you... I wouldn't wait by the phone," he said threateningly.
"That's ok, I'll just go with Oz," Charli said, helping her boyfriend back in through the window.
"I don't think that's the best thing to do right now." I'll make sure she never sees this boy again.
"Ok," Oz said once he was inside the house. "Nice to see you Mr. Reagan. Bye Charli," he finished, walking out the door. Charli followed him downstairs, showing him out.
"Are you sure you want me to go?" he asked, his voice full of concern.
"I can deal," she whispered back. "I'll call you when we're finished."
Oz kissed her on the cheek and left, feeling horrible about deserting her.
Charli turned to find her dad standing behind her.
"What was that boy -" George began.
Charli interrupted, "His name is Oz."
"Whatever. Why was he here this morning?" George asked, irritated.
"It was nothing. He came by to wish me a happy birthday," Charli replied.
George started, then paused. "That's today?" He furrowed his brow. Charli's mouth fell open. Her own father had forgotten her own birthday, and he was there when she was born. Oz, her more than perfect boyfriend, knew when it was. He could even tell Charli when she had eye doctor appointments, or even when she would get her period. But George, her own father, didn't know her birthday.
"How could you not know my birthday?" Charli asked, shocked, in a low voice. "You, of all people, just... forgot?"
"It happens... sometimes. Are you sure it isn't in winter?" he asked, looking puzzled, but not too deeply concerned.
Charli was exasperated. "No, that was Rose's birthday... December 17..." she shouted. She cringed when she remembered her sister.
Charli and Rose were only a year apart. When Charli was ten, her dad and stepmother took their daughters to see the Grand Canyon in Arizona. It was a magnificent sight.
On the second day of the trip, Rose decided she was unsatisfied with the far-away view of the canyon from behind the guard rail. With no one around, she climbed over the rail and crawled to the edge.
When Charli saw her older sister, she ran to the gate.
"You've got to see this, Charli!" she said, turning to look at Charli.
"The gate's not close enough?" Charli asked timidly.
"Just try it!" said Rose.
"If mom and dad see you, you're dead meat!" Charli said angrily.
Rose caved and stood up to join Charli on the safe side of the rail. A small piece of the ledge crumbled under Rose's weight and she slipped, barely catching herself. Charli could see her sister's small hands cling to the ledge. Charli looked beyond her sister to the gaping hole, sucking her sister into it.
Immediately, Charli climbed over the gate to reach her sister. Her sister's desperate cries were drowned out by the incessant pounding in Charli's ears.
Charli grabbed her sister's hands and pulled her slowly up the ledge.
When Rose was waist-level with the ledge, she insisted that she could climb the rest of the way herself. Charli scrambled to the rail to hold on. She had never been a big fan of heights.
Rose finally got her right knee firmly on the edge of the canyon. Charli drew a relaxing breath.
A much larger piece of the sandy platform broke under Rose, this time too far for Rose to reach.
Charli watched, horrified, as her sister fell to her death. "Charli!!!" she screamed.
Charli knew she would never see her sister alive again. With tears streaming down her face, Charli scrambled back over the gate and cried out to her parents...
The only thing Charli could remember from the next hour was the image of Rose's body being drawn up from the canyon. Though she never saw the body, the sheet-covered lump on the gurney was certainly not shaped like her sister.
"The last thing she ever said was my name," Charli told herself over and over.
After that day, George had changed. He was mean, cold, bitter, and distant. He wrapped himself up in his work and lost nearly all contact with Charli and her mom. He took no notice in the good Charli did but focused completely on the bad. He blamed Charli for Rose's death.
"Charli, you know you shouldn't bring up your sister. It was over ten years ago," George scolded. "Now, what was Iz doing in your room?"
"It's OZ!!!" Charli shouted. "And if that's all you came here to ask me, I think I'll go find Oz," she said, heading to the door.
George stepped in her way. "No! No more Oz!" he cried. "I insist, Charli!"
