Random Romance One Shots

Grumpy-Sunshine

Alyssa Delgado and Carter Martins are becoming friends, but both of them want more.

Alyssa's POV

I walked into the coffee shop about an hour after Carter and I hung out, and I could still feel the butterflies now settling in my stomach. After I order my regular iced latte with vanilla and extra sugar, I see my friend, Nina, sitting at one of the tables with an empty seat. I bound over to her feeling light as a feather. She looks up from her laptop and smiles knowingly at me.

"Martins, huh?" She asks, referring to Carter Martins, my friend and the guy I'm falling in love with.

I sigh dreamily still in a fog of happiness. "He's just...he's so..."

I try to think of words to describe how he makes me feel. Perfect, loved, beautiful, sexy, all come to mind but they don't do justice to how I feel. Being with Carter is like a perfect beach day where it's hot but not too hot, with shady areas to allow you to cool down; the wind a perfect breeze and the water warm. I feel light and free around him.

Nina laughs and smiles sympathetically. "You are down bad, girl."

I laugh along with her, but sober as my brain winds down from the high. We're friends. I'm in the friend zone, and the riskiest thing on the planet is to try to escape the friend zone. Rarely does it ever work out, and if it doesn't a friendship is usually ruined. I can't risk it. I treasure Carter and my friendship way too much.

"Oh, honey," Nina consoles seeing my shift in energy. "From what you tell me about how he acts around you, I'm sure he's head over heels for you."

I'm about to agree when Nina's boyfriend sits down in the seat next to her wrapping his lean arm around her shoulder. She leans into his touch, immediately brightening.

"Who's madly in love with Alyssa?" Anthony Fitzgerald, Nina's boyfriend and one of Carter's best friends asks, looking between the two of us.

Before I can tell my friend to not say anything to her boyfriend she exclaims, "Carter Martins."

My eyes widen at the same time as Anthony's. And then he does something that makes my jaw drop and face turn red. He barks out a hearty laugh. Anthony laughs as though it's comedy hour at the small cafe we're at and Kevin Hart is doing a stand up routine.

"Babe, shut up," Nina whisper-yells as Anthony's laughing draws attention, making me crouch into myself even further.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Anthony apologizes, wiping tears from his eyes. Yeah, that's how hard this man was laughing at my misery. He recovers and explains, "It's not you, Alyssa, I promise. It's just...I'm not sure Carter even has a heart in his chest."

My eyebrows knit together before I can help it. "What do you mean?"

Anthony shrugs his small shoulders. "I just mean that Carter is not the warm type of guy, you know? I mean, the only reason he tolerates me is because we have been friends for fifteen years."

I frown because one of the many words I would use to describe Carter would be exactly what Anthony says he's not.

"Wait, but from what Alyssa keeps telling me, Carter is super sweet. He bought her flowers last week because she was down in the dumps about a bad grade she got." Nina explains, shutting her laptop now that the conversation has taken a turn.

Anthony's eyes widen like saucers, and his head whips toward me. "He did that?"

Before I can jump in, Nina nods. "Yeah, and he held her while she sobbed like a baby into his chest."

I put my head in my hands to hide my embarrassment, and try to use my blonde hair to hide me from the world by putting it in front of me. It did happen, but I thought Nina would spare the details. Then again, her and her boyfriend tell each other literally everything, so I guess I should have known.