Completely & Stupidly: Forever and Ever

Chapter 15. Charity

 The Dingle hen party at The Woolpack had been in session for a good few hours and Charity was admittedly drunk, having sunk multiple shots and chasers at the bar. All the Dingle women were there to celebrate with her and had all had a great night so far. Marlon's 'Vanessa faced' cupcakes had gone down a treat, and had helped in getting the party started after he'd revealed before leaving that the secret ingredient in the lemon icing was tequila. Each of them had been sat, dressed up in naughty quoted masks and feather boas, talking amongst themselves for a while, though Charity had spent a lot of the night wondering what Vanessa was doing, and whether her surprise had gone down well, but Chas always seemed to notice when her mind took her away from the there and now and was able to drag her back into the present each time she had that far off look in her eyes. "Knock this back" She told her, forcing yet another shot glass into her hand. Charity scoffed and threw back her head, emptying the glass in one go before slamming it onto the table. She had no idea what she was drinking, having found herself so drunk that everything had begun to taste the same, and as far as she knew she could have been sinking back drops of water, but it didn't matter, maybe she'd sober up a little, or maybe she was getting more and more squiggly, either way she was having fun. The music had played loudly for the majority of the evening, a playlist of their favourite girl power hits and the odd cheesy power ballad boomed from the loud speakers, but after a while it had been stripped back to half its usual volume so that the ladies could hear themselves over the thumping of the bass beats that echoed around the room. They had chatted for a while about their partners, and even shared a few things that should have been kept under wraps as they hinted towards their sex lives and things that their partners did that both excited and infuriated them, in and out of the bedroom, but the conversation always seemed to find its way back to the crass and the crude no matter what topic they touched on. Charity tried her best not to give away too much of her and Vanessa's pillow talk but feared she had slipped up on the inevitable, 'Who wears the trousers' question, so to speak, as the women wondered what it was like to bed another woman. Debbie held her hands over her ears as they gossiped about turn on's and turn offs, and hoped that nobody would bring up that confusing time in her life where she had had a passionate fling with her friend Jasmine, thought luckily for her, nobody seemed to remember, or if they did, they'd chosen not to bring it up. "I'd love to sleep with a woman," Mandy exclaimed, needing little to no time to think about the question. "I'm surprised you haven't already," Chas admitted. Mandy guffawed and smacked the table top, loving the attention. "I never could" Belle spoke up amongst the laughter, but most of the others cringed as they heard her voice. "Belle, you're a baby please don't" Charity said, shaking her head at the thought of the youngest Dingle at the table sharing her thoughts on sex. "I never have, and I don't think I ever would either, But I went to a strip club once with a few friends when I wasn't much more than a teenager, and we each had a lap dance" Lydia told, shocking each of them with her story. "Blimey, Lydia" Charity gasped, almost dribbling her drink down her chin at the thought of Lydia venturing outside of her prudish box. Laughter filled the room once again hearing Lydia's revelation, to which they then found themselves talking about Chas' days as a stripper. "Ay, do you fancy another lap dance, Lydia?" Chas asked, rising out of her seat and juggling her breasts towards her face. Lydia laughed, though she turned red with embarrassment as the other women began to sing the theme song from The Full Monty. "I'll have one" Mandy cried, and in a fit of excitement she began searching for her purse and protruded a few ten-pound notes which she made rain over Chas' torso. "Here's a twenty, give us a kiss" She shouted, waving a purple note in the air. The women cried with laughter as they joked amongst themselves. "Ooh, talking of kissing" Chas exclaimed, repositioning herself on Mandy's lap and turning to Charity. "I've been looking forward to this all day. Everyone, say hi to Vanessa" Chas called out over ruckus laughter and dirty jokes. "Eh, what's she doing here? It's bad luck" Mandy boomed as she squinted across the room. "Aw, hiya!" Lydia chirped, waving to what she thought was a real person, but was actually a two-dimensional prop blue tacked against the wall. "What? No, it's not really Vanessa. It's cardboard. And all part of this fun game I came up with" Chas explained, "Pin the tail on the donkey" Charity murmured, remembering that Chas had already told her the rules of the game a few days ago. "Yes. No. Plant the kiss on Vanessa" Chas rolled her eyes at Charity's obvious attempt to belittle the brilliant game she thought she'd invented. "Someone, tie her up" Chas informed, throwing a blindfold into the circle of tipsy women, who all jumped at the blindfold like hungry vultures. "Oh aye, steady on" Mandy