Mr.Carter

10

"Say cheese," The paparazzi says to Alex and I as we hold hands walking down the beach. I turn the other way and Alex hides her face on my chest. She's not used to these kind of things ever since we started dating three weeks ago, after the kiss.

"Can you leave?" I asked the paps, looking through my shades. It's getting pretty annoying. Just the other day, I found a newspaper with us on the cover, saying Damien and his new fling. It's pretty ridiculous. People have been calling me, even former teammates sounding appalled over the phone that I finally have a girlfriend. I would've told them about the bet, but it's between Eli and I, and it should stay that way.

Eli called me, taunting me. He said that I might as well pay him the $500 now, but he doesn't understand. Alex is the type that'll get into a relationship with you before letting you have sex with her. Not saying that she'll give it to any guy she dates, but I know what I'll have to do to get in between those sexy legs of hers.

My mom called me after hearing about it, squealing over the phone. Telling me how beautiful Alex is and asking me when is our marriage. She's crazy. We just started dating and my mom will never get it through her head that I'm not looking for commitment any time soon.

"Are they gone?" Alex asks with her head still buried into my chest.

"Yeah. Sorry you have to go through this." She removes her head from my chest and looks up at me.

"I'm going to have to get used to this since we're dating. People at work have been so nice to me and so has the customers." She giggles.

Normally, I would've told her to quit her job, but since she doesn't want to, there's nothing I can do to stop her. Her life, her decisions. I was never really interested in dating a woman that is known. "They're fake." I said. They should've been nice to her from the beginning and not because I'm dating her. Do they expect me to bring them in more customers and give their restaurant a good name? Not that it's bad.

"Come on, let's go in the water." She takes off the dress that was covering her bathing suit and runs into the water. I remove my shorts and shirt and follow.

She splashes some water on me and I do the same and before she does it again, I bring her into my arms and spin her around. She giggles. I stop and she faces me. She wraps her hands around my neck as I lay my hands on her waist. She looks into my eyes.

"Why do you keep staring into my eyes like that?" I smile.

She smiles slightly and says, "Nothing." She moves in closer and lays her head on my chest. "Nothing," She repeats in a lower tone.

I rub her back and kiss her forehead. "Yeah." I repeat, "Nothing." I lay my head on top of hers and we sway slowly in the water as the cold waves hits us.

--

Two hours and half later, we reach home and showered. I went upstairs after ordering some pizza and heating up the popcorn for our little movie night in the living room, rather than the movie theater. I came back down with pajama pants and a tank top on. I find Alex on the couch talking on the phone. I stood around the corner listening. Her phone conversation seemed to be interesting.

"What do you mean I owe you? You never did anything for me." Alex says. "Mom? You don't even deserve that title. Not after you chose your no good boyfriend over me." She takes a deep breath. "Yeah, Damien is rich but I could care less about his money. I will not ruin this relationship because you need some money. It's your fault for spending them on those drugs and that man of yours. I love Damien and I will not listen to you. Not after all those years." She hangs up the phone and frustratedly puts it on the coffee table.

Did she say love? I think my ears are betraying me. What the hell is love? Is it the thing Eli and Karen shares? Is it temporary? The only love I have is for God and my family.

"She chose to call me now after all these years just because I'm dating a wealthy guy. The nerve of her." Alex says to herself as she cross her arms under her chest. "How dare she? She didn't even know that I left."

The doorbell rings. I stay back for a few seconds before saying "I'll get it." I didn't want her to know that I was listening. I walk to the door with money in my hand. I open the door,  pay the delivery guy, and take the boxes of pizza, along with wings and a drink away from him. "Thank you." I smile and close the door. "Oh," I open the door again. "Keep the change." I shut it.

"Pizza is here and popcorn is ready." I walk to the couch and find her with her head buried in her hands. "Are you okay?" I ask like I don't already know what's going on.

"Yeah, I was just waiting for you." She sits up and smiles, a real smile. It's ok if she doesn't tell me, for now. With problems like hers, it's hard to express them. She's going through a hard time and she has been keeping part of her life away from me. She'll tell me when she's ready.

"Ready for movie time?" I ask. Ever since we started dating, she started this thing called movie time. We try to do it once a week. We take turns picking the movie and this time it's my turn. "It's my turn and I choose Insidious." I smile. I know she hates scary movies, but I want to see how she'll react.

"Why that?" She whines. "You know I hate horror movies."

"Don't worry. I got you baby." I bring her into my arms for a quick hug.

She smiles. "You better."

I reach over and grab the remote and go straight to Netflix. I search and scroll for Insidious and click on it. I hand her a plate with pizza and wings on it. We start eating as the movie begins.

   We are now lying on the couch. She's on top of me and she keeps hiding her face, every time a scary noise comes on.

   "Oh my God!" She says. "Can we please change the movie?"

   "We only have 25 minutes left. We'll live." I say keeping my focus on the screen. I love scary movies. I complain when she plays those chick flick movies of hers, but she never shuts it off.

   After the movie, we clean up a little and then walk up the stairs. We held hands as we make it into my room. "Oh shoot." I said moving back, acting as if something is there. She jumps and I laugh. "Got ya!"

   She hits my arms. "Don't do that." She hides her face in embarrassment. Still laughing, I bring her into my arms. "I'm sorry."

   "That's not funny." She looks up at me.

"Your facial expression was and the way you jumped." I laugh.

   "Shut up."

   I bend over and kiss her softly. "You'll be ok because you have me." I kiss her again.

   She rolls her eyes playfully. "Yeah right." She runs over to the bed.

   "What's that supposed to mean?" I walk up to her. She grabs the pillow and hits me.

   "It means this." Hits. "That." Hits me again. "And this is for scaring me." She hits me four more times.

   I tackle her and stay on top of her. "I deserve that."

   She rubs the back of my neck. "I know. That's why I did it." She giggles and looks into my eyes again. The beauty of those light brown eyes.

--

A/N: Sorry I wasn't able to update. Tons of homework. Today I went out of my way to type this short chapter before continuing my paper. I kept you guy waiting for so long.

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