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“Is he okay?” I ask.
“No—I don’t know. We were just drinking and having a good time when he checked his phone and saw that Charlotte uploaded a video to her S-Live Time profile, and he started freaking out.”
Aiden, Noah, and I exchange confused glances as our minds race. What could she have posted that would make Chase react like that?
Mason holds out his phone and opens the app. “He said something like ‘Really, a fucking college guy?’ and started swearing and broke a lamp and then I lost him.”
We crowd around Mason’s phone and he clicks Play on Charlotte’s latest video. It’s posted to her story profile, so it goes away in twenty-four hours. It’s her and Marcus. She’s sitting on his lap and they’re singing along with the song to the camera. She looks like she’s having fun.
Good for her. I’m glad that she’s getting out there and having fun. Then Marcus grabs her face, turns her to face him, and kisses her. The camera cuts out. Oh. I’m still proud of her, but that explains why Chase flipped. The video jumps to them singing again, but Marcus is behind her, and it looks like they’re walking up the stairs?
Aiden and I lock eyes immediately.
“You don’t think . . .” he starts.
“He wouldn’t . . .” Noah adds, all our minds jumping to the beach house when he and Chase had a fistfight.
Oh no. Oh, no, no, no. Chase cannot do this to her.
Not again.
We take off toward the hallway where the stairs are. There were a bunch of chairs stacked up at the base of the stairs to discourage partygoers from going upstairs, but the chair barrier was destroyed, as if someone ripped it open in a hurry.
This is not good.
We file in through the opening and run up the stairs where the music isn’t as loud, and right away we hear yelling coming from Charlotte’s room. When we get there, the door is wide open. Charlotte and Chase are squared off in a yelling match, and Marcus is standing off to the side looking confused and a little concerned.
“You can’t keep barging in on me whenever you feel like it! The door was closed for a reason!” She looks incredibly mad, not even caring that she’s standing there in her bra and jeans.
“The first time was an accident!” Chase defends his actions.
“And this time wasn’t! You need to mind your own damn business and not care about who I hook up with in my own room!”
This is a different side of Charlotte. I don’t know if it’s because she’s been drinking or has just had enough of the double standards, but I don’t think I’ve ever really seen her mad, never mind actually yelling at someone. The last time this happened, she was more timid and let Noah deal with it, but it looks like she’s not backing down this time.
“I can’t do that when you’re prancing around posting videos of you making out with strangers for the whole damn world to see!”
Charlotte scoffs. “Stranger? Marcus is one of Jake’s best friends! And it was just a kiss! Barely even three seconds!”
Marcus shifts his weight from foot to foot. His shirt is on inside out and he’s looking back and forth at the two of them like he can’t decide if he should jump in and defend Charlotte or get the hell out of here.
“Still!” Chase huffs. “You shouldn’t be posting videos like that and you shouldn’t be in your room with this guy! You look like a—”
“Like a what, Chase? Say it,” she challenges, her eyes narrowed in deadly slits.
“Like a slut! You’re acting like a slut!” he fills in, and my jaw drops open.
He. Did. Not.
“Oh, really?” she shouts. “I’m the slut?! Were you not just in the bathroom with Olivia, like, ten minutes ago?”
I look over at Mason, who nods in confirmation.
“That’s different!” Chase defends himself, but Charlotte isn’t having it.
“You’re right. You’re worse. You’re a hypocrite. You hook up with girls left, right, and center. Why is it okay if you do it but if a girl does, she’s a slut? You have no right to say anything. Do you even remember half of their names? I kiss a boy I actually like and I’m the slut?”
“That’s not what you look like to everyone els—”
“Honestly, Chase, fuck off. Fuck right off. I’m not going to stand here in my own house and have you call me a slut.”
Who is she? The girl in front of us right now isn’t the timid and nonconfrontational Charlotte we know. She’s better.
Maybe hanging around me and Annalisa is starting to rub off on Charlotte because she is not taking anyone’s shit and standing up for herself, and I’m living for it. Or maybe she was just tired of not speaking up. If Annalisa had come tonight, she’d be behind Charlotte with pom-poms cheering her on.
Chase looks just as shocked as the rest of us. Charlotte’s never sworn at him before. He doesn’t let that take any of the wind out of his sails, however, and recovers quickly.
“I’m just looking out for you! You’re drunk! You’re not seeing clearly!”
“I’m seeing more clearly than I have in a long time.” Her voice is steady, and I notice for the first time that she isn’t slurring like she was when we got to the party. “Get out of my house.”
“Not until you delete that video. Give me your phone.” He spots her phone resting on her dresser.
“What? No!” she yells, racing him to the dresser.
“What’s with all the yelling?” Charlotte’s brother Jake asks, walking into her room and freezing as he takes in the scene in front of him.
Chase and Charlotte don’t even glance at him. Chase gets to the dresser first, turning his back to Charlotte and punching in the code to unlock her phone.
“You have no right,” she yells, trying to reach around him.
“I’m looking out for you!” he argues, twisting and turning so that his large back is always facing her, preventing her from grabbing her phone.
“You’re being an asshole!”
Charlotte uses Chase’s shoulders for leverage and jumps onto his back like he’s giving her a piggyback, wrapping her legs around his waist and reaching over his shoulder for her phone.
Aiden puts his arm out in front of me and pushes me back a couple of steps. Everyone else steps back a bit, too, giving them space as they grapple around the room.
Chase turns to his side and throws himself onto Charlotte’s bed, taking her down with him. Charlotte’s small and quick, so she manages to scramble over him, yank her phone out of his hand, and jump off of the bed.
Chase gets up as well and is advancing toward her when suddenly Charlotte winds her arm back and whips her phone as hard as she can onto the floor. The action takes everyone but Charlotte by surprise as the phone shatters, and we all stare at it with wide eyes.
“There,” she yells. “Now get the fuck out of my house!”
Whoa. I did not see any of this coming when I got here a couple of hours ago.
Chase gives her an incredulous look, as if she’s the one who just barged into his room while he was hooking up with someone, called him a slut, and tried to invade his privacy.
Jake’s look travels from me, Aiden, Mason, and Noah beside him near the door, to his disheveled friend Marcus across the room, to a shirtless Charlotte, and finally to a pissed off Chase. The story clicks together in his head.
“I think it’s time for you to call a cab, Chase.” Jake gestures to the door with his head.
“Fine.” Chase storms past us and out the door, not sparing any of us a second glance. I think we’re all too shocked to say anything to him anyway.
Marcus walks up to Jake. “Dude, I know she’s your little sister and I’m sorry I just—”
Jake holds up a hand without looking at him. “Stop. Just don’t.”
Marcus sighs, then sends Charlotte a look that I’m assuming is a silent apology, and walks out of her room.
“Are you okay?” Jake asks his sister.
“Peachy,” she replies, picking up her shirt and slipping it on.
He gestures at the shattered pieces of her phone. “That was a little dramatic, don’t you think?”
She shrugs.
Jake picks up the bigger pieces of Charlotte’s phone and brushes his finger across the hardwood. “Oh shit, you scratched the floor. Dad’s gonna flip.”
She sighs, the fight from earlier leaving her as her shoulders slump. “I’ll deal with it later. Get a rug or something. Whatever.”
He places the pieces on her dresser and leaves her room to get back to his party. The five of us remain as an awkward silence settles over us, all unsure what to say.
“Well, that’s not fair,” Noah breaks the silence. “Chase punched me last time, and Marcus walks on out of here without a single hair out of place.”
All of us turn to look at Noah like Really?!and he holds up his hands in defense.
“What? Someone had to say it!”
