Focused

Love Birds

I sat in the sand on a pink and white striped towel with Kary by my side reading the new issue of People Magazine. It's been two days since the party and Kary and I haven't talked about it since what happened to her. Her deep scratch above her right eye was starting to heal and Kary was her normal self. I turned my head to look at Kary. Her hair was blowing around and she was staring intently at the ocean. It's like she knew what I was thinking about and she spoke up.

"Did you have fun at the bonfire?" She still stared out at the waves.

"Yeah. I met this really nice guy and told him a lot about me." She smiled at me and pulled her blue towel around her arms.

"Did you get drunk?" She started laughing and I slowly nodded my head fighting back a smile. 

"That's awesome! You are finally a real teenager. So, tell me about your new love interest." She poked me in the arm. 

"He's really nice and sweet. He's cute too." She was in awe. 

"What's his name?!" She shook my shoulders and laughed. 

"Carter." Then, she stopped and looked at me speechless.

"Carter Murray?" She kept looking at me.

"I don't know. He had dark hair and big brown eyes." I thought of him again and my heart lept. 

"Dude, he's my ex." What? Oh no. 

I opened my mouth to speak, but Kary stopped me.

"I'm just kidding." She saw how serious I looked.

 "I have a boyfriend though...and Carter kissed me." Kary's mouth fell open, but it turned into a smile. 

"Oh my--" I cut her off.

"I'm a cheater, Kary." I got up and shook my towel getting the sand off. 

"You are not. When you talked about Jay you didn't seem very happy, but when you mentioned Carter..." Kary trailed off and grinned.

"You lit up like Times Square on New Year's Eve." I laughed at her reference. 

"It's true. I just want you to be happy." I hugged Kary.

"You're like my best friend, Marley." She leaned away and smiled. I thought about Aimee, my other best friend. She was always awesome to talk too, but before the accident we had started to get into stupid little fights and not talk to each other. I remember being pretty pissed at her. Then, I saw Stephen slam the back door and running to hug his sister. 

"God, Kary. Are you okay?" They hugged and Stephen was truly upset. 

"I'm fi--" She started talking.

"I'm going to hurt him. He's an asshole." Stephen popped his knuckles.

"Don't hurt him. He was drunk and so was I." Kary looked at her feet. 

Stephen and Kary talked while I stood there listening. They were the best brother and sister. They seemed like they always looked out for each other. I dug my left foot in the hot sand. I looked at the line of beach houses and saw families swimming right in front of their houses. I never really saw the neighbors on the right,. My side window faces the left and those neighbors are hardly ever home. The neighbors on the left had a green jeep parked in front of their garage. I caught a glimpse of a shadow in the window and I suddenly got really cold. The shadow was looking at me. 

"Marley?" Kary looked like she had said my name several times. 

"Sorry, I spaced out." Tiny pieces of my hair blew across my forehead. 

Stephen looked at me and walked back to the house. Kary and I went inside a few minutes later and got dressed.

I called Jay that evening and told him everything. He even said he didn't like long distance relationships and that he was sad that I had cheated, but with a heavy heart he forgave me. He said it was a good idea to call it quits with our relationship and I agreed. He also told me he was really happy. He met a girl named, Courtney and he liked her. We both decided to end everything and be friends. I told him, I would call him every now and then. I got off the phone and saw Kary walk in.

"Hey, single lady." She moved an Elle Magazine and plopped down on my bed.

"You should go talk to Carter. Oops, he's already here. She acted surprised and I saw Carter slowly stride in smiling at me. 

"I'll leave you to love birds alone. She stood up and awed as she backed out of the room shutting the door. 

"Hi." I stood up and went up to him.

"So, I hear your'e single?" He leaned over and took my hand.

I answered with a simple, "Yes." He smiled. The sunlight was perfectly shining through the window unto Carter and me. His eyes were a brilliant dark blue and his skin was radiantly shining. 

"Carter, the thing is, I feel like I know nothing about you but you know everything about me." He nodded and sighed.

"Well, we will have to fix that." He took two tickets out of his left jean pocket.

He held up two tickets to go see the Orchestre National de France. They were a french orchestra, but they only performed in Paris.

"Wow." I grabbed the tickets and looked at the picture of the orchestra.

"I can't believe this! They only perform in Paris though. How did you get these?" The tickets displayed the row and seats we would have.

"My dad works at the Manaway Theatre in Tallahassee. He's a big shot and scored these tickets for only $200.00 each. The orchestra is actually coming here for a change."

"$200.00 each? Carter, I'll pay you back." Carter looked at me and shook his head.

"No. Marley, this is my treat. The concert is this Saturday night at 8:00 in the evening." He kissed me and I felt tingles in my feet. I squinted at him and pointed my finger at him.

"Is it going to be a date?" He smirked.

"Of course...unless you don't want it to be." He looked confused and noticeably backed up from me.

"No, Carter. It's definitely a date." He looked overly satisfied and super happy. I can't say I wasn't either.

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A/N

The orchestra I named is real, but I don't know if they only perform in Paris haha. The theatre I named isn't real unless I came up with a fake yet real name. Was that confusing? I really like Carter. Do you? 

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Thanks!

-Katie :)