Faded Memories

Chapter 10

I woke up the next morning at the crack of dawn, using Carter's chest as my pillow, apparently my body found a solid chest much comfier than a feathered plush pillow - I was going to have such a stiff neck later. 

My head was throbbing, the lack of sleep drastically making the hangover that I would have had much worse. If you had told me that I would wake up with my body entangled next to Carter's a few weeks ago, I'd have thought that I would be embarrassed and scrambling to my feet before he woke up and realised - but it was quite the opposite. All I wanted right now was for Carter to not wake up, so that I could drift right back off to sleep and pretend we were playing happy families for a little while longer. So that's what I did.

"Good morning, sleepy." Carter whispered when my eyes fluttered slowly awake a few hours later, the extra sleep making my body feel so much better. 

He had appeared to have sat up in bed since I had last woken up, his arm managing to manoeuvre around my shoulder so that I was still nestled into his chest. As if reading my mind, a smirk played at the edges of his lips. As if suddenly in competition to see which of us made the move first out of this position, I firmly tried to stand my ground by cuddling in further. I wasn't going to be embarrassed about this, not today.

"Carter!" Leo sang in a sing-song voice as he burst Carter's bedroom door open, stopping in his tracks as if he saw a ghost. His eyes moved between us both, confusion lacing his face at first before a large, cheesy grin replaced it. "Are you two girlfriend and boyfriend now? I'm going to tell dad!" 

Leo suddenly raced out of the room as if he had found a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow - his little face making me forget all about my headache that was still pounding away at my skull. I turned my attention back to Carter, still having not moved.

"Does this taxi company come with breakfast too?" I asked, peering up at him as my stomach growled. His eyes lit with amusement as he heard my stomach, making a noise at exactly the right time to prove my point. I had not realised how hungry I was, but especially after not having any drunk food it appeared that I was ravenous.

"Hungry?" He chuckled, untangling our bodies before climbing out of the bed and throwing a shirt on. I mirrored his movements, deciding to put my shorts back on from last night but keeping Carter's white tee on and simply tucking it in to hide the bagginess of it on my body.

"Starving." I responded, taking a sip of water out of my glass from last night to try and miraculously cure my headache. I followed Carter downstairs, finally getting to take a good look at his house in the daylight. 

Pictures lined the entire staircase wall of the family, I studied each one as I slowly took each step down. The house appeared immaculate, all the walls were white and the floors had a light wood on them - you could tell a lot of effort had gone into making this house a home. 

I could hear a clattering in the kitchen as we reached the hallway, the imminent idea of meeting Carter's parents having not sunk in yet as I happily followed him into the kitchen.

"Ah, you must be Amelia." The man turned to me as we entered the kitchen - his features strikingly similar to Carter's. They looked exactly the same, I would be surprised if Carter had inherited any of his mother's genes as it looked like he had only gained his dad's from what I could tell. His dad, which I've now been introduced to as Michael, was standing by the toaster. Leo who I had now noticed sitting at the kitchen island was smirking profoundly at the both of us, as if he had shared all of our secrets to his father.

I took a seat next to Leo, who was munching on his toast as Carter poured me a glass of orange juice. I was so grateful to actually taste flavour again, wanting the alcohol wiped from my body as quick as possible. I didn't want to be an awkward house guest, happily agreeing to toast after eyeing up Leo's with every bite he took. Carter grabbed two slices for me handing them over, suddenly rushing out of the room at the sound of a phone ringing.