Saturday Night School Ch. 11

Michelle had kissed Nick, Ronni's brother, and she was naked then, too. She had kissed Nick after they had just met. And several times after that. She had been naked every time. Nick knew Michelle was an exhibitionist, and Michelle knew that Nick knew. Charlie could list a number of times when Michelle had clearly been displaying herself for Nick's gaze.

What if Michelle had sex with someone else, and Charlie was there watching? Would he stop her? Or would it turn him on?

He was horrified by the idea that it might turn him on.

Michelle had questioned the nature of their relationship, and now Charlie found himself questioning it as well. From the first moment that he saw Michelle standing naked in the school hallway, sex had been a major part of what connected them. She was an exhibitionist, frequently displaying her body for him, frequently being openly sexual in his presence. He often fell into the habit of thinking that the public displays were Michelle's fetish and he was just a happy beneficiary. But deep down, he knew that wasn't the truth. He got off on her streaking just as much as she did.

Maybe that's what the dream was telling him? Maybe it was showing him that he would be just as turned on by any attractive woman displaying herself in public. It didn't have to be Michelle.

He realized what an obvious statement this was and chuckled. It wasn't really a revelation so say that he liked looking at naked women. So did most heterosexual teenage boys. Big deal.

When he thought about it, he wasn't spending all of his time with Michelle begging her to get undressed. Frequently, he was the one telling her to put her clothes back on. It wasn't just about seeing her naked. It was about sharing the adventure with her. Feeling her thrill when she took her clothes off and being there to hide her and protect her when she came close to being discovered. He was her guide, her bodyguard, her public lover.

Michelle wanted him to think about the nature of their relationship, but it really didn't take much soul-searching for him to understand what Michelle was to him. He loved her. He was in love with her. Sex was a big part of their relationship, and sex between them usually included Michelle indulging her fetish for exhibitionism and public exposure. But if Michelle decided she needed to take a break and just wanted to be celibate for a time, Charlie would still want to spend time with her. He would still love every minute he spent with her.

The question was, would she still want to spend time with him?

***

Charlie tried to get back to sleep after his shower, but he tossed and turned and finally gave up. He went down to the kitchen and moped at the kitchen table for half an hour, eating his bowl of cereal with the automatic movements of a robot running on low batteries. Shortly after 7:00 AM, he decided to drive to school. He would get there early, but could kill time in the A/V rooms. Maybe Michelle would meet him there again, to continue their talk.

He pulled into the front lot of Pine Hills High about half an hour before the first bell would ring. The front lot had a few empty parking spaces, but he passed them and continued around the school to the back lot, hoping to find a parking space close to the green door that he usually used on the weekends. He noticed a woman walking in the distance, heading towards the doors that entered the school by the cafeteria, and his pulse quickened. What a coincidence, to see Vampire Vanessa so soon after he had dreamed of her. He couldn't help superimposing the obscene images from his dream onto her as she walked. She was wearing tight black jeans and a clingy sleeveless black top, and it wasn't difficult to look at the contours of her body and compare them to the naked version of her from his dream.

She was walking towards a group of boys who loitered just outside the cafeteria doors. Charlie could see her smiling and greeting them. He recognized one of the boys as Cody. Sure, that made sense. She was dating Cody.

Charlie looked away from her. He shouldn't be staring at Vanessa. It didn't matter that he had dreamed about her. It was just a dream, and in reality, Vanessa may have been Michelle's best friend but Charlie didn't know her hardly at all. He had only talked to her a few times.

He pulled into a parking space as close as he could get to the green door. That put him closer to Cody than he preferred, but he told himself it didn't matter. Cody hadn't said a word to him since the day his tires got slashed. Maybe the tall football player had stopped caring about Charlie. As far as he knew, Charlie and Michelle had stopped spending time together.

As Charlie stepped out of his car, he couldn't help himself. He looked over at Vanessa. She was bending over her bag, her jeans stretched over a very firm ass. The memory of his dream returned, and Charlie let his eyes linger on her for just a little too long. Then his eyes shifted to the right, and he noticed Cody staring right at him.

Charlie quickly turned back to his car. He really didn't need Cody telling Vanessa that he had been checking her out. His backpack was in the backseat of the car so he unlocked the back door.

