Carter sat at the end of Zac's couch, uneasily. She stared ahead blankly at the tv. Even after Zac threw a piece of his KitKat BigKat at her, she continued to stare.
"Hey... Car... Zoner?" He waved his hand in her direction. "Dude I just threw the most sacred of all candy bars at your head and you didn't even eat it. What's up?"
Carter shrugged her shoulders. "Watching Spanish Sesame Street?"
Zac nodded. "Yeah. I think I finally figured out what Grover is saying when he goes 'UBER!' and runs under the door."
"Oh."
"Yeah. He's saying 'UNDER!'"
Carter laughed lightly. "Go figure."
Zac sighed. "So... uhm... you ok?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." She nodded. "Did you see Nique's senior picture hanging in the mall?"
"Uh huh. It's cute."
"Yeah."
Zac turned and looked at her. Her hair was in little pigtails at the nape of her neck with tiny flowers surrounding them. She looked adorable. "Are you sure nothing's wrong?"
"Not really." She shook her head and changed the subject. "So is Justine coming over today?"
"I'm going over there. Are you gonna tell me what's wrong?"
"Taylor and I broke up." She said, hiding the big picture that brought on their break up. She didn't want to tell Zac about her feelings. Not yet. She didn't want to try to break him and Justine up.
"And... that's a bad thing? Or a good thing?"
"No, it's fine. I mean, neither one of us are crushed or anything. He broke up with me and it was a total surprise... but... I'm ok. He had a good reason."
"Which was?"
"His heart wasn't in it." Carter nodded. At least it wasn't a lie.
"Oh." Zac made a face and sat up straight. "You know... I kinda thought that but I didn't want to say anything. And I've noticed that when the two of you are together you're kinda sitting there..."
Carter looked at him.
"Like, you know... sitting there kinda watching me and Justine. And you have this look on your face like you wish you had what we had."
"Oh." She sighed.
Zac paused. "I'm wrong, aren't I? Which would make me sound like a conceited asshole. Sorry."
"No. You're right. I definitely want what Justine has." She smiled.
Zac nodded, completely missing her point. "You'll get it. Don't worry. I'd be kinda worried if I were you though."
"Why?"
"Because, Taylor is free now. Which means you might find Gabi hanging out on the balcony trying to chisel her way into his room."
"Oh god. You think? Ew." Carter made a face. "Dammit I don't want her hanging around him. He better not hook up with her now."
"Whoa there." Zac held up his hands. "Taylor thinks she's a psychotic wench. Last I checked, he was planning her death."
Carter nodded. "Flaming Poodles?"
"Yup."
"I helped hatch that plan, you know."
"Very nice."
Carter grinned and grabbed the remote from him. "So do you still count the 'que pasas'? Or have you given up on that?"
"Current count is 584. But I don't think that should count cause most of these are reruns."
Carter laughed. "We have the gayest conversations. I swear. We're just... off."
"Understatement of the year."
"Woo!" Carter laughed and then sighed again. "So... Jade still hates me. Did you know that?"
"Yeah... OOH!" Zac jumped up. "JADE!"
"Jade what?"
"JADE! Jade won't hate you anymore! YOU COULD HOOK JADE UP WITH TAYLOR!!!!"
Carter leaned back as Zac jumped up and down. "Uhm, hang on there horsey. A little soon don't you think? Taylor and I broke up yesterday."
"So, I'm sure Jade already knows. She is an official member of the Melissa/Justine/Abby/Nique gossip squad. She's probably already picking out wedding gowns."
"Wow, that's weird."
"I know."
Carter shook her head. "No, not that. Think about it. Everybody always starts out kinda friends with us. And then... they turn to the dark side. Think about it, a long long time ago, who was Abby friends with? You. Then you introduced her to Mel. And who was friends with Nique first? You and me. Then, she went to mel. And Justine, she's kinda between... but... it always turns out the same way. How weird is that?"
"Eh. I wouldn't really call Melissa the dark side. She's kinda in between heaven and hell. Gabi, now, she's the dark side."
"Yeah. And I think Todd's kinda hanging out there with her still."
"Does that bug you?"
"No."
Zac grinned. "Yes it does. That's it. You like Todd! That's why Taylor's heart wasn't in it. He knows that you like Todd."
Carter shook her head and sighed. "Zac, you know me better than that. I'm sure if you looked at me and thought long and hard enough about it, you'd realize that Todd is NOT the reason Taylor and I broke up."
Zac raised an eyebrow and looked at Carter. "I guess.. yeah... you're right. It's not Todd. Todd's a dick. But it's gotta be another person. And it can't be that Taylor likes another girl. I mean, I've seen the way he looks at you. So it's definitely not another girl."
"Yeah, makes me feel a lot better."
Zac laughed. "Sorry. So then... it has to be you. It has to be that you secretely love somebody else. And it's gotta be somebody that could steal your heart away from Taylor. Somebody that has a strong enough relationship with you that it could..."
Carter stared straight ahead at the tv.
"You... You... Why didn't you tell me?"
"Tell you what?" She didn't look at him.
"You know what, Carter. Why didn't you tell me that you had feelings for me even after we broke up?"
"What would it have changed? You're with Justine now. I didn't want to have any possible chance of breaking the two of you up. Even though, you guys have been really tight, so I probably couldn't even break you up if I tried..." She sighed.
"You're... the only thing that could break us up. You should have told me!"
"You should have known!" Carter jumped up and stared at him. "All those times when you and Justine were kissing on the couch or when I walked into your room to see you. Do you have any idea how hard that was?!"
"I... no."
"I mean, sure I did my fair share of making out with Taylor, but we did it in private. I could hardly bare watching you two!"
"So that's why yesterday in the pool?"
"Duh!"
Zac looked down and sighed. "Dammit, Carter. I'm sorry. I should have noticed. But... you still should have told me!"
Carter sat back down and crossed her arms over her chest. "So I'm absolutely madly in love with you and I have been all my life. So what?"
"You're in love with me?"
"Yeah? So? You're in love with me too."
"I am not!"
Carter laughed and pointed at him. "You are too! I heard you! You told me you love me in your sleep!"
"When did this occur?!"
"Like... a couple months ago. But that's not important."
"Dude! You don't tell me anything anymore!"
"Yeah well, you don't tell me anything either."
"I tell you everything."
"Oh yeah? Then what was that... thing... doing under your bed?"
Zac's face turned red. "I TOLD YOU IT WAS TAYLOR'S"
Carter cracked up and fell back on the couch.
"So... what should I do now?"
"What do you mean?"
"Now that I have this piece of information about you... and me."
"Nothing yet. I really really don't want to hurt Justine and I don't want to break you guys up. Just... let things run their course. I know you really like her and she really likes you. I don't wanna screw that up."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
Zac sighed. "Good. Cause I really didn't wanna break up with her."
Carter laughed.
Zac jumped about three feet when the cordless phone in his lap rang. "Woo." He laughed. "Snuck right up on me." He answered the phone. "Wasssuppp? Yo. Hey. Yeah. Genius. Yeah. Ok. Nope we're cool. Yup. Ok. Bye. Have fun." Zac put the phone down and stared at Carter.
"And that was?"
"Oh. Isaac."
"Oh. Is he in Pennsylvania?"
Zac shook his head. "Nope. He took a wrong turn."
"Ah. Did he get lost?"
"Yup."
"So where is he now?"
"California."
Carter
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