Gage
Carter’s parents were not what I expected at all. I was not going to lie; I thought they would be snooty rich people, like some I had met. Carter was anything but that, but you never know. When her mother greeted me with a hug I was more than surprised, and I couldn’t deny that her hug reminded me of my mother’s. Although her father was just as I expected him to be.
The moment I saw Ashton Miller, I knew he was a man you did not mess with. I recognized him from pictures in magazines, and even a billboard downtown for some advertising he’d done. Almost everyone in New York had heard of the famous CEO of Miller Industries. With the hard look he was giving right now, I knew he was in complete business mode.
Carter was a perfect mix of her parents. Her parents had the same hair, so of course she’d have brown hair. She had her father’s blue eyes, but hers were a lot softer and kinder than her father’s. It was clear that she was a mix of her mother and father’s personalities. She was super quiet, not too outspoken, and didn’t like attention, just like her mother. But I knew from experience Carter could spit fire when she wanted to, just like I knew her father could.
I wasn’t going to lie: when Carter’s father asked to talk to me privately, I started to sweat a little bit. Being alone with Ashton Miller was something I wasn’t quite sure I was ready for. I had no choice, though, so I forced myself to stand up and follow him out of the dining room. I shot Carter an encouraging smile, letting her know I was okay before I was out of view.
Lunch wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, and thanks to Mrs. Miller, we had plenty of light conversation. When Mr. Miller did ask about my family, I hesitated for a second. I hadn’t even told Carter about my mother dying, and that was why I lived with my grandma. It just wasn’t something I shared often, and only a few knew about it. I wanted Carter to know about my life, so I answered truthfully. When I felt her squeeze my hand, I knew I telling the truth was the right thing.
As I followed Mr. Miller, he led me past the entrance of the room, up the stairs, and down the hall. I tried not to think about being alone with this man and focused on staying calm. As long as I was calm, I could answer the questions easily. We entered what looked like a study, and he gestured for me to have a seat across from a big desk. I glanced around as I took a seat and wiped my sweaty hands on my jeans. This was a lot more nerve-wracking than I thought it would be.
“So, Mr. Harper, tell me more about yourself?” Mr. Miller asked as he leaned back in his chair. It was up a little above me, which I knew he did on purpose. I fought bigger guys than him on a daily basis, but he was a scary man. No wonder he was a good business man. Just sitting across from him and having him stare at me, I had to force myself not to squirm in my seat.
“What do you want to know, sir?” I asked, sitting up a little straighter. With a man like this, you couldn’t let him know he has affected you in any way.
“I have heard things about you from my son. I’d like to know if any of that is true.”
“What have you heard?” I didn’t want to accidentally say something he didn’t know about already.
“That you go from girl to girl, and you’re an underground fighter, violent.” I didn’t know what to say at those words. One was correct, but the others weren’t…well, the first was slightly true. I didn’t want Carter to think any of those were really true. She already knew about the fighting, but I didn’t like her hearing any of these dumb-ass rumors about me.
Knowing what Carter’s father thought of me was a big deal, to me and to her. I didn’t know what Mr. Miller would do if he didn’t like me, and I didn’t even want to think about not being able to see Carter anymore. I had to make a good impression.
“I am not going to lie, sir, and say I’ve had the best track record with girls. But I am serious about your daughter,” I said, sitting up straight and looking right at him.
“Are you done being with other girls?” I honestly couldn’t remember the last time I was with a girl. The day after meeting Carter, Dylan and I did go to a party where there were plenty of girls to choose from. But when I started to kiss a girl, something made me stop. Even to this day I was not sure what made me stop, but I did and I left the party. Since then I hadn’t kissed a girl, let alone slept with her. It was like Carter flipped a switch in me; I didn’t have to sleep with every girl I saw.
“No, sir, not since I met Carter on the first of the year,” I said honestly. He sat back studying me, as if he was trying to find out if I was lying. If I wasn’t serious about Carter, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be here right now sitting in his office, meeting her parents. I would definitely not be doing this for someone I didn’t like, that was for sure.
