Taylor nodded.
"And what are you doing?" Issac asked, throwing his duffle bag over his shoulder.
"Making soup." Taylor grabbed a stick and swirled it around in the mud puddle at the corner of the stairs.
"You still do that? I thought you grew out of it when you turned 6."
"Guilty pleasure."
"Ok yeah. Ok since you're ocmpletely clueless, I'll be gone for a week. Take messages for me, blah blah blah, and keep Zac and Carter out of my room."
Carter chuckled.
"Ok so... bye."
Carter jumped up and threw her arms around Isaac. "BYE BYE BABY!" She yelled as she kissed his cheek 7 times.
"Ok... whoa..." Isaac and Taylor looked at eachother.
"See, I told you I notice you..." She grinned as he got into his car and drove away. Carter looked down at her traced leg and sighed. "Yup... you were right... they are in proportion to eachother."
"I told you." Taylor smiled and looked over at the old blue mazda that was parked in front of their neighbor's house. "Hey, remember that?"
Carter looked up at the car and nodded. "Uh huh." She glared at him.
"Yeah, that was funny."
"Very funny. So funny that I got a bare-assed spanking and got sent to bed early."
"Hey, you shoulda known you were being bad."
"Yeah. I should have known that when you tell me to shove mud inside of Victoria's muffler, I'm gonna get in deep shit." Taylor laughed and Carter threw her piece of chalk at him. "I got you back though."
"You always do."
Carter smiled proudly. "Yes I do."
"And then I always get you back."
She sighed, placing her hand on her hair. "Yes you do."
"Ok, I've apologized for that. I knew I went too far."
"You think?"
Taylor laughed and wrapped his arms around her. "Which reminds me, I do still owe you one."
"What do you mean."
"Well, if I'm not mistaken, the last prank was yours. You bombed me with condiments."
"Yes. Yes I did." She grinned.
"So, the next prank is mine."
Carter bit her lip. "You're not gonna kill my hair again are you?"
"Nope." He smiled.
"Well, whatever you do, just remember, it's gonna come back to you times 10. It always does."
"Oi."
Carter smiled and jumped up the stairs. "Ok I'm going inside."
"Wait, why?"
"Because I want to put on my bathing suit and jump into the pool."
"OK!" Taylor jumped up and followed her inside. After a few minutes they made their way up the back hill to find Zac and Justine splashing around in the water.
"Do they ever get off of eachother?" Carter asked, whispering into Taylor's ear.
"You were just like her when you were with Zac."
Carter grumbled. "Hey Zac."
Zac looked up at Carter who was standing on the edge of the pool. "Hey."
"You shouldn't be swimming today."
"I'm ok."
"No, you shouldn't be swimming today. You haven't felt well all week and swimming saps your energy."
"I'm ok, Car. I feel better today."
Justine dipped her hair underwater and pushed it out of her face. "Yeah, mom. He feels better today."
Carter sighed. "I'm just worried." After no response from Zac or Justine, Carter sighed again and walked over to the diving board. She sat out on the edge like she usually did and looked across the yard at her and Zac's fort. It had some damage done to it from the winter and the rain of spring, but she was pretty sure if wouldn't be fixed any time soon.
Taylor sat on a lawn chair and watched Carter sitting on the diving board. He always laughed because there was a sticker right on the edge of the board that read "Do not sit or stand for a long period of time". Carter always said, "Oh that doesn't apply to me."
Carter sighed and looked over at Taylor, who was grinning. She raised an eyebrow, but before she had a chance to turn around to see what he was looking at, she felt a hand shove her into the water. She came up for air and coughed, adjusting her bathing suit top. "Dammit!" She yelled as she rubbed the water out of her eyes to see Zac standing on the diving board, smiling.
"You were staring off into space. I thought I needed to wake you up." He smiled.
Justine laughed from behind Carter and threw a beachball. It hit her in the back of the head.
Carter turned around and glared. "Dammit, Justine!" She yelled, grabbing the ball and throwing back, hitting her square in the face. She didn't care if it hurt. She swam to the ladder and climbed out of the pool.
Zac, Taylor, and Justine watched as she grabbed a towel, wrapped it around her waist, and disappeared into the bushes where her and Zac's fort was hidden.
There were some branches that were bent and hanging on the ground. She pushed them out of the way and crawled to the back where their supply box was. All that was left was one of Zac's old t-shirts and a box of moldy crackers. She sighed and sat down on the piece of carpet she'd put in there 3 months before.
"Hey... Carter..." She heard Taylor's voice from outside of the fort.
"Leave me alone, I just wanna hang out in here for awhile."
"Look I know you and Zac have some amazing place in there that you've been hiding for 10 years... but I need to talk to you."
"Fine. Come in."
Taylor pushed the plastic sheet away and ducked under. He was at least 10 inches taller than Carter, so he had to duck. He sat down in front of her and smiled. "Look... I know what's going on."
"What?" She looked straight at him. "What's going on?"
"You've been out of it and totally not yourself ever since Zac and Justine started going out."
"So?"
"So... you're jealous of her."
Carter looked up and practically gave him a death glare. "I am not! Why the hell would I be jealous of her?!"
"Because... she's pretty... she's sweet... and she has your best friend all to yourself."
Carter sighed. "So what's your point?"
"My point is, I can't go out with you anymore."
"What?"
Taylor shrugged. "Your heart isn't in it. And when your heart isn't in it... mine isn't either. Therefore, it's pointless."
"My heart is in it! I love you and you know that."
"Yeah. But you love Zac more."
Carter looked down.
"Admit it to yourself, Carter. You're just gonna tear yourself apart if you don't admit it. And you're never going to forgive yourself if you give up what could have been."
Carter looked off into space remembering the night when Zac spoke out in his sleep.
"To hell with Nique, and Taylor... Nobody is meant to be together more than you and me. Nobody. I've been feeling so crappy lately. Ever since we broke up. Everything is coming back, the pain in my legs and arms, the headaches, the brain fog. It just seems like without you, I have nothing to look forward to and I let everything go to hell."
She looked back up at Taylor. She'd let it go as a work of her imagination, but lately she couldn't stop thinking about it. "Tay, Zac talks in his sleep... a lot."
"Yeah, he's almost as bad as you."
"Then holy shit, I wasn't dreaming!"
"What?" Taylor looked confused.
Carter shook her head. "I can't believe it. You just totally broke up with me."
"Yeah. But we're still gonna be really close right?"
"Yeah."
"And you promise you're gonna tell Zac how you feel?"
"Yeah. Just not right away."
"Ok cool." Taylor thought for a moment. "Can we still make out?"
Carter laughed and shook her head. "Nah, that might get a lil confusing."
"Yeah, I guess you're right."
Carter smiled and pushed Taylor. "Ok now get out of our damn fort. It's supposed to be a secret."
Taylor laughed and got up, leaving the fort with Carter following him. Carter grabbed his arm and pulled him back to her. She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly. "Thank you so much, Taylor."
"No problem." He hugged her back.
"And no matter what happens, I'm still going to love you and you're always going to be one of my closest friends in the world."
He nodded. "I'll never forget these past few months that you've spent with me."
She laughed. "Said like a true romantic dork."