Message in a Bottle

Chapter Fifteen
“I’m sorry for my mother’s behavior tonight,” Carter said when he walked me to the front door of my house.
“Oh, it was fine,” I said and laughed. “At the end of the day we got along just fine.”
“Depending on what your meaning of fine is. And what was that about your parents still being together? Why’d you have to lie like that?”
“Well, I didn’t want her to think I came from a dysfunctional family, Carter. You of all people should understand that.”
“I see exactly where you’re coming from but lying about it? And saying your father is a pilot? You don’t even know where he works! You don’t even have his number, Morgan.”
“I know and I’m sorry. She’ll forget about it eventually anyways.”
He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Just no more lies, okay?”
“Yeah,” I mumbled.
He looked at his watch. “My parents aren’t expecting me back at the hotel in another hour. So maybe we can hang out until then?”
“Sure.”
Ben was still sitting on the couch playing his guitar.
“Did you eat the lasagna I cooked you?” I asked.
“Yeah, it was great. Thanks, Morgan.”
“Carter and I are just going to be out back so call us if you need anything.”
We sat on a bleached log that was settled right near the water. Carter took off his shoes and rolled up his pants to let the waves crash down on our feet. The water wasn’t cold at all so it felt good as the waves crashed at our bare feet, covering them momentarily until the ocean pulled in the waves.
The skies were clear so the waxing moon and stars shone down on us, causing the both of us to look as pale as a vampire. The great thing about Cape Hatteras was that aside from the lighthouse, there was hardly any light pollution so the stars shone perfectly and visibly.
“The days are going by so fast,” Carter murmured, breaking the silence.
I looked down at my feet and dug them into the cold and wet sand, breaking the perfection of it. “What day were you leaving again?” I whispered.
“Saturday afternoon. I need to get back to school next Monday.”
“It’s going to be Thursday tomorrow,” I pointed out.
“What do you want to do the next two days? We need to do something memorable. Something fun.”
“Carter, I don’t need to do something fun…. I just want to be with you. For all I care, we can spend the next two and a half days wasting away at this very spot.”
“We might get hungry.”
“Thanks for ruining the moment!” I laughed, nudging him with my elbow.
“Okay, serious now. So what’re we going to do once I leave?” he asked solemnly.
“That’s what I’m afraid of thinking of but it’s going to happen soon so I guess this is the right time to discuss this. And I guess it all really depends if we’re both willing to have a long distance relationship.”
“I’m up for that,” he said instantly.
“And so am I but how do you think it’ll work out? Us being miles away, how’re we going to stay faithful to each other? And to top it off you’re starting college next fall. College means drinking. Drinking means parties. Parties means girls. We’ve only been together for less than a week. How do we know our relationship is that strong?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “We don’t. We just have to wait and see for ourselves…. But I heard girls at Harvard are pretty hot!”
I flipped my hair back and fluttered my eyelashes at him. “But not as hot as me. Eh? Eh?” I nudged his arm.
He stared at me like I was weird. “You wish,” he said smugly and looked away from me.
My jaw dropped but the smile was still on my face. “Take that back!” I commanded.
He kept his back turned to me, his arms crossed over his chest.
“Carter, you better be joking!” I laughed, tugging at his shirt to make him face me. “You know what? Fine. Why don’t you run off to Harvard and date some girl there with a mustache, uni-brow, and a big fat hairy mole!” I jumped up from the log and walked away back to my house with my head held high, my arms across my chest, and a smile across my face.
Then I spun around and attacked, knocking Carter off balance and we both fell onto the sand, laughing as we tumbled down the beach.
“Morgan, there’s no girl in Harvard that can compare to you-”
“No girl in Harvard.”
“Hey, let’s not get too technical here. The world is a mighty big place for one person,” he chuckled. “No girl can be as funny,” he continued, “caring, beautiful, and extremely cute when they get jealous as you do,” he chuckled. “I know that those words seem so cliché but it’s only the truth. And because those were the simplest adjectives I could find. My point is, you’re a unique girl, definitely hard to find so give me one good reason why I would ever want to loose you for a carbon copy girl?”
“Because carbon copy girls have big boobs and huge donks?”
He threw his head back in laughter. “I don’t think you knew me very well if you think I’m into that kind of girls. I mean, they’re attractive, don’t get me wrong but not my type at the slightest bit.”
I smiled. “So what’s your type like?”
“Considering most of those carbon copy girls don’t have a brain, I like girls with intelligence but at the same time would be completely indifferent about what other girls are into. I’m pretty sure a lot of girls wouldn’t want to roll around in the sand because they’re too afraid they might get their new manicure ruined.”
“But when you got my message long ago, I was that type of girl. I was the girly girl that likes her hair curled, wants to ride a unicorn in the clouds, and wants to find her prince charming.”
“I basically said that I didn’t like self-centered girls. Not girly girls but from the looks of it, you aren’t very much of a girly girl like you used to be.”
“Do you like me better then or now?” I asked, nervous.
He shrugged his shoulders. “You’re kind of in between so I couldn’t really say.”
I nodded my head in understanding.
“But either way, you’ll still be my Morgan,” he leaned down and right before our lips touched his phone rang. He sighed, pulling it out from his pocket. “It’s my mom.”
“Hi, mom,” he said almost annoyed. He paused as his mother spoke from the other end. “Yeah, I know what time it is and it’s barely been an hour.” This time his mom’s voice wasn’t loud enough for me to here anything. “Why does that matter to you?” he snapped. Another quiet pause. “Mom, stop, okay? We’ll have this conversation when we get home. Bye.” He pushed the red button, ending the call. He sighed, frustrated.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“It’s nothing. She just wants me to get home now, that’s all. Anyways, where were we?” he asked with a smile.