Love On Stage

Chapter 4: S̶c̶a̶r̶s̶ Memories

When Milly got home it was 3:53. Hurriedly, she got ready and shortly after the doorbell rang.

"Hi, Carter!"

Milly opened the door to Carter who was wearing his iconic sherpa over the same black turtleneck from school and black skinny jeans with black sneakers, and of course, his glasses.

"Hey, Milly." he walked in and he noticed her outfit. It was fancier than usual. Today she was wearing a flowery skirt with an off-the-shoulder crop top with a similar flower pattern, her hair was in a braid and she had a bit more make-up on than usual. Carter was shocked at how he noticed all these little details and thought that he was observant of minor details.

"Should I compliment her?" he thought, "Would she think that's too weird? Screw it." He looked at her and smiled, "You look nice."

"Thanks," she blushed, "Come on, we are going to have to practice a lot more now that the date of the play has been changed."

"Yeah, a whole week's worth of practice was lost."

Milly led him back upstairs and into her room where Carter saw that she had a small box on the bed.

"Before we start practicing I want to thank you."

"For what?" Carter said, confused.

"For everything. I know I said this a lot at the night in the hospital but, thank you so much, Carter."

"Milly, it's fine." As Carter said this he blushed a little bit.

"Maybe to you, but not to me. I never properly showed you my appreciation," she picked up the rectangular box on the bed and gave it to him. "I got this for you because you did so much for me."

"Milly-."

"Please accept it. I want to give this to you for everything,"

He removed the lid of the box and revealed a dark grey hoodie.

"I kind of ruined your hoodie that night with my tears and mascara so I wanted to give you this new one."

Carter smiled at her. "Thank you, Milly, this means a lot to me. I haven't received a gift from someone since I was 13 years old." his eyes were now glossy from tears that were being held back.

"Your welcome, Carter."

Carter pulled her into a hug and she hugged him back.

"Try it on," Milly said.

Carter had already taken off his sherpa before, so now he started to remove his turtleneck.

"He's removing it right here! In front of me!" Milly thought, her face turning red a bit and she looked around the room as she stood there, with him removing his shirt. Milly couldn't help but sneak a peek at his chest, he looked like he worked out quite often. No wonder he was able to lift her with such ease. Milly didn't know that she had started to stare and that Carter noticed her looking at him. He smirked slightly, but before he could say anything, her eyes wandered to the scar he had above his hip. It looked like it was still healing.

"When did you get that?" Milly said, concerned.

Carter knew that she had seen his scar and smiled. "I got this the night I saved you."

Milly remembered that the guy had a knife, it was too dark for her to see if he cut Carter or not.

"Di-did that guy on the street cut you?"

"Yeah, but it's nothing."

"Carter, how come you didn't tell the nurse at the hospital, now you'll have a scar."

"I decided to keep the scar because now I'll always have a reminder that I saved you. Not that I will ever forget that day."

"Carter-."

"Shh, remember that I'll always come to save you, even if I get a few scars."

"But Carter, I don't want you to have these scars because of me."

"Don't call them scars, call them memories."

"I don't want you getting hurt."

"I don't care. I will make sure that nothing happens to you, no matter what."

"Why do you always say how you don't want me getting hurt?"

He sighed a little and cupped her cheeks in his hands, "Because I know what you look like when you have been hurt and it pained me so much to see you like that. I care about you very deeply, Milly. You are my first and only friend so seeing you hurt is enough to make me feel sick."

"When did you see me hurt?"

"When your mom passed away. I remember seeing the look on your face when you heard that her airplane crashed. The look of horror plastered on your face made me swear that I will never let anything or anyone hurt you again. Being in contact with you made me realize that I missed you and our friendship."

"Me too. I miss the relationship we had. All I remember the day that my mom passed was that you were there for me. I don't know what I would've done if you weren't there for me in that year. I wouldn't listen to my dad, Bess or anyone else, except for you."

Milly wanted to kiss him, and she intended to as she tilted her head slightly and closed her eyes. However, she was interrupted by her dad knocking on her door. They both jumped on the bed and pretended to be reciting their lines.

"Hi, honey, I'm home." he opened her door and saw Carter and her sitting on the bed with their role-books in hand.

"Hey, dad, is it fine if Carter came over? The play was rescheduled a week earlier so we have to practice more."

"Of course, he is always welcome here."

"Thank you, Mr. Haynes."

Mr. Haynes looked at Carter. "I see Milly gave you the hoodie. How is it?"

"It's great, thank you."

"No, thank you. I'll see you later, I'm going to my office."

He closed the door and went downstairs to his office.

"He is home earlier than usual," Carter said. "Why would I say that? Now I sound like a creep, memorizing her dad's work schedule." he thought.

"Yeah, today is special."

"What is today?"

"It's his birthday."

"That's why she was dressed fancier than usual," he said under his breath.

"What?"

"Shoot, I thought aloud," he blushed a little. "I just noticed that you were dressed a little bit fancier than normal. Not in a weird way." he quickly said the last part.

"Haha, we are going out for dinner later."

"You still invited me over?"

"Yeah, my dad knows you and he is fine with it."

"Well, I don't wanna ruin your dad's birthday."

"It's fine, you aren't ruining anything, Carter."

"I'll try not to be a bother." he beamed at her.

"You can never be a bother," Milly said and smiled back.