Love, Lies, and Other Ties

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter dedication: This one goes to Lissasysnop She has absolutely amazing stories! I have read several and am a big fan!

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Carter's POV:

Here I am, sitting in Kay's passenger seat as she just keeps talking about who knows what while I am staring out the window. I am trying to figure out what my father is thinking. He never lets me go anywhere for long periods of time. He really must be great friends with Liam's dad to be okay to let me go for a while. I will be glad to go and not ask questions; but I will stay on my guard.

We pull into my driveway, and I can see my dad has company. He must have told them I would have company and to behave. He only does that for guests, not for me. I slowly open the door and don't hear anything but the tv on. I look into the living room and see my father along with four of his friends. He looks up at me and smiles which tells me that Kay can see him and he can see her.

"Ah! There is my little girl! You must be Kay! I have heard quite a lot about you from your father. I am glad to see that she isn't a loner anymore! She always did need some friends," he said with a smirk, knowing full well that he sounds like a caring father, only to sound like a villain to me.

"Yes, sir! She is such an amazing person! I'm glad she wants to be my friend. I have trouble making friends, as well," she replies. I can tell that my father wants to talk to me because he doesn't say anything else but stares at me. I tell Kay to go into my room and she can go ahead and pack me some clothes that she finds suitable for a sleepover. I have never had one, even when Ginny and I were friends. After she disappears into my room, Trevor snarls in my direction, making me jump back and bump into the wall.

"So, I see that you covered up your face. What did you tell them?" He asks only because he didn't want any trouble coming to him or his friends.

"I-I t-t-told them that s-someone tried to mug me at the store," I whispered.

"Hmmm, that's good, then. Here," he says handing me some kind of chain, "it was your mother's and I found it earlier. Figured you would want it more than me."

I took the small chain and found a necklace with a ballerina figurine. My mother used to be a dancer. She was the most beautiful ballerina I had ever seen. She used to dance in our basement that she converted into a studio. She would play the most lyrical melodies and I would make up words and hum in the corner while watching her. I could never take my eyes off of her. I would sometimes sit for so long that I would fall asleep, and my dad would carry me to bed. Those memories are somehow foggy, and I wish I could close my eyes and go back there.

I close my eyes and clasp the necklace on my neck. My father has practically given all of my mother's things to charity and some of it he even burned in the backyard. This necklace is the last thing I have of her. I hold onto the pendant a little longer and a tear escapes and I quickly wipe it away and head up the stairs. When I get to my room, I basically run right into Kay who has a bag on her shoulder and a smile on her face.

"Hey, Carter! I have everything packed for you, along with some extra clothes to leave at my house for if this impromptu movie night happens again, which it will," she said while pulling me down the stairs. "Goodbye, Mr. Keller! We are leaving so she will be home after school on Monday!" Then, she slammed my front door shut after pulling me through.

Liam's POV:

The girls have been gone for a while and we have been drinking some beers and getting in the hot tub. The girls will hopefully join us when they get back. I texted Kay and told her to get a swimsuit for Carter. Hopefully they get back soon because I feel anxious with Kay and Carter out running around. I want them to hurry up and get here.

Apparently, Max can sense my anxiousness. He asks me to walk back to the pool house with him to grab drinks for the rest of them. I had one and I still have half of my second one and that is all I'm drinking tonight with my house full of people. Someone has to be an adult.

Once we get inside, Max leans against the counter, "shoot". I give him a confused look after he said that, "something is on your mind; or someone. What has you so anxious and jittery?" he asked. I run my fingers through my hair and tilt my head back to look at the ceiling. "Come on, man. What do I have to do, tickle your tummy and call you a 'good boy'? Open up to your bestest and hottest friend."

I just look at him as he shimmies his butt and looks in the fridge. He's got on hot pink swim shorts and lime green Ray Bans. Yeah, he is my craziest friend, and he doesn't care who is looking at him. I stare at the floor thinking hard about what I wanna say. When I look back at him, he has his face pointed towards the ceiling, his back arched a little, both arms out, knees bent, and a bottle of beer sitting on his forehead.

"What the fuck are you doing, asshole? You are going to..." I'm cut off by glass shattering and beer splashing everywhere.

"DAMMIT, DUDE! I WAS GETTING IT!"

"Getting what? A scar down your face from the bottle shattering on it? Are you planning on joining the circus or something?"

"Nah, I can't," he says

"Why not? You would fit in well."

"No, I can't because you would miss me too much, Booboo," he says while opening the fridge, blowing kisses at me, and getting a new beer. "Anyway, what has you all twisted?"

"I guess it's just Carter. I am so drawn to her and like her so much, but I don't think she likes me and I'm not sure where I go from here. Do I ask her out? Do I stay friends and forget about it? We definitely have a connection but I'm not sure if it's the same for both of us," I said all in one breath before looking at Max again who had his mouth full of beer and was slowly blinking at me.

"Okay, first of all, there is no way she doesn't like you in any form of romantic way. I know that because all through the movie, she would glance out of her peripheral vision at you and if you looked back, she blushed... a lot. So, of course, my second thing would be that you should find your ball sack, that got sucked back up when you became a pussy and ask her out on a date tomorrow night since she will be staying here anyway," he says while wiggling his eyebrows.

I punched Max at the exact spot I needed to give him dead leg and he hit the floor, groaning. I laughed and decided to head back to the hot tub but what I saw stopped me in my tracks. Bash was glaring over at Carter but the strangest part was that her makeup had come off and I could see bruises on her face. I threw down the rest of my beer and took off in her direction.

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Question of the Chapter: I'm having a dilemma. I have ideas that could take this in three totally different, totally crazy directions. Would you rather have a book that is:

A.) fast paced and an all around shorter book,
B.) fast paced and is longer or even has a sequel, or
C.) a combination of the two?