He's Just A Player

Chapter 14: Paintball War

Chapter 14: Paintball War

Carter's P.O.V:

      I knew from the moment I was dragged out into the middle of a desert wasteland I was screwed. Yup, no way of getting out of this one.

      I mean, what the hell were we doing out here anyway?

      I quickly exited Connor's car and spotted a strange building. Connor directed me inside, where a warm gust of air greeted us.

      "Connor? Is that you?" A voice asked.

      Connor and I turned around, spotting a girl a little taller than me prance up.

      "Oh, hey Em! What's up?" Connor asked.

      The girl name Em smiled. 

      "Nothing much. What about you?" She replied.

      I saw her glance over at me with a look of disgust as she turned back to Connor, pushing her chest out.

      "Just bringing Carter here to play a game. Carter, this is Emily. Emily, this is Carter," Connor stated, introducing us.

      As Emily's harsh glare pierced through me, I couldn't help but shift uncomfortably. I didn't know what it was, but I was pretty sure this girl didn't like me.

      "Hi," I said quietly, holding out my hand.

      "Hey," Emily replied, giving me a tight smile.

      Okay, I KNEW she didn't like me.

      "Okay. I'm going to check us in Kit-Kat. I'll be right back," Connor stated, walking off.

      Why would he leave me here with this girl?!

      "So, are you two like, dating?" Emily asked, eyeing me up and down.

      "Uh, no. We're friends," I replied.

      Emily smirked, stepping right up to my face.

      "Look you little freak. Connor is MINE, got it? He may have broken up with me, but I KNOW we still like each other. Stay away from him," She hissed.

      "Connor's just my friend. And if he still liked you, why would he have broken up with you?" I found myself asking.

      When did I get this confidence?

      "Complications, that's why. Anyway, stay away. He's mine, and only mine. Besides, it's not like he'd go for someone like.....you," She sneered.

      "Why not? Why can't someone like Connor like me?" I asked, placing a hand on my hip.

      She laughed dryly.

      "Just look at yourself. You've got no taste in clothing, you're awkward, and I can just tell by looking at you that you're a nerd. No point in trying to get what you can't have."

      Emily backed away, smiling sweetly.

      "Connor! You're back," Emily said happily, wrapping her arms around Connor's neck.

      I wanted to rip her head off and feed it to the pigeons.

      "Well, nice to see you Em. Carter and I have got a game to get to. Bye," Connor replied quickly.

      An annoyed look crossed her Emily's face as Connor grabbed my hand and dragged me out of the room.

      "Sorry about that," He apologized, once out of earshot.

      "It's fine," I mumbled, staring at the ground.

      "Something wrong?" Connor asked, stopping abruptly.

      My eyes flickered to his.

      "No."

      "Really, Carter. Tell me what's wrong. Did Emily say something?" He asked.

      Yes. But I wasn't about to tell him that.

      "Let's just go do whatever you planned. It's not important," I replied, walking ahead of him.

      Somewhere behind me, I heard him huff. I did feel bad for ignoring him a bit, but then again I didn't.

      What was the real reason Connor wanted to hang out with me? I wasn't pretty, fashionable, or fun.

      I was exactly how Emily described me.

~

      "I feel like a sack of potatoes," I whined, tugging at my large vest.

      "At least you don't weigh much. It takes a bit of weight off," Connor replied.

      "But then I don't have any weight to support the vest or jacket," I reasoned, tugging at the heavy items.

      "It'll be fun. Just trust me Carter," He responded, zipping up his own jacket.

      "Oh, yeah. What could be more fun than getting a paintball shot at me which could potentially leave a bruised mark, or, in some cases kill people?" I retorted sarcastically.

      He rolled his eyes, chucking a gun at me.

      "Don't think. Just shoot," He stated, loading his gun up.

      "I'm scared," I admitted, attempting to load my own gun.

      "Don't be. I know getting paint shot at you may not be the most positive thing, but I swear you'll have fun in the long run," Connor assured.

      I shrugged, slipping my glasses on. I wasn't really planning on losing an eye today.

      "Ready?" He asked.

      I took a deep breath.

      "As ready as I'll ever be," I muttered, holding my gun up.

      "Okay, so just make sure to take cover behind me. I'm not sure what guys we're playing today, so they may or may not be good. Dodge their shots as well as you can and aim for their vests. That's really all there is to it," Connor stated.

      "That's all? Sounds like a lot," I huffed.

      He smirked.

