Heart and Soul [bxb]

Chapter Thirty-Three

*This chapter contains multimedia relevant to the plot*

**There is also sexual content ahead (their date goes well...)**

Carter directed Johnny to a diner in the city, away from their school area. The kind of place with neon lights at the door and cushioned booths inside. Carter's mom used to take him there, when he was younger. Before she got the job she had at the moment, and way before trying to get a promotion at the company she worked for started taking so much of her time.

They sat in a corner booth, at the farther end of the diner, under a ceiling lamp that looked like it was about to give out any second. 

"How's the family reunion going?" Johnny asked, as they looked over the menus.

"The Santoros are living for it," Carter said. "I'm trying to stay out of the crossfire."

Johnny hummed noncomittally. Carter had a feeling there was more he wanted to say. 

Instead of saying it, Johnny smiled at him over the laminated menu. "What do you suggest?" He asked playfully.

"Their cheeseburgers are incredible. That's what my mom and I used to get, when she brought me here."

Johnny nodded, putting the menu down on the table. "Then I know what to get."

Carter laid his menu over Johnny's. For some reason, he felt a little nervous. Being with Johnny never made him feel nervous. Awkward and struggling to find words of suitable interest, but never nervous. Somehow, deciding they were on a date changed that. He now felt he had something to achieve, something to hold up to.

Whenever he took girls on dates, they expected him to woo them. Be the dreamy quarterback they'd made him up to be. Mel was probably the exception, which might have been what drew him to her.

A waitress came to pick up their orders and left them alone again. Carter couldn't find anything to say, so Johnny talked.

"Why don't you take the opportunity, now they're all home, to get to know your step-siblings a little more?"

Carter shrugged. "I don't know." He truly didn't. Or maybe he had an idea. "I guess... It's a little intimidating. There's so many of them. And they've literally known each other their whole lives. I'm not their brother. I'm just the guy who moved in."

"Except you're not," Johnny reasoned quietly. "Your mom married their dad. You're both part of the family, and they're part of yours. A stepbrother is a brother. And the Santoros are probably the most openly affectionate people ever. If you reach out, I'm sure they'll let you right in."

"I guess," Carter admitted reluctantly. "I think they've tried to reach out too, a number of times. Except Bella. But it feels weird."

"Does it?"

Carter pressed his lips together. In truth, it didn't feel that weird. The Santoros never made it weird. Even Bella—hostile, uninviting, malicious even, but never weird. They were a friendly family. And they were friendly towards Carter. But that didn't really made him a part of the family.

"You have a brother and a sister," Carter pointed out. "You should know that just being comfortable around someone doesn't make them family. There's seven Santoros, they don't need another brother."

Johnny snorted. "Do you think I need my siblings? They're a pain in the ass. Family isn't something ordered on necessity, it happens to you. You and the Santoros happened to each other."

Carter played with the handle of the condiment holder between them. He understood what Johnny meant, but at the same time he didn't think Johnny understood him completely. He had grown up with two loving parents, Kevin and Lydia. Carter had his mom, so far as he could remember.