A Certain Not-So-Bad Boy

{twelve}

"Oh my God, sorry!" I apologized. I looked ahead, not expecting what I saw. A wall of solid black. I looked up a bit more to see a guy. A good looking guy.

I realized he was holding onto my arms to prevent me from falling. "No, it's my bad. I'm Parker." Parker had brilliant blue eyes that were framed by glasses and contrasted with his dark, almost black hair. He wore a black button up shirt, sleeves rolled up to the elbows, with dark jeans, and black loafers.

"Maya."

"That's a nice name."

I smiled. "Thank you, I got it for my birthday," I joked.

He laughed. "So, are you here with someone?"

Before I could answer, somewhere from behind me came a "yes". I turned around and there in all his glory stood Carson.

"She's with me. Excuse us," he said, a bit irritably.

Parker paid no mind to his tone. "I'll see you around, Maya."

I waved goodbye before following Carson in through the doors. "Okay, what was that?" I asked once we were inside the quiet building.

Carson shook his head, obviously still upset. "I didn't like that guy."

I rolled my eyes but was still confused. We walked over to the ticket counter, behind which a bored old lady sat. She either didn't notice us or ignored us because she didn't react to our presence.

I cleared my throat. Nothing. "Excuse me?"

She finally glanced up at me with a huff. "Two adults?" she asked coldly.

"Yes, ma'am," Carson replied. I reached for my purse, but his hand grabbed my wrist gently.

"Don't worry about it," he said.

"No, please. I want to," I argued. I was capable of paying for my own ticket. "At least let me pay for mine."

He finally relented, and we walked through the foyer into the first exhibit. "I didn't take you for an art fanatic, Carson," I told him honestly.

He snorted. "I'm not."

I paused in confusion--why'd he take me to an art museum? "Then why are we at an art museum?" I voiced my thoughts.

"So we can do this." He gently nudged me so I was against the wall next to a painting of an opera singer with her mouth wide open. "Make that face."

"What? Are you serious?"

"Yes, now just do it. Trust me."

I did it. Before I could return to a neutral face, Carson had snapped a picture. "Hey!"

"What?" he asked with mock innocence. His green eyes were gleaming, and I laughed as I retrieved my own phone.

"Over there," I directed him. He stood in front of a picture of a lumberjack with an ax, who was mid-swing. Carson clasped his hands on the left side of his body and leaned forward slightly, and I took the picture.

We took turns and did this with paintings on all three floors of the museum. We imitated, posed with, and mocked paintings of ballerinas, little kids, even a cat.

When we were in the elevator, laughing and talking quietly, my stomach growled. I blushed.

Carson just laughed. "Let's grab lunch," he suggested, looking at his watch. "Wow, it's three twenty."

"Time flies when you're having fun." I froze. I really needed to gain control of what came out of my mouth.

"I'm glad you had fun; I did too," he says, offering me one of those heart-melting smiles.

His smile was pretty freaking adorable.

"You think I'm adorable?"

Did I say that out loud?

"Yes, you did," he said in amusement.

I didn't meet Carson's eye the whole way to the pizza place. It wasn't a very long walk, but it was awkward anyway. I don't know what happened; I usually had total control over what I said and did. I'd really have to be more careful.

Once we were seated at a table across from each other, I finally spoke. "How's Grayson doing?"

"He's good. He said he's lost a lot of hair," Carson said sadly. "But on the bright side, he should be fine. The chemo should take care of everything--I'm not sure, the doctor used a lot of big words." This made me laugh. "But our biggest fear is whether the cancer will come back," he said quietly.

I didn't know what to say. I wasn't going to lie and say everything would turn out fine because I couldn't promise that. So instead I just grabbed his hand that was resting on the table.

His green/hazel/gray eyes met mine, with what looked like surprise, but I wasn't sure because at that moment, a middle-aged waitress stepped up to our table. She took our orders, and when she left I realized Carson hadn't pulled his hand away, nor had I let go of it. There I go over thinking again.

The conversation flowed lightly after that, the way it normally did between us. When we were finally done and the waitress came to our table with the bill, I shoved a twenty dollar bill in her hand and urged her to leave, which she did with a chuckle.

"Ha! I beat the stereotype that guys pay for everything!" I sang as we left the small building.

"You must be so proud, really," he said dryly. "Why didn't you let me pay?"

I shrugged. "I'd feel bad. You're spending money on me."

He laughed. "Don't feel bad. It's from my stuck up 'father'." He said this with a bitter tone behind it.

"You don't seem too fond of him..." I said, before realizing how intrusive that was.

Before I could apologize, he laughed hollowly. "Yeah, I guess it shows, huh? He just cares about the business. Never really showed interest in me or Jade. Same with my 'mom'. They're both snobs--" he stopped all of a sudden. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't dump this on you all of a sudden." I noticed his sarcastic tone whenever he said the words 'mom' and 'father'.

"No really, it's okay. If you want to keep going, I'm all ears," I said honestly.

He gave me a small smile. "That's a story for another day, Angel." My heart warmed for some reason.

We were standing in front of my car. "I had fun, but I should get going."

He nodded. "See you." I climbed into my car and started the engine before pulling away from the curb and heading home.

{a/n}

Hope you enjoyed this chapter! I kinda feel like this story isn't moving along :( Oh well...

Make sure to vote and comment so we can spread ACNSBB

QOTD: What fictional world would you most want to live in?

Thanks for reading, mwah! xx

-Seagull