      "It's not. Now let's get out there. I know you can do it," He said, nudging my side.

      I nodded and gripped his arm, walking out into the wasteland.

      They had changed the area a bit, throwing in obstacles and places to hide behind. Barrels, random walls, and nets were now strewn everywhere. I was just grateful there'd be places to cower behind.

      "Where's the people we're playing?" I asked, squinting.

      "Right here," A voice replied.

      Connor and I whipped our heads around, eyeing the person who spoke.

      "You have GOT to be freaking kidding," I growled, face-palming myself.

      "Nope. Not kidding," Emily replied, throwing me a grin.

      She was now wearing a hot pink jumpsuit with an unhealthy amount of sequins. Her hair was in some complex braid and I think the amount of pink make-up she wore was enough for the both of us plus one.

      And to top it all off, her paint gun had leopard print all over it.

      "Wow, you're certainly.....decorated?" I said, raising an eyebrow.

      "And you're not. Can we just get this show on the road?" She replied snobbishly, walking off to the opposite side of the area.

      "Uh, where's your partner?" Connor asked, looking around.

      Emily smiled evilly, glancing down at her fingernails.

      "Oh he's right behind you," She replied.

      I slowly turned on my heel, coming face to face with a HUGE man.

      No wait, scratch that. I came face to face with some Sasquatch-Conan the Barbarian-hybrid thing.

      So, to be blunt, we were screwed.

      "Oh shit," Connor whispered.

      Oh shit was definitely correct.

      "Well? Are you just going to stand there or are we going to paintball?" Emily snapped.

      The big man walked over to Emily, menacingly looking at me.

      I gulped.

      "Look Kit-Kat. I'll get gorilla man. You take care of Emily. She's quite girly, so it'll be easy to take her out. That's probably the reason she chose Big Foot over there," He said.

      "I'm not sure if I should laugh at your man jokes or piss myself," I whispered, watching the man-thing pace back and forth.

      Yep. Definitely dying today.

      "Paintballers. Please retreat to your areas. The siren will go off in ten seconds," A voice said through an intercom.


      I felt like I was in the Hunger Games.

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      "GO!"

      "Tell my mom I love her," I yelled, sprinting to an empty barrel.

      This should be able to hide me for-

      PANG!

      I felt something hard hit the barrel, which could only mean my spot was found.

      I cautiously peered around the corner and spotted Man-Squatch smiling, stalking towards me.

      Dear Lord, please don't kill me now!

      I quickly got up, sprinting away from the barrel and towards a wall-thing. There, I took a moment to catch my breath.

      "Ohmygosh!" I heard Emily scream.

      I peered around the wall and spotted Emily angrily stomping inside, which meant she'd been shot.

      Well, she was out.

      That meant Connor and I were in the lead so far, with only Man-Squatch to deal with.

      I'd let Connor handle that situation.

      "Fuck!" Someone yelled out.

      Oh, please don't let it be Connor!

      I took a deep breath, once again peering around the corner.

      And there, limping to the side, was none other than my teammate.

      "Connor!" I yelled, frowning.

      He looked at me apologetically.

      "Carter, remember what I said. Dodge the paint. If you can, shoot that motherfucker in the vest!" He shouted, walking inside.

      I stood behind the wall, too scared to do anything. This was totally NOT cool.

      "Hey little girl. Come out, come out wherever you are," Man-Squatch sung, sounding close by.

      I shuddered, sprinting from my spot and out in the open. I felt paintballs whir by my head, as I skillfully dodged them like a ninja.

      It was the Asian in me coming out.

      I finally ducked behind a log type thing, breathing heavily and clutching my gun close to me. It was now, or never.

      "You'll never take me alive!" I screeched, popping up from my spot and shooting all over the place.

      I heard a yelp, and then a thud.

      I looked around and spotted Man-Squatch lying on the ground, clutching his vest, with a bright yellow splattered everywhere.

      "I won," I whispered, not believing it.

      "I won! I won! I won!" I cried out, running over to the man.

      I danced around him happily, tossing my gun to the side.

      "Hell yeah! I beat you Conan the Barbarian-gorilla-Sasquatch man! Woo!" I shouted.

      I felt an arm drag me away, and inside the building. When I turned around I saw a very smug looking Connor.

      "I was in the middle of a victory dance, thank you very much," I said, poking his stomach.

      "I saw. You know, I wasn't expecting you to get that guy," Connor replied admiringly.

      "It's nice to know you have faith in me," I said sarcastically, unzipping my vest.

