Obsessive Compulsion by CE Kilgore

of their
self-absorbed, cookie-cutter existence to try and understand. They
wouldn’t see how much Cam and Joey love each other. They wouldn’t
care that it’s mutual and only taboo because society thinks
it has any kind of right to decide how we choose to live our
lives.
    “Twitch?”
    I snap my attention back to Emma. She’s
smiling up at me with her beaming, baby doll green eyes. Emma has a
special gift for seeing every part of a person, from the inside
out. The sympathy in her eyes is genuine as is the encouragement in
her voice. “Go check on her. I’ll work on changing Master’s mind.”
She winks then giggles as Brandon spanks her butt.
    I glance to Brandon, knowing that Emma has
already won the discussion that hasn’t happened yet. That man would
do anything for her. Brandon shoos me out of the clubroom and I’m
thankful for it. I’m not sure where Charlie’s disappeared to, but I
think I need to take a few minutes to cool-down anyway. I nearly
erupted when I caught sight of her and Crow together, but Emma’s
right. I am the dumb one if I thought, even for a second,
that anything was going on between the two.
    Doesn’t change the fact that she fled from
my apartment on Wednesday and hasn’t spoken to me since. There is a
high probability that whatever Charlie and I had been trying to
form between us has used up all its restarts. I don’t blame her for
bailing on me. I would too, if I could.
    I was prepared for it, that inevitable point
at which my ticks become too much to handle or brush off. The fact
that it was my slip with her name that chased her off is what bugs
me. It wasn’t my ticks, my rechecking the door lock, my unplugged
stove or even the gallery of her artwork. It was simply her name. Charlotte.
    My brain has been obsessing over that
nonstop for two days. Why does she hate her name? Why had it made
her look so upset? Why is she standing in my room?
    I close the door slowly behind me after
walking into my room and finding Charlie standing by the window,
next to my telescope, her silhouette outlined by moonlight. She’s
dressed in a similar outfit to last week, except the ribbon laced
down her back is blue. She’s also wearing a long-sleeved, black
latex shirt under her corset that covers every inch of skin up to
her chin. Even her hands are covered by leather gloves resembling
mine.
    “Hello,” she glances at me over her
shoulder, her long fiery braid shimmering across her back with the
movement, then she looks back out into the night. “Did Mistress Cat
speak to you?”
    “No, I haven’t seen her.” I edge cautiously
into the room. I leave the lights off because I don’t want to force
Charlie to watch me flick the switch back and forth who knows how
many times given my current emotional state.
    Charlie nods, and I wait for her to explain
the question, but she points at the telescope instead. “You like
astronomy?”
    I step closer. “I do, but Pierce is the real
astronomy nerd.”
    “Kyle? Really?” She raises an eyebrow in
disbelief, then corrects herself. “Pierce, I mean. Damn, I’m gonna
slip in the clubroom eventually.”
    “It’s alright,” I try to continue the small
talk. At least we’re talking. “We don’t have to use the nicknames
when it’s just us, unless we’re roleplaying. But, yeah, Kyle got me
that for Christmas a few years ago after I expressed an interest. I
just like looking, but he keeps charts and logbooks.”
    “No kidding?” she laughs.
    Another step closer. “I keep it here because
there’s less light pollution, and it gives me something to do on
Friday nights.”
    “Because you don’t participate.”
    It’s a statement, and the truth hurts. Yeah,
Friday nights are lonely, even when I’m surrounded by friends. My
eyes lower. “Yeah. Brandon and I, well we used to play Gin
Rummy, but now he has Emma to take care of. I don’t mind it, it’s
just that solitaire can get old really fast.”
    “I want to change that. I don’t want you