Page 13 of Carter

“She was good for passing the time.”

“Passing the time? You really are an asshole, Carter.”

He shrugged. He didn’t care. I was pretty much considering he didn’t care about anything in this life if he hadn’t been so good to me.

I rolled to my side, facing him, and closed my eyes. There was no point talking about this anymore. I didn’t want to know about his near sexcapade with Pompoodle. I relaxed into the mattress and began dozing when his voice rang out.

“Nobody’s ever really kissed you?”

“No,” I said, wondering why he was suddenly so curious. “Why would I lie about that?”

“Just thought you would have by now and kept it to yourself. I’m not always around you.”

I laughed in disbelief. “I’m not necessarily popular at school, Carter. Thought you knew that by now. The guys aren’t crawling through glass for me like they are over those stick-thin bitches that talk behind my back.”

“They would be if you went out. How about actually coming out to the parties I go to then? I invite you how many times and you keep saying no?”

“I’m not going to be around people that hate me.”

“If anyone said something to you, I’d bust their fucking face up, you know that.”

I rolled my eyes. “Solving every issue with violence isn’t really the right way to go about it.”

“But ignoring them is? Admit that you just don’t want to go. You’d rather spend that time with Rome.” He said Rome’s name on a sneer.

“Rome’s my best friend.”

“I thought I was your best friend,” he retorted irritably.

“You are.”

He didn’t respond for some time, and when he did, it was a lot calmer. “But you don’t have feelings for Rome, do you? He’s a weird guy. I personally wouldn’t get it if you do.”

I was completely taken aback. Carter had never taken an interest in my friendship with Rome. I didn’t answer him, and I knew that would just make him even more curious. I wanted him to sweat about it just a little bit. I was almost convinced right then and there that he was jealous. Hope emerged in my heart as I considered that possibility.

“He might be your first kiss, you know,” Carter carried on. “And if he hurts you, you don’t want to look back at your first kiss and regret it.”

“Not really,” I replied, knowingly winding him up. “He could be really good at it. He actually might be the best, and if he is the best then maybe I won’t care if he hurts me later on.”

The vein at the base of his neck twitched as he tensed his jaw. In hindsight, looking back at this moment, I regret taking great joy in watching him lose it. I suppose I was desperate to feel cared about, and I was willing to take it even if it was in a negative manner.

“So you don’t care that your first kiss might belong to a complete asshole that might ruin your trust later on,” he stated. “You only care about what it’llfeellike.”

Oh, my God, he really is jealous.

“I know what you’re trying to do,” I replied, fighting to hide my amusement. “You’re trying to tell me to pick someone neutral to have my first kiss with. In a roundabout way, you want to be the one to kiss me first.”

Immediately he scoffed. “I don’t want to kiss you, Leah. You’re delusional.”

“Don’t deny it. Why else would you pretty much say to pick someone I won’t regret it with?”

“I didn’t meanme.”

“Fine, then I’ll just kiss Rome.”

He gritted his teeth, huffing out, “You want to kiss Rome, then go and kiss Rome.”

“Okay then, I will. I bet he won’t have glitter on his lips when I do it too.”

---