THEM

Chapter 9: Carson

There was a long pause before he finally opened his mouth in thought. He didn't seem to know how to respond to my confession.

"What do you mean you think you like me?" he furrows his brows.

He seemed like he was taken aback and that made me very anxious. "I mean like- you know I feel like we really mesh well as friends. You're a great guy, you're like a brother," I cover up.

Shit. What did I just do? I think I just messed everything up. He slowly lets go of my hand.

"Yeah. I was thinking the same thing," he says with his eyes fixed on the outlook to the adventurous city, "I should get you home. It's getting late," he turns on the ignition and starts to back away from the cliff. My heart feels like it dropped from my chest to my stomach.

On the way home the music was the only sound in the car. I am staring out the front window watching the city as we drive through it. Should I have just kept my thoughts to myself? Well, obviously I should've. I've only been talking to him for what, a week? I should've asked Kate if it was a good idea or not. Clearly, I am not capable of making logical decisions when I'm by myself. UGH!

We finally arrive at my house and he pulls up to the front gate, "Thank you," I say before getting out.

"I'll see you tomorrow," he yells out his now rolled down window.

"Hu?" I question.

"School. I'll see you tomorrow?" he clarifies with his brow raised.

"Oh uh- yeah, okay," I stammer a bit. Before putting the code into my gate for it to open. I walk up the long driveway to my front door. I go to open it and I find that it's locked. Wow. She really locked me out. I check the time on my phone and see it's 4 am. I start to ring the doorbell multiple times to wake them up.

My mother throws open the door with a massive angry look displayed on her face. Without a word, I brushed past her and headed up the stairs. His "see you tomorrow'' should have been "see you in a couple of hours" because we literally have school in a couple of hours.

I take a shower to wake myself up a bit and make sure I smell fresh. I washed my hair, body and face. After I wash, I just let the warm water run over my body before I officially decide to get out.

I walk out while drying my hair and pull out my uniform. It felt quite cold so I chose to wear a pair of khakis, white long sleeve polo and a blazer with my school's emblem on the right breast pocket. I pull out black sneakers to corrid my navy blue blazer.

I place my long hair into a braid and lay it over my shoulder. I look at my reflection in the mirror and sigh. I decide that I'm going to ditch the makeup but add a brightening cream under my tired looking eyes. I should have just stayed home and slept if I knew this was how my night/day would have ended.

Looking at the time, I grab my backpack and head down stairs to look for food. I grab a muffin and a banana to eat on the way to school. I grab my keys and head out to the front to warm up my car. I had a slight craving for coffee so I figure, why not satisfy it and grab some Starbucks.

After a few minutes I am ready to make my way to Starbucks. I have the music low and hum along with the tune of Boo'd Up by Ella Mai.

Before I knew it I was pulling into the drive through, thankfully it was early enough so it had no line. I order a vanilla sweet cream cold brew, and drive up to the window to retrieve my drink and pay. With a tip of course.

I drive to school and choose a parking spot. I park my car and start to eat my breakfast while I have Vampire Diaries playing on my phone. I hear a knock on my window and I jump. I look over and Kate is waving at me and pointing to unlock my door which I do. She hops into my car and she starts her rant.

"I was informed you technically went on a date with Mr. Everett Cross," she crossed her arms. "AND you didn't tell me."

"It wasn't a date, and nothing even happened," I shook my head.

"Well, I was told you basically confessed your feelings for him," she raised her right brow.

"Not technically.." I say, taking a sip of my coffee.

"Not technically," she mocks me, "Carson I'm your best friend and I'm definitely not stupid. You like this kid," she smiles.

"UGH!" I groaned, "And I messed everything up saying that he's like a brother!"

"CARSON!" she basically yells at me.

"I knowwwwww," I drag out, covering my face with my hands.

"I can help...." she trails off.

"He just confuses me! One moment he's keeping me from letting go of his hand and the next he's completely shutting down because of what I had said," I looked at Kate, and realization hit me. What if he was just doing that stuff to make me fall for him? My temporary sadness turned into annoyance and then to slight anger. I got my feelings played with. Wow. 

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authors note: 

Hey guys I want to ask how you guys like this story! I want to create a little more of an author and reader connection, so at the end of each chapter I will ask a question and have a goal for votes! so in this chapter i ask, 

What is your guys favorite drink at Starbucks or your local coffee shop? 

Mine is the vanilla sweet cream cold brew and for my  local coffee shop we have these things called red bull Italian soda you can get a flavored syrup in it so I usually get a blue raspberry red bull Italian soda. I really recommend this drink if its available where you live.

goal for votes on this chapter: 10