“What about the other stuff my son told me?”
“All false, sir. People like to spread rumors on campus.” Although the underground fighting was true, I was mad about people saying I was violent. Never in a million years would I hit a woman, and only a guy if he were asking for it. I was not a violent person and never would be, especially near Carter.
“Do you plan on ever hurting my daughter?” Mr. Miller narrowed his eyes at me.
“No, sir, at least not intentionally.” I muttered the last part. You never know with girls; you could breathe wrong and they could get mad at you.
“Good, because if you ever hurt my daughter, I will come after you. I know a lot of people in this town, boy.” I gulped at his words. No doubt this man would make good on his word too.
“Noted, sir.” I nodded at him.
“My daughter is smart and knows what she is doing, so I…trust her decision to be with you.” He seemed to make himself say those last words, but it was enough for me relax a little. He didn’t hate me entirely, which was good. “Don’t think I won’t change my mind, though.”
“Wouldn’t expect anything less, sir.”
“I can say that you are better than her slimy ex-boyfriend,” Mr. Miller said suddenly.
“Her ex?” I asked. Carter never said anything about an ex, so I hoped Mr. Miller would talk about it a little more.
“Some kid—I don’t even remember his name—in high school. The moment I laid eyes on him, I knew he was trouble. Never liked the way he dressed or acted, and I just knew he would break Carter’s heart.”
“You let them stay together?” I asked, bewildered. He didn’t seem like the type to let his daughter date someone he hated.
“Thanks to my wife. She kept me from doing anything.” He grunted. “Beware of her and my daughter. They can be crafty when they want to be, and get you to do anything.”
“Sounds about right, Carter is always getting me to do things I normally don’t do,” I commented.
“She takes after her mother, that one.” I watched as a small smile graced his lips. He might seem cruel toward someone he didn’t know, but I did know for a fact he loved Carter and his family more than anything.
We talked back and forth for a few more minutes before Mr. Miller finally stood up. He only asked me a few more questions about my life, and I only hoped my answers were good enough for him. Even if he didn’t like me, that wasn’t going to stop me from going out with his daughter. I liked Carter too much to just stop hanging out with her or seeing her.
“We better get back to the girls before they think we killed one another,” he said, standing up and moving around his desk. I stood up feeling relieved this conversation was over and I could get back to Carter’s side and reassure her I was fine. I was seriously becoming whipped even though we weren’t really together yet.
Before we left the study, Mr. Miller patted my shoulder. He didn’t say a word and opened the door. I stared after him knowing that was his sign of saying he was fine with me. I smiled at that and trailed after him. That was not so bad at least.
When we got back to the kitchen, we entered at the same time Carter and Mrs. Miller did, both of them holding plates and what looked like cinnamon rolls. The moment Carter saw me, I watched as she looked me over to make sure I was okay. She almost seemed like she thought her father would do something terrible to me. I couldn’t help but smile at her concern for me. Having someone worry about me other than Dylan or my grandma was nice.
With my reassuring grin, I could see her relax a little and send me a smile back. While we were having our little moment, Carter’s father immediately went over to his wife and kissed her softly. I held back a laugh at Carter’s scrunched up face; this must be a regular occurrence.
Heading to our seats, I pulled out Carter’s chair as she whispered to me.
“What happened?” she asked quietly, so her parents wouldn’t hear.
“Nothing, it is all good,” I whispered back before taking my own seat.
Carter’s mother dished out these huge cinnamon rolls that looked delicious. If Dylan were here right now, he would be drooling all over the table. They were by far the biggest cinnamon rolls I had ever seen, and they looked amazing.
“Did you make these, Mrs. Miller?” I asked.
“Oh no, I can’t make these. I got them from a bakery downtown.” She sent me a warm smile.
We were all quiet as we dug into our desserts, everyone too excited to eat the cinnamon rolls to allowing for talking. No one said a word for about five minutes; there were a few mmms as we ate. Even in the silence, I felt something sitting here; I wasn’t quite sure what it was, but I didn’t feel awkward being here.
