One By One (editing)

Chapter Two

edited by EDIT0RR

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"Yeah, the uh, the baby was crying and I, um, put him down," I stumbled through my words, the heat radiating off my cheeks making it hard to think. I could hear Luke laughing on the other side of his door.

"I have to go get ready and stuff for tonight," I blurted out, trying to back away. "I'll see you later. Ya know, once you take a shower." Wow, Carter. Way to impress the guy with your flirting skills.

"Why do I smell bad?" Gabe grinned, taking a step towards me.

"Ew, gross. Yes." I wrinkled my nose.

"So then how would you feel if I gave you a big hug?" He teased, his smile turning devilish as he stretched out his arms.

"You wouldn't dare," I warned. Secretly though, I had this weird warm feeling that wished he would.

But he closed the distance between us and enveloped me in a huge hug. In that moment, I instantly regretted me wanting to hug him because him being hot didn't matter, he was disgusting. Between gasps of air and my desperate struggling, I choked, "Gabe, ew, gross. Get off of me."

"Gabe, what are you..." Luke trailed off as he opened his door and saw us. "What are you doing, man? Look, as much as I enjoy watching this, it takes her forever to get ready as it is, so let go of her." Gabe reluctantly let me go.

"Thanks, man," I mocked, glaring at Luke. Him coming to my rescue like a brother should, appeared to be only for his convenience. "Great, now I'm gonna have to take a shower." I escaped to the room that Sam and I share, shutting the door behind me and leaning on it.

I could hear Luke's voice outside of it. "Dude, don't touch my sister." I did a double take Come again?

"Chill, Luke," Gabe protested. "I was just teasing her. It was a joke."

"Yeah well I'm not joking. I know what you do to girls. Carter's not going to be one of them." Since when was Luke protective of me?

"Ok, ok-" Gabe's voice got quieter as he and my brother walked into my brother's room.

I quickly shook it off and hurried to take a quick shower. I wrapped my body in a towel, proceeding to curl my hair and applying makeup. I took a quick peek out into the hall to make sure nobody was there before tiptoeing over to my door.

I was almost to my bedroom door when I heard a door close behind me. "Nice outfit, Carter. You plan on wearing that tonight?" Gabe came out of the boy's bathroom, fully dressed I might add. His eyes scanned over the small towel covering me. I scowled and slammed the door behind me, locking myself in my room. As I leaned against the back of the door, I smirked to myself for a reason I couldn't put my finger on.

After a second, I shook my head, wiping the smirk off my face and pushing myself off the door. Readjusting my towel, I walked over to my closet. I shared a room with Sam so the majority of the space was taken up by two dressers, two beds, two closets, a full-length mirror and our nightstands. On Sam's side of the room were all of her trophies and medals from the tournaments she's competed in. Paintings and drawings litter my side of the floor, tacked up on the wall, and anywhere else there's room.

For a full fifteen seconds, I just stared at my clothes, wondering what to wear. Sifting through my wardrobe, I pulled out a black dress and crouched down to find my ankle boots. I walked over to the mirror once I was finished changing, smoothing the soft dress down. As always, I overanalyzed my outfit and turned this way and that to critique it. Even though I had curves, they were small and this dress definitely defined them. Deciding that yes, I would wear this, I switched out my dress for a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. Grabbing my phone, I headed downstairs for dinner. My mom was in the kitchen when I got down there.