Playing Tattle-Tale

Without knocking, Nick barges into his sister's room, a luminous smile gracing his face. "Charlie, guess what!" he shouts out giddily as he bounces up and down on the balls of his feet. His entire body is buzzing with excitement and he cannot wait to share the great news with her. She's the first person he wants to disclose the information to because, well, she's the only one who has knowledge of the subject.

Charlie doesn't bother looking up from her math homework and replies to Nick with the most stoic expression he's ever seen her wear, "You got genital herpes?"

The upward parabola on his lips immediately disappears from sight as he tries not to scowl at the girl. When she says stuff like this, he can't help but wonder where and whom she had learned such things from. "That's not funny," he grumbles. Next, Nick stalks over to her bed and makes himself comfortable. The sudden addition of his weight causes the mattress to dip and Charlie's laptop to slide off the lap-desk. She fixes it before it could fall and turns to her brother.

"I thought it was hilarious," she counters. He's the one who told her to guess. It's not her fault genital herpes had been the first thing that popped up in her head. It's most likely because today's lesson in her mandatory health class revolved around sexually transmitted infections and how dangerous they could be.

A handful of students had been extremely uncomfortable. They were squirming in their seats the entire time, while Mr Liu, their teacher, displayed graphic photos (no nudities though, of course; he wants to scare them, not scar them) of the different effects the infections could have on your body.

Charlie had been one of the few students who didn't get bothered, mainly because her mind had been elsewhere at the time. In her opinion, however, all of this is common knowledge. Over the years, she naturally picked all of the information up, along with the dos and don'ts of high school. The T.V. dramas also helped a lot. Yeah, it probably would have been a smarter choice for her to have taken the class during her freshman year with Jillian and got it out of the way as soon as possible but she wasn't thinking then.

And since she kept pushing it back, Charlie has no choice but to suffer through it alone now with a bunch of fourteen and fifteen year-olds. Witnessing the underclassmen, who are just too naïve and innocent for her taste, have their brains poisoned by the ugliness of the world is probably the only entertaining thing in the class.

Welcome to reality, kiddos.

"Let's be serious here," Nick mandates. "You remember Skylar, don't you?"

Charlie recalls the identity of the girl and nods. "Yeah, she's the one you were writing about in your diary, right?"

His nostrils flare as he speaks through gritted teeth. "For the umpteenth time, it's not a diary. It's a journal. Get it right, would you?"

Teasing Nick is always fun. It's one of the things she lives for. "Hm, I wonder what Skylar would think of a guy who has a diary." She waits for him to respond and, as expected, she gets the desired outcome.

The remark has the young man trembling with trepidation as he shoots up from her bed and stomps his feet, almost like a child throwing a tantrum at the grocery store. "Charlie!" he cries hysterically.

"What?" she cackles, shrugging her shoulders. "You never know. Some girls might find it hot." They all have their own personal preference.

Nick's body relaxes at the revelation. "Really?" His voice increases an octave higher before he shakes his head vehemently. "Wait—no, that's not the point," he groans. "Do you want to hear what I came in here for or not?"

His annoyed expression emits more chuckles from the girl and she sits up, her hands placed in a surrendering manner. "Okay, okay. I'm done fucking around with you. Go ahead and tell me what's got your hormones all riled up."

"First off,"—he crosses his arms in front of his chest and sends a pointed look in her direction—"my hormones are not all riled up. If they were, I'd be standing here with a boner and this whole thing would have been super awkward."

"It's nothing I haven't seen before," she says bluntly. Charlie doesn't really get flustered or bothered by this kind of stuff anymore since it's normal and part of human nature. Sometimes, guys can't help it and she understands that. Growing up in a house filled with nothing but testosterone for the last seventeen years have made the girl nearly immune to these things.

"Now go on and speak to your heart's content." Nick opens his mouth to talk but is stopped when Charlie cuts him off. "And by that, I mean you've got two minutes to say what you want to say before I kick you out of my room."

He inhales deeply and then explodes with joy. "I finally talked to her!" The broad and generous grin returns. The reaction from Charlie, however, isn't as dazzling as his.

"And..." she trails off, motioning him to keep going.

"I said hi," Nick adds in.

She lets out a short breath. "And..."

"She said hi back!" he exclaims happily as he collapses back down onto the bed.

"Are you kidding me?" Charlie deadpans. "That's it?" Clearly, she isn't impressed.

"No, that's not it," her brother snaps as he stands back up and glares at her. "What do you take me for? I asked her out on a date and she said yes!" he declares with his chest puffed out and a triumphant smile dancing on his face yet again.

Charlie claps slowly. "Wow. Look at you go. If anyone heard us now, they'd think you were a clueless, little virgin who doesn't know the first thing about pleasing a woman."

His lips purse out. "But I am a virgin."

"I rest my case," laughs Charlie. "Were you always this squeamish with what's-her-face?"

"Are you referring to Janet?" he questions.

"Bingo," she confirms.

Thinking about it, Nick doesn't recall ever freaking out like this over his ex-girlfriend. Strange. "I don't think so. There's just something about Skylar that makes me feel like this. I can't explain it."

"Well, I'm happy you're going on a date with the girl of your dreams. If that's all, make sure you shut the door on your way out." Charlie returns to solving her math problems but the young man is still standing in her room, rooted to the floor.

"Actually, it's not a date," he begins sheepishly as he rubs the back of his neck. "It's a double-date."

"That's cool too, I guess." Charlie doesn't think too much about his peculiar behavior. "Which one of your friends are you taking with you?"