Cody raised his voice, clearly intending it to carry over the distance to Charlie. "Hey, look at that," he drawled. "Charlie Tucker has new tires." The other boys snickered.

Charlie turned to glare at them. Cody was gazing at him, coldly defiant, with Vanessa standing next to him. She looked embarrassed. "You're the one who bought them," Charlie retorted.

Cody looked indignant. "What are you talking about? I didn't buy shit. Why would I?" His glare challenged Charlie to make an accusation.

Charlie turned away from the boys and hoisted his bag out of the back seat, throwing it over his shoulder. He could still hear them muttering to each other and snickering behind him. Charlie shut the car door and walked towards the school, moving swiftly to hide his confusion. Why would Cody deny that he had paid for the tires? Was he trying to save face in front of his friends? Or putting up a front because he didn't want to admit to having slashed the tires in the first place?

Or was Cody telling the truth and he really didn't pay for the tires?

In an instant, Charlie understood what must have happened, and it made him sick to his stomach. The money hadn't come from Cody. It had come from Michelle. She was the one who told him Cody was going to pay for the tires, and she was the one that gave him the money. Two hundred and fifty dollars.

Two hundred and fifty dollars of her own money. She had paid for the tires out of her own pocket. Why had she lied about it?

To appease Charlie so he wouldn't do anything about Cody. That was the explanation that made the most sense. She paid him the money to placate him. And then he would accept what she had asked for next: to pretend like she and Charlie had nothing going on between them. That they were just friends.

She had paid him $250 to be her secret. So that he wouldn't make waves at school and disrupt her relationship with her friends there. Her relationship with Glenn.

It seemed so obvious to Charlie that he wondered how he could have missed it before. Cody wouldn't slash his tires and then immediately turn around and pay for the damage. Michelle had explained it by saying that Vanessa had put pressure on Cody, and Charlie had bought that explanation without even thinking about how unlikely it was.

He entered the school and went straight to the editing bay. Immediately, he pulled out his phone and looked up Michelle's number. For several seconds, his finger hovered over the call button, but he couldn't bring himself to press it.

He didn't want to call her right then. It wasn't a good idea. He was too upset and he didn't know what he would say. The bell would ring for them to go to their classes, and he didn't want to have another conversation cut short at the wrong moment. No, he would talk to her later. He needed to think about this new information, turn it around in his head for a while.

How many times had she been out with Glenn without telling him? Charlie wondered if Michelle would tell him if he asked her. The previous Friday, she said she needed to eat dinner with her family. The previous Saturday, she said she had plans with Vanessa. Now, Charlie wondered if she had been with Glenn both of those nights.

He knew Michelle was capable of lying to people. She lied to her parents all the time. Why would he imagine he was the exception? She had lied about the $250. Maybe she was lying about everything.

On Saturday, he would see for himself. With the help of Jennifer Addish, he would sit in the same movie theater where Michelle intended to watch "Night Crew" with Glenn and the rest of her friends. Charlie would wear a disguise so that they wouldn't recognize him. Once the movie started, he would find a position where he could observe Michelle and Glenn.

He needed to know what they had going on between them.

***

During lunch, he sat with Ronni and Jennifer. Jennifer was a thin girl, pale with long brown hair, known for her easy laugh. She laughed at everything. But when Charlie explained what he wanted, she frowned. "You want me to make you look older?"

"Yeah, basically. I want you to give me a beard. A beard and a moustache. Can you make it look real?"

"Sure. But it won't get you into a bar, if that's what you're planning."

"He needs a disguise so he can spy on his girlfriend," Ronni said frankly. "He thinks she's cheating on him."

Jennifer winced. "Ouch. Sorry. That sucks, Charlie."

"Yeah..." Charlie didn't know what else to say.

"I didn't know you had a girlfriend. Does she go to Pine Hills?"

Before he could answer, Ronni spoke up. "No," she said. "She goes to a different school."

Jennifer nodded. "I can do it. It's easy. I can make you look completely different. She'll never recognize you."

Charlie went to his car five minutes before lunch ended. He called Michelle.

"Hello?" she said.

"Hey. It's Charlie. I just wanted to confirm with you, you're coming to Greenholt Gardens tonight, right? We're filming."

