What She's Doing Now (Sequel to The Great Pretenders)

I Want To Come Over

By Melissa Etheridge

I want to come over

To hell with the consequence

You told me you loved me

That's all I believe

I want to come over

It's a need I can't explain

To see you again

I want to come over

Luckily Charlie was with Kelsey at the movies and mall when Lucy arrived back from out of town. She needed time to process everything that had happened in the last 36 hours and it was better to do in a quiet household. Her mom was curious about what had happened but Lucy let it be known that she wanted to talk to Charlie first before sharing any details. Amy seemed to respect that but Lucy knew that she'd come looking for her for details after long.

To take her mind off of the conversation that was to come, Lucy threw herself into housework. She did about three loads of laundry and scrubbed both bathrooms until they were spotless. She was working on the kitchen when the idea of dinner popped into her head. What was she going to cook? Should see just order pizza? No, Charlie didn't need to eat junk food the day she found out about her real father. She trudged to the freezer and opened the door waiting for inspiration to kick in on what to cook. While she was gazing at a bag of chicken strips, the doorbell rang.

She looked at her clock. It was 6. Charlie wasn't due until 7pm. Swinging the door open, Matt Sanders was standing looking miserable. His gaze raked over her taking in her Nike running shorts and pink t-shirt.

"What are you doing here?" she asked touching her pulled up hair unconsciously. 

He gave a half smile an attempt "I was in the neighborhood."

She smiled back at the silliness of the statement "Oh really?"

"Of course it took me 40 minutes and 25 miles to get into the neighborhood but you know, I was just hanging around," he said as she opened the door wider letting him come in.

She closed the door softly behind him and he looked around miserably wondering what the hell had made him come here.

"I thought you were going to call me tomorrow so we could make a plan," she said motioning for him to follow her to the kitchen.

"Yeah, that was the plan," he agreed as he took a seat on one of the barstools.

"But?" she asked closing the freezer door that she'd left open. 

"But...I have no idea. Val didn't take the news so well," he admitted.

She nodded "You want a soda or a water? I don't have any beer even though you look like you could use one."

"Soda's fine," he said mechanically.

She opened the refrigerator and pulled out a can and offered it to him. He opened it and took a sip.

"I'm sorry she got angry. I never intended..."

"Don't apologize," he waved her off "Things between Val and I have been screwed up for a while. This didn't break anything."

She shrugged "Still this can't help. I mean I'm sure she's pissed at me, like I planned it."

He nodded "She thinks you're a gold digger."

Lucy laughed "Well there's one I've never been called before."

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that," he apologized quickly placing both hands on the can and looking down at them.

"It's not a big deal. But it still doesn't explain what you're doing here. I mean, I'm sure Brian or Zacky...or even Johnny..."

"I just got into my truck and I started to drive. Without even thinking, I came here," he said

"Well if this is going to become a habit then you've got to let me know so I can set up the guest room for you," she joked. He barely laughed. Poor guy. 

There was silence between them for a few minutes as she leaned on the counter.  "It's been a weird couple of days, huh?" she asked.

"You can say that again."

=======================================

Charlie was excited to be riding with Alec Lentz. He was a year older and the most popular guy in school. He's seen her and Kelsey at the movies and offered them a ride home. She and Kelsey played rock, paper, scissors to see who would ride shotgun. It was her lucky day because she won. Of course she knew her mom was not going to be happy about her riding in a car with an unfamiliar boy but she had to realize that Charlie was fifteen, almost an adult, and she needed to be free to make some decisions by herself. Luckily he'd also dropped Kelsey off at her house first.

As they pulled down her street, Charlie spotted the large black Ford Pickup in the front. Had her mom bought that monstrosity?

"Whose truck is that?" Alec slowed down as he passed the vehicle. He inspected it and gave it his seal of approval. "That thing is kick ass."

"I hope my mom didn't buy that," Charlie frowned "I've been trying to tell her about reducing her carbon footprint."

"Not with that thing," Alec shook his head as he pulled into the driveway and turned off the ignition.

Charlie could feel the color in her cheeks rise. She didn't have much experience in having alone time with boys. "Do you want to come in?" she asked her voice an octave higher than normal.

A grin crossed his face but he played it off "Sure, I mean I guess. I have a little time before I have to be home."

"Oh cool," she said happily removing her seatbelt and exiting the car. "My mom should be home from her trip."

He slowed his pace at those words and Charlie was nervous he'd ditch her. But her lucky day remained lucky and he followed her through the door.

"MOM!" she cried dropping her messenger bag in the foyer "I'm home."

When her mother didn't answer, she shrugged confidently "We can watch TV in the living room. Do you want a snack?"

He nodded "Yeah that sounds cool."

"Cool," she beamed at him, hitting him with the full power of her dimples and he just looked a little frightened. Tone it down, Charlie, she told herself. "Kitchen's this way."

She saw a figure sitting in one of the barstools and realized it was a guy. Did her mom bring home a man from the damn teacher conference? What the hell?

"Mom?" she said curiously and the man turned. M Shadows was sitting in her house. What the hell was M Shadows doing in her house? At first, meeting him was cool, but the fact that she'd caught him twice with her mother with no explanation at all was starting to get on her nerves.  Didn't he have a wife and kid that he should be with. Wait, maybe that's where her mother had been for the last two days. Conference my ass, she thought to herself. Her mom was having an affair with M Shadows. No, no way. Her mom would never do that. That was just too fucked up for words. But what could it be? It didn't make any sense.

"What are YOU doing here?" she blurted.