CHAPTER FOUR
Chapter 3
New Firends. Old Fear.
Fuck!”
“Language!”
I look up from inspecting the hand I just slammed in the backdoor to see my sister, Charolette, standing in front of the refrigerator with a carton of milk in her hand and a smirk on her face.
“You sounded just like mom,” I tell her, effectively wiping that smirk off her face.
I drop my gym bag on the floor and head into the living room where I practically fall onto the couch. I close my eyes and pray that my sister leaves me alone for five minutes before she starts meddling, her favorite past time. I’m so fucking tired even my hair hurts. Between my own training for the upcoming MMA fights, the classes I’m teaching at the gym and the manager stuff Mike has me working on I feel like I got hit by a truck.
I feel Char sit on the coffee table next to me and then ice cold hits my hand. I crack open one eye to see she got me an icepack for my hand. I shift my gaze to look at her and she isn’t looking at me. She’s staring at my hand holding the icepack on it with this blank look on her face. I let out a deep breath. Rallying what little energy I have left I grab the ice pack and hold it to my hand while I sit up on the couch to look at my sister.
“Whats up Char?”
She looks down at her hands and does that thing where she picks at her nails. She only does that when she is nervous so either she fucked up and doesn’t want to tell me or this is going to be some really awkward relationship stuff that I fucking suck at. My day just keeps getting better.
“I met this girl today.”
Uh… not what I was expecting, but ok.
“Okaaayyy.” I draw out the word longer than necessary and am rewarded with a little smile. My sister is never this serious unless something bad happens. Of all the things that pop up between her getting into a fight, possible being a lesbian or getting into a fender bender what she says next I was not prepared for.
“Her eyes were sad… Like mine.”
She still hasn’t looked at me so I reach over slowly and raise her chin up so she has to look me in the eyes. She’s right. She has had those sad eyes sine all that shit went down with the ex-douche. What I am surprised to see is what looks like understanding in her eyes.
“Did you talk to her?”
Char gives me a little laugh and then proceeds to tell me all about dropping her purse in the waiting room of Dr. Sasha’s office building after her session. Out of a room full of people this girl who seems to walk around with a dark cloud around her was the only one who helped her pick up her stuff.
Char isn’t used to kindness. In high school she started dating this douche Destin who was a year older than her. It wasn’t until I came back from college on summer break that I noticed the changes in Char. She kept to herself more, wore long sleeves in the middle of a hot Houston summer and most importantly, she stopped smiling. Don’t get me wrong she would trow out these fake ass smiles meant to distract you from the fact that her eyes were almost dead. Like there was nothing going on inside her anymore. Something, or more accurately someone, had snuffed out the light in my little sisters eyes. It didn’t take me long to figure out the source, but before I could do anything the douche put her in the hospital. He beat her so badly she had a concussion, broken ribs and a broken arm.
Although, I think the most important thing he broke was her spirit.
Char has always been full of life and energy. Has a smile for everyone and enough enthusiasm about life to make even me, a perpetual asshole, smile more often than not. After what she what he did to her there was no smiles, no light and no real interest in life. I don’t know how long it had been going on, but it was too long and I was too late.
It’s been a struggle ever since to keep Char on track. Her grades slipped and she barely graduated high school. She’s been in and out of therapy and lets not even get started on the run-ins with the law, trespassing, drinking underage, speeding, etc. Finally, mom told her that she had to get her shit together or she wasn’t going to be able to go to college. She is all set to go to A&M in the fall, but if she can’t prove to me and mom that she is a responsible adult then there will be no college until she can get her life figured out. The last thing we need is putting an out of control Char in an environment with way too much temptation and way too little supervision if she can’t make smart choices.
So the fact that she is giving me a true smile, however small it may be, for the first time in I-don’t-know-how-long tells me all I need to know about this random girl she met in the waiting room. Anyone who has the ability to put a smile on my little sisters face now days, a real fucking smile, is someone worth knowing.
“So whats the problem Char? Text her. See if she wants to go to the movies or shopping or whatever girly shit you guys do. Whats the worst thing that could happen?”
Char looks at me deep in thought for a few seconds before she nods her head a little.
“You think it will be ok?”.
Char wants to befriend this girl but she’s scared. She has a hard time trusting people, which is understandable, but at some point she is going to have to take the leap and try.
“How about this, why don’t you invite her to hang out at the coffee shop next door to the gym? I can walk you over there or just hang out at the gym and if you need me you text me. Sound good?”
I watch as she bites her lip and then releases a breath while nodding her head.
“Okay. That works. I’ll text her tonight and see is she’s free. She may not even want to get together. I could just be stressing for no reason. She may not want to meet up with the girl who carries around bag of crazy.”
We both laugh and when I see those doubts start popping up again I reach over and grab her hand. She looks down at our hands and then back up at me.
“What if she doesn’t like me?”
“Then she’s an idiot.”
“I thinks she’s broken… like me.”
Well, that just pisses me off.
“You’re not broken Char. You got hurt and went through something nobody ever should, but if you go around thinking your somehow defective because of what that asshat did to you then he wins Char. Don’t let him win. You have no friends because you closed yourself off from all of them. If your right, then maybe this girl is someone who can understand the parts of you that nobody else can. If you don’t hit it off then you say bye and thats it, but what if you do. Maybe you’re not the only person who needs a friend. Maybe she needs one too. Call her.”
I give her hand one last squeeze before I get up and head up the stairs. I stop at the top of the stairs and listen.
“Hey, Maggie, its me. Charlotte. Char. We met today when you helped me pick up all my crap. Lol yeah. Catnip vibrator. So hey I was wondering if you were going to be free tomorrow? Yeah? Coffee? Noon works for me. We can meet at the coffee shop by Mike’s gym? That sound good? Yeah? Okay cool. See you tomorrow. Bye. Hey Maggie… I’m really looking forward to hanging out tomorrow. I just… I just wanted you to know that… See you tomorrow Mags.”
I can hear the smile in her voice when she says she will see her tomorrow. Shaking my head I smile as I head into my room and start undressing to take a shower. Im heading into the bathroom when it hits me.
Catnip vibrator?
What the fuck?
Shaking my head I jump into the shower.
I don't even want to know.