"Hi, Charlie. Uh-huh. I haven't forgotten. I'll be there."

"Great," Charlie said. "Oh, I wanted to tell you. I took your suggestion. I asked Ronni out for Saturday."

Michelle was silent for a moment. Then she said, "You did?"

"Yeah, at lunch. She said yes. We have plans for this Saturday." It wasn't a lie. He would meet Jennifer and Ronni in the afternoon, and Jennifer would help him with his disguise.

"Oh...." Michelle said. "Okay."

"Yeah," he said. "Well, anyways. I just wanted to make sure that you're still okay with tonight at the gardens. I'm calling all the actors. We need all of you to be there or we have to cancel the whole thing."

"I'll be there. Don't worry."

"Okay. That's awesome. Well... bye. See you tonight."

He disconnected without waiting for her response.

***

In the original script for "Anything You Want", the Gwen character wore less and less clothing as the film progressed, until she was naked in the final scene. She was meant to be the personification of the passion growing between the other two characters, a passion that they otherwise hid from each other. It pretended to be artistic, but in reality, Charlie had only written it that way so Michelle would have a nude scene in the film.

But Michelle had been reluctant to do the scene, so Charlie had rewritten the script. Now, instead of Michelle wearing less and less, she just wore brighter and brighter clothing. On the first day of filming, she had worn a conservative dark blue dress. Now, for the second scene, Michelle had selected her own dress, a dress that was maroon at the hem and gradually changed color to a glowing orange at her shoulders. It made Charlie think of a fireplace, late in the evening, when the flames are gone but the wood still smolders.

The blue dress had come down nearly to her ankles, while the red dress stopped at her knees and left her arms bare. Charlie had meant to be cold and professional to Michelle that evening, but he couldn't help himself. "That dress is perfect," he told her. "Exactly right for this scene."

Michelle smiled. "I told you I'd take care of my outfits."

He thought it might be awkward between them, but in actuality, they didn't have the time to be awkward. As soon as Kim and Darren arrived, Charlie felt like a countdown had started. He needed to get as much footage as he could in the two hours that they had, and that meant the was constantly going between the camera and the actors, resetting them, making suggestions for their lines, moving lights. He talked to Ronni more than he did Michelle, but that was because he needed Ronni's help with everything.

As midnight approached, Ronni leaned over to him. "You think we have enough for this scene?"

"No," Charlie answered immediately. He sighed. "We'll have to figure out how to make it work when we edit."

"Right."

They rushed to film a few final critical shots, then Charlie let everyone know they were done.

"One thing I like I about you, Charlie." Darren grinned as he slapped Charlie on the shoulder. "You never keep us over." Charlie tried to return the grin, but a string of tension was knotting in his gut now that the filming was over. During the filming, he could lose himself in his work. Now he felt Michelle's presence like a physical force pulling at him, and he felt like he was watching her in his peripheral vision at every moment.

Kim Mink disappeared immediately, and Darren made a show of helping them put away some equipment, but really just stood around making jokes for a few minutes before departing. Charlie kept his eye on Michelle as he took down the lighting, knowing that she might get up to leave at any moment. If she did start to leave, he would insist on walking her out. He needed to talk to her.

Nick appeared to help them bag up the equipment. "Those other two are gone," he said. "I watched them drive away on the security camera."

"Yeah," Charlie said. "It's late."

"You're in the clear, Michelle," Nick said cheerfully.

"What?" She looked up.

"You can take off your clothes now," he said. "It's just us here."

Oh, no, Charlie groaned internally. Not now. Not a good time.

Michelle stood up. She glanced at Charlie, perhaps trying to catch his eye, but he avoided her gaze, pretending to be absorbed in what he was doing. He didn't want to do anything that could be mistaken for encouragement.

Surely, she wouldn't. Not here, not now. Not with so much unresolved between them.

"Here, Michelle." Ronni appeared next to her, offering her a small blue duffle bag.

"What's this?" Michelle asked, as she let Ronni push the duffel bag into her hands.

"For your clothes," Ronni said. "So you don't forget them when you leave."

