Carter yawned and laid her head back on her pillow. It had been a long day for her. It was only 5:00 p.m. and she had been back and forth from Zac's house to her house 11 times. Taylor, Isaac, and their parents had all gone out to dinner and had asked Carter to keep an eye on Zac. He was still under the weather from some unknown illness.
He'd been to the doctor's office 6 times. Each time he had some new blood tests done, for mono, blood cell count, thyroid, hypoglycemia, and a few others that he wasn't even sure how to pronounce.
Carter was almost about to fall asleep when she heard a "thud" coming from Zac's side of the house. She lifted her head up and stared at the wall. "What the hell was that?"
"Thud" She heard it again, this time, louder. Carter picked up her walkie talkie, which was also sending a loud "thud" signal to her. "Zac... Zac are you there? Zac what was that?"
For the first time in her entire life, he didn't answer. "Zac! Where the hell are you?! WHAT WAS THAT?!"
"Thud"
Carter jumped out of her bed, wearing a tiny white t-shirt and tiny black shorts and ran across the balcony to Zac's house. When she entered his room, she saw him, laying on the floor next to the wall with a shoe in his hand.
"What the hell are you doing?! You scared the shit outa me!"
Zac turned his head and wimpered. "Carter, I cant get up. Help!" He shrieked.
Carter laughed and ran over to him. "Are you ok?"
"It's not funny! I'm serious."
Carter put her arm around his back and helped to lift him up. She walked him over to his bed and laid him down. "Now what happened?"
"Well, genius with the walkie talkie, I got dizzy and fell. So I reached over and grabbed my shoe and started banging it against the wall to get your attention."
"Why didn't you just use your fist?"
"Cause.. I Dunno..."
"Why didn't you answer the walkie talkie?"
"Cause I couldn't get up!"
Carter laughed. "Sorry. Are you ok now?"
"Still kinda dizzy." Zac yawned and rubbed his eyes.
Carter laid down on the bed, facing him, and smoothed his hair back with her hand. "You feel really warm."
"That's cause I'm hot." Zac grinned.
"Oh yeah Stud. You have a fever. And you have to get it down. I'm gonna go run some like.. luke warm bath water then you're gonna get a bath. I'll wait till you're done."
"But it'll be cold! I want a hot bath!"
"Stop whining. It's gotta be luke warm so that your fever comes down."
"Ok mommy." Zac laughed.
After Zac stayed in the bathtub for an hour, he came back into his bedroom and laid down next to Carter.
"Feel any better?" She asked, smiling over at him.
"A little bit."
"Good. Now go to sleep. I gotta get back home." Carter tried to climb over Zac to get out of the bed, but he grabbed her arm and pulled her back down. She landed directly on top of him. "What?" She asked, laughing.
"Stay here. Please? At least till I fall asleep."
"Fine."
Zac smiled up at her. "Good."
"Can I at least get OFF of you?"
"No."
"Why?"
"Cause I like you here."
Carter laughed. "Come on Zac. This isn't exactly comfortable. And I'm wearing almost nothing. And you're wearing just boxers. It could look really bad if somebody came in here."
"Oh come on. Nobody's home. We could like.. have sex if we wanted to."
"NOT gonna happen." Carter grinned and rolled over so that she was laying next to him again. She put her arm around his waist and her head on his chest.
"Thanks for staying with me."
"Anytime. I can't just leave you when you're sick."
Zac smiled. "You're the best."
"I know."
Zac closed his eyes and within minutes, he was asleep. Carter stayed there though, afraid to move in fear that she would wake him. It wasn't until Taylor came home that she finally moved. She lifted her head and smiled at him when he appeared in the doorway. "Hi." She whispered.
"Hey. You know, I can only see your legs and arms from here and it looks like you're naked."
Carter smiled. "I'm not."
"You gonna come to my room and visit me?"
"Maybe."
Taylor smiled. "Come on. He's asleep." He laughed silently at the tiny line of drool coming out of Zac's mouth. He looked completely intent having Carter's arm around him and her head on his chest.
"Fine." Carter climbed over Zac slowly, only causing him to twitch slightly. He just rolled over then and continued sleeping.
Carter and Taylor sat down on his bed and stared at the floor. "I'm worried about him." She sighed.
"You know, the doctor says he has no idea what is wrong with him. He says the only thing left is chronic fatigue immune... something.."
