*Carter's POV*
I'm on my way to Danielle's apartment. She is cooking tonight because it's our one month anniversary. We would have spent the day together, but I had to go to some fittings and things and she had to go to the studio with her sisters. Our lives are getting busier and we are unable to spend a lot of time together, which makes me sad.
Danielle and I won't be alone tonight though. Alana is bringing a guy over to meet us, Danielle seems nervous about it, I don't know why though, I'm sure he is nice.
I reach out and knock on Danielle's door. She is quick to open it and the smell of delicious food hits me. I smile and gift her with a small bouquet of white flowers.
"Thank you Carter!" She smiles and hugs me tightly. "I better get back to the kitchen before the food burns. Come in." She makes her way back to the kitchen. I put my things down by the door and go into the kitchen where the delicious smells are coming from. I hug Dani from behind and look at what she is making.
"It looks amazing." I say and kiss her neck softly.
"Thanks," She turns around and quickly pecks me on the lips before moving on to tend to another dish. I leave the kitchen to give her more space and go into her bedroom. I sit on her perfectly made bed and look at the framed pictures on her bedside table. The first one is of her parents, I don't think I even own a photograph of my parents, and I don't really want to. The next one is if her and her sisters, their relationship is something I envy. I set that one down and pick up the third one. This one is very familiar, I smile as I stare at it. It's the picture Alana took of Danielle and I when I decided I didn't want to walk anymore. I didn't know she printed this picture off and framed it, how adorable. "Do you like that?" I hear Danielle ask and I turn around.
"Yes I do." I smile and put it back. She walks over to me and kisses me twice.
"The food is ready, I just need to change my stinky clothes." She says and walks into her large closet. I watch her as she quickly picks an outfit. I admire her as she pulls her T shirt over her head then throws on the new one. She slips off her ripped Levis and pulls on some nice black pants. She tucks the front end of her shirt in leaving the back out to show off her vintage belt.
"You look hot." I say as she walks out.
"So do you, I forgot to mention how beautiful you look." She says making me blush. I walk towards her and embrace her in a sweet hug. She puts her hand on my cheek and I look up. She kisses me and I kiss her back. The kiss would have lasted a lot longer if the door bell didn't ring. "Dammit Alana." Danielle cusses and I laugh. I follow her out to the door. She looks through the little peep hole then looks at me. I take a look for myself to see cute little Alana and an interesting looking dude. The doorbell rings again, "Okay let's play nice." Danielle says then opens the door.
"Well you took forever to open the door." Alana giggles as she walks in without introducing the guy.
"Well you sorta interrupted something." I say.
"Uh oh. Sorry bout that." She apologizes. "This is Chad, Chad this is my sister Danielle and her girlfriend Carter."
"You didn't tell me your sister is a lesbian." He says out loud for us all to hear and he doesn't seem too thrilled about it.
"I didn't think it was an issue." Alana says softly feeling embarrassed.
We all find our seats at the table and are ready to eat the delicious meal Dani prepared for us. Alana and I take turns complimenting Danielle on the food and Chad keeps quiet. What the fuck is his deal?
"I have to ask this question that is really bothering me." He announces suddenly. "which one of you is the man, its hard to tell because you both look like girls."
"Uhhh.... We are both women, that's kind of the point." I answer feeling quite uncomfortable.
"Are you from here?" Danielle asks him.
"No," He answers.
"That explains it." I say.
"Do you have a problem?" He raises his voice.
"No." I lie.
After dinner Danielle and I excuse ourselves for a minute.
"If Este were here that dick would be long gone." Danielle says.
"True." I nod my head.
"Alana won't be with him much longer." She says then pulls me back out into the living room.
*
"Hey D, we're gonna go now." Alana says standing up as soon as the movie ends. I get off Danielle and she stands up. I stretch out my arms and legs the stand up next to her. Alana hugs us both. They leave and the idiot doesn't say a word to us.
As soon as the door closes I look at Danielle and say, "Let's follow them."
