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Why We Call Each Other

When She Cries

“When she cries at night and she doesn’t think that I can hear her, she tries to hide all the fear she feels inside. So I pray this time I can be the man that she deserves…”


Charlotte thought she’d heard the last from her mom for awhile. She thought that because they’d gone to see her, that would meet their communication quota for at least three months. But no such luck. It shouldn’t have been anything; like everything else her mother had ever said to her, it was pointless, critical ramblings.

Only this pointless, critical rambling came while Charlotte was with Peter at an interview for the film. Since Toronto, their film was being graced with the attention of the press and different media outlets. Today’s interview was for an online article for Entertainment Weekly. She’d felt her phone vibrate in her pocket, and honestly believed it to be Darcy. As many times as they told each other their schedules, neither one of them could ever keep it straight. More times than not during the day, they were playing phone tag with each other. It was all rather pointless as they’d just give up and wait to talk about whatever they’d been calling about when they met up in the evening.

She let it go to voicemail as she was mid-sentence through an answer. And even when the interview ended and she and Peter were walking out, there was no real rush to look at her phone and call him back. She’d probably go to voicemail too. When Charlotte finally did get around to looking at her phone once in Peter’s car, her heart sank. Because the name she expected to see wasn’t there. The anticipation of seeing Darcy’s name across the screen had been built up so far in her head that when she saw the unknown number, it was a disappointment.

Charlotte unlocked her phone and held it up to her ear. Probably just another publication wanting to set up a meeting or a conference call so she could answer some questions. Generally, that’s what all the unknown numbers were for. Not that she’d ever complain her film was getting such a buzz.

“Hey kid,” the voicemail began. In the split second between the greeting and the rest of the message, Charlotte figured this was a wrong number. “I was standing in line at the grocery store and I saw your face on a magazine.” There was a brief pause on the message leaver’s behalf. “Your film is all over the place. Charlotte Mickelson making something of herself… Your mom gave me your number, maybe we can go out… For old times sake with your old man,”

Charlotte’s heart sunk even lower. This was her father? The sound of his voice had been long forgotten even though the words he’d said still stung. It was like her brain had come up with a cruel and intimidating voice to match the words. She hadn’t seen or heard from him in twenty years and this is how he decided to pop back up into her life. Through a voicemail? And her mom had given him the number? How often were they speaking?

More than anything, Charlotte wanted to be out of Peter’s car. It wouldn’t be long until he dropped her off at her place and she could take some time to sort herself out before going over to Darcy’s for the night. And what did old times sake mean? They didn’t have old times. They had the one time; the one where he was dragging her mother by her hair and yelling at his daughter. That was the only old time they had, and if that’s what he wanted to recreate, no thank you. She tried to hold everything she was feeling inside, so Peter wouldn't know the inner turmoil she felt.

And like some sick joke from up above, Charlotte saw Darcy’s car parked outside her apartment. She’d have to figure out a way to convince him to leave and wait for her to show up at his place later. All she wanted was a little bit of time alone. How in God’s name was she going to get out of this?

Inside, Darcy was on the couch, half paying attention to his phone and half to the TV. But when Charlotte closed the door, all of his attention was on her. “How was the interview?” He stood and walked up to her, leaning down to kiss her.

“Fine,” she managed to avoid his attempt, and it only moderately looked like she was intentionally dodging him. Instead, she walked into the kitchen and pulled open the refrigerator. At least with this, she could pretend like she was looking for something, and further avoid showing too many cards with her fresh news.

But she was foolish to believe that Darcy would just sit back and accept that. Before she knew it, he was snaking his arms around her waist, pulling her back into him. “Yeah? What’d you talk about,” he mumbled against her skin as he pressed his lips to her neck. He grazed his teeth against her as he made his way up, eventually settling his lips on her earlobe.

Then a horrible thought entered Charlotte’s mind. Maybe if I fuck him, I can convince him to go. Right away, she knew that that wasn’t the best idea she’d ever come up with. But in the moment, she didn’t have another plan so all systems were a go.

“The movie,” she pushed back against him, wiggling her butt against his crotch. “I need you inside me,” she whispered, half-rolling her eyes, thankful Darcy couldn't see that. And the Oscar for best actress goes to… Charlotte Mickelson.

Darcy bit onto her earlobe and pulled her back so her hands fell away from the fridge, and he successfully shut it. He turned her around and lifted her off the ground, placing his hands on her ass to hold her up as he walked towards the kitchen table and laid her down on it. After taking his place between her open legs, Darcy began the slow process of unbuttoning her floral shirt. As he went down her chest, exposing a little more with each button, he bent forward and kissed her skin.

Charlotte turned her head to the side and looked out the kitchen window. The curtains were thin enough to see through, and even though she was wildly attracted to the man on top of her trying to turn her on, all she could think about was whether or not someone walking by could see them. She felt Darcy’s lips return to her neck and she set one of her hands in his hair. It was a half-assed gesture to convince him enough that yes, she was into this. She was almost surprised when he unclipped her bra and tossed it to the side. He was actually buying this. When his lips touched her breast, she let out a moan for good measure.

