The Carter Project ✓

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THE RIDE HOME was not as bad as it could've been.

Mainly because I practiced some restraint and didn't open any of the cans of worms that I could have like the fact that he really offered me up as a sacrifice to the party gods at lunch today or to instill another reminder that no one was to know about our little tryst unless he wanted to be buried six feet under. Call me crazy for caring so much about keeping such a thing secret with a guy leagues out of my own, but it was nobody's business but our own and I wanted to keep it that way. I definitely didn't want to deal with people's judgements or things they would say about how he downgraded from Liza who was way more pretty than I was.

And thankfully, Carter didn't make it so I had to. Sure, when a lewd pop song would play on the radio, he would sing along to it just to make me uncomfortable. But that was just him being an idiot and I knew better to entertain it just like he knew better than to cross too many lines for just some girl. He never had to try so hard, except for with me, maybe.

We made it to the elevator in comfortable silence except to say a greeting to the doorman and the ride to the eighth floor was probably the most at peace I had felt with Carter in the history of ever. We were both on our way home to put this nightmare of a day behind us. Of course, both our parents were going to rip us a new one and then we would have to repeat all the same struggles of the day tomorrow.

Carter didn't seem to be fazed, his lips curled into a smile as he watched the floor numbers on the elevator display progressed, which came as no surprise to me since he was constantly in trouble. He lived too large, in a way where he couldn't please everyone and still get everything he wanted, so his parents had to suffer a bit of him every now and then. I wondered what it was like in his household when Carter wasn't being the Carter I knew, when there wasn't some party going on across the hall and he was just sitting alone in his bedroom with his thoughts. What did a boy like him think about?

"Relax," he said without looking at me. "It's like I can feel how nervous you are, Mia. You're not going to military school, not yet."

I rolled my eyes. I wasn't really thinking about that, actually, I was thinking about him. I didn't want to say I was concerned about how badly his parents were going to chew him out, but I was definitely curious. If anyone was worried about going to military school, it should've been him. Who knew? Maybe he was.

"So after how many offenses should I start to pack my bag and shave my hair?" I asked, trying to match his humor. "What would it take?"

"I don't know for sure," he said, finally turning to me with a shit-eating grin, his face creased with humor and I couldn't help but notice - again - that he was extremely, undeniably attractive. I hated being emotionally all over the place. "But I'm eager to find out."

The elevator finally opened, but on the sixth floor and a middle-aged lady I didn't recognize stepped on. Then again, I didn't know most of the people on our floor, it would've been a shock to know people above and below it.

She nestled herself in between Carter and I, causing us to scoot an inch or so apart from each other. I welcomed the distance, I honestly did. Anything to keep him from trying to hijack my brain the way he was.

The eighth floor rung and the doors slid open again, so Carter and I stepped out into the hallway. The same hallway where I stood outside Carter's door, hoping he could let me into his party. Careful what you wish for, I guess.