Page 59 of Carter

Cue awkward silence.

Well, maybe just on my end. He got comfortable next to me, indicating he was most definitely not going to go anywhere anytime soon, and we watched the band in silence. I hoped he’d eventually move on and leave me alone.

I wasn’t in the mood to socialize.

Distracting me, I spotted a girl jumping and screaming over Carter’s voice. “I want you! Be with me! I want you, Caaaaarterrrrrrr!” she shrilled.

I felt a shudder all the way to my bones. Could you be any more blatant?

“Know them?” Peter then asked, motioning to the band. “Noticed you were around them a while back.”

“Yeah,” I answered. “They’re good guys.”

“They sound great.”

“Only because they’ve poured a lot of hard work the last year into their music.”

“I can tell. Being in a band isn’t easy.”

“Yeah, I couldn’t do it.”

Sometimes it stressed me out when they started putting songs together after Carter finished writing one. There was so much that went into it, and it took true talent to weave the sounds in the way they did.

“I’m new to the area,” he then said, scooting a little closer to me. He smelled pretty good, nothing overwhelming like some of the guys here, but it made me uncomfortable just the same. I scooted away. “Do they always play here?”

I nodded shortly. “Yeah, sometimes they go to other bars or events, but it’s mainly here.”

“Cool.”

Realizing he wouldn’t go away and needing to find a way not to obsess over the girl and her shrilling voice, I sighed and asked, “How new are you around here?”

“About a month. I just graduated and got offered a job here in town.”

“Congratulations.”

He shrugged. “It’s nothing to brag about.”

I nearly scoffed. This guy just got his degree, something I’d been dreaming about for years, and he was playing it off like it was nothing.

“What’d you study?” I asked curiously.

“Accounting,” he answered.

Now my interest suddenly perked. “No way, so am I.”

His eyes widened. “No shit?”

“Well, I will be anyway in September.”

“Good luck. Hope you do better than me.”

“Why? Is it hard? Please don’t tell me it’s hard. I’m so nervous about the first year. Like I’ll fail epically or something. I hardly was able to wrap my head around bookkeeping, and this is way more intense.”

He laughed. “Don’t freak out. First year is always the hardest because you gotta get your head wrapped around everything. I’d say the way you study is going to change drastically.”

“Really?”

“Oh, yeah. A lot of work, but if you stick it out, you should get into the swing of things.”

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