"Yeah, I don't trust him with my baby sister." She agrees. We quickly put our shoes on and run out the door.
"The stairs are faster." I say and she follows me down. We run out into the parking garage and get into Danielle's car. We get out quickly and see them two cars a head of us. She drives with one hand on the steering wheel and one hand rested on her thigh. I admire her so much.
"Help me keep watch." She laughs and pushes my face so I'm looking forward. I pay attention to the cars in front of us as Danielle drives.
"They're pulling over!" I yell pointing out the window. "Hurry! Pull over and go behind those trees." She does what I said and turns the car off. She leans over onto my side and watches out the window with me. Nothing is happening and we can't really see.
"Is she getting out of the car?" Danielle asks getting closer to me trying to get a better look.
"Looks like it." I say. As soon as I said that the car speeds off leaving Alana by herself.
"What the fuck?"
"Hurry, let's go get her. She is going to call you anyway." As soon as I say that Danielle's phone lights up with a text from Alana. She starts the car again and drives over to pick up Alana.
"Get in." Danielle demands through the window when we stop for Alana. She opens the door and gets in the backseat.
"That was fast, were you already around or something?" Alana asks with a shaky voice, I can tell she is on the verge of crying. Danielle drives off in the direction we were headed before.
"We were on our way to Carter's house when we saw you. I decided to be nice, unlike thy guy you brought over, and pick you up." Danielle lies, "But I think we should go see Este instead and tell her what happened."
"No! Please." Alana begs.
"I think we should, then she can go kill that dickhead." Danielle continues.
"Dani please. Can we not tell her? Just this once. please."
"Fine. But what the hell was up with that dude?"
"I don't know. He was always so sweet. When we left he didn't stop talking about how much he hates gay people. I told him to pull over then told him we would never work out. He told me to get out of his car then he left me."
"I never want to see him again." Danielle says sharply, I don't think I've ever seen her so mad.
"I never wanna see you again with the beating of my heart-" I sing but then stop when I realize neither of them think it's funny. "Sorry." I whisper.
"Let's go get a drink." Danielle says as she makes a right turn then pulls into the parking lot of a bar. Alana stands outside of the car waiting for us to get out as well. I rest my hand on Danielle's back and lean in closer to her.
"You alright?" I ask.
"I'm just not very happy." She says without looking at me. My heart breaks because that line is something I would use to break up with someone. She can't be breaking up with me, we are so happy.
"Not happy with what?" I ask calmly starting to trace circles on her back.
"It's just. I'm not, I'm not very comfortable with being gay. And that whole situation made it worse. I don't know." She shakes her head and leans her head on the steering wheel.
"Why aren't you comfortable with it?" I ask her.
"Because, it's so accepted. But at the same time it's not." she answers. "I'm so afraid of what my fans will think." Her voice cracks and she starts crying softly. I wrap both my arms around her.
"Can I tell you something?" I ask moving her hair to one side and she looks at me with watery eyes.
Alana opens the passenger side door and says,"I'm going to go inside." I nod my head and she shuts the door and walks inside the building.
"Anyway Danielle," I say getting her attention again, I kiss her softly before I start talking. "There is absolutely no reason for you to be insecure about who you truly are. And trust me, your fans will be so happy when you come out. There's nothing to worry about baby girl. You have me, and a bunch of friends who support you, and two amazing sisters, and not to mention amazingly supportive parents." I pause to take a deep breath, "I've never had any of that, and I am happy with myself because I have an amazing girlfriend that makes it all worth it."
"You're amazing." She says and hugs me tightly.
"Do you want to go in now?" I ask her. She smiles and shakes her head. I look into her eyes and smile back waiting for her to explain her answer. She bites her bottom lip and looks down at my lips. I smirk when I catch on to what she is thinking. I lean in and kiss her. She grabs my face pulling me in closer. I crawl over to her side and she grabs me and positions me on her lap. I lean back and my butt hits the steering wheel causing the horn to honk which scared me. I move over and sit on the console that is in between the seats.
"You okay?" She laughs.
