I traced my fingers across Carson's bare chest and sighed in content. The room was lit by the dull orange flames in the fire pit and I was wrapped up next to Carson in a soft cotton sheet.
"What are you thinking about?" Carson prodded gently, rubbing a hand up and down my arm.
"Last night." I said softly and he turned me so my face was directly in front of his.
"Good things I hope." He smirked but I could tell he was nervous. He was afraid of what my feelings for him were.
"Of course. It made me realize how much I love you. Carson, I think-"
"Honey, we're home!" I heard Luke's voice boom through the Anderson home and looked to Carson with a horrified look upon my face.
"Guys? Where ar-Oh." I shyly looked up to see Lucas standing there with Kara and a new baby Emma in her arms.
Lucas started to laugh and I went under the sheet in embarrassment.
"Oh, this is great!" He laughed and I felt Carson tense beside me.
"What are you doing home anyway?" He growled and I cursed Luke for coming home so soon and ruining our moment.
"Well, I don't know if you two realized this when you're stuck in your puppy love world but I just had a baby and we came home to put her to sleep in her new home. Kara isn't feeling well and I'm tired too so don't get mad at me because we walked in on you two having sex in our living room." Lucas snapped and I saw the two brothers glaring at each other before Kara gently pulled him away and gave me a sympathetic look.
When we were left in the living room again I looked to Carson who had a frown etched into his features.
"What happened? Why are you two so tense with each other?" I asked and Carson sighed.
"Before you came to the hospital, he yelled at me, screamed really. He told me how stupid I was for always chasing you and putting all our lives in danger to protect you." He said sadly and my mind was running with so many things to say.
"He's right." I admitted and Carson took my face in his hands.
"No, I love you and if I didn't show up..." He looked so sad that it nearly broke my heart.
"Luke is right. James is right." I said and his hands left me, making me feel cold.
"What are you-"
"Just think about it Carson! We can't survive without the other! We depend so much on each other and that's scary. What's going to happen when you go away to school? We can't do this." I said and his face turned angry.
"You're just going to let them control what you feel." He snapped and I glared at him.
"No one can control what I feel. I love you but if that means you're going to hold yourself back then..."
"Then what?" He asked sharply.
"Then maybe we should learn to live without each other. I don't want to be that couple when we're older that resent one another because we held each other back from our dreams." I said.
"I'd never hold you back from anything you would want Cassie." He said looking broken-hearted and I felt tears come to my eyes.
"But I know I'm holding you back. And I can't live with myself if I do that." I cried softly and his face changed to sadness.
"What does this mean then?" He asked and I wiped the tears from my eyes.
"We stay together until the day you leave for college. Then when you leave, we try to find ourselves because if we don't know ourselves, how can we really know each other?" I said and he looked away from me with pain crossing his features.
YOU ARE READING
Lifelines
Teen Fiction"I'll wait as long as you need." he whispered and I felt myself blush. Carson would wait for me. He wanted me. I cleared my throat a little which made Carson laugh at my awkwardness. "Okay. I'll uh, wait for you too." I said and Carson's face broke...
