Fall for Me

by Alexis Noelle

“You really wanna know, Carter?! Because I don’t have anyone! No family, no house, no one! I didn’t tell you this because I didn’t want you to feel bad for the poor little foster kid who bounced from bad house to bad house!” I turned away from him and sat on my bed. I just want to be alone right now. Nicole has been begging me all week to come home with her, but I refuse to be anybody’s charity case.

  “What about Chris? Where is he?” Carters tone is so harsh. It’s almost like he is mad.

  “He’s going home. He left a couple of hours ago.” Please don’t let him ask why I didn’t go with him.

  “Come home with me.” Is he crazy? “No, I’m not crazy, Maddy. Come home with me.”

  How did he do that? There was absolutely no way I was going home with him. First of all, can you say awkward?! ‘Hi, I’m the poor orphan your son has taken pity on. Thanks for dinner.’

  “Carter, you can’t be serious.”

  “I’m serious, Maddy. Come home with me?” I don’t answer him for a minute, trying to process what he is really asking me. “Come on, I don’t want you here on campus by yourself. Plus, you would be keeping me company, so really I’m being selfish.”

  “Carter, you can’t just invite me home with you! I’m not a charity case and I’m used to being on my own. Not to mention, Chris might literally kill me!” FUCK! Why don’t I have a filter around him? I steal a glance up at Carter and can see him trying to control his anger. Is he pissed at me?

  “What did you mean by that?”

  “By what?”

  “You said Chris might literally kill you. What did you mean? What’s going on, Maddy?” His voice is raised to the point that I can tell he is having a hard time keeping it together.

  “Nothing, Carter. It’s just an expression. Leave it alone.” I try to remain casual and pretend like it’s no big deal when it is huge.

  He pulls out his cell phone. What was he doing? “Hey…I’m good…leaving tomorrow afternoon…can I bring a friend with me?” Didn’t I just tell him no? Yes, I did! I told him NO! “Yeah…okay, great…love you too…I’ll see you tomorrow.” He puts the phone in his pocket and then looks at me. “It’s done. You’re coming home with me.”

  I started to shake my head. I can’t do this, not with how I am starting to feel about him.

  “Yes, Maddy. You’re not spending the holiday alone. You said Chris is going home anyway. He won’t even know. Please come home with me. I want you with me. I love being around you. Can’t you see that? I’m not doing you a favor in all this. You’re doing one for me.”

  It would be amazing to be able to spend five days with Carter. But how will he explain me? “What would you say to your family?”

  “It’s just my dad, brother, and sister. You heard me say that I was bringing home a friend.”

  My heart hurts a little when he says “friend.” I hate how much I am falling for Carter. This trip is only going to make my feelings for him worse, but maybe I am a glutton for punishment. “Okay, you win.” The smile he shoots me makes me weak in the knees. Thank God I am sitting down or I might have fallen over. “I’ll pack a bag.”

  I reach under the bed to get my suitcase and when I stand up, Carter wraps his arms around me. It feels so good to be in his arms like this. I relax and lay my head back against his chest. As he is holding me in his arms I feel so safe, and cared for. Yep, I was definitely a glutton for punishment.

  He lets me go and I start packing my stuff. “You don’t have to stay here. I agreed to go. I’m not going to run away. I’ll be ready tomorrow.”

  “I want you to come to my house with me tonight. Everyone is gone and I was just going to hang out and watch a movie. There’s no reason we can’t do that together.”

  I swear this boy will be the death of me. “Carter, I don’t-”

  “Please.”

  I look up and the bastard is giving me puppy dog eyes and is actually pouting! “Ugh, fine!”

  Then he smirks at me, sits down on Nicole’s bed, and waits.

  I can’t help but smile as I think of spending time alone with him during this break.

  Chapter Eleven

  Carter

  I can’t believe I got her to agree to come home with me. At that moment, I want to jump up and punch my fist in the air, I am so damn happy. We are on our way back to my house now and I can tell Maddy is nervous. I know my family will love her as much as I do. Wait...did I just say I loved her?