Charlotte looked up at him when she no longer felt his lips. Darcy was standing straighter now, yanking at the hem of his shirt to tug it over his head. When he discarded of it, he reached for Charlotte’s pants and make quick work of the button and zipper, wasting no time in getting his fingers down the front of them. Her brain was so wrapped up in trying to decide what her next move would be to keep him going, that she didn’t even realize the moment he stopped touching her. It must’ve been a delayed reaction, because when she made eye contact with him, he was already staring at her with his hands propped on the table on either side of her hips.

“Did I do something wrong?”

Charlotte went into damage control to get him to keep going just so he could leave her alone a little sooner. “Babe,” she whined and reached out for him.

But Darcy wasn’t having any of it. He’d asked her to never fake it with him, and here she was. “I don’t understand why you would tell me to fuck you if you don’t actually want to,”

“I do want to,” she persisted. Time for a more extreme reaction. Charlotte sat up and rubbed her palm over his pants, pressing against his cock. “You want it in my mouth?” She hummed and pressed her lips to his chest, sucking gently on his skin.

Darcy pushed on her shoulder until he could get her lips off of his chest and force her to look at him. “I want you to tell me why you asked me to fuck you,”

“Because I want you to,” she said again. Maybe if she repeated herself enough, she could convince him that he was wrong, even though he was right.

“Quit lying to me!” Darcy raised his voice.

Charlotte shut her eyes and ducked lower away from him. How had this backfired so quickly?

“You’re not even fucking wet, so the next words out of your mouth better be the truth, Charlotte.”

She tried to think of a way of telling him what she wanted without actually telling him what had happened. All she needed was some time alone so she could sort out for herself how to feel about her dad calling her to “hang out” for the first time in two decades. “I just wanted some alone time and I figured you’d leave afterwards,”

Darcy chuckled in disbelief and picked up his shirt. He searched for the correct way of putting it on, “so you thought I’d like to rape you and then leave you be for some alone time?” Darcy yanked his shirt back over his head and patted his pockets for his keys and phone.

Charlotte hopped off of the table and followed him. “You’re my boyfriend, it’s not rape,”

He turned around to face her, knowing she was right behind him. His eyes were brimming red as he held back his own emotions, “it is if you don’t want it, Charlotte!” He shook his head and backed away from her, pulling open the door, “have your alone time.”

Before Charlotte could say anything back, Darcy slammed the front door shut. This is what she had wanted, wasn’t it? Not to this degree. She wanted alone time, but not at the expense of Darcy’s feelings. Maybe his ego was the only thing a little bruised. And what did this mean? Was she uninvited to his place tonight? They didn't even have a conversation; just a one sided argument before he was walking out the door.

Charlotte ran the shower and let the water beat down on her. The warmth of it lulled her into a greater sense of acceptance of the fact that her father had called, but not a greater sense of understanding. She figured that if Darcy knew why she was behaving the way she was, he’d probably think she was being dramatic. Charlotte was thankful for the stream of water. It made it impossible to tell what droplets were from the shower head and which ones were coming from her eyes. She couldn’t even be bothered with her own tears.

After using enough water to definitely cause her bill to spike, she wrapped a towel around herself and curled up onto her bed. Staring at the mirror across the way, all she could see were the ways in which she looked like her father. His hair color, his eyes…

She must’ve stayed like that for awhile because her stomach grumbled sometime around six and she was still in the same position. Earlier, Darcy was supposed to be making them dinner, but now she wasn’t sure that applied. Charlotte checked her phone, half expecting to see a message from him, but was also not entirely disappointed when there wasn’t one. Finally, she got up and changed into a pair of leggings, and threw on a sweatshirt that Darcy had left over. She didn’t even put in the effort to put on a bra. When she was out of her house minutes later, and driving to his place, her brain began flipping through worst case scenarios. Darcy had every right to be angry with her. She had done something cruel and mean-spirited in the attempt of brushing him off so she could wallow in self-pity.

The sight of his place just increased her heart-rate. For a girl that didn’t want to have any sort of confrontation, she was about to step into a mine field; one that she had laid out but no longer had the map to. Charlotte held her hand up to the door and hesitated before actually knocking. And it took longer than usual for the door to open up. She imagined that Darcy was on the other side of the door, taking deep breaths before he pulled it open.

Neither of them were smiling at each other; with Charlotte looking more guilty than anything. And once the door was open, and Darcy saw who it was, he left it open and walked away. Charlotte looked upwards, praying for some clarity, and then stepped in and shut the door behind her. She could hear Darcy fumbling about in the kitchen and as she aimlessly looked around, Darcy poked his head from around the corner.

“Do you want food?”

Charlotte took this as a win. Not because he said it in a tone that would indicate he was over their argument, but because he asked the question in the first place. “Yes, please,” she murmured, watching his disappear back into the kitchen.

She moved over to his table and pulled out the chair she normally sat in. Darcy came out moments later with two plates of food and placed one in front of her before taking his seat. Charlotte began picking at her food quietly, thinking Darcy would be the one to break the silence. But by the time they were halfway through the meal, and he still hadn’t spoken, she knew he wasn’t going to. And she didn’t yet have the courage to start up the confrontation.

