406Title: One of the Boys
Rating: M
Summary: A 'mistake' by the new secretary places archenemies Charlie Lyle and Dalton Parrish in the same dorm for their entire junior year. Problem? Charlie is a girl.
Womanizer
(You) You say I'm crazy
(You) I got your crazy
(You) You're nothing but a
(You) Womanizer
It was a bit of stretch to say that Charlie Lyle and Dalton Parrish were different. Maybe different was not the correct word for this type of relationship. Let us just say that if Dalton was fire, Charlie was most definitely the gasoline. I mean that in the best possible way.
The school blamed it on a new secretary that mixed up the files, not realizing that Charlie was indeed a Charlotte. Nevertheless, truth be told, it was not the fact that Charlie was a girl and Dalton was a boy. It was the fact that it was quite possible that if the headmaster allowed the two to live together, that one would end up dead. No one really knew why the two did not like each other and no one knew that the dislike was not really even mutual anymore.
Deep down, Charlie really did not think that Dalton was a low-life scoundrel that took advantage of the others around him and Dalton really did not think that Charlie was a frigid bitch that needed to lighten up. There really was not any animosity between them. It was just a bit of lust that needed a good dousing. So maybe it was fate that they were sharing a dorm room or the fact that even the headmaster admitted that Charlie just needed to get laid.
Charlie is a 16-year-old girl who was used to get her way. She wasn't spoiled; she did indeed work for everything she got, but Charlie had a certain way of getting what she wanted. Being an editor on the newspaper, she was able to get the real story and usually a new person that was put on suicide watch. She 'hated' Dalton because he was just a tad more laid back than she was. Not to mention things seem to just come to him. He was in the top ten of their class, captain of various sports team and he was never without a date on a Friday night.
Dalton is a 17-year-old boy who didn't work for a thing in his life. School came naturally, as did sports and he was blessed with one of the most seductive grins on the face of the planet. Girls went weak in the knees at that grin and there had been more than one girl fight over him, though Dalton has never had a real girlfriend. He was perfectly content with that.
It was the moving in day at Winters Academy in Massachusetts, and per usual, Charlie was sitting in the hallway, surrounded by boxes with a book in hand. She arrived early, as usual, to be greeted by empty hallways. The students weren't due to be here for another hour and a half; some teachers weren't even here yet. Charlie was incredibly punctual; she would honestly be early for her death and wait for it to happen.
His breath felt hot on her neck as his fingers played with the lace on her shirt. His tongue had darted out, running across the smooth skin of her neck. He found her pulse point and began to suck hard, no doubt leaving a mark. She moaned against him, grinding her hips against his…
Oh yes, Charlie Lyle was reading a smutty romance novel! Every girl was allowed to read a naughty romance novel and not be made fun of for it. This one was the typical boy meets girl, they fall in love, and their first time is always PERFECT. Like hell it was. Charlie sighed and rolled her eyes, shutting the book. She placed the book next to her and looked around. She was bored already.
"She's reading again; how novel." A voice said to Charlie as she looked up and to her right. Dalton Parrish stood there, wearing a t-shirt with a pair of jeans, looking delicious as always.
"Have you ever considered coming up with a new line?" Charlie replied with her voice filled with irritation. He grinned at her as her breath caught in her chest, almost painfully.
"I prefer to stick with the classics." He replied, coming to sit down next to her, as Charlie's body became rigid. Dalton noticed to say the least, placing his arm around her shoulders to make her feel even more uncomfortable. "Charlotte, Charlie, why aren't we friends?"
"Because you're just a tad too self-involved to notice that I don't particularly like you." She replied, shoving his arm off of her. Dalton frowned.
"I'm hardly self involved. I just know what I want and what I'll do to get it." He said.
"Including walking on top of the small people to get what you want. That's hardly nice." Charlie said, smiling softly. Their banter was beginning.
"You know, you can be quite irritating sometimes." Dalton said, staring at the wall in front of them.
"Those wonderful comebacks of yours really hurt my feelings sometimes." Charlie said, mocking hurt. "What ever shall I do without your approval?" She said, becoming slightly annoyed. "What you think doesn't mean a thing to me."
"So you think," He said, turning to look at her. "I think that you think about me more than you would like to admit."
"Well I know you think about me, all the time." Charlie replied haughtily.
"No use in denying it, is there? At least I admit it!" Dalton pressed, his hands grabbing her hips as he placed her on his lap and held her tightly against him. "Maybe if you took your head out of a book every once in a while, we could have some fun." With that, he picked up her book that rested between them. "A trashy romance novel; why am I not surprised?"
