Every Little Thing

Chapter 32

Carter felt a slight nudge on her arm, it came and went with gaps of about five minutes in between. Then she felt a pinch, making her sit up with a frown and face whoever was disturbing her slumber. Once her eyes focused as much as they could , her blurry vision met bored hazel eyes awaiting her awakening, with them came the body of her younger brother. 

"Morning princess, sleep well?" Chase stood tall before her, a sour look on his face. Without thinking her hand brushed over her nose, hoping to find the familiar material of her glasses. Unfortunately, they were nowhere near her face, but rather perched nicely on the coffee table before her. "What? Out of all your annoying comebacks you choose now to keep your mouth shut?" He added.

A deep sigh escaped Carter's lips as she reached for her glasses. After putting them on she wrestled her morning bed hair into a sloppy bun, all the while Chase simply watched without a comment. This was a whole other level of weird, Carter glared at the placid boy before her, "What's up your ass this morning?"

"Carter you're very stupid," Chase replied in a monotone voice, his expression completely icy. After sending him a confused glance he continued, " You can't expect the grass to welcome you with open arms, after you give all your love and attention to the storm clouds you constantly surround yourself with." And with that he left the room, kicking an empty cereal bowl on his way.

Carter rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hand, this morning seemed so unreal, since when did Chase speak in riddles? The grass, the storm clouds, he sounded completely insane. Deciding not to dwell on he thought too long, Carter sent a short morning message to Dylan. 

Click-Click, the metallic sound of locks turning made Carter bolt for the door and open it herself.  The door slowly opened, revealing a tired looking Cassandra. Her hair was in a very low mess of a bun while her face was decorated with small shadows bellow her eyes. Crossing her arms over her chest Carter wanted to seem as menacing as possible. 

"Rough night?" Carter asked bluntly. She was testing her mother, seeing how far she would allow herself to be pushed. It was clear she wanted to know what had happen on her mom's"date night"...well the sugar coated, g-rated story her mom would tell.

"Carter, that's none of your business,but I will have you know Frank has invited all of us out for diner on Sturday. Meaning you have to come, no exceptions. He's taking us to a really fancy place, so I want you especially to be on your best behavior." 

Carter emitted a dark chuckle, "you can't force me to go somewhere I don't want to be and expect me to be a perfect little angel." Closing the door in a rougher manner than was needed, she continued,"that isn't how things work with me. You want to date him fine. But don't expect me to welcome him with open arms, in fact,don't expect me to welcome him at all."

Turning her fading pink head in the direction of the stairs, Carter stalked away to her room. 

*     *     *

"So...explain why you want him to go out on a date with you again?"

"Ryan...it's not actually not a date, I just need him to help me piss off my mom, dude it's really not that complicated."

"Yeah, but why?" 

Face palming her forehead Carter explained to Ryan why she needed Dylan to piss off her mom. "Ry...for the last time, I want her to get it through her stubborn head, that I want Frank out of the picture, out of our picture," she concluded with multiple gesticulations. Her vision grew small as she glared ahead of her, at nothing really, but she imagine her gaze was going straight to Frank.

Beside Carter, Ella looked at her with a frown. "Sweetie, are you sure you want to do this to your mom. I think you should let her try a chance at love again." She reached for Carter's hands and held them in her own, then continued,"why are you so against her relationship."

Carter sighed heavily and mentally hoped Dylan would pop into the conversation and take her side the way he always did. But, Dylan wasn't here. "It's not the relationship I'm mad about, it's Frank. I know there's something wrong with him, he's just not right for my mom," Carter elaborated, as she stood from the group's usual patch of grass they loitered for the times they got together. 

"Either one of us will send you a text if we see him," Katia said without tearing her hazel eyes from her book. As usual she had waited until the last minute to do an assignment,  each Junior was assigned a novel to read and write a three page essay in a month, Katia's is due tomorrow. 

*          *          *

"Lucas said you wanted to talk?"Days later after their sleepover, Dylan had finally said something to Carter (well a text)and because her phone was charging, she hadn't seen the message until an hour later. It was the day she was being forced to go to diner, and Carter was peeved at Dylan's timing. 

"Dude! where have you been?? D:" She typed immediately. 

 "Something came up" Dylan responded five minutes later.

"I'm calling you right now!!!" Carter sent.

Dylan was still typing when Carter tapped the small phone icon to call him. "Dylan!" She near screamed. Her foot was continuously tapping against her floor, while she sat cross legged on her bed. It hadn't dawned on her how much she missed his voice and just him in general. 

"Carter...now is not  a good time," if he would have murmured any quieter, she would not have heard him at all. There was voices, very authoritative voices in the background. "Look, give me five minutes and I'll call you back,"