Knowing Me, Knowing You

Sitting in the Palm Tree

For once, Xander was the first to leave practice. Needing to get to work early to help cover his coworker's shift, he didn't work out much. He wiped off with a towel and exited the locker room, surprised to see Carter leaning against the wall outside the men's locker room. For a brief moment, he thought it was Ryan, and his heart stopped.

He was relieved when he realized it was just Carter, and he smiled as he walked up to her. Carter kicked herself off the wall and stepped up to Xander. "Well, this is a nice surprise, Tiger."

"That's a relief," Carter chuckled, clenching and unclenching her hands behind her back to shake off her nerves. "How was practice? Did you even swim?"

"Not today."

"What do you do when you're not swimming?"

"We were in the equipment room, working out. It's important to stay in shape so we swim better. We take a day to just workout twice a month. It's also nice to mix it up every once in a while."

"But what about gym class?"

"Some of the guys take yoga. The others adventure gym, and that's more just rock and rope climbing."

"And swimming, apparently."

"Actually, they just kayak in the pool." He reached out and hugged Carter. She didn't hug back. "How was your day?"

"It's been...alright."

"Just alright?"

"The fashion show is stressing me the fuck out. I feel like I'm going to go bald by the end of the month because of how fucking stressed I am," she groaned, running her hands over her face, smudging her makeup in the process.

Xander wiped the smudges away from her eyes with his thumbs and asked, "How so?"

"We have to find two more models before the show, or else we're going to have to resort to some people wearing three outfits, and that's going to be a bit of a challenge. It's easier for everyone to stick to two."

"Do you need me to ask anyone else on the team to help out?"

"No. We need two females, but thanks for asking. It was really helpful that you were able to convince Josh, Steven, and Caleb to join. It saved our asses."

"Of course. I'm here to help you out with whatever you need. You need this show to be a success, so feel free to ask me for anything, no matter how bizarre it is. We are going to get you this scholarship."

The encouragement lifted Carter's spirits, helping eliminate part of the stress she was under. "Well, I do know that I need you to come by sometimes soon to get your adjustments for your second outfit."

"The casual, sporty one, right?"

"Yes."

"Well, I have work tonight, but I can show up to practice late tomorrow to help get the-"

"I'm afraid you're only going to want to be with me for two weeks, and then you're going to leave me like you did with every other girl you've ever dated."

It was not the most appropriate thing to say while Xander was explaining to his schedule to help her, but with how enthusiastic he was about helping her, she began to worry it was all going to go away so quickly. She liked being with him. She wanted to continue being with him. Having that disappear in two weeks prompted her to panic and blurt it out.

Carter was sure Xander was going to say something about how he wasn't going to do that to her and to just trust him, which wasn't hard for her to do. The problem was that she fell into the same category as all the other girls he dated, and she didn't know the extent of how sweetly he treated them and the empty promises of being with them for longer than two weeks were. They may have started out as friends, but if they were going to break up, it was not going to be for the same reason he broke up with every other girl.

Xander exhaled and shoved his hands into his pockets before quickly pulling them out and stiffly stretching his fingers out. "Okay. I get that I haven't been the most reliable person in the past when it comes to relationships," he slowly began, picking up speed as he figured out what he wanted to say, "but I have never lied to them about wanting to be with them for longer than two weeks. I never told any of them that they were going to be different, and I never told them anything that implied we would be together longer because I was more afraid to lose them than to be with them.

"Whenever I dated someone, like actually dated someone, I thought of them as a girl that I was attracted to and was curious about where things would go between us. Usually, the first week was a fun and I didn't get the nervous reaction until halfway through the second week where I began to overthink my future with this girl to the point that I would think about marrying her and needing things to be perfect in order to be as happy as everyone in my family is, and it made the next few days so unbearable that the only way to make things better was the break up with them.

"When it comes to you, I don't picture myself marrying you, but I do see you in my life for a long time, and I want you to be in my life for a long time. I don't feel like things are rushing between us, and we're taking things slow and easy, and it makes the anxiety go away. But right now, I know for a fact that if I lose you, I will be heartbroken, and not just as a partner. You are the most important person in my life, Carter. I love you- Not in love with you. I'm not there yet, but it doesn't make me nervous to think about being in love with you either."

He took a deep breath and sighed. "All I know is that I am scared to lose you. I have been falling for you for the past few months, and I have every intention to put my all into this relationship. I really like you, and I will prove to you every day long after our first two weeks that I want to be with you."

Closing her eyes, Carter smiled as she stepped closer to Xander and wrapped her arms around his neck, pecking his cheek before hugging him. "I really like you, too."

Xander wrapped his arms around Carter and held her for a moment longer as his team began to file out of the locker room, cooing and teasing the two as they walked past them. Neither of them paid attention to anything anyone was saying, enjoying their hug while it lasted.