I didn’t really know that much about Carter’s family, but her mother and surprisingly her father made me feel okay to be here. I didn’t feel like I should run for the hills any chance I got. This was our first meeting, so it was bound to be awkward, tense, and have a weird silence, but it wasn’t too bad.
It was weird, but I felt really comfortable here. Looking over at Carter, I felt my chest expand a little. She was smiling and saying something to her mom. Her smile was literally the best thing I had ever seen in my life; I could look at it forever. Just sitting here next to her, I knew I didn’t want to be anywhere else.
***
About an hour later, Carter and I were ready to leave. After dessert we talked a little bit more with her parents, and I learned a little more about Carter that I didn’t know before. From most of what her mom kept telling me, Carter would blush and tell her mom to stop embarrassing her, but I loved learning the little things about her. Like how she would follow her brother and Ethan around like a little puppy, even once wearing his clothes so she could fit in with them. I found it funny, but she did not.
When it was time to go, Carter had to practically pry her mom off of her so we could leave. I got a tight hug from her mother, and she also whispered in my ear to take care of her daughter. I just nodded in reply, not really knowing what to say. I got a firm handshake from her father, along with a hard look that said the same thing his wife just had. I swallowed and grabbed Carter’s hand. With a goodbye to her dog—Sam was a gorgeous dog—we were able to leave. Car’s mother, of course, invited me back again and to come to their barbecue they were having in a few weeks.
Getting in the car, Carter let out a huge sigh and slumped in the passenger seat.
“That was eventful,” she said, closing her eyes.
“It wasn’t bad.”
“You weren’t the one getting embarrassed.” She turned her head to look at me, almost whining.
“I found the stories cute.” I grinned at her as I started the car and drove off.
“What did my father say to you?” Carter suddenly asked, changing the subject. I could tell she wanted to ask me that hours ago.
“Nothing much. Just a few questions about you, me, and my life.” I shrugged. I wasn’t going to tell her exactly what we talked about, especially stuff pertaining to my feelings just yet.
“That is all?” she questioned.
“Pretty much.”
“Okay, good. My father likes to scare people.”
“Has he had that conversation a lot with people?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. How many boyfriends had she had?
“Only a few times. Once with my ex, and maybe two more times with guys who took me to homecoming and prom,” she answered. Has she only had one boyfriend? I silently wondered. Now that is surprising. She had to have plenty of boyfriends in high school. Who wouldn’t want to date her?
“Good to know.” I was actually happy to hear she hadn’t dated that many people. For some reason I didn’t like the idea of her being with anyone else but me.
“Is someone jealous?” Carter teased, sitting up and looking right at me. I kept my eyes on the road ahead.
“No.”
“I think you are,” she said in a singsong voice.
“I’m not.” I wasn’t jealous.
“I don’t believe you at all.”
“I believe me, so I don’t care,” I said.
“Don’t worry. I will get you to say you are jealous.” She grinned, looking ahead.
“I’d like to see you try.” She didn’t say anything to that; all she did was smile. If she wanted me to say I was jealous, that was going to take a lot. I could be just as stubborn.
As we started on our way back to campus, Carter messed with the radio until she came to a song she liked. Immediately I groaned at what song was on the station.
“No, changing it,” I said, reaching to change the station only to get my hand smacked by Carter. “Ow, what was that for?” I looked over at her.
“We are keeping the song on.”
“Why? This song is more than annoying.” She gasped at me.
“You don’t like Rihanna?”
“I don’t hate her. I just hate this song. All she says is…work, work, work, work. Okay we get it! You work!” “Work” by Rihanna featuring Drake had been on the radio every time I got in the car, every time I turned on Pandora, and Dylan kept singing it around the apartment.
“You don’t like to work, work, work, work,” Carter said, trying to impersonate Rihanna and not doing so well. “Or blah, blah, blah, blah, I don’t know the rest of the words.” I couldn’t help but burst out laughing at her.
“I don’t think anyone knows the words to this song…wait, Dylan does.”
“Dylan knows all the words?” I nodded.
“He had to sing this every second of the day for the last week in the apartment. I am more than ready to strangle him.”
