But now here I was in my bedroom staring up at the ceiling, trying to figure out why I was so nervous and awkward talking to her earlier. I mean, come on, it was me; I didn’t get nervous talking to girls. But with Carter I was nervous that she wouldn’t forgive me for what I did at the party, and that she wouldn’t let me take her out tomorrow. Me, Ethan Galloway, was scared that a girl wouldn’t say yes to me asking her out.
I could see Carter’s light blue eyes staring, shining at me as she said yes. Just thinking about her saying yes and accepting my apology made my heart soar. I was just glad she accepted my apology because I couldn’t stand her being mad at me. All week we didn’t say more than two words to each other. Even when I was in college and she was still in high school, we spoke more often than that. I think that was the push for me to try and get back in her good graces. Why it mattered so much to me, I had no idea.
The reason I chose tomorrow, Sunday, to take Carter out was because I knew Luke would be busy. He told me earlier he was planning on staying in to study, which was a perfect opportunity to take Carter out without her brother knowing. Even though this wasn’t a date-date, I knew he would be weird about it. I hadn’t even realized until now how overprotective each of us were toward Carter.
Sighing, I broke out of my thoughts and looked over at the clock. It read 11:45 p.m. I planned on taking Carter out all day tomorrow, so it would be wise for me to head to bed. Just thinking about all the things I had planned and imagining Carter’s face when she realized it made me grin in the dark. My insides warmed as I thought of Carter. I got comfortable in bed. Tomorrow was going to be a great day, even if I had no idea why I was nervous.
Maybe something had changed after all.
***
Carter
If it wasn’t for my alarm, I probably would have never gotten up this morning. It took me forever to fall asleep last night because all I could think about was Ethan. I tossed and turned until around five in the morning, when sleep finally caught up with me. Everything about yesterday played in my mind like a movie on a repeat.
I had only gotten three hours of sleep, but the moment I remembered what today was, I was immediately awake. I flung the covers off, and in my rush to head to the bathroom, my legs got tangled in the covers, making me fall face-first to the ground. I’m so graceful, I tell you.
Groaning, I lay there waiting for the pain in my hands and knees to subside. While I was down Macey came into my room, an amused expression on her face. She leaned against the doorframe and raised an eyebrow at me.
“What happened to you?” she asked, making me look up at her.
“I fell.”
“I can see that.”
“You know, helping me out would be great,” I muttered sarcastically.
“Eh, you’re good.” She waved me off, grinning. Huffing, I got to work on untangling my legs.
“Some friend you are,” I said softly under my breath, but I was pretty sure she heard me. Once I was free, I jumped up and practically ran to the bathroom to shower.
“Why are you in such a rush?” Mace asked, following after me.
“I got that date with Ethan, remember? Well, not a date-date, but still!” I moved around the bathroom trying to figure what I was doing.
“Oh right! Do you know what you guys are doing together?”
“Not a clue, but he did text me last night saying he’ll be here around nine or so to pick me up.” From the corner of my eye I could see she had a huge grin on her face.
“I am so happy for you. This is the perfect opportunity to see if he has any feelings for you and whatnot. Plus, it sort of is a date.”
“Wait, it is?” I asked, turning to face her.
“Yeah, I mean, it is only you guys hanging out, so technically it could be classified as a date,” she pointed out. My eyes widened, and my heart started to race.
“It is a date. A date! Macey, I didn’t think it would be a date. What am I going to do? What am I going to wear?” I could feel myself starting to panic.
“Carter, breathe.” Macey grabbed my shoulders, staring right at me. “Calm down. It is okay. It may not be a date. You are just two friends going to hang out, nothing serious.” Her words did little to calm me, but I nodded along with her. “All you have to worry about is looking fabulous. Go shower and I’ll pick out your outfit, okay?”
“Okay. Okay, that sounds good.” I nodded. Just be calm, Carter, I chanted to myself. With a pat on my shoulders she turned and left me alone to shower.
