Before We Go Down

I shook her hand and gave her a grin.

"It's nice to meet you. I'm Carter," Chris gave me a thumbs up from behind Kate before walking away with Brittany.

"Hey Carter," She said before glancing down at the floor, "Nice boots."

"Why thank you. I think I'm a bit under dressed standing next to a pretty girl like you," I said to her, hoping I didn't sound too cliche. She gave me a coy smile before taking the final sip from her water bottle.

"Do you know where the kitchen is so I can get a refill?" She said shaking her bottle. I motioned towards the doorway on the right and led her away from the others into the other room where the kitchen was. I knew she knew where the kitchen was, but I was hoping she was pulling me out here to talk to me.

I could feel her eyes on my body when I opened the fridge to grab her another bottle of water. I turned around to see her avert her eyes and look out the window into the street. I handed her the bottle and she took it slowly.

"Thanks," She said cutely.

"So where are you moving from?" I said, leaning on the counter a little.

"A little place called Boston Massachusetts," she said, lifting up her shirt to reveal a Boston Red Sox tank top underneath.

"Very nice. Is the weather up there as crazy as it is here?" She shook her head.

"Honestly, when I came to visit Brittany last month, it didn't feel as humid and gross as it does today. It's nothing like this up in Boston."

"You ready to move back already? I mean you already got lost in Jeremy's house, and I think that our apartment may be a bit bigger than this one. You might get stranded for weeks,"

"Ha-ha," she said sarcastically before frowning a slight bit, "There's just so many new people all trying to say hello and become my best friend that I was a bit overwhelmed, I guess...and you seemed pretty cool so I figured I'd be able to sneak away for a moment or two without being missed."

"Well I'm happy to help. I'm also happy to help you get away from Brittany's OCD anytime," I joked. She giggled before reaching down in her pocket and pulling out her cell phone.

"Number?" She asked, handing me her phone. I dialed in my digits and saved my number before handing her phone back. She just began to speak when Chris popped his head in the doorway.

"Beer pong if you two are interested,"

"That's all anyone wants to play whenever we're home," I said to myself. She must have heard me because she nodded in agreement.

"Where do you go?"

"I sing, and Chris is in a band...I'd guess you'd call it that. We tour together a lot,"

"That's really cool. You should play for me sometime,"

"Only if I get to write a song about you," At that, her cheeks flushed and she turned her head away a little. We had a small moment of silence before cheers were heard in the other room. Her face scrunched up before looking at me.

"You wanna get out of here?" I asked her. She looked over to the other room where they were all playing before looking back at me.

"Please," She said. I motioned for her to go first as we went back into the main room. Chris was jumping in his spot as Jeremy was getting ready to throw his ping pong ball. Kate whispered in Brittany's ear before they both nodded and Kate came back over to me.

"Let's bounce," She said, grabbing her hoodie and purse from a chair and following me outside.

"Where do you want to go?" I asked her.

"Any good ice cream around here?" She asked me. I smiled and led her across the street to The Red Onion Cafe. She looked at the sign and then looked at me.

"Three words hun...Homemade Ice Cream" Her eyes lit up as we went inside. I led her over to a small table near the window. It was my favorite table because it was easy to people watch.

Chris's mom's friend Kathy ran over to us and gave me a bug hug and a kiss on the cheek before waving at Kate.

"Hello, I'm Kathy and welcome. I'm guess you two would like some ice cream?" She questioned. I smiled and Kate nodded her head.

"Vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry explosion?" She asked.

"After you," I said to Kate. She bit her lip for a moment before looking up at Kathy.

"Vanilla," She said.

"Strawberry explosion for me please," I said to Kathy before she smiled and headed over to the couple of people who had just walked in.

"So tell me about yourself Carter-" She said waiting for me to tell her my last name.

"Hulsey." She repeated it to herself before biting her lip.

"Where's your girlfriend this evening?" She asked, starting to turn a little pink. Wow, I never hear a girl ask that except when they're drunk and horny. Except, at that point they don't care if you say yes or no.

