December 25th, 2014
"WELL I MUST SAY, this is quite a party."
I practically snort at Carter's comment, as I study the room around us. My parents had forced all the kids down into our basement to play, and for the teens to babysit. Carter and I both sat on the carpet in the corner, me braiding a little girl's hair while Carter dressed various Barbies into glittery, pink dresses.
"It's almost like I'm 8 again," I say with a chuckle, giving Carter a pointed look.
He laughs, "same, except I'm 8 and a little girl."
I almost laugh, but the little girl, Sarah, beats me to it, "you're funny," she giggles, struggling to turn around to look at him while keeping her head steady enough for me to continue braiding.
Carter gives her a soft smile, "what? Do I look like a little girl too?"
Sarah giggles once again, "you do!"
Carter gasps in excitement, "well, I think that must be the best compliment I've ever received."
It was my turn to laugh, enjoying Carter's interaction with the girl.
"Kennedy?" asks Sarah, "are you almost done?"
"Yup," I say as I tie the last portion of the braid, "you're good to go."
She stands up immediately, excited to finally go play with the other kids, "I'm gonna go play Barbies, thanks Kennedy!"
I laugh and give her a soft smile, "no problem,"
She bends down to whisper something in my ear, "I like him," she says, pointing at Carter.
I grin, "you do?"
She nods, "I'm glad that you have such a good boyfriend. I approve," Sarah says, giggling at the word 'boyfriend'.
"Thank you, Sarah. But we're not-" I try to explain before the girl interrupts me.
"Got to go! Bye!" She yells as she practically scurries off to go find her friends.
I turn to Carter, realizing that he must of her the exchange with Sarah. She wasn't exactly the most subtle little girl...
He meets my eyes, with a raise of his eyebrow, "well, I'm glad I at least have her approval."
We both laugh before turning back to watch the kids playing with various toys scattered around the room. As adorable as it was, that was gonna be a total bitch to clean up later.
"So," Carter says, filling the silence, "how's... um how's things with Aiden?" He stutters, not meeting my eyes.
I furrow my eyebrows in confusion. Why would Carter ask about Aiden? They both wanted nothing to do with each other.
"It's going okay," I say, unsure if I should indulge on my romantic life with my former crush, "you know, normal."
I see Carter nod out of the corner of my eye, "has he been good to you?"
I turn to give Carter a look, but he won't meet my eyes, "yeah," I say, "Aiden would never do anything to hurt me."
He scoffs, "right," he says, coldly.
"Carter..." I warn, "let's not do this. Trust me I know how you guys feel about each other, but he's a good guy- really."
"Kennedy," he says, making direct eye contact with me, "I know guys like him. I meet them everyday, he's just gonna hurt you. He isn't made for commitment, the minute something goes wrong he'll just go out and-"
"Carter," I plead, interrupting him, "please, let's not do this."
He sighs and intertwines his fingers in my own. I'm about to pull away but he stops me, "I know that we just became friends again, and maybe- maybe in the past it was about something a little more than that. But believe me when I say that I just want the best for you and I care about you... a lot. So please, for me, just be careful with him. I see him for what he really is."
I look away and let go of his hand, "you don't have to worry about me Carter. I'm a big girl, I can make my own decisions."
Carter sighs and opens his mouth to say something but is interrupted by a loud yell, "kids! Gift time!"
***
"I got you something."
I turn around after finishing my conversation with a group of little girls to meet Carter's strong gaze.
"Carter..." I say, biting my lip, "that was really unnecessary."
Carter shrugs, "well, I was going to give it to you before I knew about the party- I just thought tonight would be a good time considering it is Christmas," he says, running a hand through his hair nervously.
I sigh, realizing (once again), how good of a guy Carter truly was.
"Alright," I say, grabbing his arm gently, "let's go somewhere quite."
He nods and looks down, attempting to hide his small smile.
We make our way to the back of the house and to a small couch that sat behind our grand piano. This was the quietest place in the house, at the moment, at least.
