AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“So who are you taking to prom?” I ask. I’m sure he’s going. Logan’s going with Michelle, a girl he’s been seeing recently. And Carter wouldn’t miss an opportunity to get a girl in his bed, or more likely my bed, while I end up sleeping on the couch.
He shrugs. “Haven’t decided yet.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Every girl you asked so far has turned you down,” I joke even though I know it isn’t true. No girl in our high school would turn down Carter. He’s far too good looking. No one can resist his charming smile. When he wants someone, he gets them.
“Don’t say yes to Mark,” he says.
I frown. “Don’t start that again.”
He fingers trace across my forearm as tiny goosebumps raise up and down my arm.
I pull my arm away and try to change the subject.
“What are you going to tell your teachers tomorrow when you come in with a black eye?” I ask.
He shrugs. “I’ll come up with something.”
“I have some makeup you can use. It’s not the best but it might help.”
He looks at me as a slow smile creeps up his face. “Do your worst.”
I jump up and run to my bedroom to grab my small bag of makeup before walking back to Logan’s bedroom. I feel the strange flutters in my stomach again as I take a seat next to Carter again. Logan is back on the bed drinking another beer, and Carter sets his down next to him as he looks at me.
I pull out my concealer and foundation and begin applying it around his eyes over the red and purple bruise that has formed on his face. I try to focus on the bruise instead of on his eyes but it’s difficult when he’s staring at me so intently. I’ve never seen him look at me this way.
I swallow hard and put down the makeup brush. “There, much better.”
He doesn’t respond or ask to look at himself in the mirror. I’ll have to apply more in the morning, but I think it will work well enough that most people won’t notice.
He reaches forward and tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. My heart stops, along with my breathing, and every other cell in my body. I don’t know what that was. But it felt like something I never expected to feel from him. It felt like he cared. Like adoration. Maybe even more.
“You’re beautiful, Tori,” he says so quietly that I’m not sure I even heard him say it.
But his words are what I play over and over in my head as I fall asleep. They are what I think about when I decide to wait to call Mark and tell him I’ll go to prom with him. They are what make me think that Carter wants to go to prom with me.
My heart races in my chest as Logan drives the three of us to school the next morning. Butterflies flip in my stomach throughout the day, until they become giant piranhas eating up my insides with nerves as the day ends and I know that I will see Carter again.
He’s driven me crazy my whole life, but deep down I’ve always felt something for him. I’ve always wished that when he was with the other girls, it was me he was kissing instead. I just never thought he would feel the same way about me. I never thought he would call me beautiful. I never thought he’d choose me.
I’ve been avoiding Mark all day, but as the school day comes to a close there’s no way for me to avoid him. He walks up to my locker just like he did the day before. Except this time, he barely looks at me and doesn’t smile at me when I look at him.
I bite my lip trying to decide what I should do. Mark is great. He’s been nothing but nice to me, but Carter…Carter brings me alive like nothing I’ve ever felt before.
I glance past Mark, and see Carter walking down the hallway to me.
‘No’ he mouths to me while nodding toward Mark.
I know he wants me to tell Mark no. I’m just not sure why.
I look at Mark and say words I never thought I’d say to him, “I’m sorry Mark, someone else already asked me to prom.”
“Oh, okay Victoria. I’ll see you around then.” His eyes widen a little and then he walks away in shock.
I smile brightly at Carter who is walking toward me. This is it. He’s going to ask me now that I turned Mark down.
He keeps walking toward me when a blonde woman grabs onto his waist. He stops and smiles at her before he leans down and kisses her on the lips.
My mouth drops open at what I’m seeing. How could I be so stupid to think that Carter would ask me to prom?