"Oh. Okay." Michelle looked down at the duffel bag. "Thanks." She sat the bag on the table next to her. Did she glance at Charlie again? He thought so, but he couldn't be sure since he was watching her out of the corner of his eye. She had her hands behind her back, fumbling for her zipper, then Ronni stepped in to help, pulling it down for her.

Charlie didn't watch Michelle as she undressed. He only glanced at her quickly, a minute later, and saw that she was naked. She had folded her dress and was slipping it into the duffel bag.

Naked. He needed to have a serious talk with her, and she was completely naked.

She raised her eyes and saw him watching her. She shifted nervously and her hands rose an inch, as if she suppressed an instinct to cover herself. Like his gaze made her self-conscious, like she was exposing herself to him for the first time.

He couldn't wait any longer. "Michelle," he said. "I need to talk to you."

"Okay."

"In private. Come on." He beckoned her towards the snack bar. She followed; he saw that she carried her purse with her, and the blue duffel bag. He didn't speak to her until they had stepped inside. At that point, he turned and faced her. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a wad of bills.

"Here." He held out the money.

Michelle didn't reach for it. "What's this?"

"The $250 that you gave me. You said it came from Cody. But it's not his money, is it? It's your money. Take it. I don't want it."

Michelle looked stricken. She took the bills and cradled them gingerly in her fingers. "Charlie..."

"I don't know why you would lie to me. Why did you say it was from him? Did you think I wouldn't find out, eventually?"

"I just felt bad," she said softly. "I didn't want anyone to fight over me. I felt bad about what happened to your tires."

"So you took $250 of your own money and gave it to me? You told me that you and Vanessa stood up to Cody, you made him admit he slashed my tires and you made him promise to pay me back. But none of that happened, did it? You went to Cody and you denied there was anything between us. That's all you did. You didn't stand up for me at all. You just renounced me."

"I didn't. I didn't renounce you." Michelle gazed at her hands, the wad of bills crumpled into a ball. "It wasn't any of his business. That's why I said that. He didn't need to know about us."

"What was the $250? Some money so I'd let it go? So I wouldn't stir anything up among your friends?"

"It was just for your tires," she said. "I wanted to pay for your tires. I felt bad that someone did that to you."

"Keep it. I don't want your money."

"Okay." She still held the money in her hands. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you the truth. It's just... I didn't want anyone to fight over me."

"Right." Charlie looked at the window of the snack bar, out at the gardens. He didn't want to look at her body, to be distracted by it. "I guess the lie worked, then. No one is fighting over you right now." He glanced at her. She was still looking down and wouldn't make eye contact. He couldn't help himself; his eyes slid over her body. Even as angry as he was, he still felt the desire to reach for her. To stroke her skin, to touch her breasts. "We'll finish up with the equipment. Why don't you head home, Michelle. It's late. We can finish without you." He paused, then specified, "Put your clothes back on before you leave."

Michelle nodded. Without saying a word, she put the money into her purse, then reached for the blue duffel bag. She pulled her red dress out of the bag and slid it over her head and down her body. She tugged it into place.

Charlie walked her to the back door of the snack bar and opened it for her. The parking lot held four cars; Kim and Darren had left. As Michelle stepped out, Charlie noticed that the back of her dress was still unzipped. He didn't offer to zip it for her.

"You have your car keys, right?" Charlie asked.

"Yes." Michelle turned to face him.

"All right. Good night. then." Charlie pulled the door closed. He stood by the door, waiting, listening. Maybe she would knock at the door, maybe she would insist on kissing him goodbye, the way that she did, with her whole body pressed against him. Maybe she would knock at the door, and when he pushed it open, she would be naked, her dress tossed to the ground. Naked and wanting a good night kiss. He would give her a kiss, his hands stroking her body as he did it, and then maybe he'd push her against the wall and he would give her a good night fuck. He would stop caring about the money, and stop caring about her and Glenn Mack and Vanessa and Cody and all the rest. He would enter her, and all he would care about was her, the smell of her, the taste of her, the feel of her.

Instead, he heard her car start. A moment later, the sound of her car pulling out of the parking lot. Then quiet.

Ronni gave him an inquiring look when he returned, and he could tell she was curious what had happened. But he didn't volunteer any information and she didn't ask. Quickly and quietly, they packed everything up.