Chapter 14: To Be FriendZoned Or Not To Be FriendZoned (Part Three)
I was on the verge of hyperventilating as I walked. Deep breaths, Cerise. C'mon, he's a regular guy, not some huge hot shot celebrity. You're a regular girl and this is a regular project. I continued to give myself the ineffective pep talk, but then the front door opened.
Upon his arrival, I felt my heart begin to race. My eyes traced his tall slender figure, from his messy brown hair. The closer he came inside, the better I could view him. His sparkling green eyes lighter than an emerald jewel. Seeing those helped me relaxed a little, but not a lot.
When his eyes fell on me, he showed a little astonishment. Definitely my hair. He looked just as nervous as me, but this was Carter Woods. He's never nervous, I kept reminding myself that. I took a deep breath, inhaling his overly strong cologne. Naturally, I would find myself stuttering about now, but neither of us said a word. However, his smile prevented that.
Finally, the words flew out.
"All that for me?"
I couldn't help blushing at his cocky statement. Before I had a chance to respond, Kelly jumped into the conversation.
"Don't feel special, Woods." She told him, just as her mom entered with a camera?
"Carter! It's nice to meet you! I'm Mrs. Willis. Kelly's mum. I've always wanted to get the chance to officially meet you." She exclaimed
"It's a pleasure to meet you too, Mrs. Willis." Carter greets, kissing her on the top of her hand like she was some majestic queen.
"He's a keeper, Cerise." Mrs. Willis said at a fail attempt to whisper.
Like mother, like daughter
"Well I hope you don't mind me getting a few pictures." She says, turning on her camera.
Before I could object and say 'It's a project woman, not prom!' Carter pulls me close to him and we're actually taking the picture.
"Smile." He smirked, before turning attention back onto the camera that snapped.
I did not want to see that picture. My face was probably filled with confusion.
"Well I'll leave you two. Have fun!'' She shouted over her shoulder as she exited.
"Okay, so let's get this straight. You'll have her back by ten. Not a minute later. Got that, pretty boy?" Kelly warns him, cracking her knuckles in the process.
I looked down at my watch. It was six thirty. I doubt this project would take up so much time.
"Yes, your majesty." He says sarcastically, running a hand through his hair.
"Have a good time, Cerise." Ronnie says handing me the housing container before hugging me tightly for about three minutes or more.
*
From bumper to bumper, the car was a beauty. I admired each and every one of its stunning details...
The headlights shone just as bright as the blazing sun up above, which was beaming off the hood and into the supyouple, leather interior. Then, looking down, I could see my reflection in the shiny, metallic rims; each surrounded by rugged, gravel-encrusted tires.
"Nice car" I complimented. Who am I kidding? It was more than nice, it was expensive and amazingly awesome. I had seen it many times, but tonight it was extraordinary.
"So I've been told many times." He flashed me a smile, patting on the hood. He opened the passenger side and I slipped in.
Couldn't this guy ever say thank you? At least he opened the door, the highlight of the night. He opened his side and joined me inside the car in the driver's seat. The rest of the ride consisted of radio music playing, it was weird that we liked most of the same music. And other times it consisted of his phone blaring up with text messages. We entered a rich neighborhood, figures of course he lived somewhere around here.
I gazed at all the gated mansions. Some had huge water fountains in their entrance and huge pools.
"You mind putting that thing on silent?" I snapped, referring to his cell phone that made a tiny ringing sound for the ummteenth time. I didn't bother taking my eyes from the window.
"Jealous that you don't have a cell phone?" He asked, I could sense him smirking with his eyes glued onto the road.
I didn't answer because maybe I was a bit jealous. And to increase the jealousy, his phone rung. I rolled my eyes and watched as he picked it up and answered it. In the background was the sound of an obvious party. Who parties at seven o clock on a school day? The male voice on the other line screamed drunk. There was an exchange of words between the two.
"But Cart, you're the life of the party" The male on the next line exclaimed
"Next time, Bret. I'm in a meeting." Carter replied
I turned away from the window and scrunched my eyebrows in a confused way. Meeting?
