When You Least Expect It

37

a/n sorry for the late update, I got into a car accident and life's been hectic. I'm okay, my car isn't tho rip.

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Chapter 37

What challenges have you overcome?

I stared at the glowing screen of the laptop. Challenges. Challenges. It all seemed so frivolous when I said it out loud.

I tried to focus on the practical stuff – my background, my goals – but my mind kept wandering. I come from a financially disadvantaged background. My mom left us. I have no sense of direction. I hate who I am.

I must've sighed too loud because Carson craned his neck from where he was perched on my desk. "You okay?"

"Can we go over those questions again?"

He gave a sunny smile. "Sure."

After finding out about the news last week, Carson had been nothing but supportive. I'd gone over these interview questions with him at least a thousand times, and he never once complained. He'd even stayed up all night researching common college interview questions, just to help me out. I don't know what I did to deserve someone as patient as him.

After we finished rehearsing the questions, I got up to watch over him. He'd been sketching something all day, constantly wiping and rubbing at the paper.

When he heard me get up, he put his hands over his artwork and covered it. "Go back over there."

I leaned over his shoulder and tried to pry his fingers off the page. "Let me see!"

His grip on the paper was too firm. "Nope."

"Wow, so you think I'm annoying, huh?" I rolled my eyes as a joke and tried to walk off, but he grabbed my hand and pulled me to him, brows scrunched. Once he saw the smile on my face, he visibly relaxed and smiled.

"No, it's just that my girlfriend is incredibly distractingly beautiful," he said, still holding my hand.

I didn't know what to say, because he often talked about me like I was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen. I'd even started to believe it. He was always saying sweet things like that.

I leaned over him, my hair falling like a curtain over his face, and kissed him. His hands found my face, his fingers a little cold and shaky. Taking advantage of his distraction, I peeked over his shoulder to see what he was drawing. A picnic blanket, spread out under a sky full of stars. And there we were, sleeping side by side in his backyard, one of my hands pointed up at the sky.

Carson was watching my reaction closely. "Mr Reynolds told us to sketch something that's a core memory."

Right. Mr Reynolds had assigned us a project this week—draw a memory that had stuck with you.

"Why?" was all I could choke out. Out of all the memories he'd made, people he'd met, that's what stood out?

"I remember this day so clearly," Carson said, his voice soft. "Spending time with you... and you finally being mine. That day meant a lot to me."

My heart swelled. I could feel the warmth of the sun on my skin, the taste of the strawberry on my lips. It was as if I was right back there with him.

"I love it," I managed to say, my voice trembling and thick with tears. I couldn't see him clearly through the blur of my vision. "Can I keep it?"