"Yeah," I laugh with her. She crawls over me and sits in the passenger seat. I turn to face her and she pulls me back onto her lap. I put my hands in her hair and pull her closer. Our lips meet again. Her tongue slightly brushes against my bottom lip. We begin making out. With every motion the kiss gets deeper and more passionate. She grabs my waist and pulls my body closer to hers. I feel the urge to undress her, but I leave it knowing neither of us are ready to go all the way.
"Should we go see how Alana is doing?" I ask between kisses.
"Probably." She kisses me. "But I don't want to stop."
"Neither do I." I kiss her. She moves her kisses down to my neck. "But I also don't want your sister getting into any trouble." I say.
"You're being more responsible than I am." She laughs and looks into my eyes. "Do you want to run in and get her? We can take her home then go back to my place or yours." She pushes my hair back and tucks it behind my ear.
"Yeah I'll be quick." I open the car door and get out. I lean back in and kiss Danielle. I have the urge to say something, but I stop myself. It's too early to be saying things like that.
I run into the bar and look around for Alana. I quickly find her sitting at the bar by herself with a drink in hand. "Hey, your sister is ready to go." I say and she looks up at me with her tired, red eyes. "come on we'll take you home." I grab her hand and help her off of the stool. How long were Danielle and I out there because Alana has obviously had a lot to drink. I hold her left hand with my left hand and wrap my right arm around her back. We walk through the noisy bar and outside to the parking lot. "Are you alright?" I ask the silent girl.
"I don't feel good." She says and throws up on the ground in front of us.
"Oh Lanz." I grab her hair and let her puke even though it disgusts me. "I think you should stay with me or Danielle tonight." I say and she nods her head.
"Can I stay with you? D is mad at me." She asks in a sweet voice reminding me of a child.
"Yes of coarse." I smile and hug the sick girl. We make it to the car and I help her into the back seat. I close the door and get into the passenger seat.
"Took you a while." Danielle says starting the car.
"Yeah, Alana had to stop and puke." I say as I buckle my seat belt. "I think she is going to stay with me tonight."
"I think we both should, since you're leaving for New York tomorrow night." Danielle reminds me of the little trip I will be taking. I was invited, once again, to the Met Gala. I am very excited to go, I had such a great time last year. But at the same time I'm a bit sad. My invite didn't say I could bring a plus one, and I really wanted to bring Danielle. I told her about it and she understands. She says she has a lot of stuff to do anyways.
"We can stay up all night and watch movies or something." I grin excited to spend the night with them.
"I don't think little Lanzo will be staying up all night." Danielle laughs. I look back at the sleeping girl, we haven't even been in the car for five minutes. After a while of silence we pull into my driveway. Danielle turns the car off. We get out of the car and she walks around to help Alana out of the car. She unbuckles her sleeping sister and pulls her out of the car. She bonks Alana's head on the car door and she still remains unconscious. "Shit," Danielle whispers. I shut the car door for her and run to open the door to my house. "Where should I put her?" Dani asks struggling to hold Alana.
"My bed, I can sleep on the couch." I answer and turn the lights on.
"You shouldn't have to. She would be fine on the floor honestly."
"Take her to my room." I push Danielle along. I help her change Alana into some pajamas and tuck her into my bed.
"Now I'm tired." Danielle sighs.
"See that's why you don't have kids. Cause if you do, you basically have to do that every night."
"I want kids." She says.
"You do?" I ask.
"Well, eventually."
"I don't know if I do. I'm only 22, I don't need to worry about it." I say and she just nods her head. "Let's go make a bed on the couch!" I say and skip out of my room. I open the hall closet and pull out a blanket. Danielle walks up behind me and puts her arms around my waist. "I only have one blanket." I hold it up. "Its so small, it wouldn't keep my big toe warm." I laugh and throw it back into the closet. "I hope you like it in there, because I sure didn't!" I say to the blanket. I feel Danielle laughing from behind me. "Sorry, I love closet jokes."
"You're too cute." She softly kisses below my ear.
