Every Little Thing

Chapter 31

Beside the living room window Carter groaned spotting the familiar white range rover pulling up in her driveway. She sunk to the floor and rubbed her eyes with the palm of her hand. Dylan made his way over to her and slowly moved her hands from her eyes.

"It's him, isn't it."He asked in a hush voice, almost as if Josh could hear them from his car. Carter kept her eyes shut as she slowly nodded. Dylan just sat in front of her without saying another word, now didn't seem like the time to bug Carter. 

A light knock haunted the living room, they both froze and gazed at each other as if a ghost were knocking on her front door. The knocking stopped and soon her doorbell chimed, making her brother groan in his sleep and slide further off the couch. 

Crawling slowly to the door, she turned back and looked at Dylan."What do I do?" Her voice came out panicked and slightly above a whisper, realizing her tone she quickly covered both her mouth with both hands. 

"This is ridiculous," Dylan muttered more to himself then to Carter. In front of him Carter watched with wide eyes as he stood u and made his way towards the door. "If talking to him gets you this worked up, then I'll answer the damn door," he continued in a sour tone. Throwing her a nearby blanket, he motioned for her to lay on the space of couch beside Chase. 

Catching on to his plan, Carter leaped on the small spaced and curled herself into a ball and pretended to be asleep. 

The sound of her front door opening was enough to hug herself tighter, hoping the couch would swallow her hole. A very familiar voice leaked in as soon as the door had opened, no doubt it was Josh trying to make a fool out of her once again with another excuse or demanding she not speak of tonight to anyone. "Cart-...what are you doing here?" Josh asked with a nasty sneer, the image of his beautiful grey eyes narrowing wickedly painted over Carter's mind. 

"She's asleep go home."

"I'll go home...once you tell me why your're here at nearly twelve at night."

"She was the one who suggested I stay the night." Carter was slightly shocked Dylan's reply was laced with smugness and sounded almost as if he were being cocky. 

After a very tension filled pause, she heard his foot steps splash through shallow puddles, signaling he was nearly gone. She was about to get up before he said,"remember I know the truth,I wouldn't get too comfortable being with her if I were you."

"I'd just love for you to try something on me, we both know your threats don't mean shit to me." Carter moved the blanket in order to sneak a peek at Dylan, the very triumphant smile he was sending Josh was enough for her to be swallowed by a wave of goosebumps prickling her skin.  

*     *     *

"Brown, reminds me of coffee, chocolate and pine cones." Carter laughed once Dylan had revealed his favorite color. The entire three hours they spent together was dedicated to asking and answering silly questions, while devouring two boxes of Lucky Charms."Now you gotta answer." He laughed as he playfully pushed her shoulder.

"Don't have one." She shrugged. Reaching for her glasses, she was cut of by Dylan snatching them before her. "Dyl-Pickle don't play me like that." 

He laughed at the name before holding her glasses high above her head. "I will...once you come clean about your answer. Do you really believe I'm going to accept your lame answer?"

"Not everyone has a favorite color," she pouted while crossing her arms over her chest. The action only caused Dylan's smile to grow. While her vision grew blurry, Dylan laid on his stomach on the furry couch with his head resting in between his arms and his legs lifting up and down at opposite times. The messy scene was enough for Carter to make out what he was doing, causing her to emit a light laugh. "You're ridiculous."

"Honey I'm ridiculously cute." Dylan sassed back. His position reminded her of a twelve year old girl at a sleepover, gossiping about boy drama. Dylan's phone buzzed in his jean pocket, taking a seat beside him, Carter cursed at herself for being long sighted and not being able to view the caller ID illuminating his screen. Squinting, she noticed he had put her glasses down, she slipped them on, but then realized he had already put the phone away.

"So...who was the message from?" Carter asked with a slight frown. Turning to face her,Dylan emitted a small smile that didn't meet his eyes, then he laid down flat on his back with his eyes close. "Are you not going to tell me?" She attempted to pry, hoping he would expose the truth.

"Carter, do you honestly give a fuck who texts me? It was just Lucas." His eyes creased with a bitter expression as he turned away from her. 

It stung...his words might as well have been a snake bite. Carter was surprised by his change in mind, never behind had he cursed at her, with her of course, but never at her. She didn't want to express her pain, so instead she smiled and said," you're right, I couldn't care less. How about I get some blankets and get ready to sleep?" 

"You do that." Dylan murmured as he got up and walked into the kitchen. 

A slight pinching sensation emerged on her palm as she began to dig her finger nails into it. You're overreacting, he didn't mean anything, you were probably annoying him and reading too much into a meaningless situation. Relax. The one word played over and over again in her mind, persuading her back into her previous happy mood.  

 Once she arrived back downstairs, she tossed Dylan a blanket and sat on the furry carpet watching some carton rerun. He caught the blanket with ease as he finished sending what seemed to be a text message.

 *     *    *

It was three in the morning when Carter felt her eyelids drooping, while Dylan seemed wide awake beside her. They were sitting on the couch since Chase had woken up and trudged upstairs without even acknowledging Dylan. Seeing as there was space beside her, she slowly slumped down, careful not to stretch far enough to the point her feet touched Dylan.

In a small, sleepy voice she whispered goodnight, but he didn't reply. Laying on her hand she felt the uncomfortable plastic material of her temples pressing against her skin, she didn't care though. She had been through a lot this day, what was one more bad detail?