“Man, I love Dylan,” she said, shaking her head and chuckling softly.
“What do you mean you ‘love’ him?” I asked, my tone hard. Just hearing that she loved my best friend didn’t sit well with me. Dylan couldn’t have her. His words from the other day went through my mind. Ask her out before someone else does. Did he mean himself?
“What?”
“Do you love Dylan?” I gritted out, my hands clenching the steering wheel.
“Would you crash this car if I said yes?” she asked in a light tone, like she knew what she was doing to me.
“Carter, answer the question,” I bit out.
“I love him…”—my hands tightened even more on the steering wheel—“but as a friend.”
“Nothing more than a friend, right?” I looked at her.
“Yes, jealous boy, as a friend.” Carter sat there grinning at me like a weirdo. She did that on purpose to get me riled up and try to admit I was jealous. Well, going all possessive on her didn’t help me in trying to convince her I was not jealous. I was entirely sure what made me get so angry was the thought of her and Dylan together. Yes, Dyl was a good guy, but he didn’t deserve Carter. Like you do? I found myself thinking, but I ignored it.
So, okay, fine, I was jealous. I was not going to admit that out loud to Carter, but I was jealous and I didn’t want anyone to be with her unless it was me. Who knew I was the jealous, possessive type?
We were both silent after that, just listening to whatever came on the radio and just enjoying each other’s presence. It was a successful day, I’d say, and surprisingly, I kind of enjoyed it. It was nice meeting her parents and getting to know them a little, and learning a few embarrassing things about her as well. It turned out a lot better than I expected, and I thought Carter was just as happy it didn’t turn out to be a disaster.
Before I knew it, we were back on campus and I was pulling into a parking spot. It was after four and I was sad to be back here so soon. I wasn’t sure if Carter still wanted to hang out, but I was tempted to not give her a choice. I just didn’t want to be away from her yet.
When I put the car in park and turned it off, I looked over at Carter, who still had a small smile on her face. If only I had a camera right now. The one time she didn’t have her camera on her was when I wanted to take a picture.
“So…” I started to say, tapping my fingers on the steering wheel.
“Want to go to your place and watch a movie for a little bit?” she suggested. She took me by surprise, but I wasn’t going to argue with her.
“Sounds good to me.” Sending her a smile, I took the keys from the ignition and got out of the car. When Carter rounded the car, my hand instantly went for hers, lacing my fingers through hers. Neither of us commented about it as we walked side by side in the direction of my place. I bit back a smile as we walked, loving my hand inside of hers. Never had my hand fit so well into someone else’s; Carter’s felt like it belonged inside of mine.
It didn’t take us long to reach my place, but sadly when we walked inside we had to drop our hands. Dylan wasn’t here surprisingly, which made me wonder where he was. I didn’t think too hard about it because it was just me and Carter in the apartment. While I went to go change into something less constricting, Carter went and looked through our movie collection to find us something to watch.
I changed out of my sweater and dress shirt and just put on a plain white t-shirt. Other than taking off my shoes, I didn’t do much else and walked back into the living room, only to find Carter sprawled out on the couch. I raised an eyebrow at her.
“It is your couch now?”
“Yes, it is. You will have to find somewhere else to sit,” she said, barely glancing at me.
“This is my place.”
“So?” Smirking as an idea popped into my head, I started toward her. She was focused on the TV, so she didn’t notice me coming toward her. Without giving her any warning, I lay down right on top of her.
Carter grunted underneath me, but I wiggled a little bit more to get comfortable. I didn’t want to squish her too much, so I did lift some of my weight off of her by holding onto the back of the couch.
“This is so comfortable,” I commented.
“What do you eat?” she asked from under me.
“Food.”
“Ha. Ha. I forgot to laugh,” Car muttered. I turned my head to look down over my shoulder at her face. She stared back at me with narrowed eyes.
“You weigh as much as an elephant.”
“I do not!” I exclaimed, offended that she was calling me fat.
“Yes, you do.”
“Take that back!” I put a little bit more of my weight down on her, squishing her even more. “Say you are sorry!”
