otherways

[bloodyrockgod]

The hammock is still swaying back and forth, and Charlie clings to Gretchen, gasping for breath.

His patience has been rewarded. Give him a few mintues for his brain to start working again.

Comments

[youreweird.livejournal.com]

She giggles again.

"I like to be spontaneous. Come on. Let's get some tea."

She stands and finds a t-shirt and jeans and hops down onto the dresser.

[bloodyrockgod]

He watches her move for a moment, then sighs and gets out of the hammock to gather up his clothes.

[youreweird.livejournal.com]

She grins up at him from the floor.

"Oh, come on, Charlie. It's not that bad. Not like I'm taking your wisdom teeth out or something.

[bloodyrockgod]

"I'm coming . . ." He tucks in his shirt and pulls on his trainers, and hops down into the bedroom.

[youreweird.livejournal.com]

She tugs him into the kitchen, pours tea from the urn for them both, gets honey and whatnot and takes them to a back booth.

"So...what is important to you in your religion?"

[bloodyrockgod]

"Respect for life," Charlie says and starts putting his tea together. "Doing the right thing for the right reason."

[youreweird.livejournal.com]

She smiles and swirls honey into her tea.

"Well, we line up there. Paganism is much the same."

She takes a sip.

"Oh. And I don't believe in abortion. I'm pro-choice, but I won't do it. So, what do we do if we get pregnant?"

[bloodyrockgod]

Charlie's face does several things, and then he swallows hard and says, "We get married and raise the kid. My parents weren't much older than us when they got married."

[youreweird.livejournal.com]

She raises an eyebrow.

"You wouldn't want to put the baby up for adoption? My mother had me early too, and my Grandmother helped her, but I know it was hard."

[bloodyrockgod]

He stirs his tea, and then shakes his head. "I've been independent for almost two years. Me and my brother, sure, but not dependent on anybody else. I can take care of you."

[youreweird.livejournal.com]

She nods and smiles.

"All right. We'll keep the baby. But I'm really not ready to have one yet. I'd like to use birth-control for a few years."

[bloodyrockgod]

"Okay." He slurps his tea. "And I'll start carrying condoms in my guitar case so I'll always have some. And whatever you want to use . . . I don't know what you'd want to use. But, whatever--" He nods. "'s fine. I don't know much about the girl's side of it."

[youreweird.livejournal.com]

"You want to use condoms rather than other things? I'm going to ask Bethany to take me in for a check-up. I need one anyway, and they'll tell me what my best options are."

She sips her tea too.

"Also, have you been tested, and how many partners have you had?"

[bloodyrockgod]

Charlie nearly chokes on his tea.

"Um . . . do you really want to know how many?"

[youreweird.livejournal.com]

"Um, yeah, I really do. It's kinda important to my safety."

[bloodyrockgod]

He sighs. "Okay. But--" he holds up a finger, "I want to make it perfectly clear that I have always used a condom if there was, like, contact. Okay?"

He clears his throat. "Twenty-eight."

His ears are scarlet.

[youreweird.livejournal.com]

She chokes in her tea and it goes everywhere.

[bloodyrockgod]

He hits her back until he's sure she's breathing. "It was the band," he says unhappily. "Different girl every night. Sometimes more than one.

"'s why I left. I told you when we first met. Too many temptations."

[youreweird.livejournal.com]

She nods and grabs several napkins and cleans up.

"...I think I understand now. Wow."

She gets her breath back.

"Have you been tested? Stuff can happen, even with condoms."

[bloodyrockgod]

"Yeah." He scratches his head. "Once. Couple months ago. Girl I'd been with said she'd gotten something and was letting people know, but I was fine."

[youreweird.livejournal.com]

She nods.

"Okay, that's cool. I'll get tested too, if you want, but I'm a virgin."

She stands to wipe off her clothes.

"He didn't manage to take that."

[bloodyrockgod]

He looks at her seriously. "Who?"

[youreweird.livejournal.com]

She blushes and looks away.

"My stupid stepdad."

She grabs her cup and goes back to the kitchen for more tea.

[bloodyrockgod]

"What?!" He gets up and follows her into the kitchen. "Shalom--talk to me."

[youreweird.livejournal.com]

She puts her cup on the counter and crosses her arms over her chest.

"My stepdad. He had these emotional issues. And he was kinda handsy."

She looks embarrassed and nauseated.