  I couldn’t believe she was actually going to stay on campus all alone, and that piece of shit just left her. He didn’t even deserve to look at her much less call her his. “Can I ask you a question?” She looks over at me and nods her head. “Why didn’t you go home with Chris?”

  “He…um…he said dinner was family only and, well, I’m not family.” Her voice is so quiet that I can barely make out what she is saying. She looks down into her lap and I see her wipe away a tear. She doesn’t deserve the way he treats her.

  “Well, this weekend you’re part of my family.” She looks at me and gives me a smile, but I can tell she is still unsure of everything. We leave her bags in the car and she just grabs a change of clothes for tomorrow. I ordered Chinese food when we left her dorm so it should be here any minute. I tell Maddy to put her stuff in the bedroom and I’ll sleep on the couch tonight. I’d love to sleep next to her, but I think I pushed her enough for today. The food comes while Maddy is in the bathroom. I make us plates and bring them into the living room. She comes out in a T-shirt and sweatpants. God, she looks beautiful in everything.

  “Thank you for dinner, and everything else. You really don’t need to do everything you are for me, but I appreciate it.”

  I hate that she is always so negative about herself. She has no idea how amazing she is. “I want to, Maddy. Please don’t feel like you’re a burden. Let’s watch a movie. I’ll even let you pick.”

  She looks up at me through her long lashes. “Anything?”

  She didn’t know it, but I’d give her anything she ever asked for. “Just name it.”

  We clean up the dinner mess and I get changed before we start the movie. When I walk back into the living room, Maddy is curled up on the couch. I love seeing her so comfortable in my house.

  She looks up when she hears me come in and smiles. Usually I just sleep in boxers, but I knew that would make her uncomfortable. So I put on sweatpants and a sleeveless shirt. I see her looking me up and down. This reinforces my belief that this attraction isn’t just one-sided. When her eyes meet mine, she starts to blush. She knew I caught her looking, and I love it. I knew she wanted to be with me, she just wasn’t ready yet.

  I looked at the TV and saw she had picked “A Walk To Remember.” Normally, I’d groan about having to watch a chick flick, but I didn’t care what she’d picked. I just wanted to watch it with her. “Why did you pick this one?”

  “I read the book in high school and always wanted to see it. I just never got to. If you don’t want to watch it, we can pick something else.”

  She is so damn cute. “This is fine. I’ve never seen it, either.” I only had a loveseat because it was usually just me, so we were sitting pretty close. By the end of the movie, Maddy was snuggled up against me, crying. As much as I tried to fight it, I let a couple tears escape too.

  When did I turn into such a pussy? Truthfully, I think it was because Carter and Jamie were similar to Maddy and me. At first, they fought what they felt for each other, but when they finally got together, it was amazing. When the credits started running, Maddy looked up at me and laughed. She saw me crying. This was just great.

  I lifted my hand and wiped the tears from her eyes. She turned her head and kissed my palm, and all of my control went out the window. I lowered my head and kissed her lips. Every time I kissed her was better than the last. I was about to pull away when she sat up and straddled me. She ran her fingers through my hair and deepened the kiss, slipping her tongue into my mouth.

  I wrapped my arms around her and held her tight.
If I could crawl inside of her, I would. I gripped her hips. I knew she could feel how hard I was. I lifted my hips and she jumped up off the couch.

  FUCK! I’m such a stupid idiot! I pushed her too far. I looked up and expected to see anger in her eyes, but what I saw was fear. Why is she scared? I had a feeling this has something to do with Chris. That motherfucker is hurting her.

  “Maddy, I’m so sorry! I got carried away. I just-”

  “I’m not one of your whores, Carter!”

  What was she talking about? I hadn’t been with anyone since I met her in September. I’d tried to go home with girls after she told me we couldn’t hang out anymore, but I could never go through with it. Before then, I definitely had my fair share of girls, but I never treated them like whores. I just never had a relationship.

