Page 76 of Carter

Holy shit. Did I seriously do that?

“Why didn’t you tell me I was doing that?” I demanded, offended.

“I’d be telling you about it ten thousand times a day!”

I groaned. That was embarrassing. “Okay, well, you know my reasons. What are yours?”

She shrugged absently. “I just think Rome is a man-whore with zero self-respect.”

I laughed. “Yep, he certainly is.”

She threw her calamari down, getting fired up about it. “What kind of guy doesn’t care who he’s putting his dick into? As far as I know, he’s probably a walking STD and I have no fucking interest in touching that, so fuck him and his advances.”

I stilled and my eyebrows shot up. “He’s been hitting on you?”

She avoided looking directly into my eyes, and her cheeks reddened. “We made out a month ago—”

“WHAT? Where was I?”

“You had school and you were cranky as hell. I didn’t want to unload my dramas on you. You looked like you were having enough of them as it was.”

“I don’t care what kind of drama I’m facing, when it comes to Rome and you, I’m there! That guy can’t commit, Melanie. He’s another Carter, with the difference being Rome just wants to have as much fun as possible before settling down.”

“And Carter?”

“Carter will never commit, ever. That’s just the way it is with him. Which is why I’ve given up.”

She shook her head angrily. “Well, anyway, we got a bit tipsy at Jared’s house party, and he kissed me. When I didn’t want more, he got all shitty and walked off. Since then, I might as well be a ghost.”

“It’s not like Rome to get so shitty,” I replied thoughtfully. “He really wanted you, I guess.”

She just shrugged, looking down at her glass of water. “Doesn’t matter. His pride probably got hurt because the asshole never heard a rejection before.”

“Well, look, we don’t need that shit.”

“If they’re cocky now, imagine what they’ll be like when they’re famous.”

I shuddered to think. “God help the female population.”

We finished our meals and went out, looking forward to clouding our minds and forgetting.

*

I was drunk.

My head was swimming and I loved it. I felt giddy when I drank. It was like a temporary break from the world, and add that with dancing, and I had a damn good time. This was night out number one, and I was already looking forward to another one.

“Do you need help inside?” Mel asked, equally as drunk as me.

I turned to her and shook my head; it felt like shaking a bowling ball. “Nah, am good. I’ll see you yesterday night for work, yeah?”

“Tomorrow, babe. Not yesterday.”

I nodded. “That too.”

I threw the money at the taxi driver and stepped out of the car. She waved bye to me, and the car took off down the street. I opened my clutch on the way to the door and withdrew my key. I stumbled a little over the uneven path.

Stupid uneven path. Why does that even exist?

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