*
"Don't go to sleep." Danielle whispers in my ear as I start to doze off.
"I'm not." I open my eyes wide and look at her. She is making me watch one of her favorite movies and I can't keep my eyes open to even know what is going on.
"It's getting to the best part." She says and squeezes me even tighter.
"Okay." I mumble and try to keep my eyes open. I hold my eyes open with my hands and stare at the tv trying to figure out the plot.
"What are you doing?" Danielle giggles.
"Staying awake." I say.
"Are you really that tired? We can watch this another time." She asks and I nod my head. She reaches over me for the remote and turns the tv off. She places a soft kiss on my temple and lays down. I cuddle closer to her so I don't fall off of the couch. She wraps her arms around me and I lay my head on her chest.
*Danielle's POV*
I walk in Carter's front door. She sits up quickly and looks at me with her tired eyes.
"Good morning!" I say cheerfully and give her a smile. "I went and got us some breakfast."
"You scared me. Just a little." She says with sexy, raspy morning voice.
"I'm sorry." I apologize and take the food in the kitchen. I set it on the counter and Carter walks in behind me. "Here, this will wake you up." I hand her a cup of coffee and she take a sip.
"Thanks babe." Carter half smiles and takes a seat at one of the bar stools.
Alana walks into the kitchen as I begin unloading the contents of the brown paper bag.
"Morning." I say as she takes her coffee from the counter. I turn around to see the zombie-like girls sitting at the bar. "How are you feeling Lanzo?" I ask as I put a pain relief tablet on the counter beside her food.
"Ehhh." She groans then washes down the pill with some coffee.
"And how are you this morning love?" I ask Carter.
"I have a headache." Alana answers.
"Yeah, I know. I was asking Carter." I laugh.
"Oh," she looks down embarrassed.
"I'm good, I need to go on a quick run to get me going though."
"Okay, eat first." I say and walk around to take the seat next to her.
*
"Alright I'm headed out, want to join me?" Carter asks as she stretches her legs on the way to the door. Alana and I shake our heads in unison. Carter laughs and says, "I'll be right back. Don't miss me too much."
"I will." I say. She blows a kiss and runs out the door, slamming it behind her.
"Well she looks good in her tiny little shorts and sports bra." Alana says intending to get on my nerves.
"She does." I simply agree.
I join Alana sitting on Carter's front steps. I watch a few cars go by then I look over at my little sister. "Hey Lanz?" I say getting her attention and she looks at me, "there is a bee by you." I say and she immediately gets up and runs away screaming. I get up and move away from it.
"Can you kill it?" She asks grabbing onto my arm.
"Yeah, I'll drown it." I walk back towards the house and grab the garden hose. I turn the water on and spray the bee.
"Ew! Ew! Ew! There's a whole nest up there!" Alana points at it. I spray the water up knocking the bee's nest down. The tiny beasts fly everywhere, I drop the hose and run down the driveway.
"What are you doing?" Carter grabs my shoulders stopping me.
"Running from the bees!" Alana says out of breath.
"You're killing them?" She asks as if she is sad for them.
"Yeah, we're allergic." Alana answers.
"Well I'd rather have you two alive than those bugs, but every life matters no matter how big or small, unless it's a spider, then you can kill that mofo." Carter says. "I'm going to go change and get ready, then we can go do something."
"Why change?" I ask.
"You like it?" She steps back and poses. I nod my head. "Well if you want me to stay in it we could go in a hike?"
"That sounds fun." I smile.
*
"D, it just started raining." Alana says watching out the window.
"Are you serious?" I ask.
"Yeah come see for yourself." She says. I walk over to her and look out the window, it is really coming down, which is odd because it doesn't rain very often.
"Ready?" Carter asks walking into the room.
"I think we need to make a change in plans." Alana says. Carter gives her puzzled look. "It's raining." Carter walks over to the window and looks out.
"That's okay, we can just bake a cake or something."
"You really want to?" I ask.
"I was kidding, but if you really want we can." she laughs.
