Falling into Summer

Chapter 4

"Hey mom, what's up?" I answer my cell phone when I recognize her work number.

After spending all day Sunday and the early part of this week unpacking, my mother just returned to work today. Still being on summer vacation, I've been lucky enough to be able to take my time getting settled in, catch up on sleep, and clean after unpacking boxes and moving things around. I didn't call Carter until Monday night because we've been so busy, but when I reached him at Sarah's house, I thanked him again for his help over the weekend, and invited him to come over if my mother and I decided to watch a move. Although we decided against a movie, I still invited him over, but he declined. I wasn't disappointed, I just figured he thought we were boring, and I didn't think much about it.

"Hey what are you doing?" my mother asks with a bit of excitement in her voice.

"Making lunch, what's up?" I ask, eager to hear what the reason is for the mid-day call.

"I was talking to Sarah this morning, and apparently Carter thought I put you up to inviting him over," she whispers into the phone.

"What?"

"He didn't think it was your idea, and Sarah had to tell him that it was all you. Can you believe that?" she continues, and I realize this has become a thing we're now gossiping about.

"Seriously?" I ask, flattered that he would think I would only invite him over because someone else told me to.

"Yeah, I guess he's emailed Sarah a couple of times asking for your cell phone number because he wants to invite you to hang out and go see a movie or something," she continues.

"Huh, ok. I guess that explains why he didn't want to hang out Monday night then, if he thought I was only doing it because you twisted my arm or something," I chuckle.

"Yeah I guess so," she chuckles. "Hey I'm going to need to work late, so you're on your own for dinner."

"Ok thanks. It must be nice to have a five minute commute that you don't have to worry about how late you leave, huh?" I tease.

"You have no idea how nice that is!" she agrees. "Ok I've got to go, I'll talk to you later."

When my cell phone rings later that evening, and even though I don't recognize the number instantly, I answer it, "Hello?"

"Is this Haley?" I hear a distinct voice on the other end.

"Yes."

"Hey it's Carter," he announces with a light-hearted tone.

"Hey what's up?"

"Hey sorry about Monday night, I had some stuff to do," he apologizes, and I can't help but smile at his vagueness when I realize he doesn't know that I know his real reasons for declining my invitation.

"Oh no worries, it wasn't a big deal, it's not like you missed anything," I insist.

"Well thanks, but I feel like I owe you. You want to go see a movie tomorrow night or something?" He blurts out, and it comes out so easily, that I don't even think twice about my response.

"Sure, that sounds like fun."

"Cool, I'll call you when I get home from work and we'll work something out."

"That works, I'll be here."

"Well what are you doing now?" he asks, changing the subject easily.

"Umm, I was getting ready to see about making some dinner since my mom is working late tonight," I confess.

"Did you want to hang out or something, if you're bored? We can go get food or something?" he asks.

"Sure, that sounds better than a frozen lean cuisine," I joke when I realize my options are rather limited, and I'm kind of bored anyway.