Second Time's A Charm

Sixteen ♡ | "When Everything Changed"

He stared at me.

I looked at him then quickly turned away.

We both waited in anticipation for the other to say something.

I tapped my foot against the pavement in an attempt to distract myself from the current situation.

It wasn't working.

We'd been like this for who knows how long. I didn't know why he hadn't broken the silence by now, but then again I could be doing the same. He was the one who stopped me though.

I was heading toward the cafeteria when he'd called out to me. I'd stopped in my tracks and turned around, waiting for him to catch up.

I thought since he was the one who'd called my name he would have had something to say, but so far not a peep had been heard.

So here we were, standing in the middle of an empty hallway while time ticked away.

As I looked at him again I noticed it seemed like he wanted to speak but kind of forgot how to, if that's possible. Quite frankly I was tired of standing there in awkward silence, so I finally spoke.

"So umm...you wanted to talk...to me?" I asked.

At the sound of my voice he snapped out of whatever weird daze he was in, "Oh yeah, I uh...well we need to talk."

This is it.

This is the moment that could change everything. The question was did I want it to?

Yeah, yeah I think I did.

I hesitated before speaking again, "Friday was...nice."

I could see a visible look of relief on his face after I spoke.

"So it wasn't just me?" He said with a slight smile.

"No, it wasn't just you." I smiled back.

In this very moment, everything that had been building up for weeks now was finally being addressed.

Knowing that the feelings that I'd been feeling were reciprocated was not only a relief, but also a sign that something more could come out of whatever this was and I knew now more than ever that I wanted that.

"So where do we go from here?" Carter asked.

Where did we go?

If someone would have told me a couple a months ago that I'd be at this point with Carter again I would have laughed in their face.

Now though, I'm standing here with a loss of words to describe how strongly I feel about wanting this to work.

I contemplated my next choice of words before saying, "Well at this point we're more than friends..."

"The entirety of our relationship has never not been more than friends...but it has always been less than a couple." He said.

He had a point there. There was always something between us, but that's all it had ever been, just something. The difference this time though was the potential for things to be more than what they'd always been, for there to be a chance for an actual relationship.

Before I could reply he continued, "I want to change that." He stepped closer. "Don't you?"

Well there goes my heart, beating at a million miles a second.

I knew what I wanted to say but I couldn't spit it out. It's like those dreams where someone is chasing you and you want more than anything to be able to move but you're stuck in place, no matter how hard you try. 

I got myself together and gathered my thoughts before responding, "Of course I do."

The corners of his mouth turned up into a smile, one I'd hadn't had the pleasure of seeing in a while.

"Really?" He asked, beaming with a cute laugh.

"Yes really!" I laughed back.

He pulled me in for a hug which led to him twirling me around in the air, which made me laugh even more.

"Okay okay! Put me down!"

After setting me back onto the floor, he spoke again, "One more thing."

"There is?" I asked.

Still smiling, he nodded, "There's this really amazing girl that I'd love to go on a date with. Do you think she'll say yes?"

"Ohh a date? Well I think she'd be missing out not to!"

I smiled and he smiled and he smiled and I smiled and neither one of us stopped.

It was at that moment when everything changed.

Everything changed because finally, just like a puzzle piece the two of us fell together.

A/N: Aww would you look at that! How cute, right? Hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Anyway, just here to announce that there's only four more chapters left! I'd like to think it only gets better from here, especially the next one!

Thank you for reading!!