“I’m gettin’ gone so I can get blacked out, like Elvis in 1968, like Johnny Cash any given day, like a Mach One Fastback Mustang…”


It took four days for Jules to swing by and check in on Charlotte. Four days. For calling each other best friends, Charlotte was mildly disappointed. Had she been dead, her body would’ve already gone into and out of rigor mortis, and without the proper modes of chilling, her body would’ve already begun to bloat and decompose.

They spent the first part of that fourth day at the park. As Jules put it, it looked like Charlotte hadn’t seen the light of day for the same amount of time as a solitary confinement prisoner. And so she suggested a walk through the park. It’d be good to get Chief out of the house too. Charlotte spent that part of the day rehashing what Darcy had said to her. How he came in looking like a shell of a man, going on to tell her that he had gotten traded and his life was about to change. Then she told Jules how he’d ended things with her; slowly, painfully… How he looked her in the eye and said strongly and boldly that he didn’t want her. Like she was yesterday’s newspapers, awaiting their date with the recycle bin.

Charlotte realized how bad and unforeseen it all was when she saw Jules’ face drop. If Jules, the most skeptical human on the planet when it came to boys, never saw this coming, how was Charlotte supposed to have seen that? And it made her feel worse. How long had Darcy felt like he didn’t want her, but just stuck with it because he didn’t have a way out? Then when he got traded, he suddenly had a perfect way to end things and begin a new life. Had he been unhappy for a long time? And if he had, how didn’t she see that? She thought they were madly in love and going to spend the foreseeable future together.

“I don’t know what to say, Char… I’m sorry,”

Charlotte shook her head, trying to hold back another round of tears. How was it possible for her body to keep producing tears? She’d been crying nonstop for four days.

“I thought Darcy was… different. I actually thought he was gonna be around for a long time.”

She sniffled, “I feel like I’ve been in a car crash. I never saw it coming, Jules. When we talked on the road trip, he was telling me he loved me and he couldn't wait to see me. And it was like he just changed his mind. Like he found out he was getting traded, and not only was he trading teams, but he realized he could trade in girlfriends too. I’m sure he’s got some girl who was just like me when he was in Minnesota. Someone on the road that he could spend time with while in Arizona.” She paused and turned to the side to wait for Chief to finish sniffing a tree, “I feel so…” Charlotte took a moment to really think about how she felt. “I miss him. I miss him bringing me coffee in the morning. I miss walking Chief with him. I miss his deep, groggy morning voice. I miss his obsessive compulsive tendencies on game days. I miss everything about him, Jules.”

Jules wrapped her arms around Charlotte and squeezed her tight. She collapsed a little further against her friend and began to sob. She just wanted him back. For the way he had ended things, and cut off all ties, she still just wanted him back.

After that, Jules became the epitome of a solid best friend. Every single say, she was taking Charlotte out, trying to keep her busy with something so that she wouldn't have time to dwell over Darcy. But almost two weeks after the break up, Jules had what she thought was a bright idea. In actuality, Charlotte figured it was the worst possible thing she could’ve done. She was trying to get her back out there… back into the world of dating which she was just so harshly pushed out of.

Somehow, within the ardent refusal to actually do this, Charlotte found herself getting ready for a date with a boy Jules promised she would like. As she put it, Jared was a stand up guy with a real job, and was the furthest thing from a hockey player as one could get. For a moment, Charlotte wondered if Jules really thought that hockey was the issue here. Regardless, she showed up to the restaurant in a pair of dark jeans and a blouse, only half trying to look somewhat presentable. And when she arrived, she assumed the man standing awkwardly in the corner was her date.

Jules was right on one thing, he couldn’t have been further from Darcy, but Charlotte was surprised she didn’t find him completely displeasing. Jared was in a pair of dark jeans, a t-shirt that could’ve passed for something he bought years ago, yet still looked good in, and a pair of Vans. During the months they spent together, Charlotte got so used to seeing Darcy in a suit, that she really had to wrack her mind for a time when he looked so casual. Then she started remembering how much she liked seeing him in a pair of jeans or sweats, and a hoodie. She shook that from her head as she approached Jared.

“Jared?” She asked, putting on a smile as to not seem completely not into this.

“Yeah, hey, Charlotte,” he grinned and opened his arms to hug her. She stepped into his arms, and upon feeling him embrace her tightly, she almost wanted to break out in a hearty cry. “It’s nice to meet you,”

“You too,” she smiled again as the hostess now led them to their table. “I’m not gonna lie, I’m not big on blind dates so Jules had me worried.”

Jared giggled and pulled out one of the chairs at their table for Charlotte to sit in. At first she was slightly taken aback by this level of courtesy, but decided to take it all in stride. “Hopefully you’re liking what you’re seeing and the nerves are fading,”

Charlotte looked at him a little harder. She only had a split second to answer this question before Jared found her completely rude. In all honesty, he was an attractive guy, and as much as Charlotte desperately missed Darcy, she also wanted to get laid. “I’d say that’s a safe bet,”

He sat down across from her and flipped open his menu, taking a quick glance at it before returning his gaze to her. “Jules tells me you’re a producer,”

“Aspiring,” she blushed and focused on her own menu.

“Making it to Sundance… I think you can safely leave that adjective out. Congratulations on that, by the way,”

She smiled, holding back on a response as the waiter came up to grab their drink order. Jared insisted she order first, and she ended up settling on the first glass of wine she recognized on the list. He ordered the same afterwards, and got back to the conversation at hand.

“How do you know Jules?” Charlotte asked, glancing over the food menu quickly to have somewhat of an idea of what she’d be going for.