"I don't have a girlfriend at the moment,"

"Are you just a flirt Mr. Hulsey?"

"A bit with this one girl. She seems really cool," I said as Kathy came back with our ice cream. The strawberry explosion was simply strawberry ice cream with hot fudge and bananas.

"Oh really? What's her name?"

"Well I don't know her last name offhand, but she's really hot," Kate took a big gulp of her ice cream, trying to keep her cool. I have her right where I want her.

"Well where's your boyfriend?" I asked her when she didn't say anything.

"Nonexistent,"

"I've never been, but I heard it's nice there," I said as she chuckled a bit as we began to talk about random things while we ate. I paid for her food even though she was persistent. My mom always taught me to be a gentleman. We headed out the door and onto the street when she looked at me with a smile. The humidity at this point was almost unbearable.

"So does she like you like you like her?" She asked me. I was ready to say something when the humidity got so bad that I couldn't even speak. For a moment we both stood there non-moving before raindrops started falling. We both laughed a little as the rain drops increased. I grabbed her hand as it turned into a downpour. I pulled her over to the side door to get upstairs to the apartment. I got the key out of my pocket and let us inside. I locked the door behind us as she pulled off her soaked hoodie.

"After you," I said as she headed up the stairs. I opened up our apartment door, and we both walked inside. I locked the door, just in case. She was inspecting the place, looking around cautiously.

"Don't worry, make yourself at home. Would you like something to drink?" I asked as she sat down on the couch.

"A water would be nice, thanks." She said as I grabbed both of us water bottles from the fridge. I heard her laughing in the other room.

"What?" I said walking out to her and handing her the bottle. She pointed towards Chris' crayon drawing. I shook my head and laughed.

"That was Chris' doing. He's a crazy kid sometimes,"

"I guess so," She said before a silence took over the room. She turned to me suddenly.

"Yes hun?" I asked her.

"Will you play a song for me now?" She asked.

"Anything for you," I said heading into my room and grabbing my acoustic before heading back out and sitting next to her.

"This is dedicated to the girl in the first row. This song is called Dreaming of Heaven," I took a deep breath before beginning, "I will never remind you, it's time to leave. That would mean less time for me to breathe. I will never, try and touch you first. I don't want any chance that you could get my curse." I looked right at her when I sang. I closed my eyes once in a while, but she kept her eyes focused on mine the entire time.

As I finished, a clap of thunder shook the apartment, but neither of us thought of it too much. We were looking at each other, and all I could focus on were the contours of her lips.

"Remember how you asked if I thought she liked me as much as I like her?" I asked Kate. She nodded slightly. I placed my guitar on the ground and moved my mouth near her ear.

"I think that's for you to tell me hun," I whispered before pulling back. Wow, I was better than I thought I was going to be. Thank you God for everything. She looked at me in a little bit of a shock before gaining her composure and giving me a smirk.

"Take a guess," she said before leaning forward as we caught each others lips in our first kiss together. I was going crazy on the inside. My stomach was churning, my pants were getting tighter, and my brain was fuzzy. I could hear the thunder grow louder and the rain pound heavily on the roof, but I tried to tune all that out as our lips moved together as she wrapped her arms around my neck. My hands went to her waist as she moved herself closer to me.

My hormones got the better of me at this point as I wrapped her legs around my sides and lifted her up with me. I carried her into my room, not caring if she thought I was going too fast. I just wanted her. She kept kissing me, so I knew she thought it was okay.

I gently put her down on the bed as we stopped to take a breath. The lighting lit up the dark room as I went to shut the door and lock it as well. I liked my privacy sometimes, if one could not tell already. Lightning struck again as I saw her face in the light from the windows.

"This isn't going too fast is it?" I asked walking back over to her. She pressed her fingers to my lips to silence me before kissing me hard.

I needed her.

I think she might of needed me.

We used the rain pounding down as the backdrop to what I have to say may have been one of the most amazing nights of my life.