  “What do you mean, Maddy? I know you’re not a whore! I don’t know who’s telling you things about me, but it’s not true! I haven’t been with anyone since the first day I met you. I haven’t wanted anyone else!” I got up and made my way over to her. I kissed her. She needed to feel how I felt about her.

  She pushed me away. “Carter, I can’t do this.” Her eyes betrayed her. She wanted me just as much as I wanted her.

  “Why not?”

  “I just can’t right now.” Shit, she was crying. I picked her up and walked her over to the couch.

  “I’m sorry I pushed you. I’ll back off, I promise.”

  She let me hold her for a few minutes, then got up. “I’m going to go to bed now. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  God, I hope I didn’t just blow it.

  Chapter Twelve

  Madison

  I wake up in the morning to the smell of bacon. I walk out of the bedroom and see Carter in the kitchen...cooking. I don’t remember the last time someone made me breakfast. It must have been before my mom died.

  I am just watching him move around the kitchen, enjoying the view since he hasn’t noticed me yet. He is so amazing. I don’t know what I did to have someone like him care about me. I close the bedroom door and he turns around to look at me.

  “I hope you like bacon and eggs. I made some coffee too.”

  “Carter, that is so nice of you, thank you.” I don’t think he understands how much everything he does means to me. I walk over to him and give him a hug. He tenses for a minute and I second-guess myself, but then he wraps his arms around my waist.

  He is probably scared to touch me after last night. I don’t know what had come over me, but I heard Chris yelling in my head that he only wanted me to be his whore. “You know, I don’t think anyone has ever cooked for me, at least not that I can remember.”

  I see a look of sadness cross his face. “Well, that’s a damn shame. If you were mine, I’d cook for you all the time.” He has no idea how much I want to be his. “It would be a very limited menu, and you’d have to sign a waiver agreeing that if you got sick you couldn’t blame me. However, if you were willing to take the risk, I’d do it.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh. He is so adorable. I want to cook for him too; I want to make him happy. Maybe I could help with dinner tomorrow. “You’re too good to me. I’ll have to make it up to you one night.” I just realized how bad that sounded. I hope he didn’t take it that way. I was really falling for Carter, but there is no way I am ready to do that with him.

  He put the food down on the table and then walked back over to the counter where I was still standing. “You don’t have to make anything up to me. I do things for you because I want to, not because I want something in return.” He kisses me on the forehead, before leading me over to the table. It takes me a second to remember how to walk. I’ve never had a relationship where someone didn’t want something in return. I sit down next to him and start to eat. “This is really good.”

  He looks up at me and smiles. “So, how about you? Can you cook?”

  I take a deep breath. “Yeah, I actually can. When I was growing up, if I didn’t cook, I didn’t eat.” I don’t know why I am always so honest with him. I trust Carter, which is scary because I haven’t trusted anyone in a really long time. “Does your dad cook?”

  “No, not unless you count frozen meals.” He starts laughing and so do I. This feels so right and so normal. “Hey, I have an idea. We usually just do take out for Thanksgiving, but since you’re coming home with me, would you want to cook? I could be your assistant.”

  He wants me to cook? With him? At his house for Thanksgiving dinner? I guess it would be a nice way to say thank you to his dad. “Sure, that sounds fun.”

  His smile is huge, as he goes to get his cell phone. “Hey, Dad…we’re leaving in about an hour, but we’re going to stop at the grocery store first…Maddy and I are going to make dinner tomorrow...okay, great.” He hangs up the phone and looks over at me. “I think he fell in love with you already.”

  After breakfast, we clean up and then get in the car. I brought a notebook and a pen with me so I could use his phone to look up recipes and make a shopping list. The drive to Carter’s house is about three hours. Halfway through the ride, I have the menu all figured out. I am surprisingly excited for all this. He reaches over and grabs my hand, so I look over at him.

  “Thank you for coming home with me, and for agreeing to cook dinner. I don’t think we’ve cooked for a holiday since my mom died.” He doesn’t know that I am just as happy about this as he is.

  We go to the grocery store and get everything we need. Carter seems to always find a way to touch me, and I kind of love it. When we pull up to his house, my nerves start to kick in.