Nick bites on the inside of his cheek. "None of them."

"So is it one of her friends?" his sister asks.

"Not exactly," he answers.

Finally, Charlie looks back at him with her brows furrowed. "Then who the hell are you guys going with?"

Maybe this will be like ripping off a Band-Aid. The faster he spits it out, the less it'll hurt. "You and Hayden," Nick shoots out faster than a bullet.

"What?" Charlie gets off of her bed and cocks her head to the right. This must be a joke. It has to be. "Me and who?" She's hoping she misheard him. This cannot be happening.

"Just here me out, okay?" Nick pleads. "I'm worried that it might be weird if it's just the two of us so I asked if it could be a double-date instead," he explains.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Charlie balks incredulously. "I am not going on a double-date." She's never been a real date before and she is not keen on having her first date be with her fake boyfriend and her brother. It's practically a disaster just waiting to happen and Charlie is not going to put herself through the trouble. Nick should have asked her first.

"I'll do anything you want for an entire week," he bargains.

Charlie spins him around, places her hands on his shoulders and guides him to the door. "The answer is still no."

Nick breaks free from her grasp and whirls back to look at her. "Oh come on, Charlie. I'll feel so much more confident if you're there with me. You could even be my wing-woman! You'll be the best sister ever if you do your big brother this solid."

Without uttering another word, Charlie pushes him out and shuts the door, making sure to lock it so that he won't be able to return and pester her about the matter again.

* * *

As Charlie reviews the notes on the floor, her back pressed up against the couch and her legs stretched out underneath the coffee table, Ethan's eyes travel over to her without his permission. He had asked her to come over so that they could study together for their math exam, but studying is the last thing on his mind.

The mere sight of her causes him to sigh quietly as his grip on the lead pencil tightens. Currently, he is occupying half of the couch with his knees pulled up and bent. His thighs are being used as a desk, the hefty calculus book sitting open on top at a random page. Ethan, unfortunately, hasn't been able to get any work done, and not to point any fingers, but it's his neighbor's fault.

Then again, that's nothing new.

Something keeps tugging at his heartstrings and he's aware that the feeling won't go away until he gets it off of his chest. It's been a week since he discovered Cameron has been getting bullied and it's been killing him on the inside. Ethan doesn't know what he should do. He doesn't want to hide something as big as this from Charlie. It doesn't feel right. How he managed to survive an entire week without letting the cat out of the bag is a surprise even to him.

Obviously, keeping his lips sealed has taken a large toll on his conscience though and he's finally decided to come clean.

"Hey, I have something I need talk to you about something," he informs.

"What?" Charlie cranes her neck back to look at him.

This is it. "If I tell you, you have to promise me you won't say or do anything," he says.

Charlie doesn't know if she's going to like where this conversation is going or not but she agrees since she sees no harm. "Okay, sure. Just hurry up and say it already, will you?" she commands impatiently. Her heart rate starts to increase as she waits for him to talk. Why is she getting nervous?

"You remember the other day when I had to get Cam from his school by myself?" His voice trails off and Charlie nods her head slowly. Ethan has to take a deep breath before he can resume. "Well, I found a couple of kids surrounding him on the sidewalk. It looked like they were ganging up on him. So I asked him about it in the car and found out that they've been—bothering him."

"What?" she almost screams as she gets up and starts to pace back and forth. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?" She can't believe he's only informing her about the situation now! They're supposed to be friends! Friends don't do this to each other!

Sensing that she's a ticking time-bomb just waiting to explode, the boy climbs to his feet and attempts to calm her down. "Because he asked me not to," he replies honestly. "But I—I couldn't keep it a secret from you which is why I'm telling you about it now. Are you mad? Who am I kidding? You must be."

"I'm not mad," she denies as she shakes her head. "I'm fucking pissed! Who do those kids think they are to mess with him? I should teach them a lesson. That's what they need!"

"But you promised you wouldn't do anything," he reminds.

"Fuck that!" Charlie halts and cracks her knuckles. "Nobody messes with my brother and gets away with it. I'm going to go ask him for their names." She is prepared to march out of his house when Ethan latches onto her hand and pulls her back.

"Charlie," he whispers, his eyes searching through hers. "Cam wants to handle this one on his own. We should let him."

"Have you met my brother?" she questions in disbelief. "He's a good kid! He's too nice! Why do you think those jerks chose to pick on him! He's not going to win against them."

"You don't know that," he answers gently as he secures his hold on her hand to ensure that she would not escape and, literally, slip through his fingers. "Have some faith in him. Remember, you can't keep the ugliness of the world away from him for forever. It's not your job to do so either. You have to let him learn how to handle these kinds of problems on own. Do you understand?"

Charlie should feel betrayed. By now, she should have landed a punch across Ethan's face because he interfered when it's not his place to do so. But instead of burning with fury, all she can think about is how warm his palm feels against hers and the fuzzy, foreign sensation swelling inside of her stomach. Her brain is no longer functioning properly as she nods her head once, her thoughts wiped clean.

Welcome to reality, Charlie Whitmen.

- - -

Author's Thoughts: The feeeeeeels are everywhereeeeeee. Isn't Nick a cutie? Here's a little bit of him. We have to spend some time with Alex and Chase too. And Elie/Charltan! The progress!

I hope you guys enjoyed this update! Please, please tell me what you think, yes? As always, vote if you want to! OH and thank you all soooo much for getting PST over 1000 votes, 15K views and 500 comments! I hope you have a good day or night, wherever you are.