Chapter 17: Charlie

I was getting ready to go out when I looked up to see Charlie standing at my door. His eyes said it all; they conveyed anger, disgust and hatred, directed at me.

"Hi, Charlie, what have you been up to?" I asked, trying to sound casual.

"I'm putting you on notice, Oldham."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Watch your back!"

"Huh?" I asked, pulling my pants up. He was gone. I followed him to his bedroom door, which he slammed in my face.

"Charlie, you're going to have to tell me what you mean. I'm not clairvoyant," I said, looking at the door, considering opening it.

"I saw you," came from the other side of the door.

"You saw what?" I asked, as if I didn't know what he had seen.

"You know." He was right. I knew exactly what he had seen and I hated myself for taking part in his mother's transgression.

"You're going to have to be more specific, Charlie," I said, hoping to draw it out of him. When he didn't answer I told him about our plans to have pizza and see a movie, inviting him to join us. "I'm leaving in two minutes," I warned. There was no answer so I left.

Zelda was waiting when I parked next to her dormitory. Her short dark hair was arranged like Scott Fitzgerald described her namesake's hair in the 1920's. Her skirt was short, tan-colored twill and her top was tight fitting, showing off her small, but impressive breasts...

"Nice car," she commented as she got in. I looked at her face closely.

"Go inside and remove the eye shadow," I ordered, without acknowledging her compliment about the car.

"Why?" she asked in a whiny voice that made me sorry that I had been so harsh.

"We're going for pizza and a movie, not a fashion show."

Zelda jumped out of the car and ran to the entrance of the building, making me wonder if she would return. Surprisingly, she was back in five minutes with not only her eyes scrubbed clean; the heavy application of lip gloss was also missing.

"Is this better?" she asked, cheerily.

I laughed, liking her attitude. But I didn't like what I had seen as she let the short skirt creep up.

"What color are your panties?" I asked, having already seen they were red.

Zelda didn't respond to my question. This time she was back in four minutes, having changed her panties. It was also evident that she was now wearing a bra.

I smiled, approvingly and put the car in gear. Thinking she needed a better explanation than simply 'we were only going for pizza and a movie', I said, "You've been in freshman orientation all week and probably feel like you've earned the right to act older than your age. What are you, seventeen? Is this your first time away from home?" I asked, looking over at her and seeing that she was about to explode.

"WRONG! I'm almost eighteen and I'm a preppy like you. Where do you get off trying to act like my father?"

"Wait, how do you know I attended a prep school?" I asked, already knowing that she had been finding out as much as she could about me.

She smiled, coyly, showing that she was not inclined to tell me how much she had found out. I drove to the parking lot behind the dress shop and told her we would walk the rest of the way, explaining the shortage of parking at the movie theater.

"Is this where you live?" she asked, motioning to the stairs leading to my apartment.

"Yes, we usually gather here on Friday nights, but I was in the mood for a movie tonight."

"Do you miss Shirley?"

The question took me by surprise. At first, I found it irritating to be asked such a personal question, and then I thought, 'Touché, I made her change her panties'. "I miss her doing the food shopping and planning the meals. I miss her helping with the laundry. I miss her giving me advice and I miss having her next to me, running, studying and sleeping. Yes, I miss her."

That shut her up for about two seconds. "Do you like tall blondes better than short brunettes?"

Wow! What else had she heard? Had Charlie spread the news about Sheila and me? No, he was far too private to let it be known that I had fucked his mother. "A girl's hair and height are not the first things I look at. I pay attention to her personality and how well she plays tennis before I check out her bra size."

"I don't believe you," she said as we entered the pizza shop. Everyone was there and they had already ordered the pizzas. I introduced Zelda to Skip and Laura and Amy. She already knew Kent and Wendy from our tennis match.

"This was a big mistake," I said, looking around the small shop. It was so crowded that we decided to take the pizzas outside where we had to stand around a small table. There was a shortage of chairs.

There was only one mention of Charlie when Skip inquired about him, and I saw Wendy's head turn in my direction. I told them about inviting Charlie to join us and that he had said he was busy, which was a lie. I didn't know what he was doing.

There was a short discussion as to which movie we would see. Amy was adamant about Cape Fear with Robert DeNiro and Nick Nolte and once we reached agreement on the movie she changed the subject, exclaiming about the collapse of the Soviet Union. Most of us, except Laura, had no opinion, saying we didn't know what to make of it. Amy and Laura walked ahead, talking earnestly between themselves while the rest of us followed.

We caught the early showing and I found myself sitting between Wendy and Zelda. Near the end of the movie, when the two main characters mixed it up in a showdown, I felt Zelda clutching my hand and tucking her face into my chest. When the lights came on her hands were still gripping mine. She raised her head off my chest, looking sheepish.

I offered to take Wendy back to her dorm. She glanced at her brother before accepting the ride. We were saying goodnight when Laura said we were all welcome to come to their house for pizza and beer the next Friday night. "Bring Charlie," she said to me and I told her I would let him know about her offer.

As we walked to the car I considered Laura's invitation. It would certainly be better than trying to eat at the pizza shop. Why was she taking over the Friday night get-togethers? Was she reading my mind? Without Shirley to help out I was lost. Also, Laura was the only one of us old enough to purchase beer. I was glad that she was taking over.

Zelda held the door open and Wendy took her place in the back seat. When we got to campus Zelda directed me to Wendy's dorm. I got out and walked her to the entrance. She thanked me for the ride and, almost as an afterthought, "You will remember to invite Charlie next week, won't you?" I assured her that I would.