Jared answered easily and honestly and before Charlotte really realized it, they were going back and forth like they had been friends for years. Multiple glasses of wine were ordered and drank, the food came and went, and soon they were finishing off dessert. With the alcohol surging through both of their systems, their interaction had gone from a feeling out stage to a feeling up stage. At some point through dinner, their legs had accidentally touched beneath the table. While Charlotte apologized, Jared’s reaction was one of more flirtatious playing. Now, their hands were outstretched across the table and Charlotte danced her fingertips over his palm.

“Do you have big plans tonight?” Charlotte hummed, trying not to sound too presumptuous that they’d be spending the night together.

Jared grinned and curled his fingers around hers, “other than going home with you?”

She giggled as he pulled his wallet out of his pocket with his other hand and set his credit card on the bill. Like a shark smelling blood in the water, the waiter was by to grab it in an instant. “Good answer,”

---

Chief was barking like a madman the moment Charlotte and Jared stepped foot into her place. It was like he knew that this man wasn’t Darcy, and knew that Charlotte was bound to make a mistake with him. But she disregarded Chief’s warning and shut him out by closing her bedroom door once she and Jared had made their way in.

They each made hasty movements to rid themselves of their clothes, and the moment they were left in their underwear, they each paused to admire each other. For all of Darcy’s lankiness, Jared was the showy muscular man that she usually found herself with. He cradled her in his arms and guided her down to her bed, on her back, and wasted no time in pushing her legs up and apart. Charlotte giggled again and looked down at Jared as he slid his tongue over her underwear.

She watched as he carefully dipped his fingers beneath the fabric and yanked her underwear down, navigating it over her legs and finally off. From there, he wasted no time in getting his mouth on her. But soon, Charlotte realized the more she watched him, the less into it she got. Just wanting it to be Darcy, she kept her head back on the bed and squeezed her eyes shut. This way, it was easier to pretend that the man with his head between her thighs was actually Darcy.

Her body arched when Jared sunk his middle finger into her, and she let out a quiet groan, feeling him push it in an out of her. Charlotte reached down and tugged on his hair, keenly aware that it wasn’t nearly as soft as Darcy’s was, but still, angled his mouth on her. “More,” she choked out, as Jared flicked his tongue over her. His fingers increased their speed and her legs flinched shut with every pass of his tongue. “Don’t stop,” she pleaded and spread her legs a little wider. “Darcy…”

Charlotte coughed, bringing herself back to reality. If Jared had heard her say someone else’s name, he made no notion of it. However, what she thought was going to end in an orgasm, resulted in Jared pulling away and flipping her over onto her stomach. She looked back at him as he licked his fingers and rubbed them over his length to get it wet.

“Condoms in the…” her hands clenched around the sheets as Jared thrust his hips forward, pushing inside of her without another thought. “Nightstand,”

“We don’t need condoms,” he whispered and leaned over her body. With the angle he was at, his shaft rubbed against her gspot, and Charlotte thought she might explode. Almost a month without sex, and she never thought that this would feel so good with a total stranger. “Don’t you want daddy’s come?”

Charlotte shuddered. Hearing him refer to himself as daddy was disturbing enough and she prayed he wasn’t expecting her to call him that. But even his question didn’t deserve an answer. What kind of stupid-ass man asked that? She decided to ignore it as he continued to fuck her, eventually reaching around her body to begin touching her clit.

He groaned and buried himself balls deep in her, not relenting even as Charlotte wriggled beneath him in a fair deal of discomfort. “You keep your pussy tight for daddy…?”

Charlotte almost physically gagged. If anything, his name for himself was doing a stellar job of turning her off. He pulled out of her, finally giving her body some relief as he had foolishly kept himself balls deep inside of her, only doing a good job at making her completely sore. Maybe once he got his release, he’d go back to eating her out and give her a chance at getting a release of her own.

What she felt afterwards, could’ve scared the bravest of people. Jared dragged the head of his dick from her pussy and up to her ass. She could feel him getting it wet, and she reached back and managed to grab onto his wrist. “Wrong one,” she tried to play it cool, but ultimately found herself in a fairly precarious position.

Jared shook her off his wrist and continued on, “daddy’s gonna fuck you better than Darcy ever did.”

At that, Charlotte was quick to try and turn herself over, despite having Jared on top of her. He let her turn over, but grabbed onto her arm, trying to stay in control of the situation. That only made Charlotte want to fight him off more, and so when their arguing got more intense, Chief started barking from the other side of the door. The more Charlotte argued with Jared to get off of her, the louder Chief barked. Soon enough, she figured he’d come straight through the door.

When her yelling and frantic cussing out got too much for Jared, he backed up and searched the room for his clothes, picking them up and putting them on with newfound speed. Charlotte stood from the bed, still only in her bra, and opened up the door. Chief stood on the other side of it, taking an intimidating step forward.

“Chief… hinsitzen,” she called out. Jared stood, trying to figure out whether or not the dog was going to attack. When Jared didn’t move, Charlotte spoke up, “get out of here!”

“You taught him German?”

“To make him scarier. Go,” she warned, looking at Chief, and ready to give him another command if Jared didn’t get moving.

Jared jumped past Chief and went out the front door without further incident. Charlotte dug through her dresser and pulled out a long t-shirt, getting ready to turn in for the night. She went out and locked the door, and stared at Chief, who had now found his place on the couch and was curled up. At that point, more than ever, Charlotte wished that when she went back into her bedroom, Darcy would be there. And it was that much more disappointing when he wasn’t.

Notes

"Blacked Out" by Chris Young.