“No!”
“Say it!”
“Fine…” She was quiet for a moment before she finished. “I am sorry you weigh as much as an elephant.” Even being squished by me, she managed to laugh at her lame joke. I couldn’t help but grin and laugh along with her.
“You are so rude,” I said, but I did slide off of her. She gasped for air playfully, as if I had really cut off her air supply.
“Rude and proud!” Car threw her fist in the air, making me shake my head at her.
“Move over.” Not even giving her a chance to reply, I grabbed her legs and lifted them up before plopping down and placing them in my lap. Thankfully she had at least taken her shoes off. “So what movie did you pick today?”
“We are watching Pitch Perfect,” she announced.
“Wait, we have Pitch Perfect?” I questioned, not remembering buying it.
“Dylan,” we both ended up saying at the same time before grinning at one another.
The rest of the night passed by quickly. One second, we were barely starting Pitch Perfect, and the next, we were both dozing off during the third movie we picked out. It was well after ten by now. You know you are an adult when you are asleep on the couch after ten at night. Both of us were fading, and I knew I had to take Carter home before it got too late.
I gazed down at her leaning on my shoulder. Somehow, over the course of our movies we watched, she moved closer and closer to me, so now her head was planted on my shoulder and her eyes were drooping shut every couple of seconds. It had been a long and stressful day, so it wasn’t surprising we were so worn out already.
A smile came up on my lips as I looked at her. Whatever makeup she had on earlier was slowly fading away, showing that she actually had a few freckles on her nose. To me she looked even better without makeup. I honestly could stay right here forever.
Seeing her eyes close once again and not open like they had been, I knew it was bedtime. I paused the movie and softly nudged Carter.
“Hey Princess,” I whispered quietly. We were the only ones in the house, but I felt like I had to whisper.
“Hmm.” She snuggled even closer to my side. I didn’t think I could get her home without her falling asleep.
“Do you want to sleep here tonight?” I asked, silently praying and hoping she’d say yes. Besides the fact that it was quite a walk back to her place and that both of us were tired, I wanted her to sleep with me tonight.
“What?” she asked, slowly opening her eyes to look at me. Even with sleepy eyes, the blue stuck out even more, reminding me of the ocean.
“Want to sleep here tonight? I don’t think either of us are awake enough to walk back to your place.” Carter was quiet as she thought about my offer. I thought she would say no, but instead she nodded.
“That is okay with me,” she said sleepily. I tried to hold back my grin, but it didn’t work.
“Let’s get ready for bed,” I said softly. I turned off the TV and slowly stood up, Carter doing the same. I was more awake than she was as she stumbled a little into my side. I shook my head at her as I wrapped my arm around her waist to support her.
I led us down the hallway toward my bedroom. When I flipped on the light, both of us squinted and I heard Car groan from the bright light.
“Let me find you something to sleep in.” Reluctantly letting her go, I went to my closet to find her something to wear. Everything I would give her would be too big, but it was all I had. It wasn’t like I had girl clothes just lying around. Grabbing an old grey t-shirt and a pair of very worn-out sweats, I handed them to Carter.
“Sorry, this is all I have,” I said sheepishly.
“That is okay. It works.” She smiled at me. I could tell she was a little more awake right now, but I doubted that would last much longer. “I am just going to go to the bathroom to change.”
“You know where it is.” I gestured out the door and she nodded. She had been here enough to know where it was by now. When she left to get changed, I did so myself. I quickly stripped out of my jeans and shirt until I was standing in only my boxers. As I looked down at myself, I knew Carter wouldn’t like for me to sleep like I normally did. I quickly grabbed the same loose white shirt and threw it on. It would have to do.
I sat at the edge of my bed and glanced around my room, thankful I cleaned it just the other day. It would have been embarrassing to have her be here with it being a mess. I wasn’t a messy person in general; I learned from my grandma to never leave a room messy, not even your room, but that didn’t mean I didn’t have clothes lying around sometimes.
