“Why?” I don’t answer him. None of the reasons are anything I want to admit to him. I stare at the floor hoping that he will just leave. He lifted my face to his. “Why are you staying here alone?”
“You really wanna know, Carter?! Because I don’t have anyone! No family, no house, no one! I didn’t tell you this because I didn’t want you to feel bad for the poor little foster kid who bounced from bad house to bad house!” I turned away from him and sat on my bed. I just want to be alone right now. Nicole has been begging me all week to come home with her, but I refuse to be anybody’s charity case.
“What about Chris? Where is he?” Carters tone is so harsh. It’s almost like he is mad.
“He’s going home. He left a couple of hours ago.” Please don’t let him ask why I didn’t go with him.
“Come home with me.” Is he crazy? “No, I’m not crazy, Maddy. Come home with me.”
How did he do that? There was absolutely no way I was going home with him. First of all, can you say awkward?! ‘Hi, I’m the poor orphan your son has taken pity on. Thanks for dinner.’
“Carter, you can’t be serious.”
“I’m serious, Maddy. Come home with me?” I don’t answer him for a minute, trying to process what he is really asking me. “Come on, I don’t want you here on campus by yourself. Plus, you would be keeping me company, so really I’m being selfish.”
“Carter, you can’t just invite me home with you! I’m not a charity case and I’m used to being on my own. Not to mention, Chris might literally kill me!” FUCK! Why don’t I have a filter around him? I steal a glance up at Carter and can see him trying to control his anger. Is he pissed at me?
“What did you mean by that?”
“By what?”
“You said Chris might literally kill you. What did you mean? What’s going on, Maddy?” His voice is raised to the point that I can tell he is having a hard time keeping it together.
“Nothing, Carter. It’s just an expression. Leave it alone.” I try to remain casual and pretend like it’s no big deal when it is huge.
He pulls out his cell phone. What was he doing? “Hey…I’m good…leaving tomorrow afternoon…can I bring a friend with me?” Didn’t I just tell him no? Yes, I did! I told him NO! “Yeah…okay, great…love you too…I’ll see you tomorrow.” He puts the phone in his pocket and then looks at me. “It’s done. You’re coming home with me.”
I started to shake my head. I can’t do this, not with how I am starting to feel about him.
“Yes, Maddy. You’re not spending the holiday alone. You said Chris is going home anyway. He won’t even know. Please come home with me. I want you with me. I love being around you. Can’t you see that? I’m not doing you a favor in all this. You’re doing one for me.”
It would be amazing to be able to spend five days with Carter. But how will he explain me? “What would you say to your family?”
“It’s just my dad, brother, and sister. You heard me say that I was bringing home a friend.”
My heart hurts a little when he says “friend.” I hate how much I am falling for Carter. This trip is only going to make my feelings for him worse, but maybe I am a glutton for punishment. “Okay, you win.” The smile he shoots me makes me weak in the knees. Thank God I am sitting down or I might have fallen over. “I’ll pack a bag.”
I reach under the bed to get my suitcase and when I stand up, Carter wraps his arms around me. It feels so good to be in his arms like this. I relax and lay my head back against his chest. As he is holding me in his arms I feel so safe, and cared for. Yep, I was definitely a glutton for punishment.
He lets me go and I start packing my stuff. “You don’t have to stay here. I agreed to go. I’m not going to run away. I’ll be ready tomorrow.”
“I want you to come to my house with me tonight. Everyone is gone and I was just going to hang out and watch a movie. There’s no reason we can’t do that together.”
I swear this boy will be the death of me. “Carter, I don’t-”
“Please.”
I look up and the bastard is giving me puppy dog eyes and is actually pouting! “Ugh, fine!”
Then he smirks at me, sits down on Nicole’s bed, and waits.
I can’t help but smile as I think of spending time alone with him during this break.
Chapter Eleven
Carter
I can’t believe I got her to agree to come home with me. At that moment, I want to jump up and punch my fist in the air, I am so damn happy. We are on our way back to my house now and I can tell Maddy is nervous. I know my family will love her as much as I do. Wait...did I just say I loved her?
I couldn’t believe she was actually going to stay on campus all alone, and that piece of shit just left her. He didn’t even deserve to look at her much less call her his. “Can I ask you a question?” She looks over at me and nods her head. “Why didn’t you go home with Chris?”
“He…um…he said dinner was family only and, well, I’m not family.” Her voice is so quiet that I can barely make out what she is saying. She looks down into her lap and I see her wipe away a tear. She doesn’t deserve the way he treats her.
“Well, this weekend you’re part of my family.” She looks at me and gives me a smile, but I can tell she is still unsure of everything. We leave her bags in the car and she just grabs a change of clothes for tomorrow. I ordered Chinese food when we left her dorm so it should be here any minute. I tell Maddy to put her stuff in the bedroom and I’ll sleep on the couch tonight. I’d love to sleep next to her, but I think I pushed her enough for today. The food comes while Maddy is in the bathroom. I make us plates and bring them into the living room. She comes out in a T-shirt and sweatpants. God, she looks beautiful in everything.
“Thank you for dinner, and everything else. You really don’t need to do everything you are for me, but I appreciate it.”
I hate that she is always so negative about herself. She has no idea how amazing she is. “I want to, Maddy. Please don’t feel like you’re a burden. Let’s watch a movie. I’ll even let you pick.”
She looks up at me through her long lashes. “Anything?”
She didn’t know it, but I’d give her anything she ever asked for. “Just name it.”
We clean up the dinner mess and I get changed before we start the movie. When I walk back into the living room, Maddy is curled up on the couch. I love seeing her so comfortable in my house.
She looks up when she hears me come in and smiles. Usually I just sleep in boxers, but I knew that would make her uncomfortable. So I put on sweatpants and a sleeveless shirt. I see her looking me up and down. This reinforces my belief that this attraction isn’t just one-sided. When her eyes meet mine, she starts to blush. She knew I caught her looking, and I love it. I knew she wanted to be with me, she just wasn’t ready yet.
I looked at the TV and saw she had picked “A Walk To Remember.” Normally, I’d groan about having to watch a chick flick, but I didn’t care what she’d picked. I just wanted to watch it with her. “Why did you pick this one?”
“I read the book in high school and always wanted to see it. I just never got to. If you don’t want to watch it, we can pick something else.”
She is so damn cute. “This is fine. I’ve never seen it, either.” I only had a loveseat because it was usually just me, so we were sitting pretty close. By the end of the movie, Maddy was snuggled up against me, crying. As much as I tried to fight it, I let a couple tears escape too.
When did I turn into such a pussy? Truthfully, I think it was because Carter and Jamie were similar to Maddy and me. At first, they fought what they felt for each other, but when they finally got together, it was amazing. When the credits started running, Maddy looked up at me and laughed. She saw me crying. This was just great.