Carter Brothers: Dane

Chapter 3

Dane releases her hand to park the car as they pull into an empty lot but catches her eye to shoot her a wink.
"Maybe," he coyly states.
"Dane Carter, are you a book nerd too?"
He laughs and unbuckles both their seatbelt, leaning over to her.
"No but you are. So I read some cliff notes is all."


Her giggles turn to a soft smile as she holds his face between her hands.
"Well I'm impressed," she whispers as his eyes flicker to her lips and back.

She knows what he's thinking because she's thinking the same thing. Except they can't. This is the school parking lot, someone could see. Dane is right that they shouldn't be afraid to be dating in public however if they start making out and being a 'couple' in the halls of high school, when things go inevitably wrong and he breaks up with her, things are really, really going to suck for her. People will be staring and whispering and laughing. She won't be able to stop it and it'll be like middle school all over again. Except this time it'd be her own fault.


"Dane."
He draws closer at the murmur of his name and silly her doesn't lean back away from him.
"Dane, we can't."
"Sure we can."
"No we shouldn't. Dane, don't," she pleads.

If he kisses her, she's going to kiss him back. She's going to give in and all her caution will be thrown out the window. Thankfully he's a respectful sort of guy so he doesn't lean in any further but he's still very close to her.

"What's wrong?"
"Not in school. We can be friends but I don't want people knowing we're dating."
He pulls fully away this time, slumping back in seat with confusion and disbelief.
"What? That's literally just what we were saying we should do. What do you mean, we shouldn't let people know we're dating?" he questions with a tinge of hurt in his voice.
"Not people, our peers," she stresses.
"Emery that's the same thing!" he calls out in exasperation.


She gets it. She knows she's being frustrating by telling him one thing then asking for the opposite and yet, this is all to minimise the destruction he could cause on her life. He doesn't understand that and guys like him probably never will however Emery knows it and she's doing this willingly despite that. Which isn't to say she can't try and contain some of the fallout that's to come.


"If people in school find out then it's going to be this huge big thing and I don't want it to be. I don't want to be included in events just because I'm your girlfriend or awkwardly have a bunch of your friends try to fake liking me. I want to still be me. I just want to get through these last few months without being dragged into the spotlight or being the main article of gossip."
Plus if no one knows they dated, they won't know that they've broken up. Also if they don't know he's her soulmate then they won't be so mean when he leaves her just like her beloved father.

"Baby, this is insane. Are you saying you'd date me openly if I wasn't popular? I can't control that, I didn't ask for it!"
"I know and I'm not saying you did. But you are. And it would be different if you ran through the girls of the school like some of the other jocks but you don't. You're more selective and that makes people pay more attention.-"
"How is that my fault?-"
"It's not," argues back Emery before taking a deep breath and calmly explaining, "Dane look at it from my point of view. Your life isn't the one that gets tipped upside down because nobody would care that you're dating me. But they would care that I'm dating you. Do you get that?"

He goes quiet, making Emery worry that she's pushed him too far. It's a lot of demands from someone who's never had a boyfriend.

"It's not forever, just for a short while. Please?"

"Yeah," he says shaking his head, "of course. Whatever you want."
He still looks a little lost and she has no idea why. It can't all be her and about this right? It's not that deep. She's just asking they take things slow.

"Hey," she calls, touching his forearm, "what is it? Did I say something wrong?"
"No," he disagrees snapping himself out of it, "no you're good Honey Bee. We can be just friends at school, I'll follow your lead on this. But we should get going."