Stripped Bare – Chapter 7

Summary: Charlie faces the aftermath of her overconsumption, and she and Brycee attend the first daily physical activity with the group.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Charlie opens her eyes to unfamiliar surroundings but quickly orients herself. She wonders if that noise means the pounding pain in her head is actually loud enough to hear, but then it happens again, and Bryce calls out from the other side of the door.

“Charlie, are you awake? We have less than an hour before we need to leave, so I thought you might want some time to get ready.”

“I am now! Thank you.” Charlie glances at her phone and sees the time is 9:07am. “Shit!” She curses under breath. Apparently she was too indisposed last night to set an alarm.

“Okay, good. I brought you some breakfast if you want it…and coffee.” Bryce adds.

“I’ll be out in a minute.” Charlie stumbles groggily into the bathroom, checking herself out in the mirror, and she is a hot mess. She splashes some cold water on her face, and wipes off her smudged mascara with a washcloth. He hair is looking quite medusa-esque, so she tames it as best she can and throws it back in a messy bun.

Her eyes drift down her body for the first time, and snippets of her memories from last night come trickling back. She remembers Bryce handing her the pajamas but she doesn’t know how she got them on. She rewinds further and cringes hard. If she remembers correctly, she freely stripped down to her underwear without caring that Bryce was right there. This was after he had to carry her because she was so drunk she couldn’t walk straight. And before that she grabbed his ass. “Oh god,” she groans. Good thing she’s paying Bryce because she doesn’t know why he’d want to put up with her otherwise.

Although Bryce has seen much more of her already, Charlie is feeling much more modest in the sober light of day. She throws on her bathrobe and heads out to face Bryce. She sheepishly steps through the door, and Bryce looks up at her with a smile.

“Good morning. Looks like you slept well.”

Charlie self-consciously tucks an unruly curl behind her ear. “Yeah…I passed out pretty hard. I’m sorry. I was probably so obnoxious.”

“Nah. I kinda like seeing that uninhibited side of you. You’ve been so…” He pauses like hes searching for just the right word.

“Uptight?” Charlie chuckles and Bryce follows.

“I was going to say something more like stressed out, but hopefully you can relax more now. We made it here and Katelyn was definitely impressed by me and my charming self.

“Yeah, I noticed.” Charlie huffs and rolls her eyes.

Bryce smirks. “Are you jealous?”

“What? No…It’s just very distasteful for her to be blatantly flirting with you in front of her soon-to-be husband.”

“Mmm-hmm. Sure.”

“Anyway,” Charlie starts, desperate to change the subject, “how did you sleep last night?”

“I hate to complain about a place as nice as this, but that sleeper sofa is pretty terrible. I feel like an eighty year old man this morning.” Bryce massages the back of his neck.

“I’m sorry. Maybe we can switch tonight,” Charlie offers.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll survive, but you won’t if you don’t get some sustenance in you. Here, eat before it gets cold.” Bryce hands her a wrapped breakfast sandwich and a cup of coffee, along with a packet of ibuprofen. “Caffeine, greasy, carb-rich food, and NSAIDs should have you feeling human again in no time.”

In her zombie-like state, it barely registers that he uses the technical term for the pain meds. He’s into sports and physical activity she reasons that he’s probably had some injuries before and knows because of that. Maybe he’s trying show her that he can pull off pretending to be a doctor. Whatever the case, she’s just focused on getting herself to a functioning state.

Charlie takes a sip of the coffee, and it tastes just right. “Mmm. How did you guess how I like my coffee?”

“I took a wild guess based on what I know of you. Classic, sophisticated, and just sweet enough. Two sugars and no cream, right?”

Charlie laughs. “You are spot on with the coffee, but after last night, I’m surprised you still think that about me. You really are the best Bryce. I’m not sure I’m paying you enough.”

Bryce’s smile falters momentarily. “You’ve got to stop selling yourself short, Charlie. You are great, and this doesn’t feel like work at all, even if I have keep you from falling on your face every once in awhile.”

“Oh, god, don’t remind me.” Charlie buries her face in her hands. “I’m never drinking again… Well maybe not never, but what happened last night is not happening again on this trip.”

Bryce chuckles. “If you say so. Are you ready to get your tennis game on?”

“Ugh, no.” Katelyn had scheduled some type of physical activity every morning, like she’d never heard of sleeping in. “I hope you know how to play, because I’m going to be dead weight.”

“I’ve never officially played, but I know the basics. Something tells me you know all the rules though.”

“And why is that?” Charlie questions.

“Tennis is a rich person sport. I figured you all played.”

Charlie narrows her eyes, offended by his assumption, but in her case he’s not wrong. “You know that’s just a stereotype… but in my case yes I did play tennis. I started when I was six and played all the way through high school. I went to state twice.”

Bryce cracks a smile. “I actually knew that. I checked you out on the internet, remember? But I’m sorry for being kind of an asshole about it. I had a lot of preconceived ideas about you that have proven far from true already. You’d think I’d know better when people often do the same to me.”