"Who's the lucky lady?" The male on the other line asked him. "That Standford Academy cheerleader you were talking about? Dude she--"
"Uh. Talk to you later, Brent." Carter laughed nervously, hanging up the phone.
"Awesome friend you got there." I muttered
"He might be the best party host, but not the most sober at parties." He says as the car comes to a halt. "Here's our stop."
The dark green automatic gates of the mansion open slowly and we enter. With the fear of some well dressed lunatic pulling a gun on us, a man in a tuxedo taps the glass of the driver seat. Carter rolls down the glass with the press of a button.
"Mr. Woods." The man addresses with a tip of his professional black hat.
"Jinkins." Carter greeted back driving up a little ramp before parking the car. He took the key out of the ignition and got out. I unhooked my seat belt and in a second or two he came over to my side to open the passenger door.
"You feel special, don't you?" He laughed as I got out
"Not even the least." I lied
I stepped from the black car, gaping at the large mansion towering over me. The cream coating of the paint shined as the setting sun beat down on it, causing me to have to squint a little. Neatly trimmed hedges surrounded the house. The roof was peaked, slanting down at an angle. The windows had royal purple curtains hanging on the other side of them, drawn so that the sunlight could stream through.
I noticed a marble fountain sitting towards the right side of the lawn. An angel holding a flower was perched on top, looking up towards the sky. Water spurted from its other hand, which lay gently out in front of it, as if waiting for someone to take it in return. The water fell gently towards the crystal blue pool beneath it, causing ripples to form and wave out until they were no more.
Bushes trimmed into all sorts of animals and people littered the parts of the lawn that was not taken up by the fountain: cats, dogs, rabbits, giraffes, elephants, penguins, birds, snakes...All life-size. Nevertheless; it was amazing.
I followed Carter to the rich divine dark brown door with golden designs. I couldn't believe he lived here. He stabbed the doorbell, which glowed with a yellow light surrounding the white button. Hearing a faint 'ding dong' I huffed, waiting for someone to come to the door. It was, moments later, opened by a lady wearing a pink and black work suit, her brunette hair pulled back into a tight bun.
"Ah, hello, Cerise. Carter told me he'd be bringing over a friend to do some sort of project" she said, putting the back onto a pearl earring which was pushed into her ear. "I'm very surprised that he was telling the truth."
I smiled back as a response "Nice to meet you, Mrs. Woods."
"It's Mrs. Connor." She corrected. I furrowed my brows in confusion. I was super sure she was Carter's mother due to the fact that they were almost absolute twins, but she was seemingly older by a lot of course. But then it hit me that maybe Carter's dad and her weren't married.
"Yes, I'm his mum. Now get a lot done. I have a gathering that I need to tend to. Mark's home so try not to bother him much" She said looking from me to Carter.
She clutched her black wallet tighter to herself, walking past us with a small wave and "Good-bye."
We entered the mansion. The black and white linoleum floor of the entrance glowed, obviously having been cleaned before we came. Stairs lay across the room, climbing toward the ceiling. A doorway was on either side of the room, one admitting you into the kitchen, the other into the living room. The walls were a dark blue with silver brush swipes crossing over it, creating a shimmer effect. Pounding came from upstairs and two little boys ran down the silver, winding staircase, the youngest holding a toy car.
"Are you the babysitter?" asked the youngest of the boys in a small voice, his blue eyes peaking up at me from beneath a mop of blonde hair sitting on his head.
"Uh, no. I--" Carter cut me off.
"She's just here to help me with the project, Chase."
"No strings attached?" The other boy asked who looked older than the first. He shared similarities in appearance with Carter and I'm guessing this was his brother.
Carter laughed. "She's totally single, Cam. But way too old for you."
"Age is just a number." He winked at me before exiting into the door that led to the kitchen, the younger boy following behind him.
I laughed at how adorable he was. Carter shook his head. "That's my brother Cam and the other one our cousin." He informed me making his way up the stairs.
"Uh, where are you going?" I asked him
"To my room." He said dryly
"Why don't we do it down here?" I suggested, mentally facepalming myself for saying that sentence. He wiggles his eyebrows seductively. "The project" I add strictly
"Well there's a ninety five percent chance that my brother will keep on interrupting us and we won't get any work done." He answers
With a heavy sigh I follow him up the stairs.
