Part 14 (1/2)
Amy could come back any minute.
It'll only take a minute.
That doesn't sound fun for me.
That was when the phone rang, and I answered it to the sound of Carter laughing. ”You really won't let me come say goodnight?”
”You're incorrigible.”
”No, you're beautiful, and I haven't seen you all day.”
I was also an easy mark. I sighed. And smiled, but he couldn't see that part. ”Fine. But I'll meet you outside. Under the tree in half an hour.”
When I came out of the bathroom after my shower, he was lying on my bed, grinning exactly like the Ches.h.i.+re Cat. I'd have screamed, but I was only moderately surprised to see him.
”You really are incorrigible,” I said as I pulled the towel off my head. My hair fell down with a heavy thunk, dampening the back and shoulders of my robe.
His grin didn't diminish a bit. ”And you,” he said, ”are late.” He tapped my alarm clock, which of course read more than half an hour after I told him to meet me. c.r.a.p. ”Plus it's freezing out, and your hair is wet.”
The great, and not so great, depending on the day, thing about dating Carter was he could easily sneak in with no help from me. Our quirky old building featured a beautiful window conveniently placed in the first floor landing of the back stairwell. It was locked, of course, as was my door, but that was a minor impediment to most Thought Movers, and none at all to Carter. Once he'd seen the locks, he could get in without opening any doors that would either set off the fire alarm or require him to pa.s.s Ms. Kim's apartment.
Now that he was here, it wasn't like I was disappointed to see him. I laid down next to him and snuggled into his open arms. ”Thank you for thinking about me.”
”I'm always thinking about you.”
MORE THAN A minute later, as he played with my hair that was drying in tangles, Carter said, ”So, when are you going to ask me?”
”To go home? I didn't exactly invite you in the first place.”
”You were late on purpose,” he said and tickled my nose with one of my tangles.
”You're delusional.”
”You could have kicked me out,” he countered.
With a p.r.o.nounced sigh, I elbowed him in the ribs and got up to fix the mess on my head he was only making worse. ”When am I going to ask you...?”
”To the Winter Ball.”
My hands stilled in their brus.h.i.+ng. The Winter Ball. The Winter Debacle, as I thought of it. I didn't exactly have fond memories of it. This year, it had the added bonus of being held on my birthday. I didn't want to go.
”Who said I was going to?” I joked, except I wasn't joking.
He tipped his head to the side, as if he knew I wasn't playing around. ”You had another date in mind?”
”Yes.” I told him the truth. ”None.”
He stood then, turning his perfect bare back and, well, everything to me while looking for various pieces of clothing, and I lost all cognitive abilities. ”...stag? I'll miss wearing the tux, but okay.”
I shook my head. ”Wait, what? No.” He was mostly dressed and I was thinking again. ”You think I'd go without you? I meant I don't want to go at all.”
He looked up from tying his shoes. ”Seriously?”
”Seriously.”
”It's your senior year. And your birthday. You should go. We should go.”
”So all I can do the whole time is think about last year? No thanks. Ugh!” I concluded, pulling too hard on my brush.
Carter came and sat on the ottoman across from the divan, where I was fighting with my hair. And, really, my feelings. ”Hey.” He gently removed the brush from my hands and held them. ”It's not last year. That's all in the past.”
True. ”But what about the future?” I wasn't sure what came over me, but every one of my worries, from the real to the insignificant, poured out of me. ”Everything just feels so messed up. Amy and Caleb fighting, and I'm afraid she's not going to get elected to the court this year but I will, and I still can't see what's going to happen with you and me, and I'll still be wearing this ugly thing.” I held up my cast, another thing making my life more difficult than it should have been. ”And I don't even have a dress-”
Carter leaned forward and kissed me, stopping any other complaints I might have come up with. Kisses had their own language, and this one said shhhh. Relax it told me, and I'm here. It spoke to my heart, rather than other places, and my heart thumped in response. When he pulled back, I took a deep breath and let it out slowly while I tipped my head against his chest. He scooped me onto his lap and held me even closer. It would have made more sense to sit on the couch, where I'd been, but still. It was nice.
”Nothing's going to happen to you, remember?” he whispered, hugging me so tightly I almost felt safe.
”You don't know that,” I whispered back.
”I do know,” he said. ”Because you do too. What you saw once, fate realized wasn't for us.” We sat together like that until my tension of moments ago started to ebb.
”As for the rest of it,” Carter went on, ”you can't fix Amy and Caleb's problems. They have to do that.” When I started to interrupt, he stopped me, lightly kissing my forehead. ”Just listen, okay? Turn off the worry machine for a few minutes. Next, who cares who gets elected to the court? You've both already been nominated and you can't do anything more now. Besides, you'll probably be Queen, not just on the court.”
G.o.d I hoped not. Alexis already hated me enough. ”That's not helping.”
”But it's true. I mean, my girlfriend's going to be prom queen. How sweet is that?”
”Not if I don't go.”
”You can wear a dress you already have and we'll get some sparkles or something for your cast.” He knocked on it for emphasis. ”No one cares about that.”
”I'm not the kind of girl who bedazzles her cast. The purple is bad enough.” I kind of hated whoever let that happen. I a.s.sumed it had been the doctor or a nurse who chose it, thinking I'd like it, but I a little bit suspected it was Carter, who thought it would be funny. Short of coloring it entirely black, I got my aunt to do some art on it with a black Sharpie after I'd gotten to Mexico.
Carter snickered. ”Fine. I'll get you a corsage that covers it.”
”I'm not the kind of girl who wears wrist corsages either.”
”No. You're the kind of girl who has to make everything difficult.”
He tickled me then, and I shoved him, and about when we fell off the ottoman is when Amy opened the door.
”OH, G.o.d.” She shut it quickly behind her. ”Seriously? And why can't Penrose be the one wearing a robe that's showing, like, everything.”
We got up, Carter laughing, and me hiding my blus.h.i.+ng face behind his shoulder. ”Hey,” I squeaked. I cleared my throat. ”Hey. You're back kind of early.”
”I'm not, really.” She dropped her bag by her desk and went about getting ready for bed like Carter wasn't even there. ”You just obviously haven't looked at a clock in a while.” She ducked into the bathroom while I did what I obviously hadn't done in a while. She was right. It was later than I realized. ”And also,” she continued, voice floating out the open door, ”you could have texted. Or put out the ribbon you insisted we needed.”