Charlie scowled, grabbing her book and tossing it in her bag. "Privacy; ever heard of it?" She asked, pursing her lips together as her cheeks turned bright red. She was embarrassed after all. Dalton smirked at her again.
"Well if you leave your smut books out in the open, how can you ask me to give you privacy? Think these things through, Charlie." He teased as she struggled out of his arms, grabbing her things.
"Is it absolutely necessary to be this infuriating all the time? You must be exhausted by the end of the day." Charlie said, scowling at him, while Dalton began to lean against the wall, trying to get more comfortable.
"I'm hardly infuriating; it's just a lot easier to annoy you than other people. Personally, I think you like me around. You find me interesting, don't you?" He questioned.
Charlie rolled her eyes.
"I think you're just arrogant because you need to make up in areas you are lacking." She said, her eyes darting down to the crotch of his pants and giggled.
"I assure you I am not lacking down there. I've never left a girl unsatisfied." Dalton said, anger in his voice. He was seething.
"Oh it's alright, Dalton. It's not the size of the boat, it's the motion of the ocean." She teased, laughing as he growled at her.
"You can't mock what you haven't experienced for yourself, Charlie. Perhaps I should give you a bit of a workout before you decide to mock me." Dalton said, grabbing her hand and pulling her towards him. "I bet you're a lady on the streets but a freak in the sheets."
Angry, Charlie tore her hand away from his and scowled. "And you call yourself a gentleman." She said as Dalton rolled his eyes at her.
"I prefer to express my feelings, no matter how much society may frown upon them. Charlie, you do well in biology, right? It's perfectly natural to have thoughts like that. I think of you naked and I'm quite positive that you've thought of me as well." He grinned, running his hand up her side, feeling her hip. "Admit it, you've thought about me naked and liked it immensely."
"Yes because I love men that are so effeminate that he might as well be a girl." Charlie said, pushing her way away from him. His touch was burned onto her skin.
"Mocking people is purely a defense mechanism." Dalton called out, jogging to catch up to her. "We only mock one another to cover up our actual feelings. Isn't that just a tad immature, Charlie?"
"Ahh! You're infuriating!" Charlie yelled at him, only to hear him chuckle.
"You're...so...infuriating!" Dalton mocked, imitating her voice as well. "I like you, you obviously love me, so what's missing? Attraction: check. Connection: check. Things in common: check."
"Things in common?" Charlie asked.
"We want to get in each other's pants." Dalton explained, watching Charlie try to hide a smile. "Oh no, don't smile! Don't let the big bad Dalton make you smile." He said, placing his hands on her hips. "For how much you claim to despise me, I do seem to make you smile quite a lot."
"Stupid people amuse me; what can I say?" She replied, not moving to get away from him.
"You make me stupid." Dalton said, adjusting his hips so he might be able to sit more comfortably, brushing a strand of hair from her face.
"Don't blame me for your shortcomings." Charlie laughed, staring him straight in the eye.
"I work hard to impress you, so much that I say stupid things." He said truthfully, wanting to kiss her so badly at that point.
"Guess you'll just have to work harder, now won't you?" She taunted, lightly slapping his cheek with the palm of her hand. Charlie stood up, smoothing her skirt and began to saunter away, letting her hips sway.
Dalton took a deep breath, watching her walk away as he felt his pants tighten almost painfully. It was hard to admit defeat for some but it was nearly impossible for Dalton to. He never admitted defeat, especially when it came to Charlie Lyle.
He knew it was love when they were five and playing in the sandbox, he threw some sand at her, getting some in her eye and she began to wail. He knew it then as if he knows it now. So now, he was sitting on the floor with a rather large boner because of Charlie Lyle. He pursed his lips together, trying to imagine his grandmother in a bikini or his best friend, Chase, in a pink tutu.
That did the trick.
It was then that the blonde, new and young secretary sauntered past Dalton, winking her blue eye at him. A brilliant idea ran through Dalton's mind, as he grinned at the blonde, who then in turn, fell right on her butt.
"Oh, miss! Let me help you!" Dalton exclaimed, walking up to her and helped her to her feet. "I'm Dalton Parrish and you are?" He asked, grinning again. The secretary looked like she was going to faint.
"I'm Helena Davies, the new secretary. It's a pleasure." She said, holding out her hand to him.
"Oh, the pleasure is all mine." Dalton replied smoothly, kissing her hand. "You're the new secretary, you say?"
Ms. Davies nodded.
"Well, my roommate and I don't get along very well…"
"Charlie! We're finally roomies! Next year, we get to pick our own, but this is just fate!" Charlie's best friend, Bethany Ann Joanna Adams, or Baja for short. Baja was incredibly particular about the pronunciation of her name, going for Ba-ja rather than Ba-ha. She, like Charlie, was crazy in that way.
