time : during the dry bit of the day when everyone’s bored shitless.
description : charlene paints jude’s nails and honestly when i’m on my death bed and they ask me what my regrets in life are it will be never getting the time to finish this thread.
featuring : charlene / @guttcd
𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐬
"kay, so should we paint them black or do you wanna look at all of the colors i have?" she's holding jude's hand with one of her own, while the other is working on buffing his nails with a light purple block. "i'm like, pretty good at nail art too. i could do a little smiley face or a lighting bolt if you're feeling fancy." how did they get here? probably jude picking at a hangnail and charlene offering to help by dragging him into a full on manicure session.
𝗷𝘂𝗱𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗽𝘀𝗲𝘆.
jude's never been a guy so insecure in his masculinity that he couldn't wear nail varnish. he's grown up with two sisters, he was one of the first in his secondary school to spearhead the earring movement ( "that's gay, bro" "nah, it's only gay if it's in the right ear, bro" ) and he's always been willing to let a girl guinnea pig him about a bit if it means they'll give him attention. "man, that sounds so cool. can you do like, checkerboards and shit? a little acid house smiley would tight as fuck, though."
𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐬
she looks up from his hands to flash him a grin, pointing at him with the buffer in her hand. “you got it, babe. that’s so you. stick with me and you’re gonna be like, the e-boy of this generation.” cue the the snap and point gesture “you have nice nail beds so I could probably fit in a flame or write down ‘fck’ on one middle finger and ‘off’ on the other. flip people off in style!” she feels like jude would be into that.
𝗷𝘂𝗱𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗽𝘀𝗲𝘆.
charlene's the best. if someone doesn't snap charlene up, maybe jude will. as if she'd even let him. "okay, i've got five fingers, so how about, flame on the thumb, 'f' 'c' 'k' across the middle ones, acid smiley on the pinkie finger, same on the other but with 'o' 'f' 'f', y'know?" for a moment, he snaps his hands away, stretching out his fingers. "can i do anything to help or whatever, or you just want me to sit looking pretty?"
𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐬
ever since there first interaction, charlene has developed a weird sort of affection for jude. he was crass and kind of a prick and yet in the same breath... was also kind of a sweetheart? it's equal parts confusing and enticing. "hell yeah, you're gonna have the best nails in the villa. aside from my own of course." she wiggles her fingers, showing up her sparkly nail polish with a playful grin. "you can sit there and look pretty but if you want time to pass by faster you should totally tell me about you! hometown, how do you like it? siblings, you got any? favorite foods, you into spicy or more of a sweet tooth kind of guy?" she doesn't reach for his hand when he moves it way, but she keeps hers in position, closing and opening repeatedly in a 'gimme gimme' type of way.
𝗷𝘂𝗱𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗽𝘀𝗲𝘆.
jude narrows his eyes at charlene’s nails, taking one of her hands in his and turning it over in his much larger one to examine each fingernail in turn. “yeah, they’re pretty fuckin’ good, actually. you could like… put this shit on tiktok. they love that crap.” by they, he means gen-z freaks like his sister siobhan. she’s running his socials right now, had practically jumped at the opportunity to do so. probably coming up with some bare funny captions, too. charlene pinches the air, and jude offers his hands, palms down, suddenly aware of how large and stumpy and coarse his fingers must seem. “feel like i’m at the hairdressers. uh… okay. grew up in rochdale. it’s like, a suburb of greater manchester. it’s kinda fine, but actual manchester’s the tits. i love it, would live there forever if i could. i’ve got two half-sisters, aoife and claire, both older, one younger sister, siobhan. think i have a half-brother somewhere but i’ve never met him. siobhan’s my favourite person in the world, probably. uh… i like spicy shit. i used to do those hot ones challenges for shits and gigs. don’t have a sweet tooth. i like cats over dogs. i’m a sagittarius, if you’re into that?” that feels like the most he’s spoken in one go on the show, except from trying to cover up his jenny mess last night with romi. not that it was even a mess—he helped her make drinks. no need to deep it. “what about you? tell me the fuckin’ charlene story… do you have any weird pets? phobias? you seem like the type to either have tarantulas as pets or be deathly afraid of them.”
𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐬
Always overjoyed to her a compliment, Charlene can’t stop herself from beaming at Jude. “Thank you so much! Maybe — I’m a total novice at it compared to some of my other friends. I have a friend who does celebrity nails, she goes crazy with it.” The moment she takes Jude’s hand back, she continues to work on buffing the shine out of his nail beds, eyes focusing on their hands. “You like the city then? Why don’t you live in actual Manchester.” The mention of Jude’s siblings brings Charlene to stop what she’s doing enough to look at him with a pouted lip. “Aaaaaw! That’s cool! I wish I had siblings. So you’re closest with your your youngest sibling? Are you the protective older brother type?” An impressed whistle escapes her then and she lowers her gaze to focus back on her handiwork. “Shit, Jude. Those hot one challenges are no freaking joke. Maybe after this you can get bag an hot wing interview guy. You’re into film, right? So you have any pets? Oh — Fire sign. I should have known. You totally have some spunk to you” Done with buffing nails, Charlene takes a moment to look into one of her bags as she speaks. “My story? Nothing super exciting honestly. Born in New Orleans but Ive been in New York for most of my life. Raised by my grandma and grandpa. Taught me everything I know about music. Did a couple of shit jobs after high school before landing my current gig at the lounge I work at. I hate falling asleep in cars cus I have an irrational fear of the door opening and me flying out. I kind of hate sleeping in the dark. No pets – I live in one of those shitty dorm style studios. Barely enough room for me in there.” She pulls out a curve pusher, using it to point at Jude. “Tarantulas are cute and fuzzy! I like them, but I would rather die than look at a centipede. No siblings. I like spicy food and sweet food. I think I’m more of a dog person but both are super cute. I’m an Aquarius. What are your phobias? Got any irrational ones?”
