Melissa ran the brush through her long silky blonde hair. She clipped the lose strands in the front to the sides of her head with tiny blue butterfly pins. She stepped in front of the mirror to admire her long black skirt and extremely tight black t-shirt. "Perfect. I look thinner than ever in this." She grinned flipped her hair behind her shoulders before heading next door to Taylor's.
"Why are you dressed up?" Carter asked, sitting on the banister between the two houses. She barely even looked up from her book.
"And I thought nerds only read in private." Melissa rolled her eyes and rang the doorbell.
Zac answered the door and completely ignored Melissa. He went straight to Carter, leaving the door open for Melissa to go inside. "Hey Carter. What's up?"
Carter held up her book.
"Is it a good one?"
She nodded.
"I'll leave you alone." He smiled and patted her head. Zac went into his living room and sat in an armchair. He pretended to watch tv as he listened intently to the conversation happening in the kitchen.
"How are you?" Melissa asked in her most cheerful voice. Zac could almost here her smiling. He gagged.
"I'm ok. What are you doing here?"
"Oh nothing." Zac pictured Melissa leaning sideways with her hand on the sink, batting her flirtatious eyelashes at Taylor.
"Did you want something?"
"Oh... yes. Yes I did."
Zac gagged again.
"I'm kind of busy." Zac couldn't think of what busy meant. He just figured Taylor was staring into the refridgerator, looking for food.
"Oh. Well I could leave you alone."
"That might be a good idea." Taylor sighed audibly.
"Is there something wrong Taylor?"
"No. I just have some things to get done."
"Well I could help."
Zac laughed quietly and slowly pulled himself from his chair. He decided it was time he saved his brother. Walking into the kitchen, seeing Melissa leaning sideways on the sink, he tried to keep himself from laughing. "Hey Tay. Mom wants you to go help you with something. And she says to remind you that you're not supposed to have anybody in the house because you're still grounded for tying me to the bush outback." Zac finished his lie with a grin.
Taylor sighed in relief and gave Zac a thankful look. "Thanks."
"Oh. Well I guess I better go. I wouldn't want you to get in trouble. Now would I?" She said with a giggle. She kissed his cheek and left.
Taylor slumped down into a chair. "No you wouldn't!" He giggled in the same way that she did. "Thanks man. You saved me."
"No problem. Where's Ike?"
Taylor pointed to the ceiling.
"Cool. See ya." Zac tossed his hair over his shoulder and laughed. "I don't know how you can stand that chick." He trudged up the steps and knocked on Isaac's bedroom door.
The music stopped for a second. "What?"
"Can I come in?"
"Who?"
"Duh. Zac."
"Yeah."
Zac pushed the door open and smiled at Trey, the only greeting that Trey would ever recognize as a greeting. Trey waved. Then he pointed down at his girlfriend.
Zac looked at the floor and sighed. "Hi Tristan."
"Hey. Ike, your little sister's in here. When did she get here?"
"It's Zac. He's a guy."
"Oh hi." Tristan turned back to Trey.
Tristan's thick maroon/brown hair reached the middle of her back. Hints of purple and blue hilighted the front and she wore mostly black. Her eyebrow ring and tattoo of an armband somehow made Zac uneasy.
"Did you want something, bro?"
"Yeah. I'm going outside with Carter. You can protect Tay from Melissa while I'm gone right?"
Ike nodded. "Is he still avoiding her?"
"Yeah. She finally got too repulsive, even for him."
"Is he "grounded" again?" Taylor made the quotation sign with his fingers.
"Yeah. For tying me to a bush."
"K. Got it." Isaac turned his music back up, a signal for Zac to leave the room.
"See ya." He mumbled, closing the door behind him.
Carter looked up from her book when she finally noticed that Zac was standing there.
"You wanna go somewhere?"
"Nah."
"Wanna...do anything?"
Carter shook her head slowly.
"Something wrong."
"Yeah."
"Gonna tell me?"
Carter looked all around her before whispering. "I told Taylor."
"Told him what?"
"About the day mom died."
"Oh." Zac sat down on the banister next to her.
"Yeah. It's weird. I thought I was over it. But I guess I'm not."
"Still blaming Melissa?"
Carter shrugged. "I don't know. I'm just..." She looked up at his eyes, hopeful. "When will I ever get over this?"
Zac shook his head. "I don't know, Car. I really don't."
"I've been reading a lot lately. To get my mind off of it. But everywhere I look, I see mom's face. Like she's there, but she's not." Carter bit her bottom lip.
Zac could see something in her eyes, something he had only ever seen once before. He put his arm around her shoulder but Carter slid it off quickly and jumped up. "I'm gonna go inside and get a drink. I'll see you later."
Carter ran upstairs to her room and closed the door behind her. She stood facing it for a few minutes, her arms crossed over her chest. Her short hair hung over her eyes as she stared down at the ground. There was a knock, but she didn't answer, hoping it wasn't Melissa.
Zac pushed open the door and stood in front of her, waiting for her to move. Carter looked up at him and shrugged. "Why's it have to be this way?"
Zac didn't move.
"Why..." She stuttered and pushed a stand of hair off of her nose. Carter took a slow step forward before sliding her arms around Zac's waist and rested her head on his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around the top of her back and placed his head on top of hers.
