Mind Mischief

He met her at a college frat party grinding up on some guy with an obvious coke addiction, his emaciated body rubbing against her like he knew what he was doing but didn't still have the facilities to complete the action. It didn't take long for her to get bored and look for another plaything. He watched her get a drink from the muscled guy watching the keg like it was his job, then turn and leave without a response to his flirting, obvious even from such a distance.

When she saw the tall, lanky ginger leaning up against the wall, she knew she could have some fun with him. She reminded herself to take her time. She danced with a couple of other guys, making sure he was watching, before going over to him and wordlessly pulling him out onto the dance floor.

The last thing he wanted was to dance; he had all the grace of a moose in a doll house. He shook his head at her and opened his mouth to talk over the music, but she put a tiny finger on his lips and danced with him anyways, moving her body in a way that made his at least seem less clumsy.

That was the beginning of it. She gave him her number, something she rarely did, before he left. Her name, she told him, was Abi McCoy. He stuttered out his own name, Charlie Johnston, and she smiled a little bit condescendingly and waved goodbye before disappearing back into the crowded frat house. She took a hit off a bong and sat around with some guys, letting the high and her preexisting alcohol buzz take her. She woke up the next morning naked on the frat house's back lawn.

Charlie, on the other hand, went home and tried to go to bed. He couldn't for a few hours. He kept seeing her face and hearing her voice and feeling her hips against his and it was simply intoxicating. He thought he wasn't going to make it through the night. The next day he called Abi and she answered.

He was sweet on the phone. It made her smile, but she would never tell him that. She, towards him, was aloof and made it seem like even the coffee date she agreed to go on was a stretch. She was then late to this date, but by her own plan. She wasn't going to let this gawky awkward man get to her so easily. Except when the date went better than any she'd been on in a long time, she decided to dump that method.

He was thrilled to have a girl like Abi on his arm. Walking around the college campus with a petite, delicate little brunette like her made him want to sing, but he didn't because he thought it would scare her off. He was ever-so-careful with their budding relationship. He sent her a bouquet of flowers for their one month anniversary, but that was just about the extent or the PDA he initiated. It hadn't taken him long to realize she was one of those girls that preferred to keep their relationship quiet.

And then she met Kyle, the complete opposite of Charlie. He was dark and brooding and drove a motorcycle and wore leather and studs. He listened to the kind of music they played in goth clubs and was never not high on some sort of drug. She swooned over him, but her mind always fell back to Charlie when she was around Kyle. She thought of the face he would make if she ever cheated and he found out, and that kept her out of Kyle's bed. For a little while.

Charlie found her with Kyle a year and two months into their relationship. They were bumping uglies on the leather couch his grandmother had bought him. He didn't know whether to be completely disgusted or betrayed. He decided that both was good.

She apologized profusely, doing everything she could to get him back which, turns out, was not much. He let her move back in a week later. But that didn't stop her from seeing Kyle again. The fact that Charlie let her back into his life only made it easier to sleep with someone else. This time he didn't find out.

Abi broke up with him before he could. He came home from work one night to find her packing her bags and throwing them on the back of Kyle's friend's pick-up truck. He begged her not to go, begged her to tell him what he did wrong. She smiled in his face and told him that the whole relationship was a joke, that she was just using him.

The same thing she told herself on the whole car ride to Kyle's little studio. The funny thing was, was that Kyle was the one using her. Not many people knew that she came from money and Kyle was one of them. When she found this out, the first person she turned to was Charlie. He once again welcomed her back with open arms.

He knew he shouldn't, though, and his friends warned him against it. Everyone hated her, hated the fact that they were together. She was bad for him, they all said. But he felt like he could help her, and she could help him. Everyone else, they just didn't understand.

It didn't take long for her to become restless again. Charlie and Abi got into a terrible fight over it, though she didn't know how he knew. She ended up leaving, going to her parents' house for the summer. She had a summer fling with the pool boy and ran back to Charlie when it didn't work out.

He knew she was restless because he knew her better than she knew herself. Cliche, but true. So this time when she came back he gave her an ultimatum. He proposed, and said if she said no then it was over. He was tired of her messing with his mind, wanting him one minute then fucking the closest thing with two legs and a dick.

She said no. She couldn't be tied down like that, even if it was Charlie. He had become her rock, someone she could count on. And now she was losing him because she was a petty bitch. She hated herself for a long time over it.

He didn't answer her phone calls, changed his number and the locks on the door. Eventually, he moved across the state. he found a nice girl named Emma and she accepted his proposal. She didn't mess with his mind, she didn't cheat or lie. She was perfect for him, but he couldn't help but constantly compare her to Abi in that, sometimes, she was insufferably boring.

She was lost without him to run back to. After a string of one night stands and bad relationships, she bought an apartment and didn't leave it for a week. She told herself she should clean up her act, for Charlie. But she couldn't. She told herself she would get a good job and find a good guy and have a steady relationship. Except she didn't. She fucked up everything. She got fired, dumped, and even cheated on.

He saw her in a Starbucks. It was like a breath of fresh air. His heart raced against his chest and he momentarily forgot that his pregnant wife was sitting next to him.

She felt his eyes on her and turned to meet them and it was like the first time they met. She felt an insatiable need to just jump that. She went over to him.

He stood up, thinking his heart might burst from his chest. He scolded himself for being too old to be this smitten, considering his wife, but it felt like a great release, something he didn't know he'd been waiting for, when she wrapped her arms around his neck.

She was pushed away before the hug could linger, and she noticed the plain brunette sitting at the same table as him. She introduced herself , slipping her phone number into his pocket at the same time.

He called her, just like she knew he would, and they fucked. He missed it, not having to be gentle and slow with a girl. He woke up alone.

She vowed to never bother him again, and she never did.