You are just overreacting, Carter. Seriously, calm down. It is just Ethan. Yeah, Ethan who I’ve had a huge crush on forever. No big deal.
Forcing myself to not think about it, I undressed and hopped in the shower. I was on edge today—just a sentence could send me over. I needed to be calm and not let Ethan see how nervous I was. It was just a day out with a friend, that’s all. With that in mind, I pushed all of my feelings to the back of my mind and locked them up. I shouldn’t be acting this way in general.
It only took me about twenty minutes in the shower to get everything done. With my hair washed and my legs shaved, because who knew what I was going to wear, I was out and wrapping a towel around me. I wanted to look my best even if we were just going to a movie or something. But knowing Ethan, we wouldn’t be doing that.
I headed back to my room. As expected, my room was a mess. Standing in the middle of the mess was Macey with a proud look on her face.
“Why does my room look like a tornado blew through it?” I asked, coming to a stop at the edge of the pile of clothing.
“I found the perfect outfit for you.”
“I didn’t even know I had this much clothing.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Here, go change!” She shoved a pile of clothing in my hands before leaving my room. I let out a sigh as I weaved my way through the chaos. Once I was in a place I could stand without stepping on anything, I started putting on the clothing Macey picked out for me.
I started with the dark blue skinny jeans. I was thankful no one was around to see me bounce and hop trying to get them on, I knew I definitely looked like a freak. Once I had those on, I reached for the top. Holding it up, I stared at in confusion. When did I get this? I wondered. It didn’t look familiar at all, although it looked super cute. Shrugging, I slipped on the black and white crop top.
Once I had adjusted it, I glanced over in the full-length mirror to see how I looked. A grin spread across my face. I liked the outfit. Macey was right; it was the perfect outfit: simple yet really cute.
“You finally dressed?” Macey yelled through the door.
“Yes, I am!” I yelled back at her. Hearing her come back inside, I got to work refolding my clothes.
“Man, I’m good.” Mace whistled at me. I rolled my eyes but grinned.
“How did you even find this shirt?” I asked, leaning back up.
“In the very back of your closet. Anyways, let’s get started on your hair and makeup. If Ethan is on time, we will be cutting it really close.” With that, I was dragged right back to the bathroom and forced to sit on the toilet seat while Macey did her magic. She knew how much this moment meant for me, and it warmed my heart that she wanted me to look good. I definitely hit the jackpot with her as my best friend.
It had to be about twenty minutes later when Macey was finally done. I let her poke and prod me silently while inside all I wanted to do was move. When Mace finally let me look in the mirror, I was glad I didn’t tell her to stop a little bit ago. I looked way better.
She had done a great job at not caking the makeup on me. The only area that looked heavy was my eyes, but I didn’t mind because the blue popped out even more. With nude lipstick on my lips and my brown hair pulled into a high ponytail with a few strands left wavy and loose, I was good to go. All I needed now was shoes and my bag.
I was more than impressed by how fast Macey got me ready. It was only a little bit after nine and Ethan would be here any minute. While I packed my small han
dbag with the necessities, Mace went to find me some shoes.
“What are you going to say if your brother calls you to see what you are doing?” Macey asked, coming back into my room a pair of black heels in her hand.
“That I’m either studying, or that I’m hanging out with you and Amy.” I sat down on my bed to slide the heels on because we all know I would just fall if I stayed standing up.
“What if he asks me?”
“Uh…” I trailed off, not having thought that far yet. “I don’t know. I mean, I guess it doesn’t matter if he knows Ethan and I are hanging out, but I know he will ask a ton of questions and go all Luke on me.” I just didn’t want my brother to ruin this moment for me. Knowing him, he would be here in a matter of minutes to put a stop to our plans. I couldn’t even imagine what he would do if he knew I hung out with Gage and Dylan the other day. He definitely would have blown a gasket.
“If you don’t want to lie to him, that is okay. I’ll deal with my brother,” I said to Mace once I had my shoes on. Standing up, I slowly turned for Macey to see. “Do I look okay?”