He’s right because she’d made some of the same types of assumptions about him, so she’s in no position to judge. “It’s fine Bryce. As you may have noticed with Katelyn, those stereotypes sometimes hold true.”

“She’s definitely something,” Bryce notes and they both laugh.

Charlie finishes her sandwich and drains her coffee. “Oh! I almost forgot.” She runs into her bedroom and grabs a folded outfit for Bryce. “I have the mandatory uniform Katelyn made us order. Each team has coordinating outfits.”

Bryce holds up his bright pink polo and white shorts. “Not my usual style, but you know I can rock any outfit.”

Charlie bites her bottom lip to hold back a smile. “Of course you would say that. I actually think she assigned us pink because I used to hate it when we were kids, but the joke is on her, because I love it now.”

“That’s the attitude I like to see. Now go get ready so we don’t get another tardy added to the list.”

Charlie starts to walk away, but another thought pops into her mind. “So… I remember you getting these pajamas for me, but I don’t remember putting them on.”

“That’s because I sort of had to put them on for you,” Bryce admits. “You were pretty far gone by that point.”

Charlie winces and groans internally. “Like I said, I’m never getting that drunk again.”

~~~

It’s only ten in the morning, but the sun is already burning bright, heat radiating off the court surface. Charlie’s not in top form by any means, but after Bryce’s hangover cure combo and roughly a gallon of water, she’s not feeling half bad. Landry’s brother Vance and his pregnant wife Stephanie had bowed out of this event, leaving  and even eight couples. Poor Kyra, being the only single bridesmaid, is paired up with Bob. Charlie almost feels guilty, since that would have been her, but then she looks over at Bryce and has no regrets. As awkward and embarrassing as she has made things at times, she’s already having a much better time on this trip with him than she would have without him.

Katelyn announces the pairings, and predictably, she and Bryce are paired with Landry and Katelyn. Katelyn too went to state for tennis at her respective high school, only once, but she won, whereas Charlie never did, and Katelyn will never let her forget it. But Katelyn went for doubles and everyone knows she was the weaker partner, so at least Charlie has that to hang onto. Charlie really wants to beat her today, but she’s not sure she has it in her. Here’s hoping Bryce is as good at tennis as he is at everything else.

“You guys ready to lose?” Katelyn asks cockily as she takes her place, ready to serve the first ball.

Charlie should be paying attention, but with Bryce in front of her towards the net in ready position, angled forward at the hip and knees bent, it’s difficult not to stare at his ass in those short white shorts. From what she remembers, it feels as good as it looks, and she should really not be objectifying him like this, but it’s just right there in front of her face. Before she realizes what’s happening, a ball whizzes past her face and lands in the back corner of the court.

“Yes!” Katelyn runs over to Landry and holds out her hand for him to high five her. “Better pay attention next time, Charlotte.”

“Oh, Katy, that was one serve. You might want to reserve your smacktalk for if you can actually win.” Charlie is fired up now and she is not going to go down without a fight.

Katelyn serves the next ball over which Charlie backhands with a wicked spin over the net. It drops right between Landry and Katelyn and then bounces out.

Bryce looks back with a smirk. “Nice one, Babe.”

The next ball goes back and forth a few times before Bryce smashes it and it hits the court and bounces out before the other pair can ever figure out where it landed. The points go back and forth a few times, with Charlie and Bryce winning the first game and Katelyn and Landry winning the second.

Then it’s Bryce’s turn to serve. Despite his lack of formal instruction, he knows exactly what to do. He serves up ace after ace, he and Charlie winning the game without giving up a point, Katelyn and Landry bickering and becoming more frustrated with each other by the minute.

They break for water, everyone grabbing towels because they are all drenched in sweat. Bryce lifts his polo over his head. “My shirt is soaked.”

“Any excuse to take your clothes off, huh, Lahela?” Charlie teases.

Bryce shrugs. “I work hard for this body. No sense keeping it covered up. You can take your shirt off too if you want.”

“Haha, very funny, but I’m good.”

Charlie looks over to the other side of the court to see both Katelyn and Landry gawking at Bryce, and she smiles smugly. Landry suddenly decides he needs to take his shirt off too, and Katelyn rolls her eyes. His scrawny, pale frame stands in stark contrast to Bryce’s tan, muscular build. Charlie’s really not that shallow when it comes to looks, but the fact that she can see defeat written on Katelyn’s face in regards to this unspoken competition leaves Charlie deeply satisfied.

Landry and Katelyn continue to fall apart as the match goes on, and before long, Charlie is serving the match point. It bounces right at Katelyn’s feet, and hits her in the chin before rolling out of play.

“You did it!” Bryce exclaims, running over to Charlie, picking her up, and spinning her around. Swept up in the moment, Charlie takes Bryce’s face in her hands and gives him a peck on his soft, full lips. His eyes go wide as he sets her down but then a big grin spreads across his face.

Oh my god. That just happened, Charlie panics internally. “Sorry, I-”

“Hey, don’t be sorry. That’s part of the agreement right?” Bryce quietly reassures her. “We have to kiss every once in awhile…for show of course.”

“Right…for show.”