boomed with laughter, as Debbie was victorious, and held the blindfold above her head as she clambered over to her mother. "Close your eyes" Chas instructed as Debbie attempted to fold the scrap of material neatly over itself before pulling it tight at the back of her mother's head. "I don't think it matters if my eyes are closed or not, I can't see either way" Charity pointed out, raising her arms for a reaction. "Shut up" Chas told her, then proceeded to stick up two fingers. "Can you see that?" she asked to make sure. "No" Charity shrugged. "Are you sure?" Chas asked again, now doubling up her 'V' signs and flashing them one by one in Charity's face. "No, I can't see" Charity insisted, with a nervous smile as she felt a slight breeze pass by her face from Chas' dancing fingers. "If only she couldn't speak too" Mandy chuckled, shouting loudly for all to hear. "Shame I can still hear as well, isn't it Mand" Charity spat back, rolling her eyes under the tight fabric. Chas shook her head and pulled Charity to her feet and applied a thick layer of red lipstick over her lips. "I'm going to start spinning you around in three, two, one" She cheered. As Charity was passed from pillar to post, she became dizzy quite quickly and almost lost her balance as Chas took her supporting hands from her shoulders. "Go" Everyone shouted. With that, Charity took off towards the wall, holding out her hands to feel her way out of the bar area. To fit the mood, Chas quickly changed the song to Kiss Me by She's All That, to which the guests sang along to the chorus loudly as Charity puckered her lips, having found what she thought was Vanessa's mouth. "Kiss, kiss, kiss" The women chanted. Charity positioned herself and quickly planted a forceful kiss onto the cardboard cut-out, leaving behind as much lipstick as she could for reference. As soon as she pulled her head back, she whipped off the mask to find she'd left behind a big slobbery blob of glossy red lipstick right in the centre of Vanessa's chin. "Not bad" Chas whooped. "Not bad? I told you she's not really this tall. If it was proportionally correct that smacker would be right on her lips. I know that body inside out" Charity insisted, knowing she could find Vanessa's real mouth standing on her head if need be. "Too much information" Debbie shuddered, blocking unwanted thoughts from her mind. The other women laughed at both Debbie's expense and Charity's boasting, but as they chuckled and cringed, Charity began to feel queasy. She quickly turned to face Chas, who knew immediately what was coming. "Outside, quick" she shouted as Charity's face drained of colour and turned white. Together they ran out the back door and as soon as the fresh air hit her, Charity almost fell to the floor. "Good girl, get it out" Chas whispered, patting Charity's back, feeling partly to blame for what had happened. Charity wretched but found that the sickness had subsided, but she felt nauseous enough to warrant a few minutes rest. "I'll go grab you some water" Chas told, "be right back" She added, but as she disappeared back into the pub, Charity could feel an instant difference in herself as the nausea she'd felt began to quickly sober her up, and once again her thoughts turned to Vanessa, who she just really wanted to be with at that moment. Carefully, she snuck away from the pub and made her way down the street and began searching through her phone for Vanessa's number. As she stumbled around the corner, listening out for an answer on the other end, a familiar tune began to play out loud, and for a moment she thought she'd accidentally called herself, though realising that was an impossibility she found herself coming face to face with Vanessa. She squinted a little at first, fearing that the cardboard cut-out had come to life and had begun following her, but this version of Vanessa was dressed differently, in fact it was hardly dressed at all and was wearing exactly the same outfit that she remembered her real Vanessa wearing earlier on. "Babe?" Charity murmured, still not one hundred percent sure if she could see her fiancé for real or not, but this Vanessa smiled and Charity realised she really was there in the flesh after all. "I know I shouldn't be here but I just really wanted to see you" Vanessa apologised, though she wasn't sorry to see her. "I was just trying to do the same, I was calling you" Charity explained, her words not exactly stringing together the same way they would have if she had been sober. Hugging as if they'd been apart for weeks rather than hours, Charity and Vanessa were happy to be in one another's arms once again. "Did you like the surprise?" Charity asked, hoping Tracey had remembered to start the treasure hunt before they'd left for Hotton. "Charity, oh my God" Vanessa gasped, "Yes. I can't believe you did that for me, for us" She cried, excited by the thoughts of travelling to Venice in a few days. "I'd do anything for you" Charity insisted, squeezing her tighter. As they stood in the middle of the road, holding onto one another, Chas began calling for Charity who had disappeared without a word. "Quick" Charity giggled, dragging Vanessa away from the pub. "Charity?" Chas called out again as they ran home in a hurry not to be seen.