They finished the meal in silence too. Charlotte gathered both of their plates and brought them into the kitchen, with Darcy right behind her. She rinsed off the dishes and put them in the dishwasher while Darcy began washing the pans and cast-iron skillet he’d used to cook their meal. When she was done with her end, she leaned back against the counter and waited for Darcy. Part of her thought this conversation was suited to taking place in the kitchen, and not in his bedroom.

Darcy put the last pan to the side to drip dry and he looked up at her as he dried his hands. He set one hand on the edge of the counter and seemed as though he was in just as deep of thought as Charlotte.

“In Minnesota, I specifically asked you to never fake it with me,”

Charlotte swallowed and looked away, “in my defense, you meant that in terms of orgasms.” When she looked back at him, he appeared unamused. So she summoned the courage to tell him the truth. “My dad called,” she sounded more in disbelief than she anticipated she would. “After twenty years; just called me up and asked if we could hang out. I always thought that I’d be okay if he ever called me,” her voice dropped off to nothing. “Guess not. I know that’s not an excuse, but…”

He was still staring at her, trying to process everything. When he did, he held out his arm until she took it as an invitation to hug him. Darcy wrapped both his arms around her, pressing his lips to her forehead. “In the future, just tell me you need time alone. I’m not going to be offended by that. I’m more offended you thought the right decision was to just let me fuck you.”

Darcy let go of her just slightly so she could pull her head away from his chest to look up at him, “I know, I’m sorry.”

The rest of the night was spent wrapped up on the couch, watching an old movie. Since dating, Charlotte strived to give Darcy a movie education that stemmed further than Die Hard and Quentin Tarantino movies. She started with old movies that were universally seen as classics, and then figured after that, she could show him some off-the-beaten-path movies. The first movie had been The Searchers, which she thought would be a good place to start because it was a western and not some sappy, melodramatic love story. Then she went to Citizen Kane, mostly because Darcy had asked about it. Even non-film people knew that Citizen Kane was a big deal. And tonight, she put on It Happened One Night. It was her first dive into romantic comedies with him, and she hoped he appreciated the humor. Admittedly, she found it easy to fall for the witty charm of Clark Gable. After all, it was one of the reasons she fell for Darcy, too.

But as much as she loved the movie, she couldn’t get her father out of her head. It seemed so easy for him to swoop back into her life like he had no remorse or apprehension about how it would effect her. And she tried to hold all of that away. Darcy didn’t need to know that she was so weak. Only when the DVD returned to the disc menu, did Charlotte actually focus on the screen and realized she’d missed the entire movie. When he looked over at Charlotte, he was beaming, clearly having enjoyed it.

She mumbled something about being tired, and together, they went into his room to turn in. Darcy stripped down to his underwear and Charlotte dug through his dresser to pull out one of his t-shirts.

“You think you’re gonna call your dad back?” Darcy asked, pulling the blankets over his lap and simultaneously pulled back the blankets on her side of the bed.

Charlotte walked over and crawled in beside him, “I haven’t seen or talked to him in twenty years. I don’t think I’m going to start now.” She laid down facing Darcy and pulled the blankets over her.

He laid down too, “you know your dad better, obviously… but it might make life a little easier… a little less painful, if you make amends on this.”

She shook her head and turned over, “I don’t want to talk about this tonight.” Again, her voice came out weak and she wondered what Darcy thought of her. Did he think less because she seemed so hurt by this?

Darcy bent over her body and kissed her cheek, “I love you.”

“Love you too,” she whispered. The movement behind her, indicated that Darcy had fully laid down and was ready to sleep.

Charlotte thought she’d go to sleep pretty easily that night because of how emotionally and mentally taxing the day had been. Only once she was laying in bed, her mind wouldn’t shut off. And every time she got close to dozing off, she had a nightmare of being four years old again and having her dad scream at her at the top of his lungs, and she’d jolt awake. The more she thought about the situation and the way her life had been because she never had a positive male figure in her life, the more emotional she felt. Maybe at some point it was also a mixture of that and exhaustion, but she began to cry. Not a full out sob and ugly cry, but tears were rolling down her cheeks and she sniffled, trying to stay quiet as to not wake Darcy.

She thought she was doing a pretty good job at it too. That is, until she felt Darcy turn over and wrap his arms around her. This was different than the way he would normally do it; just fling his arm over her body loosely. This was a grabbing her body, pulling her back into him, and holding her tight. With his lips pressed to the side of her neck, she knew she hadn’t done a very good job at keeping quiet. Sometime within her meltdown, Darcy had woken up. Charlotte felt him squeeze her hip when he let out a soft hum, and was thankful that he had been so understanding.

Notes

"When She Cries" by Restless Heart

Hope y'all are still enjoying this story so far!

Comments

OMG I NEED MORE!!

tangerine21 tangerine21
9/9/19

omgggg i need more!!!!! this is one of the best stories i have ever read!

racheal racheal
3/29/19

Oh no

Futuremrs__ Futuremrs__
2/27/19

I just hope Darcy isn’t “living it up”

ugh this makes my stomach hurt