Too Short To Ride

1 5 : Really

Karter leaned forward to turn up the volume in the car. She sat in the passenger seat next to Caleb and they rode towards a little diner to get some food before heading to the basketball game against Canton.

Caleb had to gather all of his courage to asked Karter if she'd eat with him, and in the end she just casually agreed in typical Karter fashion.

With the top of the convertible down, the cool day provided a nice oasis from the summer heat.

"Are you nervous at all?" Karter asked, referencing the highly anticipated basketball game.

"Yeah," Caleb said sheepishly, "it wasn't supposed to get this big. Originally we were planning it to sort of say 'hey, I know our teams are rivals but thanks for the good season' but somehow it's gotten completely blown out of proportion."

"I can tell." Karter responded. "I don't know. Honestly I wouldn't worry too much because like, it's a not a real game and all these people are graduated so you won't even be seeing them," she laughed, "but I guess it's easy for me to say because I'm not the one playing."

Caleb smiled, "so what's been up with you?"

"Well," Karter took a deep breath, "this Saturday is when my brother and his girlfr-fiancee are getting married so that'll be fun," the car was stopped at a light and Caleb adjusted his position so that one hand was on the wheel and the other was draped over the side of the door, "after that we're going camping with them and Camden's family."

"Camden's family?" Caleb was so shocked that he missed the light turning green so Karter had to nudge him. With red cheeks he focused his attention back on the road.

"Yeah. I guess you know we're friends, but actually our families are really close too. Because he lives like, three houses down from me and our dads were super good friends in high school, our families just kinda do everything together."

"If someone didn't know better they'd think he was your boyfriend," Caleb laughed bitterly.

Karter erupted into a fit of genuine laughter, "yeah right. Maybe in a million years!"

"What?" Caleb didn't understand, "it's not that far fetched."

"Except it is," Karter laughed again, "Camden's gay so I'm pretty sure it's never gonna happen."

"Wha-?"

Camden's gay. Caleb had to take a second to fully comprehend what that meant.

"Oh really? That's cool," he said nonchalantly, "I actually have two dads."

"Really? Sweet."

As they pulled into the parking lot of the diner, Caleb couldn't help but smile.

-

"Oh my goff," Karter said as she shoved her burger into her mouth, "I freakin lof this plafe."

Caleb hid his smile behind his chicken sandwich and shoved a napkin towards Karter, who had a smudge of sauce on her cheek.

"Is it your favorite restaurant?" He asked.

"Probably." Karter swallowed her food so she could answer, "I bet you could take me to a 3 michelin star restaurant and I'd still want one of Surf's burgers instead. Plus they have the best milkshakes on the planet so yeah. I think I'd say this is my favorite restaurant."

"What're your plans for college?"

"Dang," Karter laughed, "bringing out the tough questions, huh? Honestly my plans are pretty general. I'm undecided on my major and don't know what I want to do after college. My life plans are kinda bleh right now. All I know is I want to keep surfing."

"Maybe you could become a professional surfer," Caleb said, half joking.

"I've actually thought of that," Karter said wistfully, "I just need to get my foot in the door. I'd love to compete in the ASP World Tour one day."

"I think you can do it."

"Really?" Karter looked at the boy across from her.

"Really."

A smile slowly grew on her face so that her dimples showed and the tops of her cheeks reached her eyes.

"You know, you're pretty okay, Caleb. I'm glad I chose you to be my fake boyfriend."

Trying to ignore his flip-flopping stomach, Caleb just nodded.

Shit, he thought to himself.

I think I like Karter Thomas.

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5/2/18

I appreciate your patience!! Thank you so much for reading!