SF Chapter 138: Prudence
A few days passed, and Christmas was approaching.
Charlie was sleeping peacefully in his room. Lisa had gone to her parents' house yesterday and would only be back this afternoon.
He was suddenly jolted awake.
"Berta?" he asked groggily.
"No, it's Liz Hurley - but I'm holding water," Berta replied dryly.
Charlie complained, "I'm still sleeping here. Could you come back in a little while?"
He tried to pull the covers back over himself.
"I could, or you could get your pampered ass out of bed," Berta said, yanking the blanket off and tossing it into the laundry basket.
"And let me do my demeaning job and get on with my hellish life."
"Although very well paid. Thanks to your brother," she pointed out. "And a lot better now, since Lisa came over."
"Excuse me, but I'll get up when I'm good and ready," Charlie said, but she pulled the sheet away.
He stared at her for a moment, then got up and headed to the bathroom. "Sorry I had to pull rank on you."
But then he complained again from inside the bathroom. "Berta, for God's sake!"
"Hey, do you want clean towels?"
"But I'm trying to do something here."
"So do it."
"Well, I can't do it now."
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Charlie and Berta were walking down the stairs that led to his bedroom.
"Is something wrong?" he asked. "I mean, beyond the usual demeaning-job, hellish-life stuff?"
"Do you really want to know?"
"No, but I'm up and my bed's gone," Charlie gestured toward his room, referring to the fact that his bed no longer had sheets or pillowcases.
"Okay. So I told you about my granddaughter, right?" Berta turned to him.
"The one who's in Europe? Because she lost her V-card to some dumb punk? And then got sent to an all-girls school?"
"Seems like a story you would relate to - you still remember it," she jabbed, making him glare at her.
Berta went on, as they headed to the kitchen, "She came to visit me, and she's driving me nuts!"
As soon as they got to the kitchen, Alan was holding a coffee filter.
"Hey, Berta. Morning. You know I hate to criticize, but the coffee filters you've been buying have chemicals in them."
But seeing his brother signal him - danger - Alan quickly added, "And I love it!"
"What's wrong with her?" he whispered as Charlie stepped closer.
"Apparently, her granddaughter showed up."
Then a very beautiful, hot young girl walked into the kitchen. "Hey, Grandma, where do I put this?" she asked, holding a cleaning product.
"Prudence, what are you wearing?" Berta scoffed.
"It's almost Christmas, Nana," Prudence said nonchalantly. She was wearing a nice - though slightly sexy - Christmas outfit.
"Oh, hello," she waved at Alan and Charlie.
"Oh boy," "Oh, hell," the two muttered together, already sensing trouble.
"Prudence," Berta warned.
The brunette girl looked at her innocently.
"Don't worry, Grandma," Prudence said, glancing briefly at Charlie, "I don't have daddy issues."
Then she glanced at Alan. "Nor do I have bad taste," she muttered, but everyone heard it.
Charlie burst out laughing, while Alan shot her a glare.
"So," Prudence continued, making conversation, "Nana told me the place she works has three men - a drunken whoremonger, a leech who doesn't pay any bills, and a third one she refuses to say anything about."
"I'm trying to figure out which one is which," she muttered, looking between them - though she clearly already had an idea.
Charlie and Alan now shot Berta a glare.
"What? He pays me very well, and I don't want trouble with your mother and her lawyers," Berta said, simply defending why she hadn't said anything about Dani.
As for the rest, she didn't see any problem at all.
"Don't worry, I'm calling him right now," Charlie remarked, dialing his brother.
[Alan and Charlie commentary]
"I am not a leech!" Alan stated, annoyed. "I'm taking my time to find a nice place where I can live."
"And Lisa was okay with it," he added.
Charlie was just looking at his brother out of the corner of his eye.
"Prudence is the worst kind of trouble right now," Charlie commented.
"First, she's a minor. That alone is a no-go. Absolute rule. She's beautiful, but so am I - and in prison, that's a big problem."
"Second, even if she were of age, she's Berta's granddaughter."
"And finally, of course, I'm engaged to Lisa," he finished.
But then Charlie tried to remember something.
"What?" Alan asked.
"I feel like I've heard the name Prudence somewhere before, but I can't remember where," he spoke, still trying to recall.
"Eh, must be nothing," Charlie said with a shrug.
[Commentary ends]
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Meanwhile, a little earlier, Dani was having breakfast with Lexi at his house. Mischa had gone to spend two weeks at her grandparents' house.
"So your family is only arriving on the 25th early in the morning to spend Christmas with you?" Dani asked.
Lexi nodded. "Yes."
"Hey, you can spend Christmas Eve with my family," Dani proposed, "it'll be here, at this house."
"I managed to convince everyone, since this will be the first time here."
Lexi looked at him for a moment. "Okay."
Dani stepped closer and kissed her, the two of them lingering like that for a while.
When they finally pulled apart, he grinned and started singing in a Christmasy rhythm.
♫♪ Pulling down her pants
Yanking off my own
Underneath the mistletoe
I'll make her moan
Oh, Lexi hot! Lexi hot!
We'll go all the way!
On Christmas Eve!
We'll go all the way! ♫♪
He opened his arms for a hug, but what he got instead was a punch to the stomach.
"Ouch. Still worth it," he joked.
But then his phone rang. "Oh, hey, bro," Dani said when he saw it was Charlie calling.
"To go over there?" he repeated. "Okay!"
Dani hung up and turned to Lexi. "I'm gonna swing by my brother's place, see what kind of help he needs."
"The Bro call is the most important thing," he added. "Only Lexi's booty call is on par!"
She deadpanned, "I don't do booty calls."
"Yeah, you come here and provoke me," Dani shot back. "That sneaky little squat. That hand... oops, slipped, that sexy red lingerie-"
"Do you want another punch?" she warned.
"No," he said, kissing her on the lips, "I'll be back soon."
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"Hello, bro, I'm here to help," Dani said as he opened the door, sounding upbeat.
Charlie and Alan were sitting on the couch and turned to look at him.
But the first person to speak was Prudence, who was playing the piano. "Dani?" she said in surprise.
Dani's eyes widened. "Prudence?!"
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