"CFIDS. Chronic Fatigue Immune Disfunction Syndrome. I know. But.. there's not even a test to prove it. That's gotta be really hard having something like Chronic Fatigue and having nobody understand what it is."
"I don't understand what it is."
Carter shrugged. "Neither do I. I can only go by what Zac tells me."
Carter yawned and pulled her knees up to her chest. "I think... I'm gonna go home. I'm freezing. I just came over wearing this because Zac fell and I had to help him."
"You're cold?"
"That's what I said."
"Well then, Come here." Taylor put his arm around her and leaned back against the wall.
"Tay..."
He looked down into her eyes. "What?"
"I don't know if we should be doing this."
"What do you mean?" He face fell.
"Well I dunno. You're parents hate me, for one. They always have. Zac's in the other room, practically bedridden. And Ike... well... He's upstairs in his room." Carter pointed to the attic door, also in Taylor room. It was a room that he hated, 3 doors, each leading to different places.
"I guess you're right, he could come down any minute. And trust me, he never knocks." He pulled her arm away from her and frowned.
"Well, I think you could still keep your arm around me." Carter smiled and pulled his arm back. This time, Taylor put it around her waist, his hand resting on her stomach. It gave her the chills but it felt strangely good.
"Can I ask you something?" Taylor asked, sounding very serious.
"Sure. But I dunno if I can answer it."
"What do you really feel for Zac?"
Carter took a deep breath and smiled. "I love you brother. I really do. I always will. He's my soulmate. I've known that for a long time. I've just... never told him that."
"I think he knows."
"I hope he does." Carter put her head down on his shoulder. When he rested his head on top of hers, she shivered again.
"Are you too cold? Cause you could go home and change if you want, or I could let you use a sweatshirt of mine or something."
Carter smiled and shook her head. "I'm fine."
"Good. Cause I kind of like you in this." Taylor ran his fingers along the bottom of her shorts, which came up very high on her thighs.
"Oh really?" She asked, blushing from his touch.
"Yeah. And I like the little shirt too." He lightly kissed her bare shoulder.
Carter shivered again. "You know what? It is really cold in here."
Taylor laughed. "I'm sorry. I just ..."
"What?"
"I like touching you."
Carter laughed. "Oh yeah, that sounded harmless."
"No.. I mean. You have really soft skin. I never noticed before. You never let me get within ten feet of you before."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be. You're here now. I like it like this."
Carter smiled and inched closer to him, trying to get more comfortable. "I think I do too."
"Hey Tay..." The door from the attic opened and Isaac flew out. "Whoa... sorry... DUDE!" He yelled when he noticed it was Carter sitting in his arms. "Dude! When did this happen?!"
Carter sighed and rolled her eyes. She fell over on the bed and burried her face in the pillow. "Ohhh great." She mumbled.
Taylor sighed. "You gotta start knocking."
"I gotta knock to come out of my room? Great. Hey Car? Since when have you and Tay been..."
"Go away Ike!" She mumbled, her face still burried in the pillow.
Isaac sat down on the bed and poked Carter in her side. "Come on Car! Don't you wanna tell me about your sex life with my bro?!"
Carter screamed into the pillow and kicked her leg, missing Isaac's face by centimeters.
Isaac stood up and laughed. "Ok. I can see that you two want to be alone. I'll go downstairs and leave you." He winked at Taylor as he left the room.
Carter looked up from the pillow. "Think he'll tell your parents?"
"What is there to tell? That I have a crush on you and I'm trying to win you over? He can go ahead and tell them. I don't give a shit." He shrugged.
Carter sat up and smiled. She put her hand on his shoulder as she leaned in and kissed his lightly on the lips. "I think you've won me over." She grinned as she stared into his eyes.
"Oh really? Well I'm glad." Taylor kissed her again and smiled at her.
"But you know what? I have to go check on Zac again. Then I gotta get home. I'm really tired and I'm ready to sleep."
"You could spend the night!" Taylor suggested, sounded all too eager.
"Sorry, I don't think I should." Carter left the room and came back seconds later. "He's still sleeping." She grinned and stood in front of him on the bed. She leaned foreward and crossed her arms around the back of his neck.
Taylor put his hands on her hips and stood up. He kissed her again, this time more passionately than all their other kisses, and with more meaning. This time, he knew, she was ready to kiss him back.