Hard Boy ✔️

35

- Must Be Love; Niall Horan -

Aurora Holland

"Thank you for everything, Rory," Katherine told me, grabbing her bags as she slipped out of the car. "I don't know what I would've done without you."

"Don't mention it," I said politely, smiling at her. "I just did for you what I'd want someone to do for me."

"Well," She stopped for a second, looking through the passenger side at Carter. "If he ends up asking you and you need some help, let me know." She whispered, my cheeks immediately heating up at her words.

I nodded as I twirled my ring around my finger, feeling awkward. I know Carter won't end up asking me the way she implied, but just the thought that he ever would was enough to make my stomach flip.

She waved one last time before hauling her bags to the door. I made sure she got inside before getting back in the car, leaving Carter and me alone.

I was a little sad that Katherine ended up not staying the night, but once she explained she had never had a sleepover before, I understood she just wasn't ready. I would want someone to be patient with me, and Katherine already did a lot for herself today by saying yes to Elijah and shopping for a dress.

Carter and I never got to finish our conversation about the party, but the more time went by, the more I realized it was stupid to even try to tell him anything in the first place. It's no importance to him whether I've had my first kiss or not, especially since we're not kissing each other. He wouldn't care, and I just need to get out of my little fantasy world for a second and realize that.

"Think your mom will let me up to your room?" Carter asked, breaking the silence.

"Definitely not," I immediately told him, knowing he already knew the answer.

"Worth a shot," He smugly told me, his eyes focused on the road.

It was getting close to my curfew, and I was exhausted. I'm used to doing these types of things with Paige, but usually, I'm even more worn out than I am right now as Paige insists we go to every single shop possible. Today, we only went to the ones we were either interested in or needed to go to.

Carter didn't even seem to mind that we took our time, which made me feel better about him having to take us. At first, I felt really bad despite the fact that he immediately said yes, but knowing he actually engaged in conversation and what we were doing made me feel much better.

The drive from Katherine's house to my house was short. As Carter pulled up, I saw that both of my parents' cars were in the driveway, and none of the lights in the house were on. This meant they called it an early night, probably due to the hours they were working.

"Well, I guess I'll see you Monday." I cleared my throat, realizing neither of us had said anything.

"Would you want to do something tomorrow?" Carter asked, and I looked over at him in confusion. "It doesn't have to be like a date or- or anything." He quickly added, his eyes nervously bouncing from me to his lap. "Or it can, I don't know."

I just looked at him at first, my mind running in thoughts. "Carter... are you asking me out on a date?" I spoke without thinking, immediately regretting it.

No boy has ever asked me on a date before, so I don't know why I assumed he was.

"Yes," He quickly said, causing me to take any thoughts from before away. "I've never--" He stopped, seeming to be having trouble finding his words. "I haven't been on a date in a really long time, so I'm not very good at this."