Carter pulled the curtains back and frowned as she looked at the window. There was a flash of light followed shortly by a loud boom. "Why can't we just get a snowstorm in January like normal people?"
Zac sprawled out on the floor on his back. "You know, last time it snowed in January you got locked out of the house and ended up with a bloody nose."
Carter grumbled and let the curtain fall back into place.
"No, she wasn't locked out. She just thought she was." Taylor grinned. "Genius, Car."
"Bite me." She plopped down onto the couch next to him for a minute before flipping around so that she was upside down, her legs resting next to his head.
He turned his head and looked down at her. "Can't you sit like a normal person?"
"Normal, meaning you? No."
Isaac jumped up suddenly and almost fell out of his chair. "I GOT IT!"
Zac didn't move. "No... you don't."
"Shut up, farg narper."
"Nice." Carter laughed. "Can I borrow that?"
"Sure. Ok, I thought of what we could do. We play truth or dare way too often and it always ends up in sexual content or public nudity. Or... Taylor and Todd sitting naked on top of eachother."
"Point being?" Melissa spoke up finally from her spot in the corner of the room. She was sitting on the floor laughing at Carter who was now covering her head in a blanket. She was terrified of thunderstorms and apparently if the house was struck by lightning, she was safer if her head was covered in a blanket.
"I invented a game. We sit in a circle, and somebody asks a yes or no question. Everybody has to answer. If one person decides not to answer, or if it takes them more than ten seconds to answer, they have to answer a question from everybody. Sound fun?"
Carter nodded and flipped around, kicking Taylor in the face. "Woops. Ok that sounds fun, but you didn't invent that. I did."
"You did not!" Isaac slid down to the floor.
Zac nodded but didn't move. "She invented that last year. It's called 'Honesty'. Do I have to move to be in the circle?"
Carter shook her head and laid down on the floor next to him, on her stomach, with the blanket all the way over her head. Taylor sat next to her and Melissa sat between Isaac and Zac.
Taylor poked Carter on the top of her head. "Will we be seeing your face at all until the storm is over?"
"Not until the lightning goes back to it's home."
"Fair enough."
Isaac grinned. "Ok, since I invented the game, I think I should ask the first question." He listened to Carter mumble something about copyright laws and then he asked his question. "Do you have a secret crush on the fat one from N'Sync?" He asked, smiling at Melissa.
"Yes." She answered without thinking and then covered her mouth. "OH MY GOD!"
"HA! I FINALLY GOT IT OUT OF YOU!" He laughed and Melissa covered her eyes.
Zac shook his head and answered the question. He, Carter, and Taylor all said no, although Carter was hoping for Taylor to say yes.
Melissa sighed and thought of her question. "Have you ever kissed Carter?"
Zac answered yes, Carter called Melissa a bitch, Taylor and Isaac both said yes.
Zac followed with his turn. "Are you a virgin."
Carter proudly said yes, Taylor commented on the only sex he could get was with himself, Isaac whispered yes, followed by a comment about being the only 21 year old virgin in Tulsa, and Melissa hesitated before saying yes.
Carter sighed. "Good to know we're the saddest bunch of people in Oklahoma. Alright..." She paused for a minute. She finally smiled and decided to ask a question she'd been dying to know about Isaac. "Are you happy in you relationship?"
Taylor answered first with a mumble about being single and death. Then, Isaac answered with a quick, "Yes."
"No, seeing as though I'm not in one." Melissa sighed.
Zac barely moved. "Sometimes."
Carter's blanket fell off of her head and she stared straight ahead.
Isaac laughed. "That's not a yes or no answer. HA, now you have to answer a question from each of us. Who wants to start."
Taylor smacked him hard and shook his head. Carter still hadn't moved an inch and Zac had put his head down.
"Ouch. Alright, fine. We'll just let him reanswer. Quick, Zac, you only have 10 seconds."
Zac didn't answer. Instead, he got up and left the room, walking quietly upstairs to his bedroom. Taylor looked down at Carter and put his hand on her back. "Hey... I'm sure it was nothing. Maybe he doesn't feel well."
Carter sat up slowly, folded the blanket, and went out the front door.
Isaac, Taylor, and Melissa sat quietly before Isaac finally shook his head. "Wow, I've never seen her fold anything before."
