Selling the Drama (16 page)

"Shut up."

He grinned and launched himself at her. "I'm
sensing that you have an opinion that you would like me to make you
feel better. And seeing as I share your opinions on everything, you
better lock your door and shut your curtains."

Charlotte pulled his face down to hers and
kissed him, a smile now fixed to her face. "Leave it all open. It
would serve her right if she walked in on us. She wouldn't care
anyway. She only cares about Jenna."

Toby pulled back and looked at Charlotte,
surprised at the pouty tone she was using. "You're not seriously
going to have a tantrum because you think your mummy loves her
sister more than you?"

Charlotte shrugged. "Well, you would think
it, with the amount of energy she puts into policing Jenna."

Toby laughed at that. "I, for one, consider
it lucky she doesn't put that effort into you. It would be fucking
annoying. Anyway, you don't need policing."

Charlotte raised her eyebrow at him and
smirked.

"Anymore," he corrected. "Now, you're a
really good girl."

"Yeah, perfectly behaved."

"Perfect indeed." Toby fiddled with the top
button of her shirt. Pressing his lips to her collarbone, he kissed
his way up to her ear. "I love you best." She sighed and melted
beneath him. "Although, Jenna does have incredible legs and if
she's going to insist on swimming naked when she visits, then-"

Charlotte punched him again, right in the
solar plexus. Struggling for breath, he rolled off of her.

"Shit!"

"Arsehole." She leaned over him, laughing
merrily.

"Totally worth it," he gasped out, reaching
out for her once again, tracing his fingers across her smiling
mouth, certain all thoughts of her argument with her mother were no
longer at the forefront of her mind.

The last dance of the year was being
organised by Ellie, who had taken on the position within the
student council as Social Coordinator. She was perfect for the job,
both a born organiser and socialiser rolled into one. Charlotte, by
default of being her best friend, was roped in to assist. The theme
for the event was Guy's and Doll's, harking back to that gangster
era from bygone days. Charlotte had no doubt Jake had played a role
in picking that theme. Even so, the idea of wearing a flapper dress
was enough to entice Charlotte to get involved with spirit. She
loved glamour and had not yet had any real reason to glam it up for
Toby.

They went shopping together, mostly in
second hand stores, managing to unearth a decent selection of items
so they could put together fairly convincing costumes. Toby himself
even found a trilby hat along with black and white loafers to
compliment his pin stripe suit. Charlotte borrowed a long strand of
pearls from her mother and some red high heels Iris claimed to have
forgotten she even owned.

"How can you forget you own shoes so
gorgeous?" Charlotte chastised her mother, stroking the leather
lovingly.

Iris waved a hand in her direction
dismissively. "Oh, for heaven's sake, I have so many things jammed
in that wardrobe. I have no memory of half the things in
there."

"So, I can keep them then?" Charlotte asked
hopefully, clutching the shiny patent leather peep toes close to
her chest, almost salivating over them.

"Yes, you can keep them." Iris smiled
indulgently, looking at Charlotte in the mirror of her dressing
table; she was sitting there in her underwear applying makeup in
preparation for her anniversary celebrations with Royce. They were
beginning with dinner, and then continuing on to a bed and
breakfast out of town, planning to be away for the entire weekend.
"So, how are things travelling along with Toby?"

Charlotte threw herself down onto the couch,
still cradling the shoes. "Good."

Iris turned to her with a disdainful
expression on her face. "Charlotte, please. Is that all you're
going to offer me? Come on!"

Charlotte laughed at her mother's mock
disappointment. Why not confide in her? Iris seemed to be making an
effort and that in itself was worthy of notice. Charlotte had never
been all that good at holding grudges anyway, and while their
argument about Jenna was by far the worse they had ever had, she
was getting a little tired of being mad at her mother.

"Okay. Very good. Like, orgasmic good."
Charlotte grinned with satisfaction at her mother.

Iris clapped her hands, a look of genuine
delight coming over her face. "Really?"

"Totally. He is artful with his tongue."
Charlotte was not embarrassed about discussing this with her
mother. It was a topic that she felt confident would not be passed
on to her father.

