Love from a Distance

What a Great Place to Be

   Carrie listened impatiently at the dial tone for the phone in Jennifer's house kept ringing. Steven was in the shower, and she was bursting to call and tell Jennifer or Bailey what had happened that day. Everything about Steven, Henry, those other guys Bryan and John, how Steven had saved the day...

   "Hello?" a boy voice answered. It made Carrie jump, until she realized it was Jay.

   "Hi Jay!" she replied in a higher pitch than usual. "Can I talk to Bailey or Jennifer, please?"

   "Sure," he said. He called for Jennifer, and in no time at all Jennifer was on the other end.

   "Carrie! Where are you?" she asked. "It's almost midnight! Are you with Steven somewhere?"

   "At his apartment, actually," Carrie grinned. She laughed as Jennifer gasped loudly.

   Steven lived in a high-end apartment building. He had a two bedroom, two bathroom place with a fairly large balcony overlooking the river. Carrie suddenly wondered how he could afford this. He was at that expensive party when she first met him, obviously. Was Steven richer than she had thought?

   Carrie was shaken by her thoughts as Jennifer started talking to her again.

   "So are you coming home tonight?" Jennifer whispered.

   "No," Carrie smiled. "Cause this whole thing went on today, and this is how it all started..."

   Carrie went on to explain all about how they had spotted Henry in the park and how they figured out he was spying on them. Jennifer was completely on edge when she told her about how they had to run through the city and the park just to get to Steven's friend's tattoo place to hide. She seemed very intrigued by the sound of Bryan and John. Carrie and Jennifer were just getting ready to hang up when Carrie heard Bailey on the other end.

   "Who are you talking to? Is that Carrie?" she asked.

   "Here's Bailey," Jennifer told Carrie, handing over the phone to Bailey.

   "Hey Bailey!" Carrie smiled. "How was Axl today?"

   "Well, probably very boring because it's half past midnight and you're somewhere with Steven, I take it."

   "At his apartment," Carrie admitted. Bailey squealed a little.

   "No way! That's crazy! How did you guys end up there?" she wondered.

   "Well, it's not exactly a fairytale," Carrie murmured. She took a breath and began explaining the ordeal that day to Bailey.

   When Carrie was finished, the line went quiet for a few seconds. Then Bailey began to talk again.

   "Wow! That's amazing, Carrie! Geez, lucky you guys were close to that tattoo shop! But that explains a lot." Bailey dropped her voice and continued. "Henry came home today really mad. Like, not as mad as usual. Really mad. Smart to lie low at Steven's for a while."

   Carrie gulped. She could care less about Henry, but she knew that Steven had a bright red target on his back. She hoped that Henry would just lay off.

   "Thanks, Bailey," Carrie murmured. "But seriously, how was Axl? Did you guys go do anything?"

   "Yeah. He took me on the ferry to go see the Statue of Liberty," she admitted. "And then he had set up the cutest little picnic for me at the riverside."

   "That's so cute, Bailey," Carrie giggled. "Well, hopefully Steven knows that I fully expect something like that - hey!" she cried.

   Steven had come up behind her and lifted her off her feet, swinging her around. Carrie giggled, clutching the phone carefully.

   "Carrie? Are you there?" Carrie heard Bailey ask. She put the phone back up to her face as Steven let her down.

   "Yeah," she giggled. "Steven over here is just being funny."

   Steven grabbed the phone from her with a wink and put it on speaker. Carrie rolled her eyes and listened to what he was going to say.

   "I hope she mentioned the part when I kicked Henry's ass," he said jauntily.

   "Hi, Steven," Bailey laughed. "Well guys, I'm going to go to bed. I'll talk to you later, Carrie! Nice hearing from you, Steven! Use condoms!"

   Carrie gasped and Steven laughed a little. He pulled Carrie close to her and kissed her. Carrie smiled against his lips and kissed him back. The kiss deepened and Steven walked backwards towards his bedroom.

   What a great place to be, was the last thing Carrie thought before Steven shut the door.

   The next morning, Carrie woke up in Steven's large bed with no clothes on. Last night was a delightful blur of skin-to-skin contact and love.

   Carrie threw on her old clothes and walked into the livingroom. Steven was in the kitchen, making french toast. Carrie's mouth dropped.

   "I didn't know you could cook," she giggled.

   "I don't," Steven grinned. "This is pretty much the only thing."

   Carrie located pretty quickly where the chocolate chips were in the kitchen and began sprinkling them on her french toast. Steven rolled his eyes but secretly found it adorable.

   Through the breakfast they talked and got to know each other quite well. And it was then Carrie realized that she never wanted to leave his side.