Chapter Text
Shauna remembers the exact moment when Lottie, her daughter’s new friend, came into her life.
Callie had started using her as an excuse to go out. Shauna was right not to trust her daughter’s idiot boyfriend to look after her, so whenever she pulled the “Lottie, my twenty-year-old friend, is coming with us” card, she had no arguments left for being overprotective.
Charlotte Matthews stood out among Callie's group of friends. Not only because she was the only charismatic one, but because the look of disapproval always on her face whenever a teenager acted like... well, a teenager.
She was the only one who greeted Shauna properly—none of that fist-bump or “Mrs. S.” nonsense, just a polite "hello" and a handshake. Simple.
Shauna appreciated how things were between them before Lottie started getting closer with other intentions.
It started one time when Lottie had stopped by to pick Callie up. Her daughter was getting ready, so Shauna answered the door.
“Hi, Charlotte.” The sweetness Shauna had practiced so much came naturally around her.
Lottie smiled warmly at her and leaned in as if to kiss her on the cheek. Shauna was surprised when, instead, she felt her… sniff her.
Shauna swears it was a moment of weakness, and she knows it probably wasn’t the most romantic thing to do, but let’s just say she returned the gesture.
She couldn’t help it.
They had never been that close before.
Her expensive perfume smelled like someone else’s.
“I’m pretty sure you can call me Lottie now,” she said as she pulled away, laughing with flushed cheeks.
Shauna doesn’t really remember what she answered, and she truly hopes she managed to keep a poker face, because she does remember the feeling it left in her body.
Something she would rather leave unnamed.
Something she thought she had buried along with her maiden name.
She would be lying if she said she didn’t start treating Lottie coldly after that.
With every visit Lottie made to see her daughter and use as an excuse to get closer, Shauna grew more irritable.
Maybe that’s why, the moment she confirmed her suspicions about her husband’s infidelity, she started an affair with someone younger.
The guy she got into a fender bender with.
But neither a husband nor a lover seemed capable of keeping Lottie away.