*
"Don't eat the batter, you could get sick." I say and pull Alana's cake batter covered fingers out of the bowl.
"Yeah okay." She says and licks the batter off of her fingers anyway. Carter brings over a big ladle and dips it into the mixture. I give her a look and she shrugs her shoulders. She dumps some of the batter back into the bowl and eats the rest. "you've got some chocolate right - everywhere!" Alana smears the chocolate cake batter across Carter's face. Carter quickly dips her fingers in the bowl and flicks it at Alana.
"Immature," I cough. "Go clean up and I'll actually put the cake in the oven." I say. Carter stands up putting the extra dishes and silverware in the sink. I begin to pour the batter into the glass pan, Alana dips her fingers in again and I give her a dirty look.
"I'm not gonna eat it!" She puts her chocolate covered hands in the air. I continue to use the cake batter in the correct way. I hear Carter scream following with Alana's loud chuckle then the sound of someone running down the hall. I sigh and turn around. Looks like Alana used Carter's hair as a towel.
"I don't like your sister right now." Carter frowns.
"Just go take a shower while this bakes." I laugh as I open the hot oven and slide the glass pan inside. Carter stomps out of the kitchen and I can hear her make her way across the house to her bedroom. The door slams then it's quite for a minute until I hear water running and Alana's loud singing coming from the guest bathroom. I clean up then take a seat at the bar, why didn't I take a picture of that. I'm terrible at documenting things.
*
"I'm terrible at taking pictures of things worth remembering." I say starting a conversation once the girls are done cleaning themselves up.
"Same!" Carter agrees and slaps her knee.
"I take pictures of everything." Alana says.
"We know." Carter agrees.
"Did you take a picture of you chocolate mess?" I ask.
"Yes, I did." Alana says and pulls out her phone, "see I already posted to Instagram with the caption, 'She doesn't really like me at the moment, but we will laugh about this later #chocolatefight' It's me and a very angry looking Carter behind me and the backside of you in the background." She shows us and points out all the details.
"You know, I have a Polaroid camera somewhere. I'm pretty sure it is packed away with my records and CDs." Carter says.
"We should go find it." Alana says.
"Okay, all my stuff is in my garage." We follow her out and there are boxes of things stacked up in the corner. She pulls out a couple, "here look through these." Alana and I sit down and start going through the mixed items.
"Hey look it's our record! In CD and vinyl! Girl I didn't know you were a fan!" Alana says excitedly. Carter turns around and looks at Alana.
"I have been for a while." Carter shrugs her shoulders and turns back around looking through her things. I don't find anything in the first box so I start going through the next one. Its a bunch of books and papers. I pull some of them out and realize a lot of them are drawings.
"Woah babe, you can really draw!" I say amused looking at the portraits she has drawn. A couple of them are of Annie Clark, some are of other celebrities, and most of them are of people I have never seen, but they slightly resemble Carter. "Who are these people?" I ask. She kneels down next to me.
"This is my best friend from high school, we still talk every once and a while. Her name is Jess, she is actually getting married soon and invited me to her wedding, you should come with me. This is my other best friend, we made some pretty good memories going to concerts and trespassing on old peoples territory just to find adventure. His name is Cove, he moved here to Cali right after graduation, he lives in San Francisco. I still need to go see him." She tells me a lot about her friends and it opens up her past just a little bit more. Maybe these other drawings can get her to talk about her family.
"What about these ones?" I ask. She coughs and looks at them intensely.
"They are my brothers. Tristan, Kaden, and Jake." Is all she says. At least I know their names, right?
"Found it!" Alana yells.
"Yay! Let's take a pictures right now!" Carter says. Alana holds the camera in front of us, Carter kisses me and I hear the camera click. It develops the picture and Alana sets it on the floor waiting for the image to show up. "Awww how cute!" Carter gushes.
"Why'd you do that? I was going to post this on Instagram!" Alana gets mad at Carter for kissing me in the picture.
"Let's just take another." I suggest. This time Carter holds up the camera and I pose next to her. "Hey pouty pants, you missed out on that one." I say to Alana. We take a couple more until the baby is pleased and gets what she wants.
