April 2085: lie to you, part 1

April 2085: Charlie and Natty are 20 years old, Josh is 18.

Sountrack: "Would I Lie to You?" by Eurythmics

She remembered the first time they did it -- "did it", because at fifteen, you're not really mature enough to "make love" yet, even if you might really grow to love each other some day. It was her idea, after school before her parents got home for work. They had approximately sixty-five minutes and two condoms, and so it happened.

At twenty now, in their second year of college together, Natty had loved Charlie as long as she could remember knowing how to love. She loved him even though he was annoying sometimes, and a little bit anti-social, and had planets and stars on his boxers. She loved him because she'd grown up with him and watched him become a man. She loved him because she couldn't imagine loving anyone else.

"Do you remember when we first got here," Natty asked him. "We were so excited to finally be alone together. Really alone, no parents, no curfews, sleepovers whenever we wanted. I think we spent the first week of classes in bed. It was like we'd been waiting forever."

"When you're fifteen," he said. "Five years is forever."

"Do you think we take that for granted now?"

"No, do you?"

"Of course not," she said.

His answer was so quick, it scared her.

Because she did take it for granted, sometimes. But she didn't want to tell him that.

---

Natty was at the Student Union, looking at the spring term calendar of events when some guy spoke beside her, "Are you as creeped out by those things as I am?"

She glanced at the llama mascot was walking away first, bouncing as he stepped, and then she glanced to her side. Natty didn't know who this guy was, tall and stocky with hair that seemed to defy gravity somehow. He was taking the freebie candy bars and stuffing them into his pocket, one, two, three. A can of pop. A kicky bag. A frisbee. Candy bar number four, five.

She was trying not to stare at him -- she'd never seen a man her age so well-built before. His arm was the size of her thigh!

"You get used to them," Natty said. "If you just ignore them, they tend to go away. Kind of like stray animals."

He stared at her strangely. "I'm Josh, by the way. Do you kickybag?"

"Is kickybag a verb?"

"Huh, I actually don't know."

Okay, so the guy wasn't into her dorky humor. So be it.

"You live on my street," he said. "Don't you? With your boyfriend?"

"I don't think I've seen you before."

"My sister, Sophia? I'm staying at her place. I just got here."

"Oh yeah," Natty said. "I know Sophia."

"She's having a party tonight out at the point. You should come. And your boyfriend too, if you guys want."

"I'm Natty," she told him, figuring she should introduce herself since he had, and since he'd invited her to their party. "You know, that sounds kind of fun."

"Oh hey, Charlie," Natty called out to her elusive boyfriend as he came downstairs, veering off to the side instead of coming over to join the conversation. She didn't call out again because she didn't want to look like a fool. She just took down Josh's phone number and Charlie kept walking like he hadn't heard her.

---

She hadn't always thought of her boyfriend as such a loner when they were in high school, but now that she remembers it, she was always the more outgoing one. She had Hilary and her cousins and he just tagged along with her wherever she went. He had one friend, Isaiah, but Isaiah went to college in Colorado. Natty lost Hilary that way too, to a good sports program in North Carolina. So when Natty and Charlie started college together, they went from having such measured time together to spending all of their time together, from having all of their friends with them to having only each other.

It was quite the adjustment to make. But they could make new friends again. She knew it was harder in college than it was when they were kids, but people did it all the time, right?

Charlie had never been what most people would describe as "approachable", but hardly anyone knew the Charlie she knew, who was smart, and good, and could be incredibly tender when he wanted to be. And entertainingly weird. She found him in an empty lecture hall, tapping the podium, saying "echo, echo."

"Class isn't for twenty minutes still."

He shrugged.

"We got invited to a party," she told him. "We should go. We should meet some of these people. We haven't really made any friends since we've been here."

He stepped down from the podium and came to sit with her. "What do you want to meet new people for?"

"What do you mean, what for? Friends, Charlie. Normal people have friends, you know, besides their boyfriend or girlfriend."

He winced a little, but he didn't accuse her of anything.

"Not that you're not enough for me, that's not what I meant. I just mean, people need friends, Charlie."

"And I'm going to go," she said. "You can come if you want." She tried to plaster a stubborn smile on her face, the way he did when he got what he wanted, but her smile only felt flimsy and unsure. He could be pissed at her if he wanted, but she knew this would be good for them. Good for him too. Because he wouldn't say it out loud, but he'd been in a funk too. No, he wasn't ever exactly "perky" but he never used to seem so sad either. And now, he seemed really sad sometimes. If this didn't end up being good for them, she realized it might be the ruin of them instead.