next door // s.m (a social media story)

victoria's pov

Our flight finally landed, and we were officially back in America. I looked over to Carter to say something, but I noticed he had both of his AirPods in and was playing on his phone so I bit my tongue. As much as I don't want to admit it, things haven't been the same for Carter and I.

I was hoping that this trip would help, but I think it just made things worse. No matter how hard I try to connect with him or have genuine conversations, he continuously finds a way to blow me off.

I don't want anyone to know, so I've been posting constantly about our trip to make it look like we're having fun when in reality it's not like that at all. At this point we're just going through the motions.

I don't know what I did to make him stop liking me as much. It's been breaking my heart slowly and painfully.

We got off the plane, got our luggage, and got into the car all in silence.

He didn't even turn the radio on on the way home. He just drove with both hands on the wheel, not even glancing my direction. I looked out of the window, trying my best not to break down. A few tears escaped but I quickly wiped them away.

We made it to my house, and I got out and got my things out of the back, but was surprised when he also got out and started helping me.

"What are you doing?" I asked, surprised he wanted to help.

"Walking you to your door?" He said like I should have known exactly what he was doing.

"Oh, okay." I half whispered. We carried my luggage to the front door.

"I'm home!" I yelled, doing my best to put on a happy face for my friends.

"VICKYYY," I heard Zander yell and come racing down the stairs. He picked me up in a huge hug, spinning me around. As soon as he put me down Amelia engulfed me in a hug as well. I expected Hayley to hug me right after, but she was delayed because she was talking to Carter.

"I missed you guys so much!" I told them once we had all calmed down. I was still trying so hard to hold back tears, my voice cracked a little.

"Not as much as we missed you!" Zander said. "You've got to tell us everything!"

"Maybe tomorrow, I'm too tired and I just want to go to bed." I smiled at them. Zander noticed I was trying not to cry and I saw his face fell.

"I've got to go too. Bye baby," Carter said, pecking me on the lips. He turned around and left while I tried to pick up all my bags. Zander helped me and we both walked to my room.

He shut the door behind him before sitting my stuff down. "What's wrong?" He asked.

That was the final straw. I broke down right in front of him, unable to stop the waterworks from coming.

He hugged me, saying nothing and just rubbing my back.

-

That night I could barely sleep. I couldn't stop thinking about Carter and what this meant for us. I didn't want to break up with him, I wanted to try to make things better. However, I wasn't sure what the reasoning behind his sudden disinterested was.

My mouth was unbearably dry, so I went to get a glass of water. To my surprise, Hayley was in the kitchen already, having a midnight bowl of cereal.

"Can't sleep either?" I asked her.

"No, my sleep schedule has been entirely fucked since we moved," she joked. We both laughed. She went back to texting someone while I made myself a glass of water.

Hayley put her phone down to take a bit of cereal, and my heart stopped when I saw the notification she had gotten.

Carter 🥰: I'm just so glad I finally get to see you again, I've missed you like crazy

a/n: oho things are finally starting to get spicy 🌚

also i'm so so so so proud of shawn and his speech tonight. the fact that he went on stage without his medicine is crazy, but the fact that he told everyone is even crazier. i will never stop giving him everything in the world because he deserves it. i love him so much