"Baja, it was hardly fate. I told Mrs. Goldman that I'd bring her some of my mother's cookies this year if she made us roommates this year." Charlie explained, putting some of her books on the bookshelf by her bed. She was ecstatic that she and her best and only friend were sharing a dorm this year. Last year, it had been with Claire Doyle, one of the popular, pretty girls. She was nice but she and Claire had nothing in common. The year before, freshman year, had been with Lana Mayer, who never came to the dorm. Freshman year had been very lonely for her.
All that changed when Baja came in sophomore year. She was in all of Charlie's advanced placement and honor classes, although she was far too dumb to be in them. However, Charlie never held it against her, finding Baja fun and sweet, talking to her when no one else would.
Baja was pretty, vivacious and sweet, a completely 180 to Charlie's plain, boring and more sour than sweet. With her long, curly chestnut hair, dark eyes and tan skin, Baja stood out amongst the bottle blondes and ruby red lipstick. Baja always had a date but surprisingly, Dalton had showed little interest in her. Baja had a steady boyfriend, who coincidentally (and much to Charlie's annoyance) was Dalton's best friend, Chase Herron.
It was then that Charlie began to think of Dalton again. He was impossible; stubborn as can be and it certainly didn't help that the boy was sex with legs. She had seen him shirtless only once, but she has yet to forget it. He was ripped, with a perfectly defined six-pack, pecs and his arms were defined. Winters Academy only accepted the elite of the elite, playing the toughest of sports. There was no basketball or baseball here, only boxing, wrestling, mixed martial arts and the cream of the crop, rugby. Dalton participated in all these sports and excelled in all, but it was rugby that made him who he was.
Dalton was a lot of things, but not even Charlie could deny his determination and ambition. He conditioned himself to be strong and fast, with incredibly hand-eye coordination and a mind for the game. He was captain this year, only a junior and beating out all of the seniors for the position. He was a flanker, so he ran, he blocked and he scored. Yes, Charlie had done some sort of research in all of this.
All of this was during autumn, but when winter came around, it was time for the boxing, wrestling and mixed martial arts. Rugby made Dalton excel especially in mixed martial arts, using his speed and agility against his opponent. Girls always attended the rugby matches and mixed martial arts fights, just to watch the sweat pour down his back. Charlie knew if she attended, he'd never let her live it down, so she watched it on the web or from her window.
"Oh didn't you hear, Charlie? Mrs. Goldman was fired. Apparently, she had changed a student's grades and the Headmaster found out about it. It was a big scandal." Baja said, folding her clothes and placing them in the wooden bureau. "I think I may have just given you your first big story of the year."
"Just another way to show how I should have been picked Editor in Chief."
As you can probably tell, Charlie is Associate, while Delilah Greenwood, someone dorkier than Charlie, was Editor in Chief. Baja rolled her eyes. A brisk knock at the door made Baja sigh. It was probably Chase. Opening the door, she was greeted by the blonde and buxom, not to mention flustered, Ms. Davies.
"Is there a Charlotte Lyle here?" She asked, looking at Baja and then back at Charlie.
"I'm Charlotte." Charlie said, stepping forward, placing her hands on her hips. "And you are?"
"Oh, sorry, dear. I'm Ms. Davies. I'm the new secretary. So sorry but you'll need to pack up. There was a mistake in the registry, you're on the top floor." Ms. Davies said, taking time to look at Baja. "Bethany Anne, is it? Your roommate will be up shortly."
Charlie was fuming.
"What do you mean there was a mistake?!" She yelled and Baja was ready to say something until Chase came in, leaning against the doorframe with a silly grin on his face.
"Hey roomie." he said, smiling at Baja.
"Yeah, um, Charlie, this might be for the best." She said, taking her friend by the arm and literally shoving her out of the room. "Hey roomie."
There stood Charlie with Ms. Davies, who was beginning to take her leave before she said something.
"Oh, here's your roommate now." She said as Charlie turned around to see Dalton Parrish standing against the wall with a great big smirk on his face.
Ahh, a new story getting back to my old roots. This seems to be my new baby, which should make you guys happy. Before you guys start talking about the similarities between this and Our Room, please understand that I'm doing this on purpose. Our Room was, by far, the easiest story for me to write and my most successful story to date. But as time goes by, the story will be different. Charlie and Dalton have a playful banter and Charlie has reasons for avoiding Dalton, unlike Belle's just plain dislike for Dean.
If you all love this like Our Room (which I pray you do), review! They are my lifeline!