"Do you want another one?" Todd asked Carter from across the table. They were sitting at a booth in Dillie's in complete silence. Carter was spinning an empty glass of Coke around in her hands.
"No, I'm good." Carter adjusted her jeans and stared down at the table.
"So, you said you needed to talk to me." Todd stared at her intently. She had called him at home and his father told her that he'd be there. She came into the club quietly and finally found him cleaning off a table. He instantly ordered her a Coke and sat down with her. That was thirty minutes ago. They had been sitting in silence ever since.
"Yeah. I got your card."
Todd looked down at the table. "Oh. I sent it over a month ago. I figured you either read it and then threw it away, or saw who it was from and threw it away without even reading it."
Carter smiled. "No. I read it. I just..." She paused and took a sip of melted ice from her glass. "You know about me and Taylor, right?"
Todd glanced nervously at the tiny ring on her finger and nodded. "Yeah. I heard about that a while ago. I just needed to get all that out. I wasn't hoping for anything to happen. I just wanted you to know."
Carter nodded. "It was a nice card. I'm glad you told me."
Todd sighed. "I just figured it's always nice to hear that somebody loves you. It's something I've never heard from anybody before."
"But weren't you and Jade together for a long time?"
Todd shook his head. "We made out a lot. I guess the minute everybody found out about it, it wasn't the same. Besides, the feelings for you were always there. It's hard to be with somebody when you're hung up on somebody else."
Carter frowned. "I'm sorry?"
"Why should you be sorry? You didn't do anything wrong."
"Because I love Taylor. I mean," She shook her head, "I'm not sorry that I love Taylor. I'm sorry that I can't even give you a chance."
Todd laughed. "It's not like I'm not used to that. It's always somebody else. It was always either that you were in love with Zac or in love with Taylor. I've never had a chance."
"Don't say it like that." Carter looked up from her glass and gave him a look that was close to a glare.
"Like what?"
"You say it like... Dammit, I don't know. Nobody can get over the fact that I've dated brothers. Nobody understands how it's possible that in your lifetime, you can be in love with two different people."
He shrugged. "Can you blame me? I've only ever been in love with one."
Carter dropped her glass onto the table with a loud "thud". She stood up and grabbed her jacket from the back of her chair. "Look, I have to go. I can't... I don't know what you want, but I can't give it to you either way. And I don't appreciate you trying to make me feel bad."
Todd stood up with her, a look on his face not too different from a hurt puppy. "I'm sorry, Carter. I didn't mean to make you feel bad."
"I know. I'm sorry too. I'll talk to you later." She gave him a sympathetic smile and pushed her chair in. After walking out of the club she felt herself wondering how her life would be if she had ever really given Todd a chance. He was always sweet to her. Even the day she met him when she thought he was the cockiest son of a bitch she'd ever seen. She never did give him a chance. She couldn't. He was right. Everytime she wanted to give him a chance, her feelings for somebody else got in the way. She felt like a horrible person.
She felt even worse when she realized that all she wanted to do was go home to see Taylor.
Taylor sat down on the couch next to Katie and set his feet up on the coffee table. Katie had a huge, leather bound book on her lap and was flipping through the pages. It was a book she borrowed from the library. It was one of eleven books that she had stuffed in her messenger bag.
"It talks about all the different kinds of hauntings and the kinds of people who are sensitive to them. It also explains why some people are more clairvoyant than others. I think it's my favorite book so far."
"You read a lot?" He asked, pulling the book off of her lap and setting it in his own. He started flipping the pages.
"I do. It's always kind of kept me company. Well, at least these kinds of books. When you're little and you see things that nobody else sees, people don't understand. I could never find anybody to explain it to me, so I turned to books. I'm not the kind of person to just pull a random book off the shelf and start reading it. But if it's something I'm interested in, it's hard to pull me away from it." She took the book back from him and gave him a big smile.
Taylor laughed. "Sorry."
Katie turned to one of her favorite pages in the book. It was a page covered with beautiful pictures of Angels and a small child standing in the corner, looking up at them. She had long blonde hair and reminded her of herself when she was that age.
"I bet that's what you looked like when you were little." He smiled and pointed to the small child.
Katie swallowed hard. He was thinking the exact thing that she was thinking. She'd never had anybody do that before. Not even Zac. She was still dating Zac but lately they seemed to be drifting apart. It had been a hard few months for them both.
Taylor nodded when Katie didn't answer his comment. "I bet you looked exactly like her. But I like this." He took a strand of her dark, almost black hair between his fingers and tugged it playfully. "It makes your eyes look bluer."