“You look hot!” She grinned at me. I sent her a smile back, running my hands down the front of my jeans. I was glad they were high-waisted because now only a little bit of my midriff showed. I did have a lot of skin showing and felt slightly uncomfortable, but I did not want to change now, and plus, the outfit was really cute. The heels made it look slightly less casual, which I did like. I planned on taking some flats with me though, just in case. There had been multiple times I had worn heels or similar shoes that made it hard to walk or hard to do things. I did not want to be stuck with heels if we ended up bowling or something. I did wish I knew what we were doing so I would know if my outfit wasn’t right.
“Car, don’t overthink anything, okay? Just go out and have fun. Let Ethan sweat a little as well. He deserves to grovel for your forgiveness.” I nodded with her. I did tell Macey everything that happened the night of the party. I kind of had to when she asked me why I wouldn’t stop smiling the entire day. I told her what happened with the girl while I danced with Ethan, how Gage took me somewhere to make me feel better, and of course, that Ethan wanted to take me out to apologize. I couldn’t keep anything from her. It was a miracle I kept the whole party thing a secret until now.
“Make him buy you tons of stuff! Then when you get home, you will tell me everything.” She grinned and waggled her eyebrows at me. I shook my head at her but grinned. I just hoped today would be a good day.
Just as I thought that, the doorbell rang followed by two quick knocks. My eyes widened as I stared at Macey. Ethan was here. Okay, maybe I’m not ready to do this.
“I’ll get the door. Take a few deep breaths before coming out, okay? Car, let loose and have fun. It isn’t every day you get to spend the entire day with Ethan.” Winking at me, she left me to center myself.
I can do this! Just act normal, Carter. Don’t go all weird or anything. It is just Ethan. You guys are just hanging out because he feels bad. Make him sweat a little. I thought of Macey’s words. Nodding at my little pep talk, I grabbed my things and headed to the living room.
When I came out to the living room, I found Macey staring at an awkward-looking Ethan. I could see the tips of his ears were slightly pink, letting me know Macey either threatened him or made some funny comment; I was going for the first one. The sound of my heels alerted both of them to my presence. Immediately, my eyes clashed with Ethan’s green-blue ones. A wide smile appeared on his face as he stared at me. Forcing my blush down, I walked up to them. I stood right in front of Ethan.
“Hey,” I breathed out. My eyes greedily took in his outfit. He was wearing his usual low-hung light blue jeans, but this pair didn’t have any rips in them. A grey fitted t-shirt graced his upper body, showing off his great muscles. I could almost feel myself drooling just at the sight of him. I barely reached his shoulder even in my heels.
“Hey. You ready to go?” he asked. Not trusting my voice at the moment, I just nodded. With a grin at me, he reached back and opened the door, gesturing for me to go ahead. Giving Macey a quick hug and a thank you, I left my dorm with Ethan behind me.
We were both quiet as we made our way out of the dorm building and toward the parking lot.
“You look great, Car,” Ethan said, finally breaking the silence. I couldn’t stop myself from blushing.
“T-thank you. You do too.” I peeked up at him. He was grinning down at me, his eyes shining with an emotion I couldn’t read. Both of us were so awkward as we continued on walking, passing a few people along the way. Not able to take the silence any longer, I spoke up.
“So where are we going?” I asked.
“Now that is a surprise,” Ethan replied, winking over at me.
“You know I’m not a fan of surprises.”
“Don’t worry, you are definitely going to like this one.” I hadn’t even realized we had reached his car until he opened the passenger’s door for me. “I hope,” he muttered under his breath, not thinking I could hear him. I held back a smile because I knew I would like anything that we decided to do.