      Connor came behind me and helped take it off, tossing it to the side.

      "I'm just happy you beat that guy. I was afraid he'd hurt you," Connor said, brushing a stray hair behind my ear.

      I smiled, grabbing his hand.

      "But he didn't. I beat him pretty good," I replied.

      "That I also saw. You know you looked like one of those cops in the middle of a major shoot out?" He laughed.

      "Really? I must have looked pretty freakin' awesome then!" I said.

      A strange silence washed over us as Connor stared at me, his eyes flickering from my lips to my eyes. He bit his lip before leaning a bit closer.

      "You have a little paint on your cheek," He whispered, using his thumb to rub it off.

      He then backed off, smiling.

      "Alrighty. We should be heading back then," He said, dusting himself off.

      I stood in my spot, shocked and very dumbfounded.

      Did he do what I just thought he did? Or was I just dreaming it up?

      Obviously it didn't mean too much to Connor, because he just went on acting as if that was the most normal thing ever.

      I finally smacked myself, shaking my head.

      Of course it didn't mean anything. He was Connor, the hot and nice guy.

      I was Carter, the nerd who had no fashion sense.

~

Aiden's P.O.V:

      "What are we doing here?" Paige asked, peering around the corner.

      "Shh," I replied, pulling her back.

      We could NOT get caught in here. That would end up getting us in a shitload of trouble.

      "We shouldn't be here," Paige hissed.

      "I know. But I have to get something," I replied, slowly coming out from our hiding spot.

      "Aiden-"

      "I'll be fine, Paige. Besides, it's not like Carter's home or anything," I said, tip-toeing to her bedroom.

      I couldn't let Carter's parents see me. They'd blow a fuse or something.

      Why was I sneaking into Carter's bedroom, you ask?

      Well, I'd have to start from the beginning:

      After the mall fiasco, I'd brought Paige over to my house to meet my mom and dad. My dad was pretty happy, seeing as I'd finally chosen someone to go to formal with. My mom was polite towards Paige, but I could tell she didn't like her all that much.

      I'm guessing she thought Paige was just another girl I'd dump later on.

      Anyway, we hung out for awhile, talking and what-not, until I remembered seeing Carter at the mall. It really bugged me seeing her with Connor, mostly because I knew he wasn't a good influence.

      Why did Carter like him so much? I mean, it's not like he was superman or anything. I just really hated seeing her with that guy.

     So I told Paige about Carter. About how she was my best friend, and that she was hanging out with that Connor guy.

      "It sounds like you're jealous," Paige said, sounding a little irritated.

      "How? Carter's only my best friend. I just want her to be happy," I replied.

      "If you wanted her to be happy, you'd let her hang out with Connor. HE seems to be the one who brightens her day," Paige pointed out.

      He couldn't be making her happy, could he?

      "He's just not a great guy, is all."

      Paige frowned.

      "How do you know he's not a great guy?" Paige retorted.

      "Just......from what I've heard," I responded.

      "Those are probably rumors, Aiden. As in, lies," She said, waving her hands in my face.

      I sighed, running my hand through my hair. Could it be that Connor was a nice guy?

      No.

      "Well, we're about to find out," I declared, walking to my front door.

      "What are you doing?" Paige asked, raising an eyebrow.

      "We're going to sneak into Carter's house and read her diary," I replied simply.

      "No! That's just wrong, Aiden! We can't just go and read other people's personal business! Even if she IS your best friend, I'm sure she wouldn't appreciate you going through her stuff," Paige scolded, folding her arms.

      "Aw, come on! I need to know more about this Connor guy!" I pleaded.

      "Why don't you ask her then?"

      "Do you know Carter? She'd tell me to mind my own business and shove me away," I replied.

      "If she doesn't want you to know about Connor, I doubt she'd want you to look at her DIARY and find out about him," Paige said.

      "What if you were in my situation? Wouldn't you want to know if your friend was keeping a secret from you?" I asked.

      "Well...."

      "It's settled then. We're going to Carter's house," I smirked, continuing my walk. 

       So as of right now, we were just outside Carter's door, trying not to make a sound.

      "I'm so going to hell for this," Paige muttered, slowly opening the door.

      We quietly slipped in, shutting the door behind us.

      "Okay, now hurry up and grab what you're looking for so we can leave," Paige commanded, sitting on the floor.

      "You're not going to help?" I asked.

      She shook her head.

      "I already feel bad enough as it is. This is so wrong," Paige replied, her eyes filling with tears.