"I guess so. I just needed a change." She suddenly felt extremely uncomfortable. She had no idea why her heart felt like it was screaming in her ear. She wasn't allowed to like this boy. He was Zac's brother. He was Carter's boyfriend. There was no way in this lifetime she could ever like him. It wasn't allowed.
"Are you ok? You seem like you're thinking about something completely different."
She sighed. He was doing it again. He was thinking the same thing as her. "Oh I was just thinking about that garage. I was terrified for a few minutes there." She paused. "Actually, I was sad. For a minute I was so depressed I could hardly breathe. It was like whatever was in that place was so sad it was effecting me. That happens a lot though. I kind of feed off of other people's emotions."
Taylor's eyes widened. "You know what? I do that too. Whenever somebody is around me that is sad or angry, I end up angry too. Is that what you mean?" He ran his fingers through his hair and made Katie shiver. He had that effect on people and he had no idea.
"Exactly." She smiled and turned on the couch so that she was facing him. She was probably sitting too close to him. She knew she was. She didn't want to move away though.
Taylor moved so that he was facing her as well. His mind had been racing so much today that he had no idea anymore what he was doing and how he was feeling. "You didn't look very scared when I saw you in the garage. You looked pretty comfortable. Except for the fact that you were sitting against a burned wall and holding your knees to your chest. Other than that, you looked fine."
She nodded. "I was scared until you got in there. I was calling Isaac to come get me and then you came in. I was glad you came. I saw you sitting over in the bushes watching me but I didn't want you to know. I figured you'd be embarrassed. I kind of wanted to come get you so you'd come in with me. Isaac was too afraid to go."
"I would have come with you. Isaac was always the most afraid of that place."
Katie nodded and shoved her hair behind her ears like she always did when she was a little uncomfortable. "Well, next time I get sent into a haunted place maybe I can drag you along."
"Anytime. It might be fun." Something was screaming in his ear. Something was telling him to stop talking immediately before he got into trouble. He also had an undeniable feeling in the pit of his stomach. It was the feeling he used to get whenever he was around a girl that he liked. He felt like he was on a rollercoaster. Then, something told him that Katie was feeling the same way.
He wasn't sure why he did it. He wasn't even sure if he did. Maybe it was her. In the next moment, he was kissing her. They both leaned forward at the same instant and before he knew it, his hand was on the side of her face and he was kissing her.
He also didn't hear the front door open. His heart was beating so hard in his ears that he was momentarily deaf. When they finally parted from the kiss he looked behind Katie to see Carter standing in the door way.
There was nothing else he could do. He'd screwed up and he knew it. Katie knew it to. He had no idea what to say. It's not like he could deny what Carter just saw. He could have been a moron and pretended to be searching her mouth for a contact lens but he knew that would just have made him look worse.
In that instant his heart stopped beating. He could no longer hear his heart pounding in his ears. He stopped breathing. He had no idea what to do.
After standing for a few moments in the doorway staring at them, Carter turned around and slammed the door behind her.
Todd left the club right after Carter. Part of him wanted to chase her through the parking lot and follow her home but he knew that wouldn't be a good idea. She knew how he felt and he knew that she couldn't do anything about it.
He turned on the tv and plopped down onto the huge, comfortable couch in the living room of his tiny one bedroom house. He had just moved in a month ago and the couch and tv were the only furniture he had in the living room. He sighed and dropped the remote on the floor when he heard the doorbell ring.
When he opened the door, he saw the last person he expected. Carter was standing on the porch staring at her feet. "Hey." He smiled at her. The smile disappeared quickly when he saw a small drop fall from her face. She was crying. She looked up at him, her huge eyes cloudy with sadness. "What's wrong?" He asked, his heart breaking. He had never seen this girl cry before.
She kicked at the ground and looked up into his eyes. "I didn't know where to go and since I was just with you I guess this was the first place I thought of."
"I'm flattered." He sighed, trying to cheer him up with sarcasm.
Carter didn't laugh. She reached out, her hand locked tightly into a fist. "Can you do me a favor and get rid of this? I can't look at it right now."
"Uhm," Todd held out his hand completely confused, "Sure."
Carter's fist opened and a small piece of silver metal fell into his hand. It was her ring. He had no idea what was going on or why he was now holding her engagement ring in his hand. He didn't need to know. He grabbed her hand and pulled her towards him, wrapping his arms around her in a hug. "Can you tell me about it?"
Carter shook her head. "Not right now."
"Ok." He let go of her and looked down into her eyes. "Ok, come on." He took her hand and let him into his house. He had no idea what was going on but he knew he wanted to be there for her when she was ready to talk.