It didn’t take long before Carter came walking in dressed in my clothes. My throat dried up, and I couldn’t stop myself from looking up and down her body. Damn, she looked good in my stuff. As I predicted, the shirt was too big on her and came down to the top of her thighs. The sweats were really long on her, and I noticed she tried to roll up the bottoms so she wouldn’t step on them, but it didn’t help much. She was trying to tighten up the string around the waist, but the ties were so worn they didn’t tighten that well. Even though she was drowning in my clothes, she never looked prettier.
“They are a little big,” she said as she noticed me looking at her. “But they work.” She smiled at me. I noticed her makeup was now all the way gone, which meant she cleaned up in the bathroom. She looked even younger and innocent without that stuff on.
Sending her a smile, I patted the bed for her to come over. I literally couldn’t help but watch her as she made her way toward me. When she took a seat next to me at the edge of the bed, I stared at her face. She really was beautiful.
“The bed is big enough that we can share it and not smack each other,” I said, glad I had a queen-sized bed, big enough for the both of us. I didn’t make my bed earlier, so the dark blue sheets were kind of all over the place.
Carter was quiet as she nodded. I didn’t know if it was because she was tired or if she was just now realizing we were going to share a bed.
“Don’t worry. I won’t touch you.” I raised my hand up. “Scout’s honor.” That earned me a smile.
“Were you in the scouts?”
“Hell no.” I shook my head. “I was cooler than them.” Carter just rolled her eyes at me. Next, she got up and went around before sliding into the bed. I followed suit, getting up to turn off the light before going to the other side of the bed. I’d never really slept with another person before, let alone with a girl. Okay, fine, I had slept with a girl, but never really slept with someone; this was a whole new experience to me.
The both of us crawled under the sheets, and I grabbed the big blue comforter and brought it up toward us. There was a good foot between us, but I could feel Carter’s body as if it were pressed against mine. I lay on my back and looked up at the ceiling before I felt the bed move. My head turned to see Carter lying on her side, facing me.
“Thank you for meeting my parents today. I know it was something you didn’t want to do, but I really appreciate it,” she said, looking right at me. I rolled over so I could face her as well.
“Not going to lie, I was nervous and was tempted not to go, but I am glad I did. I actually had a good time,” I said sincerely.
“I’m glad. My parents loved you, especially my mom. She thought you were the perfect gentleman.”
“Well, the ladies do love me.” I smirked, only for it to turn into a smile at Carter’s laugh.
“You’d like to think so.”
“But seriously, Princess, thank you for inviting me.”
“You are welcome.” She suddenly then moved forward and raised up on her arm. Being this close to her, I could still see her even without the light. I didn’t even know what she was doing until she moved toward my face. I thought for a second she was going to kiss me, but instead she moved her head and pressed her soft lips to my cheek. It was a small quick peck, but it was sweet. She pulled back and laid her head down. I couldn’t see because the light was off, but I imagined her face was red.
“Goodnight, Gage,” she said quietly. I didn’t even think as I reached out and grabbed her, pulling her toward me until she was flush against my body. I tried to relax my beating heart, as she was now against me. Placing my arm over her waist, I lay there.
“Goodnight, Princess.”
It took a few minutes before I felt her body relax and she sunk against me. I had moved over onto my back, so it was more comfortable for the both of us. I felt her head move onto my chest, and my arm immediately tightened around her. I didn’t want to let her go. I ignored all the butterfly feelings I had right now with her in my arms, sleeping right next to me. I had no clue what she was thinking or feeling right now.
A little bit later, I heard her breathing slow down and I knew she was asleep. With her on my chest, I looked down at her and a soft smile played on my lips. I lifted my other arm up and moved a piece of hair away from her face. She stirred a little but snuggled even closer into me. Just like her hand, her body fit perfectly against mine. I placed a soft kiss on her forehead, closing my eyes for a second before I pulled away. Grinning like an idiot, I laid my head down and slowly started to drift off.
It was in that moment I knew that this was where I belonged. I belonged with Carter, and I knew tomorrow I had to make this official. I had to ask her to be my girlfriend for real, and I could only hope she felt the same way about me.