I inwardly smiled at being in his car. I had always loved his Range Rover. And being in it right now felt different than the other times. The dark leather was so soft you could literally fall asleep on it, and the deep brown interior matched really well. And of course, the outside color was beautiful; it was a mix of grey and steel grey and had an almost matte look to it. Ethan definitely had one of the nicest cars out of all of us. I felt a little self-conscious knowing I had a hand-me-down car that was nowhere near as nice as this or even Luke’s car. But I worked hard to buy it with my own money, so to me that made it worth more.
Ethan got this car from his parents as a graduation gift. It was the one time they actually showed up for something, although they were only there for graduation and a quick bite to eat afterwards before they jetted off somewhere. They were here long enough to give Ethan his gift, say congrats to my brother, and say hi to my parents. Even though they weren’t here for more than twelve hours, I knew Ethan was glad they came. If they hadn’t, I don’t know what he would have done or what I would have done. I mean, whose parents miss their only child’s graduation? I think even my own parents would have said something to them if they hadn’t showed.
“Still in love with my car, I see,” Ethan joked as he started it and backed out of the parking lot.
“Can’t help it. It is so gorgeous.” I reached out to touch the dashboard, but I quickly withdrew it not wanting to look like an idiot.
“Monika is a great car.” He patted his steering wheel affectionately.
“Monika?” I asked.
“My car.”
I bit my lip trying to stop the laughter that wanted to burst free.
“You named your car?” A small giggle did escape my lips, making Ethan send me a look.
“Don’t judge and don’t be rude. You could hurt her feelings.”
I rolled my eyes at him but let it slide. It wasn’t like I wasn’t guilty of naming my car something too. But I didn’t tell others her name.
Instead of letting the awkward silence continue, Ethan clicked on the radio. DNCE’s hit song “Cake By The Ocean” came through the speakers. I smiled and looked out the window, softly tapping my fingers to the beat against my thigh. Both us listened silently to the music as Ethan drove us to wherever it was that we were going. I wanted to ask again where he was taking me, but I knew he put a lot of thought into this and didn’t want to ruin it.
It was about twenty minutes later when Ethan pulled into a parking lot that only had a few cars in it. Confused as to where we were, I opened my door and got out.
“I was going to get that door for you,” Ethan said, coming around the front of the car.
“That’s okay, I’m impatient.” I shrugged.
“Okay, little miss impatient, let’s head on onside and get this started.” He grinned widely at me as he grabbed my hand and pulled me inside th
e building. I glanced up at the last second to catch sight of a sign that said ‘Go Carts, Bowling, and More’ on the front.
“Wait, are we—” I started to say but paused once we entered through the doors. The place was like a big warehouse that looked like it had tons of different activities. There was a set of glass doors up ahead that looked like you would split up to do different things. To the left was where you paid to get in. With a tug on my hand, Ethan went over to the guy that looked around our age. He looked beyond bored, and I would think so because there weren’t a lot of people here, yet.
“Hi, how may I help you?” the kid said like he was on autopilot. I held back a laugh at his expression.
“We’d like the deluxe package,” Ethan rattled off. Deluxe? I looked at Ethan wondering how he knew what package to get. While the kid rang us up, I reached for my wallet not wanting Ethan to pay for it all.
“No, I am paying.” Ethan grabbed my hand and moved it back to my side.
“Ethan, no—”
“Carter, yes. I am paying,” he said firmly and thrust the money right at the guy, not giving me a chance to argue anymore. Huffing, I put my money away and crossed my arms. It was nice that Ethan wanted to pay for me, but I hated taking others’ money, especially when I had my own to use.
“Make sure to wear these bracelets everywhere you go. They will let you right in on all the things you want to do,” the kid said, handing us these bright neon green bracelets: that kind that you get when you go swimming and can never get off. “Have fun.” He waved us off. Laughing under my breath, I stepped away from the counter with my bracelet in hand.
“Let me help you with that,” Ethan offered and grabbed it from my hand. He gently held my wrist and adjusted the bracelet to fit me. “There you go.” He grinned at me. I ignored the tingling that erupted around my wrist from where he touched it, and grabbed his own.
Silent Love [Part 2]_Forbidden Series Page 4