He felt a drop fall onto his neck and in an instant he knew that she was crying. He stepped away from her and locked the door, returned back to her arms a second later. "It's all gonna be ok soon."
Carter sniffled and wiped a tear away on his shoulder.
"I promise, things will get better. You'll find a way to be happy. And I'll help you. Ok?"
Carter nodded and lifted her head. She wiped her eyes and stared at him. "Thanks, Zac. I'd be nowhere without you."
"And you think my life would be fantastic without you around?"
Carter shrugged.
"Listen, you're my best friend in the world. You mean more to me than oxygen. There's nothing that will ever change that. And I'll always be here no matter what."
Carter smiled a weak smile and wrapped her arms around him again. "Thank you so much."
"No problem." _______________________________________________________
Later that night, when the stars were high in the sky and all was quiet, Carter once again found herself on the balcony. Wearing her black flannel pajamas, she was perfectly cozy.
Zac poked his head out of the door to his house and smiled. "You want company?"
"Sure." She smiled and scooted over.
"I brought my blanket." Zac help up his plaid comforter. "I had a feeling you didn't have yours."
"It's being washed."
"Oh." Zac sat down next to her and leaned on her shoulder. "Shouldn't you be sleeping?"
"I couldn't."
"Why not?"
"I haven't said goodnight yet."
Zac looked down and noticed that she was holding her mother's picture. It was bent down the middle and the edges were peeling. "What happened?"
"Melissa said she forgot to check the pockets when she did the laundry. She always goes through my pockets, Zac. She knows this is always in there."
"I have one inside. If you want it."
"You do?"
"Yeah. It's the same picture, but you can have it."
"I didn't know you had a picture of her."
Zac nodded. "Yeah. I miss her a lot too."
"Thanks, Zac."
"No prob."
Carter smiled and kissed her mother's picture. "Nite mom."
"I've been wanting to say something."
"Huh?"
"Uhm. Today, when you were crying..."
"Yeah?"
"You have no idea like.... how cool it is to be the one person you would ever cry to."
Carter shrugged.
"I mean, you mean a lot to me, Carter. And It just shows that I probably mean a lot to you too."
"Well, you do mean a lot to me."
"Have you ever kissed anybody?"
Carter looked at Zac in surprise. "I'm 16. What do you think?"
Zac smiled.
"No I haven't. Have you?"
He laughed. "Nope. I'm saving myself."
"You're a dork."
"Oh really? And how come you haven't ever been kissed?"
Carter shrugged. "Nobody likes me. I guess."
"That's not true."
"What do you mean?"
"I'd kiss you... you know like... if like.. you know."
Carter rolled her eyes. "You don't make any sense."
"No I mean like. If I knew for sure that it wouldn't screw up our friendship. You know how everybody says that is. If you kiss your friend then you eventually turn to enemies."
"Since when have you listened to other people."
"Do you mean you would kiss me?"
"I didn't say that. But... yeah I guess I would."
Zac smiled. "Want too?" His voice squeaked slightly as he turned to face her. "You know, like an experiment. Like they did on My Girl."
"Uhm. You'd have to kiss me. Cause like, I wouldn't be able to just kiss you."
"I can't just kiss you either."
"You're the guy though."
"But you're older."
"So?"
Zac sighed. "Fine."
"Oh, gee Zac. Make it sound like a freakin chore."
Zac laughed. "Trust me Carter, it's no chore at all."
"Huh?"
"Nothing."
"Ok."
"Ok. I'm gonna kiss you now."
Carter laughed.
"What?"
"Nothing, that just sounded kinda dumb."
"What do you want me to say?"
"I dunno, just like... do it."
"Ok. Uhm.. now?"
"No, yesterday Zac. Duh. Just do it."
"Ok." Zac licked his lips and leaned foreward.
"No, don't do that."
"What?"
"Don't lick your lips. I don't wanna get all wet."
Zac wiped his mouth on his sleeve.
"Ew. Now I'll get all linty."
Zac laughed. "Could you just let me do this?"
"Ok. Go ahead."
"Ok." Zac leaned his head foreward again and just before he could feel Carter's lips on his, he licked his lips.
Carter laughed. "Dammit Zac! You did it again!"
"Did what?!"
"You licked you lips!"
"Ok, that's it." Zac put his hand behind Carter's neck and pulled her foreward. Without licking his lips or wiping them off, he pressed them lightly against hers. After a couple seconds, he slowly pulled away. "Ok."
"Well, if that's it, yeah I've been kissed before."
"Huh?"
"Some guy grabbed me and kissed me. But that was when I was like... 11. So yeah. I guess I've been kissed before."
"Well why didn't you tell me before?"
"I thought you meant like... you know... french kiss."
"Well, technically, I did. I just didn't know if that's what you meant."
Carter laughed. "You still wanna?"
"Uh huh."
"This won't mess up the friendship or anything will it?"
"Nah uh."
"Ok."
Zac and Carter moved towards eachother and kissed again. This time, Zac waited a few seconds before opening his mouth a little. Carter did the same and within seconds, their tongues were gently exploring eachother's mouths. Zac pulled away first. They both leaned back in silence for a few moments.
"So?"
Carter blinked. "So what?"
"What did you think?"
"I could get used to that."
"Me too."
Carter smiled and put her head on his shoulder. "I'm gonna sleep now. Ok?"
"Yup. Night, Carter."
Carter yawned, still smiling. "Night Zac."