Carter sighed as she walked to the pool and saw Taylor stretched out on a raft. "Oh goody." She said to herself. She walked to the side and pulled her over-sized t-shirt off to reveal a dark hunter green bathing suit. It was a one piece, cut too low at the top and too high on the legs. It revealed her perfect hips and waist, something that nobody ever noticed before.
Taylor looked up at her and shielded his eyes from the sun. "Hey."
"Yo." Carter answered, practically ignoring him. She sat on the edge and rubbed a small amount of sun block on her shoulders, the only place she ever burned. Taylor watched intently. "You're changing colors." She grinned.
"Huh?"
"You look like a retarded lobster."
"Oh." Taylor shrugged. "I don't like sun block. It doesn't work for me anyway."
"That's cause your pale white ass ...." She paused and sighed.
"Is Melissa inside?"
"Yeah. I thought you were mad at her. She's a little bitch, Tay. Why can't you realize that."
Taylor glared at her. "I still care about her. Unlike you."
Carter stared at the anger in his eyes and shrugged. "You don't know her like I do."
"Why do you have such a grudge against her."
"You really don't know, do you?"
"I haven't a clue."
"You weren't there that day. You don't know what she said to my mom."
"What day?"
"The day she died."
Taylor raised his voice. "No, I don't know what happened that day. You never tell me these things. The only people that know what happened are your family and Zac. What happened? What's she say to your mom?"
"I don't think I can...."
"Dammit Carter! Just tell me already! It's been a long time, you can at least tell me what Melissa said that makes you hate her so much."
Carter took a deep breath. "It was over something really dumb. Mom was getting ready walk to the store. She was gonna get stuff to make a cake for her birthday. It was her birthday you know."
Taylor shook his head. "I didn't know that."
"Yeah. So anyway, we were gonna make the cake for mom's birthday. But you know how Melissa is always begging for snacks and stuff. She can eat all day and not gain anything. Well, she asked mom if she could bring her home some Doritos. Mom said no. She said that she'd spoil her dinner and we were gonna make the cake." Carter looked down.
"Go on."
"Well, mom called Melissa a little piggy. You know, like joking. And for some reason, Melissa flipped. She always does when anybody insults her looks. She called mom a bitch and said she hated her. And then she said she wished she would die. She actually said that Tay."
Taylor swallowed hard.
"Then mom picked up her purse and gave us each a kiss on the forehead and left. Just like that. She didn't even say goodbye. You could see the pain in her eyes. Her daughter said she wished she would die. That must have hurt her so bad."
"Mel must feel guilty."
"That's just it. She doesn't. She didn't even cry when mom got hit. I still have the newspaper article. It was a really pretty green car that hit her. The kind mom would have stopped to say ‘Oh how lovely.' But there was a big dent in the front. I never wanted to believe that was where mom hit." Carter pushed back a few tears. Crying in front of Taylor was not an option in life.
"You ok?"
"Yeah. Wanna know something?"
"What?"
"In mom's purse, there was a little bag of Doritos. She went and got them for Melissa anyway. I still have them."
"You saved them?"
"Yeah. But I can't get the thought out of my head that if mom wouldn't have stopped to get those damn Doritos.... She wouldn't have gotten hit. She would have been at that spot way before the car and she would have never gotten hit."
Taylor shook his head. "But she was. And you have to accept that."
"I don't know if I can though, Tay. Wanna know something else?"
"Yeah."
"I don't like Doritos anymore. But Melissa still eats them all the time. That bugs me too. It's not just like, everything she does that bugs me. It's the things that she does with no respect for mom that bothers me."
Taylor nodded. "I can't believe she said that about your mother. She was such a great person."
"She liked you too. She just pretended she didn't so that it would make me happy."
"She would have done anything for you." He laughed. The realization of Melissa was finally hitting him. He had no idea until now that she could be so hurtful without even thinking. He shook off his hatred towards her quickly though. "Is this the kind of stuff you talk to Zac about?"
"What?"
"Like about how you feel and stuff."
"I guess so." She shrugged.
"Well in that case, I'm glad you told me."
Carter smiled.
"I'm gonna go inside now though." Taylor pulled himself from the swimming pool and slid his shoes on. "See ya later."
"Bye." Carter slid her t-shirt over her head and pulled her sandles on. She looked down into the pool and for a brief moment she thought she saw her mother's reflection. The blonde hair faded away quickly though. All she saw then was her own face. She took it as a sign though that her mother is still around, taking care of them. She smiled a big smile and jumped into the pool, shirt, shoes and all.