Iris was looking immensely pleased with this
news. Go figure you could get her complete attention by talking
about sex, yet things like school grades and plans for the future
never warranted more than a perfunctory shrug. Charlotte smiled at
her anyway; she would take whatever she could get from her mother.
It was offered all too infrequently for her to be choosy.

"I have to say, I'm a little impressed."
Iris picked up her makeup brush and resumed applying her powder,
catching Charlotte's eye in the mirror from time to time as she
continued the conversation. "That speaks volumes to me about his
feelings for you." Iris picked up a tube of red lipstick and began
filling in the outline she had drawn around her lips.

Charlotte nodded, stretching out onto the
couch a bit more, her arm flung back over her shoulder in repose.
"Don't I know it."

"Indeed." Iris began to work on her eye
makeup. "Sex is the pinnacle of a good relationship. While I won't
embarrass you by going into details, it's what has kept my
relationship with your father alive for so long. We love so many
things about each other, but there are things of course that we
also find irritating. Sex nullifies these things; it returns us to
each other, and is the very reason why we work so well."

Charlotte considered this silently, allowing
her mother to complete her makeup routine without further
interruption. When she was done, Iris stood, crossing to the
wardrobe, emerging moments later with two dresses held in her
hands. "Which one?"

"The navy. It has cleavage. Dad will be
panting by the second course."

Iris grinned at her, hanging the green one
back in the wardrobe. She stepped into the dress, approaching
Charlotte so she could zip her into it. Charlotte rose from the
couch, obliging. Her mother spoke to her over her shoulder. "Toby
is very like his father, not only in appearance."

Charlotte stepped back, startled at the
change in topic. Before she could come up with any response, Iris
turned to her, holding her hand out in front of her to prevent
Charlotte from saying anything.

"Just hear me out. I know this is not
something he would like to hear. He hates his father, and I
understand that. But once, a long time ago, his father was not an
angry man. He was fun, and handsome, and romantic. He was so smart.
It never surprised me that he became a doctor. I don't know what
went wrong along the way. I don't know what changed him." Iris
turned away from Charlotte and crossed over to her dresser, lifting
the lid on her jewellery box, sifting through the contents
absently.

Charlotte frowned at her mother's back, not
fully comprehending what Iris was inferring. "So, what are you
saying? That Toby will turn out like his father no matter what he's
like right now?"

Iris sighed deeply. "Of course not. You take
leaps and bounds from nothing Charlotte. I'm just saying that Toby
reminds me of his father. That's all. I don't believe that genetics
determines behaviour. The way we behave is all down to choice. Look
at Jenna for example. If genetics were the sole determination of
our behaviour, she wouldn't do one stupid thing after another with
no apparent evidence of her ever learning from her mistakes. She'd
be like you and I wouldn't have a thing to worry about."

Charlotte rolled her eyes but let the
comment slide, not wanting to argue again with her mother about
Jenna. Besides, she really wanted the red shoes her mother had just
given her, and not even a defence of Jenna was worth risking those
beauties.

Iris picked up a strand of pearls and
fingered them lightly. "It's very sad for me, knowing what their
life turned out like. I'm sad for both of them because even though
Toby's mother was my best friend back then, I had a soft spot for
his father. It's probably why I care so much about Toby. Because he
was theirs. I remember his christening day so clearly. They both
seemed so much in love. It was very remiss of me to lose contact
with them like I did." Iris sighed and dropped the pearls back into
the jewellery box, snapping the lid shut and whirling to face
Charlotte.

"I love him," Charlotte declared. It was so
easy to say this to her mother. Why couldn't she just come right
out and say it to Toby? There was something wrong with her. Perhaps
she had too much of Iris's ambivalence within her. Perhaps she was
just a coward.

"I'm sure you do. He has that quality about
him. There are some men that women find very hard to resist, no
matter what their sins." Iris crossed back to her wardrobe. "I
think I might grab a cardigan. It could get cold up in the
mountains. I'm not sure what time we'll be back on Sunday," she
called lightly, from inside the walk in.

Charlotte smiled to herself at that.
"Okay."

