Heart and Soul [bxb]

Chapter Thirty

*This chapter contains multimedia relevant to the plot*

Carter adjusted all too easily to this new normal.

Every night he fell asleep with his phone, texting Johnny. And every morning he woke up with a smile on his face and a 'Good morning' text to send that earned him an immediate reply. Being with Johnny in the library had quickly become his favorite part of the day, and he didn't bother hiding it.

Which is probably why, on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, he couldn't quite conceal his disappointment to see Lydia sitting with her brother. Johnny didn't have his laptop out, or anything for that matter. He was just sitting with his sister, both of them sporting matching teasing grins. Johnny's softened when he saw Carter, and that did something to his insides.

"Hey," Carter said quietly.

"Hi," Lydia responded, looking up at him. "Jessica is sick today. Her mom is usually my ride so I need Johnny to drive me home," she explained, deciphering Carter's expression. She shot her brother a sly smile. "He insisted we waited for you though."

"Oh."

Johnny looked up at him. "Do you mind?" He asked lightly.

"No, it's cool," Carter said. In truth, he wanted to stay. He wanted to spend time with Johnny. He didn't say it though. Instead, Carter smiled. "Let's go."

The three of them made their way to the parking lot, giving Mrs Lewis their goodbyes on the way out. When they got to Johnny's car, Lydia made an automatic move for the passenger's door. Johnny gave her a pointed look Carter would have missed if he blinked. Lydia looked between her brother and Carter before rolling her eyes and moving to the backseats. 

While Carter fastened his seat belt on the passenger's side, he could have sworn he saw Lydia shoot him a knowing smile through the mirror, but he chose not to make anything of that.

"Do you want to come over?" Johnny asked, evenly, as they pulled out of the school's parking lot.

Carter turned his head to look at him. "To your place?"

"If you want." Johnny shrugged.

Carter smiled. "Sure."

At first, he was just happy to know he would still get to spend time with Johnny after school. But then he remembered who Johnny was. Where he lived. And he couldn't quite explain the strange anxiety he felt thinking about going to Coach Mason's house.

His trepidation was somewhat smoothed over, when he walked through the front door behind Johnny and Lydia, and a female voice called out, "David, is that you?"

"It's us, mom," Johnny called back.

A middle-aged woman came into view through an open doorway Carter imagined would lead to a kitchen. She had thick near-black hair, probably dyed, and wore a green apron over her clothes. Her honey-brown eyes warmed with a smile and it became blatantly obvious where Johnny had gotten that particular feature.

"Hey, you two," she said with a fond smile, before her eyes fell on Carter. Her eyebrows—brown, like the hair on both her children—shot up slightly in surprise.

Carter smiled self-consciously. He wasn't the biggest fan of introducing himself to parents. He rarely ever had to.

"Hi, ma'am," Carter said, as graciously as he could. "I'm Carter," he introduced himself.

Johnny's mother laughed a little. "Oh, sweetie, I know. We're big fans of yours in this house."

Johnny showed Carter a sardonic little smile. "Big fans," he echoed.