Although I was able to park in front of the entrance at Zelda's dorm, I guess she expected me to give her the same treatment as I had given Wendy. I walked around the car and opened the door for her and saw her to the door. "Would you like to come up to my room?" she asked.

How was I going to make her understand this was not a date? "Your roommate may already be in bed," I said, knowing how ridiculous it sounded. It was not yet ten o'clock.

"She wouldn't dare," Zelda countered.

"I better go. Maybe I'll see you at the courts," I said, backing away. She caught up with me and I felt her breasts against my chest just as she planted a kiss on my lips. Instinctively, I wrapped my arms around her and let her dart her tongue between my lips. For seventeen, she was an accomplished kisser. I felt my cock growing.

"Are you sure you don't want to come upstairs," she asked.

"I've really got to get some sleep tonight," I said, backing away, hoping I wouldn't need to go into detail about how I had been robbed of sleep the last two nights.

Reluctantly, she smiled and turned to the door. "Goodnight, I'll see you at the courts," she said.

The next day when I spoke to Marcie, she listened to my account of playing tennis, going to the movies and taking Zelda to her dorm. "What are you leaving out?" she asked.

"She wanted me to go up to her room with her, but..."

"You're dawdling, Oldham!"

"Dawdling?"

"You're being evasive. What are you not telling me?"

My mind raced. Since we had last been together my life was a series of scandals. I couldn't tell her about my night with Loretta. She would be hurt that I would fuck a thirty-year-old Mexican woman when I had avoided having sex with her. I couldn't tell her that I had fucked Sheila, a forty-two-year-old married woman. It would make Marcie feel rejected. And I couldn't tell her that I had slept with one eye open because Charlie had implied, "Watch your back!" that he would jump me the first chance he got.

"Charlie's feeling sorry for himself. He had an automobile accident and his mother brought him back to school," I said, supplying some news that I knew would interest her.

"That's too bad," she said.

"Debra was with him. She got hurt and her parents won't let her talk to him."

"Was... was alcohol involved?"

"Yes, he may be in trouble. He's without a car and resents me."

"Why on earth would he resent you?"

"I think he resents me for being generous. I pay all the bills. He lives here free, without contributing to the rent or food."

"Why don't you throw him out?"

"I can't. His mother asked me to look out for him."

"Poor Sammy, I'm sorry I blamed you for holding out on me."

She was eating it up and I hadn't lied. Well, the reason that Charlie resented me was not exactly accurate. I steered the conversation to what she was doing, but ended the call hating myself. Perhaps it would have been better to level with her, tell her about Loretta, Sheila and that Charlie had warned me to 'watch my back'.

I visited Luke and found that sales of the study desk had fallen off. He said decrease in demand for the desk was due to graduating seniors parting with their desks at half the original price. I told him that I would like to ship a desk to Marcie and he suggested that we produce a knock-down model that could be assembled by almost anyone. I told him it sounded like a good plan and left, feeling downhearted that sales of the desk had diminished. It meant K.O.'s education account would suffer.

Staying on guard, waiting for Charlie to strike, didn't appeal to me at all. I didn't want to put a lock on my door because it would make it look obvious that I had taken his threat seriously. I needed a means of waking if he came into my room while I was asleep. On the way back to the apartment I bought a bicycle bell like I remembered having on my bicycle when I was a kid. The ring was loud enough to wake me.

I mounted the bell on the molding above the door and attached the trigger to the door itself. The trigger was cut from a wooden dowel. I was pleased with the way it worked. All I had to do was to remember to cock the trigger with the dowel before going to bed and take it out when I left the room...

For the most part, Charlie kept to himself and I seldom saw him. If he knew about the bell on my door he didn't let on. When we did see each other he would make a cryptic remark in passing, usually repeating what he had said before, "Watch your back".

Once, when he said, "I saw you," I asked him what he meant and he answered with, "Watch your back".

I could tell that whatever he saw was really eating at him and I would have liked to resolve it because it was eating at me too. I left a note on his door. 'Pizza and beer will be at Kent and Skip's house Friday night. Everyone's expecting you to be there'.

School started and I settled into a routine, attending classes, studying and missing Shirley. Although I had avoided Zelda and the tennis courts, I was looking forward to Friday. I sent word through Kent that I would pick up the two freshmen.

Laura donated the beer and made sure the younger girls drank soft drinks. Kent paid for the pizzas. They said it was their way of paying me back for hosting the parties last year. I corrected them. "Shirley managed the food budget and Tammy bought the beer. I just paid the rent."

Everyone asked about Charlie. I told them I would convey their concern to him. So far, I hadn't told anyone about his strange behavior. That would require my admitting that I knew what was bothering him.

We talked about our classes while the two freshmen listened and took everything in. Laura told us that she was taking one of Professor Edison's history classes and I mentioned that I was in his wife's class.

"Is she pretty? He's a hunk," Laura said.

"Not that I've noticed," I said, wondering if we were talking about the same couple. "I would never have guessed that she could attract a hunk."

"Describe her," Zelda said and everyone echoed her request.

"Mrs. Edison is thirty-one, five feet, seven inches tall, one hundred and seventeen pounds, thirty-three, twenty-six, thirty-six, alternates the use of bifocals and contacts, wears her salt and pepper hair in a bun, smokes Lucky Strike cigarettes and safeguards her seldom-used diaphragm on a chain around her neck."

The reactions to my description of Mrs. Edison were mixed. Skip applauded and Kent joined him. Laura said, "No more beer for you." Amy snickered, saying it must be the full moon and Wendy sat open-mouthed in dismay. Zelda, whose idea it was that I describe my instructor, jumped into my lap, aggressively kissed me and announced that I was going to be a great hit when she took me home to meet her family.