I motion for him to sit down before I notice him studying the piano.
"What?" I say softly, curious of his sudden interest.
"Do you play?" Carter asks, turning back to me.
"Yeah," I say, looking down awkwardly. It wasn't exactly something I advertised.
"Jeez," he whispers, I see something change in his eyes.
I shift nervously under his gaze before I brush a piece of my hair behind my ear, "what?" I reply.
"You just couldn't be a more perfect girl..."
I feel my heart hammer in my chest as a flutter flies in my stomach. I feel myself walking closer to him, despite my voice of reason telling me to get the hell away from him before I did something I'd regret.
I choose to ignore his comment before I say, "I didn't get you anything, I'm sorry."
He shakes his head, "we never decided on getting each other gifts, I didn't expect you to- really."
I sigh, still feeling the guilt rise in my chest.
Why did he have to be so godamn thoughtful?
Carter reaches into his khaki pocket to pull out a small box that was wrapped up perfectly. He must have noticed my confused look as he scrambled to speak, "my mom helped me," he says sheepishly before handing me the gift to unwrap.
I take the gift from him and start to tear the paper, I try to be as gentle as possible... not wanting to tarnish the absolute perfection of the small gift.
I opened the small box to find a beautiful silver bracelet. I felt tears in the corner of my eyes as I lifted it up to see the small camera pendant that decorated the simple design.
"Oh Carter," I say with a sniffle, "you may just be the sweetest boy alive." I slip the bracelet onto my wrist and lift my head to meet his eyes, "I love it, thank you so much."
Carter grins and reaches for my arm gently, "it looks good on you," he says as he studies the bracelet.
I chuckle, swallowing the lump in my throat to keep myself from crying.
His warm fingers lingered on my skin, gently caressing my knuckles as his blue eyes met mine with a hooded look.
"Carter," I practically whisper as he takes a step closer, his fingers still burning a whole in my skin.
"Don't say anything," he says, brushing a piece of my hair behind my ear, "just don't."
I'm compelled to listen to him- to let him do whatever he wants... I want him to wrap me in his arms and make me feel safe. I want to finally feel his soft lips against mine. I want a lot of things from Carter.
But Aiden.
Carter places his hand on my cheek, stroking the skin softly, "you don't even know how long I've been waiting to do this."
And with that, Carter crashes his lips against mine. He starts with a soft caress of my top lip, asking for permission. My mind was telling me to pull away, to slap him, to curse him out... but my heart was telling me to kiss him like there was no tomorrow.
And so, I did.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him closer to me, reaching up to the nape of his neck to touch his soft hair. He deepens the kiss before he releases a soft sigh from the back of his throat, as our lips move in absolute sync.
It was like putting together a puzzle. Our bodies molded perfectly with each other. His large hands held my back securely as I leaned back to pull his lips deeper into my own. His chest heaved with intensity against mine, as we both grappled for breath through our noses, neither of us wanting to break the kiss.
The back of my thighs reach the small couch behind us, Carter moves his hands to my waist as he spins me around and sits down. He pulls me down with him and seats me on his lap, skillfully continuing to make out with me during the process.
I was in control now.
I shifted my hips to straddle him and kiss him with an even deeper passion than I thought was possible.
I hear him let out a soft moan as I ruffle my fingers through his hair and down his chest, feeling his muscles tense through his shirt.
"Kennedy," he says in a voice I didn't recognize.
I hum out a soft reply as he trails kisses down my cheek and neck.
"We should probably-" he starts, breathless before I interrupt him with a kiss.
He immediately responds and wraps his strong arms around my back, pulling me into his chest and kissing me even more feverishly.
"What the actual fuck?"
Carter and I both freeze, I feel myself go rigid as I gather enough courage to turn around.
Behind us, my brother stands. Two cupcakes in hand, one virtually smashed as he clenched his fists and stared Carter down.
Fuck my life.