Not Pretending.

8

Today at school, I was walking down the hallway to English, holding Mason's hand like I usually do. Tons of girls kept coming up to him asking to go to the dance. I probably heard him say "no, sorry, I'm taken." as he would hold up my hand and smirk. The girls looked devastated every time and would give me a death stare before they continued on walking the opposite direction.

The dance was tomorrow, or Saturday, and I was going to go for the first time. I was going with Mason and Carter found a cute, nerdy girl to go with named Olivia. She was nice and absolutely perfect for him. I don't know, maybe will become his girlfriend. If that happened, it would be his first girlfriend and they would be so cute together.

Mason and I's color scheme for this dance is silver and navy blue. I'm making him wear a navy tuxedo with a silvery grey tie and a white flower-corsage duo. I went shopping again with Serena, and bought a long, dark blue, flowy dress with silver details. It looked like a traditional prom dress from my schools, which I didn't really care about. Plus, it was on sale.
Serena picked out a bright coral colored, short, poofy dress. This just goes to show that we have completely different taste in clothing.

Mason, Serena and her date named Chase, Carter, Olivia, and myself all piled into a big van that Mason rented to drive us in. He was the only one who had his legal license of the group, so we forced him to drive.
The theme was "Broadway, New York" for this dance. I, for one, was super excited for this theme. I've always wanted to go to New York.

We pulled into the parking lot of the school and my jaw dropped. I looked at the outside of the gym, and it was completely decorated to look like the outside of the Broadway Theatre building. I was in complete awe as we walked through the doors. Mason laughed and told me that I was adorable, which I wasn't trying to be, I was just amazed.

Mason dragged me to the food tables and got me a small cup of their punch. I know, ironic right?
About 10 minutes in, put whole group spilt up and were in couples scattered around the gym.
Everyone was dancing to all the songs and laughing with each other, just having a good time. This is the happiest I've seen Carter in a long time. Ever since we met, he's always had these mood swings where he would be happy and bubbly and then in a split second he would be depressed and not want to do anything fun anymore. I've learned to deal with it, though. He seemed to really like this girl because he was being his total self and dancing around and making her laugh. It was cute.

Mason, on the other hand, hardly made eye contact with me after about an hour. We had a break in between songs where we went to go get something to drink. I left him for a few minutes while I went to go ask how Carter was doing.
"Hey!" I said cheerfully.
"Hey, More! Having fun?" he said loudly in order to talk over the music.
"Yeah! You?"
"A blast." he smiled.
"You and Olivia are super cute together. I've been watching you guys dance." I said with a quick side look of playful guilt.
He just laughed and went back out to the dance floor.

I walk back to a distracted Mason. He looked down at me, then looked back up.
"Hey, babe." I said.
No response.
"Hey. What's up?" I asked solemnly, taking his hands.
"What's up with him?" he asked nodding over to an extremely happy Carter.
"He just a friend. And my neighbor. Nothing's happening. Don't worry. I love you." I smiled.
"I love you, too." he looked down and kissed me.
He looked back over towards the crowd. I couldn't see what he was looking at, for I was a half foot shorter than him.
"I'll be right back." he told me.
"Okay. Don't be long." I smiled and let go of his hands.
He disappeared into the crowd and I walked over to Carter, who was standing by the stage.
"Hey Car-" and then I saw it.
It happened right before my eyes, hitting me like a truck, stabbing me right in the heart.

I knew it. I knew it.

Carter was staring right at me, probably asking me what was wrong, but the whole world froze and went silent. Everything was now in slow motion.

How didn't I know this would happen?

My eyes started filling with tears as I grabbed my dress and ran to... I don't even know. I just had to get out of there. How could he tell me he loved me and then immediately go do that? How?

How?

\|/\|/

I was sitting against the wall outside of classrooms upstairs at the school, taking in everything that happened. I tucked my head into my knees and I heard something sliding down the wall next to me. I look up and see Carter sitting there, sincerity in his eyes.
I leaned myself into his embrace and he comforted me for a good 5 minutes.
"What happened?" he finally asked me.
"Mason happened." I sniffed.
"Explain."
"I told him I loved him,
sniff
because you know how I truly felt about him and all that. I told you everything."
"That's great! What did he say? I'm guessing it wasn't good."
That made me scoff.
"He said he loved me, too."
He looked confused.
"Then he went and kissed Catrina."
Carter said nothing as I fell apart right in front of him. I fell into him again and he comforted me like before.
"I'm sorry." he said as he kissed my head in comfort.
"He stole everything from me. He stole my first kiss, my first 'I love you', everything."
"Wait, even-"
"No, thank god. I didn't loose that to him."
"Okay."
We then had a deep conversation about love and when it's right and all that.
Then I realized something.
"Wait, why are you here? Where's Olivia?"
"Gone. She had a curfew, but I didn't want to leave without you." he smiled.
I smiled back.
"Thank you."
"We should get home. It's...
He looked at his watch.
"Almost 12."
I got up and dusted off my dress.
"How are we getting home?" I asked, playing with my fake nails Serena made me get. I didn't like them. Not one bit.
"Um..."
I laughed. He shoved me playfully, making the mood playful and happy.
"We shall walk."
I looked at him. "No, Car-"
"Yes, More. It's not that far." he smirked.
The sarcasm was real.

We got outside and began walking home. After about 20 minutes of talking and laughing while we walked, I realized that my feet were hurting really bad. I was distracted and didn't feel any physical or emotional pain. That was Carter's specialty; making people so distracted with smiles and laughs that they could even tell that their feet hurt like hell.
"Ouch." I said, taking off my heels. I didn't care, I was walking barefoot the rest of the way home.
Carter laughed. "Here." he said, holding out his hand, gesturing me to give him the shoes.
"Why don't I hold the shoes, and you can hold my clutch?" I began to laugh at myself.
"Deal." he smiled.
We finally reached my door step and I ran in really quickly and quietly to grab some pajamas. I grabbed them off my bed and tossed my shoes on the floor. I ran swiftly back down the stairs and left a note on the kitchen counter that read, 'I'm spending the night at Carter's :)' and I walked out the door
again.
"Did I tell you that you look really pretty tonight?" Carter told me.
"Thank you!" I said, spinning around and tripping over myself. That made both of us laugh.
We then began to walk, again, I might add, back to his house. I couldn't wait to get there and sleep. It's been a long night.