"Posting it!" Alana announces as we walk back into the living room.
I sit on the couch and Carter cuddles up next to me. Alana sits down next to us. She goes back on her phone and I watch as all the color drains from her face. I instantly get worried not knowing what is going on.
"Shit. Fuck. No." She says as she quickly taps at her phone. She now has both of our attention and we wait for her to tell us what's up. She lays back into the couch and covers her face. I have no idea what is going on. "I am so sorry." She whispers.
"For what?" Carter speaks up.
"I... I accidentally... I posted the wrong picture." She says and my heart drops knowing exactly what she is talking about.
"You know I don't want this out there!" I yell and stand up pushing Carter off of me. "Why do you have to be so stupid?" I continue to yell at Alana and she starts crying.
"It was an accident! I deleted it as fast as I could!" I know she feels bad and that it was an accident, but I'm not happy about it. Carter gives me a worried look and I turn around and go outside before I say any more.
*Carter's POV*
"I'm not mad at you. She is just sensitive about that subject." I explain to Alana and give her a hug. "That is what we were talking about in the car last night."
"You couldn't have been talking that whole time."
"True, we actually didn't talk that much." I get a laugh out of Alana and I let go of her. "I'm going to go talk to her." I get up from the couch and walk outside. Danielle is pacing side to side and kicking pebbles across the driveway. "Hey!" I smile and she looks at me. "Your sister is really sorry." I stand a couple feet away from her and rest my hands inside my back pockets.
"I know, and I know that a lot of people saw that in the minute it was up." She looks down.
"How do you feel about it?" I tilt my head to the side and await her answer.
"I was really afraid and mad, now I do not know."
"Do you feel a little relieved knowing its out there but not completely or officially?" I giggle making things up.
"Kind of actually."
"Really? Why?"
"I looked through Twitter and through the comments on the new picture Alana posted. Everyone seems to be really supportive and really happy about it." she sighs happily and smiles.
"Aww baby Danielle is taking her first steps out of the closet." I smile and she quickly hugs me.
"Shut up." We laugh.
"I was expecting to see sadness and crying, but was surprised to see just the opposite." Alana skips over to us and joins our hug.
*
"Danielle's coming out video. And action!" I say shoving my phone camera in Danielle's face and pressing record. She backs away really confused and looks down. She tucks her hair behind her ear and shyly says, "Carter, I'm not coming out."
"I swear you are the dorkiest and most adorable girl ever." I put my phone on the counter and attack Danielle with kisses.
"Are you ready to go?" She asks me.
"Yes, and if we go now we will have time to make out in your car before I leave." Danielle blushes and looks away from me. I carry my bags out to her car and we get on our way to the airport.
She parks the car and turns it off. "I'm gonna miss you while I'm gone." I say breaking the silence.
"I'll miss you too." She pouts. I kiss her lips quickly and reach into the pocket of my sweater looking for something.
"Here, I trust you with this."
"A key?"
"The key to my heart," I put my hands over my chest and make a beating motion. "Naw just kidding, it's the key to my house, you can stay there while I'm gone as long as you don't throw too many parties. Your sisters can stay too."
"Really?" Her jaw drops in surprise.
"Yeah, I'll only be gone for four days." I shrug my shoulders.
"I can't believe you trust me with this, especially when you know Este and Alana will be with me." I laugh.
"I trust you as long as you trust me."
"Of coarse I trust you." She says seriously.
"I know you do. I'm going to be around a lot of women this weekend and I just want to make sure you know I'm committed to you so you have no worries. I would never hurt you." I grab both sides of her face and pull her into me. I kiss her passionately.
"I l- trust you." She goes bright red in the face.
"I better go so I don't miss my flight." I change the subject looking at the time on my watch.
"Okay, be safe and have fun." Danielle says. I lean over and kiss her a few more times before I get out of her car and walk into the crowded airport.
~~~ As always thank you so much for reading and please vote and leave a comment, it means a lot. ~~~