“What the hell is going on? I thought you two talked things out?” Gabi wants to know.
Riley’s eyebrows shoot up all the way to her hairline. “We talked things out?” She crosses her arms and looks at Charlotte challengingly. “What exactly did we have to talk about? And to what final conclusion did we come? Just remind me please, because I don’t think I was there for it.”
Charlotte mimics Riley’s posture, their sculptures now forgotten.
“The… incident that happened last month,” she hisses through her teeth. “Has been taken care of, per my last text message.” She hopes it’s clear enough for Riley to understand, and vague enough to leave Lou and Gabi in the dark.
“Right…” Riley draws out the word, as if she’s slowly starting to understand. “Right.” She nods, then shakes her head and looks away.
Wait; is that hurt? No, she’s not dealing with that right now, she has to move on quickly.
“It doesn’t matter, really,” Charlotte tries to dismiss the situation with a wave of her hand. “It’s all water under the bridge.”
Riley scoffs. “The water under your bridge is denial, which happens to be a river in Egypt.”
Charlotte’s world stops spinning as Lou lets out a low, impressed whistle, accompanied by Gabi’s drawn out“dang”.
“Aren’t you supposed to be on my side?!” Charlotte accuses Gabi, but before she can respond they’re all shaken up by Riley getting out of her seat and leaving the room.
As Lou excuses herself to go after her, Gabi says: “I’m sorry, but she won that one.”
“I don’t wanna hear it,” Charlotte says, holding up a defensive hand.
“But I do. What the hell is ‘the incident’ you keep talking about?”
Realizing she’s not getting away with it this time, Charlotte decides to throw all her cards on the table, just to get it over with.
“Fine. Yes, you were right. We kissed. I texted her to let her know it was a one time thing, obviously, and now she’s like this. She can’t stand being rejected.”
Gabi laughs derisively. “I’m sorry, but I don’t buy it. For you to have pissed off Riley this bad? There’s more to this.”
“There really isn’t, she’s playing the damn victim! It’s not my fault she can’t deal with the honesty in my text—”
“Charlie.” Gabi’sdont fuck with me-stare is back, and she holds up her hand. Well, shit. “Charlotte. The text message please.”
She rolls her eyes and takes her phone out of her back pocket, placing it in Gabi’s empty hand. “Go nuts.”
“Code?”
“1234.”
“You’re a walking catastrophe.”
“Fuck you.”
A long moment of silence follows while Gabi pulls up the text and reads it. Her eyes skim over the words as a cloud of disappointment casts over her face. She doesn’t even say anything when she puts the phone down on the table and presses her palms into her eyes, needing a moment to find the right words to cuss out her friend.
“Final verdict?” Charlotte asks impatiently, expecting Gabi to confirm that Riley had been overreacting.
Gabi takes Charlotte’s sculpted penis off the table and points it at her.
“You are an ignorant dick and you totally had this coming.”
5
When Riley eventually returns, Charlotte has turned into a master of silence. Apparently she’d done something wrong, if it even has pissed off Gabi on Riley’s behalf. Now is really not the time to get into it, so she sticks to herself for the time being.
Nearing the end of the workshop, Rita instructs them all to carve their initials on the bottom of their work, so they are identifiable when removed from the kiln. She explains that the hardening process takes about a week and their finished projects can be retrieved next weekend; Riley offers to collect them.
