Saving Carter

Chapter 7 - Apologies

The walk to the park was quiet but luckily it wasn’t an awkward silence, Carter assumed they were both lost in their own thoughts. He looked down at Lucky who was staring at the ground, her eyebrows furrowed together.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked, before he could stop himself, he was relieved when she simply smiled at him and shrugged.

“Nothing important. Look we’re here” she said with a childish expression on her face. Carter watched in amusement as she immediately ran for the swings, he jogged after her, his feet were still hurting from football practice. He sat on the swing next to her and watched as she tried to swing as high as he could while he simply stared at the sand beneath him.

“So, Carter Nichols, why did you move here?” she asked him as she stopped swinging. His stomach dropped as she asked him that. He was going to attempt being friends with her but he wasn’t ready to tell her the story yet. He never really planned on telling anyone.

“To spend more time with my Uncle” he said with a shrug. It wasn’t exactly a lie.

“Your parents let you move because of that?” she asked, not looking like she believed him at all.

“My parents thought it would be a good idea as well” he answered with a shrug, that definitely wasn’t a lie.

“Don’t you miss your friends?” she asked, cocking her head to the side. He side, a lot of his friends abandoned him after Sarah’s funeral, the only one left was Jordan who he hadn’t spoken to in over a month and his only other friend was Nick and Lucky could fall under the friends category as well since he promised to be her friend.

“So who’s Sam?” he asked, quickly changing the subject. He had been wondering about that for a while. Lucky’s eyes widened and her eyes narrowed at him.

“How do you know about Sam?” she asked through clenched teeth. Oh great, now she’s angry. He searched his head for a reason.

“I just heard it from somewhere” he said with a shrug.

“Where?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest. He knew she was trying to look angry but she looked adorable with that facial expression. He shook off that thought quickly.

‘She’s not Sarah’ he reminded himself.

“I forgot” he said with a shrug.

“Yeah right” he heard her mutter under her breath. He chose to pretend he didn’t hear that as they continued swinging in silence

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“This is it” Lucky said as they stopped in front of her house. He didn’t know why he decided to walk her home since her brother –in – law seemed to hate him. “You want to come inside?” she asked and he shook his head.

“Your brother – in – law hates me” he said and Lucky burst out laughing. He cocked one eyebrow at her, wondering what was so funny.

“Jhonny doesn’t hate you; well he doesn’t officially hate you. That’s how all my brothers are. They’re overprotective and Jhonny is my sister’s husband and he was there when I was born so naturally he’s a bit protective but it pales in comparison to how protective Daniel, Junior and Mikael are” she explained, leaning against the door. “It’s annoying at times since I’m convinced I’ll die alone.”

“Daniel doesn’t seem protective” he said.

“Trust me, he is. He’s just a little bit more trusting than my other two brothers. But they’re adults. Daniel is the only brother who lives here now so you shouldn’t have anything to worry about” she said, opening the door to the house. He followed her inside cautiously, looking out for any of her brothers who might be there. He assumed the two brothers, Mikael and Junior, who he hadn’t met yet would look somewhat similar to Daniel.

“Do you want something to drink?” she asked, rummaging through the fridge. He took a seat at the kitchen island.

“No thanks” he said softly, looking down at his hands.

“Sam is my boyfriend” she said suddenly, his head snapped up at the sound of her voice since they had been sitting in silence. “We broke up but we got back together recently but my brothers don’t know about him. My older sister, Shawna, is the only one who knows but that doesn’t mean she approves. She’s not protective but she’s still smart.”

“Oh well-” he started but just then the sound of male laughter filled the house. Lucky stiffened and got up from her stool quickly. “Hide!” she hissed at him. He cocked one eyebrow and walked into the next room and hid behind the door. He peeked out wondering what was going on.

“Hey, how’s my little sister today?” he heard a deep voice ask. Carter peeked out again and saw two guys in the living room, smiling down at Lucky. They were both muscular and their height was impressive. Lucky was chatting excitedly with them. He figured the two guys were her older brothers, Junior and Mikael.

“Is someone here?” one of her brothers asked. Carter heard her denials but he also heard footsteps heading in his direction. His breath caught in his throat when someone grabbed him by the collar and dragged him back into the kitchen. Her brothers had strong grip, he had to give them that.

“Who is this?” one of them asked, sounding furious. Lucky smiled innocently at them and took Carter’s hand, pulling him away from her brothers’ hold, much to his relief. He finally had a chance to see their faces properly. They had the same complexion and eye colour as Lucky.

“Um Carter, these are two of my brothers, Mikael” she said, pointing to the slightly taller one who was staring at him with a calculating expression. “And Mikael” she said, gesturing to the one who was flat out glaring at him. “Um, guys, this is Carter” she said, her voice slightly shaky.

“Is he your boyfriend?”  Mikael asked, not even bothering with pleasantries. Carter gulped, even though he was far from being Lucky’s boyfriend, her brothers still intimidated him.

“No, he’s new around here. He’s my friend and he’s Nick’s best friend” she explained to them quickly. The denial hurt slightly but it’s not like she was lying so why was he hurt?

“Oh so you’re her friend?” Junior asked, taking a step closer to Carter with his arms crossed.

“It better stay that way” Mikael snapped at Carter who took an involuntary step back. “Step away from her” he demanded. Carter hadn’t even realized how close he was standing to Lucky and the fact that he was gripping onto her forearm.

“Sorry” Carter said. “So, um, bye” he said, hurriedly heading for the door to get away from Lucky’s brothers.

“Bye Carter” he heard Lucky call after him. Giving her a small wave, he stepped out of the house and leaned againstthe front door with his eyes closed.

‘She’s not Sarah’ he reminded himself once more.

 

 

I want to watch Coach Carter again but I think that will ruin the favourite movie effect of it and I love that movie so much. I’m torn. It’s literally my favourite. Excuse my rant