Her heart froze. "What?" she stammered. "I'll date Oz if I want to! I'm twenty-three years old! I can take care of myself... Who gives you the right to tell me who I can and can't date when you aren't even home to meet him! We have been together for almost a year! Where have you been?" she screamed. "He's been here for me more in the past year than you have in my whole life!"
"He's no good for you!" George retorted. "Your grades have been slipping -"
"My grades?" Charli could not believe what she was hearing. "I graduated already! The only reason I'm still living here is so you'll have some place to come home to for one month of the year! Oz is going to finish college next year in Arizona and then that's it... We're getting married!"
"You will do as you are told, or else," George fumed.
"Or else... what?" Charli retaliated. "You'll punish me? Maybe come home for more than two days at a time?"
George dropped his voice to a deadly growl. "Charli, I am a man of business. You know that. You should realize by now that I have connections. Do you realize that one phone call can keep Az from ever setting foot inside another school again?"
He had done it. If she really loved him, she would give in. Charli could not believe what her father just said.
"If you do that, then I will never speak to you again," Charli said defiantly.
"This is ridiculous," George said.
"Do you love me, Dad?" she asked.
George was caught off-guard. "Now that's a silly question. I wouldn't be doing this for you if I didn't love you."
"I think it's the other way around," Charli sighed, defeated. "Why won't you let me be happy?"
"I want you to be happy," George said. "That's why I'm simply making a few decisions for you that I don't think you are mature enough to handle."
"Please don't," Charli pleaded. "Please don't make me leave. Please don't make me give up the one thing that makes sense to me. I won't be back. I won't be here the next time you walk through that door," Charli said calmly.
George's face fell in disbelief. He thought of reconsidering, but pride stood high above the love of his daughter.
"Charli, I know you're upset, but I assure you I'm doing this for your own good. You have tonight to tell him it's over. After that..."
Charli looked hard at her father. He was not the same man she knew twelve years ago. She nodded her head meekly. She knew when she had been beaten.
"I'll go pack my bags," she said bluntly, heading upstairs.
Because Charli had been staying with Oz more and more, most of her things were at his apartment. She cleaned out her room in no time at all; mementos were the only items left in her father's house.
Charli took the third and final bag out to her car. Her father finally caught on and followed her outside.
"Charlotte Reagan, you are being childish!" he shouted as she slammed the trunk of her Explorer Sport.
Charli's voice dropped to a venomous tone. "Well, George, how does it feel to have killed the three most important women in your life in one fell swoop? You weren't there to save Rose, you abandoned Mom, and you crushed my heart!" She paused to take a breath. "I've promised to leave Oz, so you had better not touch him, do you understand me?"
With that, she jumped into her car and sped toward Shelby's apartment nearby.
Charli banged loudly on Shelby's door.
After a few seconds, Shelby was at the door. Charli fell into her arms.
"Charli... Oh, God, what happened?"
Charli began to stutter and sob the whole story to her best friend.
"You don't have to leave, you know," Shelby pleaded.
"You don't understand... If I stay, he'll ruin my life. What's worse, he'll ruin Oz's. I could never live with myself, Shelby, I just couldn't."
In two hours Charli was supposed to meet Oz. She had made Shelby promise not to tell him her plans.
Charli had a very good friend in New York, Sam Adams, who was more than willing to take her in as long as she needed a home and a friend. Charli would leave as soon as she could. In the meantime, she had her birthday date with Oz... And she had to break up with him.
Charli gave Shelby the key to Oz's home. While they were out, Shelby would collect everything she could find of Charli's and bring it to her house.
Charli took a long shower, finally letting her tears flow freely until she gained her composure. She had to make herself perfect for this date.
The date was more perfect than Charli could have imagined. Oz took her to a carnival a town over and spoiled her rotten with treats and even won her a stuffed animal. Charli had never been to a carnival before and had the time of her life.
