Knowing Me, Knowing You

You Owe Me One

"You told him all that, and he still wants to date you?" Dante fake-gasped at Carter as he pinned the back of Trevor's suit. He smirked at his boyfriend and said, "What has Xander told you?"

"Nothing yet. It's why I asked you to ask her about the date details," he laughed before wincing.

"I told you not to move. You're going to stab your eye out at this rate."

"When can I take this jacket off?"

"Once I finish measuring the alterations. Now shut up so I can continue to tease my friend for going out on a date," Dante smiled coyly as he glanced back at Carter. "So what happened after the movie?"

"Actually, we were interrupted partway through," Carter replied while she sewed her most recent alterations.

"What happened?" Trevor pressed.

Xander rested his head against Carter's, his fingers slowing down slightly to keep with the rhythm of Andante, Andante on the screen. The two hummed it softly under their breaths as the front door unlocked. Carter felt Xander tense, and she lifted her head and cocked an eyebrow.

"Do your parents not know I was coming over?"

"No, they just didn't know what we were doing," he replied as he reached for the remote, pausing the movie.

Carter was hurt that Xander felt the need to hide their date from his parents. She assumed the cold wasn't the only reason they didn't leave his house after all. Everyone knew they were friends, but dating was something else entirely. He was most likely ashamed of Carter, wanting no one to know about them and wanting to keep it a secret. In that moment, she hoped and prayed that Ryan was spreading the news in an attempt to embarrass him.

"Seriously, Xander?" his mom laughed as she hung up her coat. "You invite your girlfriend over to watch Mamma Mia?"

"I am so sorry he's forcing you to watch this crap," his dad added, smiling at Carter. "He's always been obsessed with ABBA. I hope you can handle that if you two decide to go out again."

"Oh, honey, they're already friends, so she must know," his mom said. "I bet she's just watching it as a courtesy."

"No, I'm not. If anything, he is," Carter stated, reaching to grab Xander's hand. He held on tighter.

She was ashamed over thinking those horrible thought a moment ago. Carter forgot how Xander's parents constantly made fun of him for liking ABBA, so it was obvious he wasn't going to tell them what they were going to watch. If her parents made fun of her for liking ABBA and she invited him over to watch Mamma Mia, she'd be embarassed too.

"He likes the first one more, but since I like the sequel more, he decided to watch that one instead." Carter leaned back into Xander's arm, and he happily pulled her closer to snuggle as he pressed play, ignoring his parents.

Once his parents went upstairs, Xander lowered the volume and shifted to face Carter better. "Thanks for that."

She placed her hand on his knee, smiling as he laid her head on his chest. "They're just a bunch of pricks. ABBA is incredible, and I'm really glad we're watching this one. Next time, we'll watch the original."

"Yeah, his parents suck," Trevor groaned, rolling his eyes. "They're so uptight and rude. They think they're better than everyone else because their stupid daughter goes to Harvard," he mocked in a pseudo posh voice.

"I think Samantha is sweet," Carter said. "At least she was when I met her...albeit a brief moment, but she was still sweet."

"Doesn't change the fact his parents still suck," Dante said.

Both Trevor and Carter quickly agreed.

"So when do you guys plan on having your next date?"

"I'm not sure. How many does he usually have when he dates someone?"

"Carter, you know you're not like his past girlfriends, right?" Trevor slowly clarified. "Half of those girls were just using him as a rebound, and the other half caused him so much anxiety he couldn't stand to be with them for longer than two weeks."

"And he said he was more scared to lose me than to be with me, I know," she moaned. "But what if he felt that way towards another girl at some point? What if he thought she was the one, and then the two weeks came, and he had his panic attack and broke up with her? I don't want that to happen with us. It was why I thought we should stay friends, but now that I know what it's like to be with him in a more intimate way, I don't want to stop."

"Then tell him, you stupid fuck!" Dante exclaimed dramatically. "Relationships don't work if you don't have communication. You need to talk about these issues."

"We did when he asked me out."

"Yet you're still worried, so drop the work for right now, and go talk to him."

Carter deadpanned at him. "Drop my work?"

"You can afford to take a break to go talk to your boyfriend. So go. Talk to him. Let him know exactly what the hell is going on right now."

"He's in the middle of-"

"Right now!" Dante snapped, pointing at the door.

Carter mumbled profanities under her breath as she placed the shirt on the table and walked towards the door.

"And while you're out, try and find some more people to join our show. We're down two models still," Dante added, waving without looking at her.

"I'll be back," she stated as she slammed the door shut.

"Did you kick her out just so we could be alone?" Trevor smirked.

Dante leaned up to kiss his boyfriend, pulling away with a smirk. "And I want her to talk to him about her insecurities instead of ranting to me. It's not going to help settle her nerves. It will just leave her anxious for the next two weeks as she wonders whether or not he's going to dump her."

"How sweet."

"You're sweeter. You didn't have to skip practice today just to help with readjustments."

"It was just a workout day. It'd be a bigger issue if we were swimming, but I can easily make up my workout tonight when I get home. It'll give me an excuse to ignore my parents." He smiled at Dante and moved his arm, ignoring the pins that pricked him as he cupped his cheek. Dante leaned into his hand. "Besides, you know I'd do anything for you."

Dante placed his hand over Trevor's and leaned in to kiss his palm. "I love you so much."

"I love you too."