  Here goes nothing.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Carter

  I’m not nervous for Maddy to meet my family. As soon as we park, Anthony comes out of the house. He looks over at Maddy and then back at me.

  “Who’s the hottie?”

  Maddy and I start to laugh. “Ant, this is Maddy, a friend of mine from school. Maddy, this is my brother, Anthony.” She smiles at him. Anthony is a little shorter than me, but he plays football for the high school so all the girls love him. He has a buzz cut and blue eyes like me so he is used to getting attention, but he isn’t going to get any from Maddy.

  “Why is she just your friend? Do you not have eyes?”

  I laugh again. I’m pretty sure when Anthony was made, they forgot to put in the filter that the rest of us have. “Is Holly home?”

  He looks at me and laughs. “Who the hell knows where that girl is.”

  “Come on. Why don’t you help me get the groceries inside?”

  We all go in and my dad is sitting in the living room reading the paper. He stands up when he sees me and gives me a hug. I really miss being home with my family. My dad is about my height, with light brown hair that he refuses to accept is going gray. I pull away and grab Maddy’s hand, pulling her next to me. “Dad, this is Madison Stevens. Maddy, this is my father, Michael James.”

  She gives my dad one of those doe eyed smiles, and he is a goner. “It’s so nice to meet you, Mr. James. Thank you so much for inviting me this weekend. It really means a lot.”

  My dad is a hugger so he wraps his arms around her. When he lets go, he looks at me and gives me a look that says he knows I want to be more than just friends. I’ve never brought a girl home to meet him before, so as much as I played it off, it’s a big deal. “It’s very nice to meet you, too. Don’t think twice about making yourself at home here.” He sits down and goes back to reading his paper.

  We get everything put away but, unfortunately, my house only had four bedrooms; one for my dad, and one for each of us kids. Dad didn’t believe me on the phone when I said Maddy and I were just friends, so he planned for us to stay in the same room.

  Most parents would never allow that, but my dad is realistic and knew that if we wanted to do anything, separate rooms wouldn’t make a difference. I can tell she is uncomfortable with the sleeping arrangements, so I need to ease her nerves. I walk her to my room and shut the door. “I’m so
rry about this whole room thing, I’m gonna sleep on the couch.” Maybe it is just my imagination or wishful thinking, but I think she looks disappointed.

  “Um…okay.”

  We spend the rest of the night prepping things for tomorrow. My dad is watching the news so I ask Maddy if she wants to go watch a movie with me. She thanked my dad again for inviting her and walked off to my bedroom. I was about to follow her, but my dad called me. “Carter, wait a minute; come here.”

  Maddy looks back at me, asking what she should do. “I’ll be there in a minute, okay?” She nods her head and goes into my room. “What’s up, Dad?”

  He leans forward and shuts off the TV. This is serious. “What’s going on with you and her?”

  Well, isn’t that the million dollar question. I decide to be completely honest with him. I really need some advice. “I don’t know, Dad. I think I’m falling in love with her.” There, I said it.

  “You think? Son, you’ve already fallen and so has she. So what’s the problem?”

  He thinks Maddy is in love with me? “No, Dad, you’re wrong about her. She has a boyfriend.”

  “I see the way she looks at you and that girl is hung up on you, boyfriend or not. Can I ask why she isn’t with him and his family? Not that I’m complaining, because she’s a great girl.”

  “He didn’t want her there. God, I hate him so much and I think he is hurting her. I don’t have any proof, but I know something is wrong.”

  My dad looks at me for a second, then shakes his head. “Well, what are you gonna do about it? Your mother always said, ‘the choices we make and the chances we take determine our destiny.’ What do you want your destiny to be, Carter?”

  I already know the answer. I’ve been thinking about it all day. “I want to tell her how much I love her. I want to be with her, make her laugh, be able to be the one to hold her when she is upset. I want to show her how amazing she is and be the first person in her life to treat her like that. Every time she comes into a room, I can’t take my eyes off of her. When she touches me, sometimes I need to remember how to breathe.”