𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚒𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛 || 𝚊𝚗 𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚢

| 𝚗 𝚒 𝚗 𝚎 |

Stella felt like she'd been slapped in the face. Carter was leaving. He was leaving.

The idea still didn't resonate with her brain.

He couldn't leave. He was the first person who accepted her as she was, no strings attached, no expectations, no nothing. Even Tara didn't get her a hundred percent of the time, but he did.

Carter always listened, whether it was during their talks at the park, or at two in the morning. And now he was leaving.

Stella then mentally cursed herself for being so selfish. Here he was, with his parent issues, and now he had the perfect ticket to get away. She should just put her feelings aside, and be there for him. Be happy for him. Because that was what he deserved.

Even if it felt like it was going to kill her.

Carter was still talking about the various programs the university offered, not noticing the mental war raging in her head. She smiled weakly at him. "Those sound cool."

He grinned, and as always, his smiles were infectious. Stella could already feel one beginning to blossom on her face. He was such a great friend. It was time for her to return the favor.

His eyes lit up as he further explained how they had a program for aspiring teachers, which was the career he wanted to pursue. He would make an amazing teacher, Stella thought. He was already excellent with kids, she remembered him once handling one of the children at the park when the child couldn't find his mom. And, of course, his teaching skills were amazing.

"Well, uh, I better go," she said suddenly, not wanting to hear any more.

A look of confusion and maybe even-was that hurt?- flashed across his face, but it was gone so quickly that if it had been anyone else, it would have been ignored. But it was her, and she could read him like a book. Guilt knotted in her stomach, but she ignored it, and left the park.

As soon as she got home, Stella collapsed on her bed and pulled out her phone. Clicking on her "Sad" playlist, she proceeded to spend the next two hours laying in her bed listening to sad music. It didn't make her feel any better.

Sighing, she made her way to the living room, where she set up her favorite action movie in hopes of distraction from her current situation. No avail. Even the drama, the suspense, heck even the sequences weren't enough to take her mind off Carter.

Stella gave up, and allowed herself to wallow in her thoughts. It just wasn't fair. Carter was the first guy she'd ever felt truly understood her. And even if she didn't feel the way about him as she had with all of her previous crushes and ex-boyfriends, she still cared about him more than all of those people combined.

There was just something about him that put her at ease. Maybe it was his infectious grin, or how he knew practically everything, or maybe it was just that he listened and didn't make her feel bad. Maybe it was that she could let down all of her walls around him, and that he did the same around her.

She resolved to spend as much time with him as possible before he left.

She'd miss him.

—

Not a very fluffy chapter, but there is so, so much more fluff to come :)

I was kinda in my feels for this chapter, and I'm pretty happy with how it came out.

Thank you guys for reading, and please vote!