*
"And a hamster can live up to four years in captivity. Two in the wild." I read over the notes that I printed out earlier today at Kelly's house. I look up to see Carter barely interested in what I''m reading. Instead, he's scrolling through his phone. "Are you even paying attention?"
He sighs and slips his phone his pocket. "What's to pay attention to? You haven't even written anything."
I swallowed hard. There was no way I was writing. What if he recognized my hand writing?
"We still haven't named her." I told him changing the subject, pulling the hamster container closer to me
"I thought it was a dude." He raised his eyebrow in that cute way that he always did. He opens the little top lid of the container, taking the hamster out.
"Wait, a hamster urinates twice everyday. She hasn't urinated a second time so--"
Before I even finish my sentence a milky yellow liquid drains on Carter's hand and he immediately drops the rodent back into it's container.
"She's going to do it right about now." I finished innocently. I couldn't hold back the laughter anymore and I let it go. I clutched my stomach tightly from laughing so hard.
He looked pretty mad from where I was standing, but then his little amount of anger turns into amusement. My mouth flops open at what he's doing. Using my grey sweater to wipe the urine off.
'' Hey!''
"What? Hamster Urine, the new perfume that might actually land you a date." He smirked
I scoffed. "I've had dates." I lied
"Let me guess." He rubbed his jaw. "With your teddy bears?"
"I have you know I've stopped going on dates with my teddy bears since the seventh grade; thank you very much."
He laughed and I wanted to just slap myself for saying that. Seriously, Cerise. Why would you tell him that?
"Figures. Well , how about we take a break?" He suggests, getting up off the bed.
"We've only been at this for fifteen minutes." I say, spinning around in his computer chair opposite the bed.
"And we need a break. I know this pizza place not too far from here." He said, putting on a white v neck shirt, flexing his muscles in the process.
I find myself in some kind of trance admiring his muscular figure and I think he notices it too from the wide grin he gives me. "Then, after you can finish checking me out."
"I was not checking you out." I defend. "Besides; by the time we reach back it's going to be pretty late."
"Actually this pizza place is located downstairs, not too far away. And the chef; he's undeniably handsome."
"I knew there was something odd about you." I teased
"The chef's me, glasses." He points out, making his way to the door.
"Stop calling me glasses." I say irritatively, removing the housing container off of my lap and onto the floor beside a cardboard cut out of some huge football.
I swear this guy lives and breaths football. Most of his wall screams that sport and not to mention the football field atmosphere of it.
"Make me."
I glare at him and then shove him making way for me to get out of the room, but obviously he's way too strong for me and my shove barely shifts him.
"Well that was an epic fail." He points out, moving out of the way.
With a roll of my eyes we begin walking. This mansion is pretty huge, you could get lost because of all the rooms. Lucky me, I had a tour guide.
And a hot one at that.
*
"I've got this." Carter reassures me, looking through the creamy white cupboards
"The flour is over there." I point out and he goes over to the flour filled vase that sits on the counter.
"Right. And then there's..."
"Salt." I finished.
"Right."
"You have no idea how to cook, do you?" I laugh and he glares at me before frowning.
"Okay, maybe not." He admits.
Wasn't that shocking? I figured that along time ago when we entered and he was mistaking the blender for another type of machine. Basically he had maids to do everything and he probably never lifted a finger.
"I've got this." I said proudly, searching through the stocked fridge.
I cuffed the sleeves of my hamster urinated sweater to my elbows and gave my neck a little crack. I practically lived in a kitchen. This was a piece of cake.
He seemed amazed at how I took out each ingredient incredibly fast, placing bowls and measuring cups onto the counter.
"No fair. You work at a bakery, remember?"
"And? I don't make pizza everyday." I say adjusting the oven's degrees.
After a long silence of just pans and utensils sounding the room I slip the tray of undone dough into the oven.
''There. All done." I let out a satisfied sigh and brush off my flour covered hands.
"That was so much work." He groaned
"How? All you did was hand me the pepperoni and hovered over me like some eagle." I laughed and he shrugged.
"Thanks." He smiled
"No problem."
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