Fierce

Chapter 6

"JAYCOB! CAN YOU GET THE DOOR?"

Jaycob, who was hunched over his bowl of cereal, jumped at the pitch of her shriek and milk slopped all over the bench. "Fuck," he muttered, mopping it with the bottom of his shirt. But the incessant banging didn't let up, and he trudged to the door. He swung it open impatiently, "yes hello? Stop banging," he said through gritted teeth. His laid back demeanour did not extend to mornings.

There was a pause as the woman on the other side of the door looked him up and down. Then she said, "who the fuck are you?"

"'Scuse me? Who the fuck are you?"

The pink tipped blonde crossed her arms across her ample chest. "Me? I'm Charlotte," she said, as if it was obvious. "Kindly get out of the doorway - I'm here to see George."

So this was Charlotte. He straightened up and smothered his grin. "She's in the shower....and I'm not sure she'd want some crazy lady hangin' about, so why don't you just wait out here?"

Her cheeks tinged pink in outrage and she looked ready to deck him. "Get out of my way," she hissed.

He chuckled and stepped aside. "Just joshin' with ya - come on in. Gee'll be out in a tic." She stomped past him with a defiant hair flip - and stomped straight on into the bathroom.

"AHH! Charly??" Georgie squawked. "Get out!"

"Oh shut up, we've all got the same bits," Charly closed the door quickly behind her and frantically tossed Georgie a towel. "Put some clothes on and get out here! You have some explaining to do!"

"What?" Georgie asked in confusion. "No I don't. Why?"

"Hmm. Well for starters, who the fuck is the dude who just answered your door? You never bring them home George!"

"What! Oh ew! Ew! That's Jacob - he's a friend Charly."

"Oh...right. Okay." Charlotte horror deflated, but then her eyes lit up with curiosity. "Oh! You mean Jaycob," she said slowly. "That's him?"

"Yeah - that's Jay."

"Well," she adjusted her jacket thoughtfully, "hurry up and come out already."

Charlotte left Georgie frowning after her in puzzlement as she went back out to the living room to size him up again with this new information. He was sitting at the bench with his bare back to her, and the first thing that flew out of her mouth was, "where's your shirt?"

Without turning, he pointed to the floor beside his stool. "And why's it on the floor?" Still chewing, he swivelled to face her, and she was caught off guard by the sight of his naked chest.

He took his sweet time in swallowing (long enough to make her uncomfortable), and when he finally did he said, "cause it's wet. With milk."

She scrunched her nose in disgust. "Ugh. Men."

He shrugged, trying not to be offended. He thought using his shirt to keep the house clean was a very generous, resourceful thing to do. And it was far more preferable than to leave a mess for Georgie to clean up.

"Can you like, put a shirt on please?"

"Making you uncomfortable?" he grinned, muscles rippling as he leant back to rest on the bench.

"No," she scoffed. "I'd just prefer not to be looking at a sad gym-junkie-body at this hour. It's unsavoury."

That bitch. GYM JUNKIE? Was there a worse insult? Before he could bite back, Georgie emerged from the bathroom.

"My two favourite people in one room! Jay, this is Charlotte. Charly, this is Jaycob. You remember? I've spoken about him before."

"Huh," she cocked her head to the side and tapped her foot. "Vaguely familiar. You probably mentioned him once."

"Once?" Jaycob mouthed accusingly at Georgie.

"What, no! He's Jaycob...you know. Jaycob? I've spoken loads about him to you before - you remember now?"

"No, sorry. Can't say that I do remember." Charlotte didn't look sorry at all.

The silence grew and Georgie looked as if she wanted to throw herself out of a plane.

"Well then," he stood up and approached Charlotte, hand extended. "I'm Jaycob Wallace - Georgie's best friend. Nice to meet you. Charlise, was it?"

"Sure- yes, hi," she gave his hand a brief shake and turned back to Georgie. "Is he staying here now? Cause, not gonna lie, that's really gonna cramp our style."

Woah - this was the woman that Georgie described as 'wonderful'? Jaycob called bullshit.

"Charlotte!" Georgie gasped in shock. "Yes! He is staying here until he finds a place to live. And if that's a problem then I don't want to hear it."

Smackdown. Jaycob smirked at her.

"No, it's not a problem," Charlotte said begrudgingly. "Can you walk me out George?"

"You don't have to-"

"Yes I do. My plane leaves in an hour and a half, I just thought I'd drop in to say bye."

"Oh, sure. Okay - I'll walk you down then."

"Bye Sharon!" Jaycob called after Charly mockingly. She tossed him a glare, and a sneaky rude finger behind Georgie's back.

The trip down to the street was quiet, but when they reached the waiting taxi Charly clung to her friend in a tight hug.

"Woah Charly - it's okay!"

"I know....just - thank you."

"Oh honey. What for?"

"You know. Sending me on this trip. Being there."

"I'm not going anywhere." The girls pulled away from each other with misty eyes. "Come back safely."

"Bye George."

Georgie watched the taxi pull away from the curb and turned around with a vengeance. She marched past the bell-man with a quick nod, and took the stairs instead of the elevator. By the time she slammed the front door, she was red and sweaty and puffing like a dragon.

Jaycob jumped at the bang, milk spilling out of the bowl for the second time. "Aww fuck," he muttered.

"Jaycob Wallace! What the hell was that?" Georgie yelled.

"ME?? She's the crazy one!"

"She is not crazy! What did you do?"

"Nothing! I swear! Okay I may have teased her a bit at the beginning, but she totally flipped out on me! It's not my fault!"

"I just want my friends to get on! Okay?"

"She started it!"

"I don't care! Look," she sighed. "Charly's just broken up with her fuckwit boyfriend and all men are on the hit list at the moment, so the last thing she needs is some man muscling in on her territory, taking away her support system and engaging her in a full blown pissing contest! So could you please just be the bigger person and back off?"

"So she can piss all over you? I don't think so. What about me?"

"Jaycob! How fucking old are you?"

He laughed, "Joking- I'll back off."

"Thank you," she relaxed in relief.

"...As long as you don't forget about me when you're covered in her pee."

"Oh my god - shut up!"

"Should've thought twice before comparing me to a dog then," he winked.

"Put some clothes on idiot," she grinned. "We're going house shopping!"