Case Reopened

The Monday After (Donovan's POV)

If you didn't think Donovan had a cute, adorable side then what have you been reading! I know he's shown this before! But here's Donovan at his adorable peek!

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The piercing ring of his alarm sliced through Donovan's dreams. Eyes still closed, he reached over and silenced his phone. Slowly, he opened his eyes, staring into the brightness of his screen. Displayed on the front was a photo of him and his brothers on the beach, outlined by the fading sunlight. A photo their mother had taken the last time they were all home together.

But his home screen was different. It was a picture of Carter that he'd taken. Carter stood at the top of the school steps, staring out at the cars exiting the grounds. Her hands were stuffed into her pockets and her expression was filled with a million emotions. The second after he'd taken the photo, she'd spotted him and narrowed her eyes.

When he showed her the photo, she'd asked him why he even took it. Donovan asked her if it was wrong for him to want a photo of her. She'd replied with a shrug and an answer of not sure why he'd want one. But she hadn't made him delete the photo.

Though he wanted to have a picture of her, he'd taken the photo for one reason only. In that moment it embodied all he knew about her. In a single photo he could see the strong, determined girl who would face the world head-on but also the vulnerable girl who only few ever got to see. It showed the complex person he had started to get attached to.

Seeing the photo on his screen made Donovan smile, thinking about talking to her until his phone told him it was 2am. Still, even with the late night pressing him to stay in bed, he flung the blankets aside.

Changed, he left his apartment and took to the streets. Though running usually emptied his mind, he found she still managed to hold her place in his thoughts. Despite himself, Donovan found himself smiling.

During the time her father had put him through courses, Donovan had this fear that maybe in that time Carter would change her mind. Maybe she wouldn't care to date him after all. Without realizing how it happened, she'd become this bright spot in his life. Even if she decided she didn't want him, he would find some way not to lose her presence near him.

After years of mundane days and mind-numbing boredom, she'd been a wrecking ball to his loneliness.

But despite his tiny fear, they'd had their first date. And so knowing he might look insane, Donovan let himself smile as he ran. The smile remained as he returned home, sent her a good morning message, showered, ate, dressed, and stepped into Link's apartment. It was Link's pointed look that made him tuck his smile away.

"Good run?" Link asked, eating a spoonful of cereal and looking smug doing it.

"Yeah it was good," Donovan said, causally, dropping into one of the chairs.

Link spun around on his barstool to watch Donovan. As hard as Link could try, he wouldn't get anything more out of Donovan, and years of remaining neutral meant Donovan's expression revealed nothing. Still, Link seemed to find his blank expression amusing because he grinned and slipped off his barstool.

"Do you think Carter will look like a happy idiot like you do when we see her?" Link asked, moving to the dishwasher.

"Carter doesn't do happy idiot."

"True. Let's go." He grabbed his backpack. "I'm curious to see what she does."

When Donovan spotted Carter in the hallway at her locker, he was struck by her appearance. Since the first day of knowing her, she'd been a girl who wore wrinkled clothes with the air of not caring about it. But her uniform was wrinkle-free. What was the same was her hair, pulled back in its usual ponytail.