      "Why are you sad?" I asked.

      "Because....I don't know. If it was me, I'd be pretty pissed off if you went through my things," She replied.

      Was this a bad idea? Going through Carter's stuff?

      I was about to call it quits and leave, when I spotted a bright blue notebook sticking out from under Carter's bed. Curiosity got the best of me as I picked it up, examining the cover.

      It read, "CARTER'S JOURNAL" in bright, purple letter's.

      "Don't open it. Carter will HATE you," Darren's voice said.

      Oh great, now I was hearing voices.

      "Open it. You'll never know what's going on with Carter and Connor if you don't," My own voice said.

      I stared at the notebook, biting my lip.

      Fuck it. I needed to know this information.

      I cautiously opened her notebook up, revealing the first page.

      It said:

"Hello reader. If you are anyone but me, I am telling you to stop reading RIGHT NOW. This is property of Carter Ly, not you.

I'm specifically talking to you, Aiden. If somehow you got a hold of this (which I don't really know how you would've) then just stop! I know that you're freaking nosy and can't stay out of anyone's business.

And if anyone else is reading this, I swear I will break each and everyone of your bones and grind them into oblivion. This is your last chance.

STOP READING NOW BEFORE YOU DIE.

Thank you, and have a nice day."

      Okay, so it was obvious she knew me well. But I just....couldn't help myself. I HAD to know.

      I flipped a few pages in and saw a picture of me smiling. The entry read, 

"This is Aiden. My very best friend. Although he can be extremely annoying, rude, thick headed, and repulsive, I still love him."

      I smiled. That was a damn good picture of me.

      I flipped a few pages in and found an interestingly long entry. Maybe Connor was somewhere in it.

      It read,

"Aiden I swear to the holy gods if you read this, I WILL CHOP YOU INTO BITS AND FEED YOU TO RABBID ANIMALS. And if ANYONE and I mean ANYONE else reads this, I will freaking slaughter you."

      Nice to know she had such lovely words to say. I ignored the warning and read on.

"Dear Journal,

I really don't know what to do right now. I'm so confused about my feelings, and I know I can't confront Aiden about them. And if I confronted Katie, she'd give me this long speech about how Connor's a better fit for me than Aiden is.

I suppose Connor is really nice. He's cute, too. His personality is one where it draws you in. He's been so kind to me the while he's been here, it's kind of weird. But I accept it. Because I really am in need of more friends.

I've been thinking lately more of Connor than I have Aiden. Not only is Connor a great friend, but he's been there more than Aiden has lately. I think he cares about me a lot, which I'm grateful for.

I know Aiden cares about me. But...he also cares about other girls a little bit more. We used to be SO close, like going out almost everyday somewhere. We'd go play baseball, go to the park, and go out to eat. Now? He's just obsessed with popularity stats and hot girls.

I've had this HUMONGOUS crush on Aiden for like, ever, yet he hasn't seen it. Why did I like him so much in the first place? It's not like he ever showed any affection back. But, like my mom said, you can't choose who you like. It just comes naturally.

But I'm also happy that the whole "crush" thing comes naturally. Because now....I SORTA...MAYBE...like Connor. MAYBE.

Katie would so be screeching in happiness if she heard me say that. She's planned this all out all along.

Anyway, I'm just really confused with my feelings. I really, really want to stop having so many emotions that revolve around Aiden. He doesn't like me, so why try?

But enough of my ranting. I've gotta go meet up with Connor pretty soon.

Love,

Carter"

      Holding the notebook in front of me, I was sure I looked like a mad man. My mouth was agape, my eyes were nearly popped out of my head, and my hands were shaking.

      Carter, my best friend since birth........had a crush on me?



(A/N) Oh my gosh. Bet you didn't see that one coming, eh?

This was just a cray cray chapter, I've gotta admit. We got mostly into Carter's thoughts on the paintball war, and then Aiden's. Do you think reading her diary will change the way he acts around Carter? Do you think he'll stop talking to her altogether?

And what do you think of Emily? Total B---- right? I seriously wanted her to go down, which she did in the paintball war. By the way, she is Connor's ex-girlfriend. He was the one to break up with her, and she can't seem to let that go.

So, tell me your thoughts on this chapter. It was absolute madness and craziness. Pic to the side is Conan the Barbarian A.K.A. THE SCHWARZENEGGER!

Anyway, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE READS AND VOTES! The votes are just absolutely amazing! Thank you all SO much! Early update to show my appreciation! :D

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