A Bed of Roses (Completed)

18.

Carter
1 hour later

"Carter, how'd you manage to fall asleep mid show?" Kate laughed at me as we walked down the warm night's streets, making our way back toward my parked car.

"My apologies, ma." I apologized to her in amusement.

"I was tired." I admitted.

I'd fallen asleep during the comedy show and of course I never meant to but reasons why were obvious. I'd only gotten 30 minutes of sleep last night, considering I was up until 7 in the damn morning.

"I see."

"I think the comedians were getting offended by your snoring." She joked and I laughed hard, looking down at her as she smiled up to me widely.

"Man, stop lying. I wasn't snoring." I tried clarifying but she raised her eyebrows, looking at me like I was insane.

"Yes, you were."

"Really loud too."

"I'm surprised they didn't kick us out." She went on joking and I smirked as she nudged me, seeing my car in the distance.

"I really enjoyed it though, Carter."

"I'm glad you asked me to come out with you." She smiled softly and I nodded politely, reassuring her.

"I wouldn't have it any other way, ma." I said to her as we finally reached my car and I walked over to her side, opening the passenger door for her.

"You're such a gentlemen. Thank you." She said to me and I licked my lips slowly, watching as she got in.

"Of course, it's my job." I went on saying to her, instantly remembering I'd said those exact words a few nights ago to someone else.

Kai. I thought to myself as she began to run through my mind again for the thousandth time tonight.

"Let it go, man." I scoffed, trying to break myself out of that shit. She'd already made it clear what it was so I needed to clear my head and focus on what was more important now.

She didn't want this shit so I had to accept it.

Making my way around the car, I got in on my side and sat there for a while, just trying to clear my mind of my anger-filled thoughts.

"Are you okay, Carter?" K asked me, breaking me away from them.

"I know a lot has been on your mind tonight and I can tell by how you keep zoning out every few minutes." She went on expressing to me and I nodded in agreement, knowing she was right.

"Do you want to tell me the real reason why you asked me to come out tonight instead of going on your date with Kai?" She then asked as if she was reading my mind and I sighed deeply, running a hand down my face.

I wasn't going to lie to her, I didn't have a reason to. She wasn't my girlfriend and neither was Kai but Kai was the girl I wanted, the girl I'd always wanted and I'd pettily did the shit off of reaction.

Off of anger.

I wasn't going to lead Kate on, of course. But I just wanted a breath of fresh air for one fucking night. Spend time with a friend that didn't mind spending time with me.

"Man.." I trailed off, trying to gather my words.

"It's a long story, K."

"But Kai, like I've said before, is work man."

"She's a full time job."

"She doesn't know what the fuck she wants and I'm not in the business of forcing myself onto a woman, you know?"

"I'm a grown ass man and if this was what she wanted, she'd allow me to give it to her." I ended up expressing to her and she looked at me with an empathetic smile.

"Well, how do you know she doesn't want it? Did she say that to you?" She asked in obvious hope that it wasn't true but I nodded my head, killing her spirit.

"Yeah, ma."

"I went to go pick her up, I had the gift for her.." I pointed to the gift box in the backseat.

"And still, she wasn't trying to give me a chance. She told me she didn't want to come."

"So what more can I do, K? I can't force the girl." I shrugged off while she sighed in disappointment.

"Well did you at least talk to her about why she's feeling that way?" She then asked and I looked at her with narrowed eyes.

"Did we talk?" I scoffed, thinking about being up until 7 in the fucking morning.

"Hell yeah she talked and still, that shit wasn't enough for her." I snapped, shaking my head in exhaustion.

This shit was honestly tiring.

Just last week I didn't know why this girl had been mad at me for three whole years, she finally tells me why she's mad then I give her what the fuck she wants and still, that's not enough to please her.

Nothing pleased this girl.

"Women, man." I huffed as she smiled softly.

"You really like her don't you, Carter?" Was all she said as I slowly turned my head toward her, shrugging it off.

"I do, K, but there's only so much a man can take."

"For real, man." I expressed.

"But even though she declined your date tonight and used me as the left over peas—" She started but stopped, nudging me as I chuckled to myself.

"Nah, it's not like that."

"Come on, ma."

"I know." She smiled softly, waving me off.

"But do you think you guys will ever get the chance to make it right even though this happened tonight?"

"I don't know, K."

"I'm on her time at this point, if she decides to come around then cool, if she don't, then there's not much I can do." I admitted and she nodded in agreement.

"I understand."

"Hopefully she will, I have faith in you guys. The two of you would be a great couple."

"Yeah.." Was all I said, starting my car as I slowly pulled away from the block we were on.

"Outside of that though, are you hungry or anything? I didn't even feed you tonight." I instantly remembered, remembering that the show was all sold out of food when we got there.

"Yes, I'm actually starving."

"Did you have anything in mind?" She went on asking as I looked down at the time, seeing where we could go.

10pm. The clock read and I thought long and hard about where we could go.

"I don't really know, K."

"I should've took you to get food first before we went to the show." I expressed, considering it was much earlier when we'd arrived. I could've took her to a quick restaurant or something.

"Well, I do cook, Carter." She spoke in a matter of fact tone.

"Maybe we could go to your place and I could make us a quick meal?" She asked and I raised my eyebrows in shock.

"Oh, you cook?" I couldn't help but to ask and she nodded in excitement.

"Yeah! I got all my skills from the cooking channel but it's good. Don't count me out yet." She spoke in amusement and I chuckled to myself, knowing I didn't live far from where we were.

"Aight, we can do that."

"We can just go back to my place then I'll take you home afterwards."

"Okay, cool!"

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Thoughts?

Concerns?

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