Taylor shoved him again. "You're such an asshole, Ike."
"What'd I do?"
Taylor sat up, brushed off his pants, and went upstairs, leaving Melissa and Isaac to sit in silence. Taylor had intended on going to Zac's room and finding out what was up, but instead he went out his bedroom door and onto the balcony. He found Carter sitting on the couch outside with a blanket around her shoulders. He'd never seen her outside during a thunderstorm, but she didn't even seem to notice the lightning anymore.
He sat down next to her and didn't say anything for a long time. Finally, he looked at her. "What happened?"
She shrugged. "Nothing."
"Are you sure?"
"No." She smiled at him. "Did I answer fast enough?"
"Five seconds to spare. So, what's up? You guys haven't really said anything to eachother for a few days."
"You noticed that?" She shrugged. "I was hoping we were doing a better job of covering it up."
"Covering what up?"
"The whole, getting over you period."
Taylor thought for a moment. "Getting... over... wait what?"
"We broke up."
"When?!"
"About... three days ago."
"Oh." He frowned. "Are you ok? Who's idea was it? Are you ok? Why didn't you tell us?"
"I'm fine... his idea... and because the majority of the planet that knows us would flip out."
He shook his head. "But, no. You guys will get back together. You always do. Are you sure you're ok? Why the hell did he break up with you?"
"Done asking questions? Or do you have twenty more stored in there?" She laughed, still staring ahead. She hadn't looked at him yet. "He said we weren't going anywhere and he felt like we were so comfortable with eachother, things would never move forward."
"So it's like a sex thing?" Almost everybody knew about Carter's vow to be a virgin until she was married. "Cause if it is, I'll kill him for you."
She shook her head. "It isn't a sex thing. Zac has the same beliefs as me. He had a point though. Ever since his birthday party when Jesse kissed me things have been weird. It's like we suddenly went back to being friends. And he's right about the whole comfortable thing. I think he's just bored. And, he's 16, he needs to be with other girls. It's fine. Really."
"Right, you just keep telling yourself that. But I know better. You're hurting."
"I am not."
"Yeah you are. Admit it. You're allowed to show feelings around me, you know."
"I'm fine, Taylor." She bit her bottom lip.
Taylor sighed and nodded. "Fine."
Carter finally looked over at him with tears in her eyes. "I'm not ok... I'm not..." She tried her hardest to hold back her tears, but Taylor put his arms around her and she fell apart, crying into his shoulder.
Later that night, Carter sat in the hallway next to Zac's bedroom door for an hour in her pajamas. She wasn't sure what she was going to do or what she was going to say. She'd been hiding the fact that she was hurting because she didn't want him to feel bad. She sighed and pulled her hair into a ponytail before knocking on his door. She didn't stand up even when he opened the door and looked around. Then, he looked down at her and sighed.
Zac sat down on the floor next to her and closed the door. He rested the back of his head on the wall. "This is hard isn't it?"
"Yeah."
"Why is it so hard?"
"Remember when we broke up before? Those times when it was my decision? Like... two or three times..." She shook her head.
Zac nodded. "Yeah."
"I kinda knew we'd be back together again."
He blinked hard.
"I'm not so sure this time."
He stayed silent.
"That's why it's hard."
He sighed and closed his eyes. "I'm really selfish aren't I?"
"No."
"Yes. I am. You gave up college out of state for me. You've stuck by me when I was really sick. I still have so much to do to thank you."
Carter sighed and looked down. "I didn't stay in town for college because you're my boyfriend."
"Huh?"
"I gave up college out of town because you're my best friend. That never changed at any point in our relationship. We were always best friends."
"I just think... somewhere along the line..." He couldn't think of how to explain his feelings.
"Somewhere along the line the friendship showed through more than the boyfriend/girlfriend thing."
He nodded. "I don't want to lose you."
She didn't answer. She just looked down at the floor.
"I haven't already, have I?"
She looked up at him and smiled. "You never will."
Zac leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek. "Thank you for being my best friend."
She nodded and gave him a hug. "I'm gonna go to bed now."
Zac held onto her hand for a minute and smiled at her until she left the hallway and went back to her house. It was the first time in his life that Carter would sleep in her own room during a thunderstorm.
My Favorite Web sites