Pharrel Williams is adorable.
That is all.
“Sounds to me like I was right” Carter rolled his eyes at Nick as he continued to lift weights. He was in the school gym with Nick since the coach wanted the team to beef up a bit. He had spent the past half hour talking about Lucky and how nervous he was about the barbeque later today.
“Right about what?” Carter asked, his voice coming out slightly breathless.
“You’re falling for Lucky” Nick said with a shrug. He sighed and shook his head. He couldn’t be falling for Lucky, she’s not Sarah and he promised himself not to fall for any girl ever again.
“I’m not. We’re just friends” he said to Nick.
“Look Carter, I know what happened to your girlfriend was horrible but everyone deserves a second chance” Nick said, Carter set the weight down and sat up to look at him. He sighed and gripped onto the seat at the mention of Sarah. “I think Lucky is your second chance.”
“I don’t know man. She’s great but I can’t see myself with any other girl” Carter admitted, feeling the muscle in his jaw tick.
“Carter…people die for a reason sometimes” he said, looking as if he didn’t really want to say it. Carter’s head snapped up to glare at his best friend who looked like he was in deep thought.
“What do you mean?” Carter asked, feeling curious as to Nick’s sudden seriousness.
I mean-” Nick started but the sound if voices made the two boys quiet down. Carter narrowed his eyes when Sam walked into the gym with Lucky in tow. Why was she still with him? He didn’t know why he felt anger build up at the fact that she was with Sam.
“I’m out” Carter ground out, getting up from the bench.
“So are you sure they will like me?” Carter asked Lucky that night. He was pretty sure her whole family was at the barbeque and he was beginning to regret agreeing to go because her two eldest brothers were there. He had nothing against them but at the same time he was terrified of them.
“My brothers like you” Lucky answered. He gave her a blank look and bit his lip to prevent a smile when she broke out in a fit of giggles. “I’m serious! They do. They’re just…they don’t like boys around me.”
“What about Nick?” he asked, cocking one eyebrow.
“Nick had been around since we were kids. My brothers became all psycho over me when I hit puberty” she said with a shrug. He understood how her brothers felt. If he had a sister, he may be the exact same way. Maybe even more psycho.
“I see. Okay let’s go” he said, resisting the urge to take her hand as they walked onto the patio where Lucky’s family and friends were. Carter saw a group of adults who he assumed were her parents and parents’ friends and another group of people who seemed to be in their twenties. He recognized Lucky’s brothers and an older girl who was wedged in between them. Apart from the hair, she looked just like Lucky.
As soon as they stepped onto the patio, he noticed all of Lucky’s brothers, Mikael and Junior and her brother – in – law glaring at him and the woman who resembled Lucky ran up to him.
“You’re Carter?” the woman asked, when he nodded she squealed.
“Shawna! Calm down” Lucky hissed at the woman. Carter had a feeling that this girl was Lucky’s older sister. He had heard a lot about her so he knew she was a nice lady.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Lucky’s sister, Shawna. You met my husband already, haven’t you and I know you met my daughter. She’s not here, she’s at a friend’s house” she rambled on, gesturing for Jhonny to come over. Carter gulped when Jhonny gave him a hard look.
“Nice to see you again” Carter said with a smile, trying to get on his good side but his smile faded when Jhonny simply stared him down.
“So anyway, why don’t you come meet my parents” Lucky said, Carter gave her a grateful smile and ignored the sparks as they walked towards her parents. “Mom, Dad. This is my friend, Carter” Her mother looked just like her and her father looked just like Daniel. He smiled at them politely and gave them a small wave.
“Nice to meet you” Lucky’s mother said, shaking his hand. Carter cringed when her father shook his hand with more force than necessary. He made a mental note to himself to avoid all the guys Lucky was related to, except for Daniel.
“I’m sorry about them” Lucky said, they had broken away from the group and were sitting on a bench in her yard. He shrugged and looked up at the starry sky. He looked behind the glass doors of the patio behind them and saw Jhonny and Shawna hugging, he sighed, it was moments like that he wished Sarah was there with him.
“It’s okay, they’re interesting” he said with a smirk. He noticed an amused glint in Lucky’s eyes as he said that.
“Yeah they are” she agreed. He smiled down at her, her hair was growing out so mainly the ends were dyed purple now and she had a small smile on her face. Lucky really was beautiful but he had never noticed until now and somehow he didn’t feel guilty for thinking it as he would have two months ago.
“Lucky! What are you two doing out here?” Carter jumped and felt fear run through him when he heard her brother’s voice booming.
“C’mon let’s go” Lucky hissed, he was shocked when she took his hand and started climbing the ladder to the tree house which had been in the yard. He followed after her reluctantly and smiled when he realized they could actually fit.
“This is your tree house?” he asked, looking around, there were a few toys scattered around in it and a bean bag chair.
“No, it was my sister’s. She told me that she and Jhonny used to come up here all the time when they were kids” Lucky told him. He nodded his head, feeling impressed that they were friends since childhood and now they were married. He wished he had a story like that.
“Nice” he muttered, he noticed some initials carved into the wall of the tree house and smirked when he saw it was ‘S+J’. “They did that?”
“Yeah, it’s like an opening of friendship” Lucky said. “See that razor on the floor there?” she asked. Carter looked to where she was pointing and he noticed a rusty razor lying on the floor. It looked like it hadn’t been used in years. They used that to carve it.”
“Wow” he whispered, feeling envious of Lucky in that moment. She had the perfect life with the best family and his parents never even let him have a tree house. Let alone cared about him. “You have a nice family, Lucky.”
“Thanks. I guess” she said. He shook his head at her.
“No really, they care about you a lot. Not everyone is that lucky to have a family like that” he said bitterly.
“Are your parents like mine?” he noticed the slight hesitation in Lucky’s voice as she asked that.
“The exact opposite actually. My parents’ situation is complicated. In my opinion, they shouldn’t even be together but my mom is so senseless” he ranted.
“What do you mean?” she asked. A smiled tugged at the corner of his lips when she scooted closer to him.
“My dad is Italian and eighteen years ago, he told me he met a beautiful American girl but he never actually liked her that much, I think he was just attracted to her but the problem was, he already had a wife but instead of ignoring his feelings for the American girl, he played both of them and in the end, he ended up with my mom because he said the girl had found somebody else” he explained to Lucky, feeling a lump in his throat. “I was a baby when all this happened.”
He looked over at Lucky when he realized that she was staring into the distance. He cocked one eyebrow and was about to call her name when she turned around to face him. “What was the American’s girl name?” she asked. He took her tiny hand in his when he noticed a slight tremor in her voice.
“I forgot. I tried really hard to forget that whole story but I couldn’t” he said, feeling disgusted with his father. “You’re the first person I ever told that story too.”
“Aw. I feel special” she said, he chuckled when she rested her head against his shoulder.
“You are special, Lucky” he whispered to himself as they stared at the night sky through the window of the tree house. Carter sighed as he came to a realization that terrified him.
He was falling for Lucky.
So Carter’s father’s story about the American girl is extremely important. If anyone read Last Trip to Italy, the pieces should fit together pretty easily.
PEACE!