"Not before lunch, at least," Iris
added.

"Have a nice time, Mum."

"Oh, I will darling. You too."

Charlotte left the room then, the red shoes
dangling from her fingertips. She shook her head, thinking not for
the first time about how odd her mother was. Seriously odd.

"You look incredible."

Charlotte finished applying a heavy layer of
dark red lipstick before glancing over to the door where Toby was
leaning casually, looking in at her with a grin on his face. She
gaped at the sight of him. "Far out! You look amazing. Like an
actual gangster." She tossed the lipstick aside and strolled over
to him, placing her hands onto the lapels of his jacket. "Al
Capone, eat your heart out!" Winking, she rose up onto her toes so
she could place a kiss on his neck.

"Charlotte! You have that red lipstick on!"
Toby tried to pull back but Charlotte was done, the lipstick mark
in place.

"There." She smiled at him, putting her
finger onto his lips. "Every gangster worth his weight should have
a lipstick mark on him somewhere. Especially one as hot as
you."

Toby caught her finger between his teeth,
nibbling at it lightly. "You realise, on account of this being a
school function, that I'm not going to be allowed to have my hands
on you at all, much less my lips. I hope we don't have to stay
long."

Charlotte laughed, retracting her finger
from his mouth. "Party pooper. There's always sneaking
outside."

"True." He looked her up and down
appreciatively. "Those shoes are very sexy. Are you wearing
stockings?"

"I am." Charlotte lifted her skirt to
mid-thigh, exposing the lacy garters she was wearing to hold them
up. "Check it out. Mum has the coolest gear."

Toby groaned. "Now I have to keep picturing
that sight in my head without being able to touch you."

Charlotte smiled once again, inching the
skirt even higher. "I have no underpants on. Just the stockings."
Dropping the skirt, she stalked past him, a wicked grin on her face
as she ducked just out of his reach while passing him by.

"You are killing me."

Charlotte discovered fairly early on in the
evening that being the sidekick of the event organiser attracted no
perks whatsoever. It did however, attract a whole load of labour,
running back and forth, restocking the drinks, putting out the
rubbish, lining the bins with new liners, getting more drinks, back
to the rubbish. It was exhausting and the red shoes, they were not
helping. Charlotte dispensed of them within an hour of arriving,
along with her sexy stockings, stuffing all of it into her bag in a
corner of the kitchen, too exhausted and hot to lament their
removal.

"Where is the rest of the committee? Surely
we're due for a shift change." Charlotte whined at one point to
Ellie, who in all honesty, had not stopped for a single moment all
night either and was looking worse for wear on account of it.
Ellie's beautiful champagne coloured dress had a dark spreading
stain on it from a spilled can of coke and her eyeliner had smudged
from sweating so much.

Ellie looked away, a sheepish expression
coming over her face. "I might have forgotten to draw up the
roster."

Charlotte gaped at her, stunned. "You're
shitting me, right?"

"Nope."

"Ellie!" Charlotte cried out in frustration.
"It's so hot! And I haven't even danced once yet!"

"Tell me about it! Neither have I and my
underpants are soaked."

Charlotte laughed at that, taking a large
swig of water from her plastic cup. "I am never helping you again!
But, I will do this next rubbish run, because I feel a little bit
sorry for you," she offered. "Your dress is far more trashed than
mine, and that is very sad."

Ellie smiled gratefully at Charlotte.
"Thanks. It should be the last one. The drinks are all finished now
and there's only forty five minutes left. No one should have to
come back here at all."

"Why don't you go and dance? Find Jake." The
boys had been helping out all night long, but it had been more than
a half an hour since they had last put in an appearance.

"I'll wait for you and we'll go together.
He'll be out in the side foyer sneaking rum into his coke or
something equally as stupid as that, Toby acting as a look out for
him. He's taken the whole gangster theme to the brink of course,
replicating it right down to the concept of prohibition, sneaking
alcohol into the venue as if it's a speakeasy instead of a school
disco. I'll laugh my head off if he gets caught and suspended." She
rolled her eyes, still smiling though, her obvious affection for
Jake hard for her to deny, even in his idiocy.