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Carter laughs and shakes his head. “I swear, Minx. I didn’t do anything,” he says. I look at him through narrowed eyes and hand him the glass.
“You drink half,” I order. Carter shrugs and empties half the glass in one go before handing it back to me.
I sip my orange juice in silence while Carter devours his breakfast, offering me a bite or two every once in a while. Eventually Kate comes storming into the kitchen. She looks surprised to find me here already, and I wonder if I’m being slightly suspicious.
“You’re here,” she says, glancing at the clock. It’s only eleven, and on weekends I usually don’t come over until one. I nod and move away from Carter to sit next to her instead. I see him frown from my peripheral vision but thankfully he doesn’t say anything.
“I was thinking of hanging at the shopping center today. I wanted to buy a new dress for my birthday. Maybe we can go to Starbucks too?”
I nod, already imagining the caramel frap I’ll have later. I can’t wait. I’m not a huge fan of shopping, but Kate’s obsessed with it.
“I’ll drive you. I need to drop by the shopping center to grab some sports gear anyway,” Carter says. Kate freezes and looks at him with furrowed brows before nodding slowly. She then looks at me, and my heart hammers in my chest. I have a feeling she might be onto us, and it terrifies me. Carter and I aren’t dating. We aren’t really anything, but our lips are definitely too intimately acquainted. Other parts of our bodies, too. I know we’ve already taken things too far, and I feel incredibly conflicted about it. I’m racked with guilt, but I also can’t stay away from him. It’s like he’s the air I need to breathe, and even though I try to resist, I feel like I’m not truly alive unless I’m with him.
I’m nervous as we make our way to Carter’s car and linger behind purposely so that Kate ends up in the backseat. I open the passenger door and she frowns at me.
“What are you doing?” she asks. I look at her in confusion and she throws me an annoyed stare. “Carter said the whole rule about one of us sitting in the front is out the window, right? Why would you sit in the front?”
I glance at Carter, and he looks as exasperated as I feel. He grits his teeth and is about to turn around to look at her, but I shake my head subtly to tell him to keep quiet. I sit down next to Kate and she smiles at me. Something is off, though. Her smile is somewhat calculative, and I’m worried she might know something.
Carter parks the car and Kate jumps out almost immediately. She pulls me along and waves at Carter. “Thanks, bro,” she shouts. “We’ll text you later to see if you’re near so we can hitch a ride home.”
Carter looks startled, and it’s obvious he was planning on spending some time with us, or with me, maybe. He nods at her and sighs before walking off in the opposite direction.
“That’s nice of him, to drop us off,” she says as she hooks her arm through mine. I nod, scared to reply too strongly. She seems on edge somehow.
“Don’t you think?” she adds. I nod again.
“Yeah, I guess.”
Kate laughs humorlessly. “I guess you’re used to it. When you’re around, he always drops us off. When I was with Gabby, he’d straight up refuse.”
Her words grate on me and I can’t help but want to stand up for Carter. “That has more to do with Gabby than it does with me. I’m not all over him like she always was.”
Kate looks at me with raised brows and an unamused smile. “Aren’t you?” she says. I bite down on my lip and shake my head. I’m unable to deny it vocally — I’m unable to lie straight to her face. Just a week ago I was touching Carter in places I shouldn’t have been. Just a week ago I was lying underneath him, and just this morning his lips were locked with mine.
“Yeah, you wouldn’t. You promised, after all. Our friendship would be over if you ever broke your word. I’m sorry, I know you’re not Gabby. I’m just thinking too much.”
I gulp and nod at her, trying my best to smile. I know Kate well enough to know this is a thinly veiled threat. I’d never risk my friendship with her or my relationship with Helen, which means I’ll have to work harder at letting go of Carter before it’s too late.
Chapter 30
Emilia
“Ugh, I totally failed calculus again,” I mutter. Kate loops her arm through mine and shakes her head.
“Let’s just wait for the results because you say this every time and you usually do really well.”
I shake my head and pout. “Not when it’s calculus.”
No matter how hard I try, I’m barely scraping by. Kate drags me to the picnic benches behind school and I follow listlessly. She stops all of a sudden and stares at one of the tables with such fascination that I can’t help but follow her gaze. I’m surprised when I find Asher at the receiving end of her interest. He and Carter are sitting at a table scattered with papers. I can tell from the way Carter grits his teeth he’s frustrated, so they’re probably working on their college essays. He’s incredible with scientific subjects, but he absolutely hates anything for which there is no one correct answer. Creative writing and essays are his nemesis and he’ll usually have his mom and me read over his essays multiple times before he’ll submit them. He looks ridiculously cute and my heart skips a beat as I try to drag my eyes away from him. I glance back at Kate, but thankfully she’s still too focused on Asher to have noticed my little slip.
“You like him,” I say. Her head whips towards me and she looks at me with wide eyes. “You like Asher, don’t you?”
Kate shakes her head. She looks conflicted and guilty as she looks away, unable to hold my gaze.
“You know I won’t tell Carter, right?” I say, my voice soft and kind. She looks up at me pleadingly and I can see internal torment flashing through her eyes. For a second she looks devastated.
“I know, Milly. I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to keep it from you or anything… I just didn’t know how to bring it up.”
