The Richardson List

In the duration of her lifetime, Carter had endeavoured her fair share awkward moments. When the words were fresh on her tongue, begging to be spoken, but her lips refused to move around them. When her mind was pleading for her body to but her muscles refused to do so. She’d been through it all many times.

This however, took the cake.

Carter sat with her palms pressed together, her gaze constantly flickering around the room. Cole was beside her, oblivious to the awkward sensation radiating from her being. Instead he continued stirring the bowl of pancake mix in his arm, eyes focused on the creamy batter.

A melody sang from the speakers of the stereo, flowing through the otherwise silent air. Carter had found a stool and was intently watching her friend cook. From the time when Cole had invited her in she had been virtually hushed, spare a few petty words that she forced from her lips.

Either he ignored it or was simply unaware, for the blond hadn’t even taken notice to the quiet. Instead he gathered all the ingredients and all the tools and was determined to make “the best pancakes that have ever been made on earth”.

She had nodded her head in agreement, the slightest curve of her lips expressing her amusement. Carter hadn’t taken any part in creation of the supposed amazing pancakes, not because of the nervousness, but for the reason that she knew that cooking was never her forte. God knew that if she tried to help they’d come out anything by remarkable.

Cole had the passion for cooking, one that he didn’t easily admit to. But it was clear to see the delight in his eyes when he was mixing the batter or measuring the ingredients.

Carter was more for the results.

“Hey, Carter, can you pass me the milk?” Cole asked while continuing to stir the batter in the ruby plastic bowl.

This broke Carter’s train of thought and she blinked repeatedly once she had realized her surroundings, grinning sheepishly when noticing Cole’s gaze directed towards her. “Oh! Yeah, here.”

She passed him the milk, beaming reassuringly when she detected the silent question in his eyes.

A few moments passed, not a word of any of their lips. Carter had been content with how the last twenty minutes or so had gone, without any questions on her mindset. But with one look at Cole’s cocked eyebrow she knew that it wasn’t going to last for much longer.

“Hey, Carter…” Cole’s gaze met hers and Carter groaned internally, this was exactly what she was avoiding.

“Hmm?” she hummed nonchalantly, forcing a smile on her lips. It seemed there was no escape from this and thought she might as well put on a brave face to make her seem okay.

“Well,” he begun, pausing his blending and setting the bowl onto the counter top. “I heard about you and Audrey…”

Carter allowed a sigh to exceed her lips, running her fingers through her bangs. “It was only a matter of time.”

“Is that’s what’s bothering you?”

It was in fact, not the sole reason why she found herself unable to lift her spirits, but it was an easy avoidance of what really had been in her thoughts. The entire Skye and Lily dilemma was begging to be voiced but Lily’s words recurrently chimed in her mind, preventing Carter each time.

“Yeah.” It wasn’t exactly a lie, just kept most of the truth. She found it to be best anyways. “But I don’t even like him anymore, to be honest .”

Cole took a few steps closer to the girl, resting a comforting hand on her shoulder. “I don’t really want to get into all of this, but I just want you to know that… yeah, I’m here you know. I know that I’ve been with Lily a lot, but I’m still your friend, okay?”

The difficulty to choke the words out was clear and caused a chuckle from Carter. It was so weird to see him try to be reassuring, and she couldn’t help but laugh. She nodded nonetheless, appreciating his efforts.

It was a nice contrast to finally let herself go. The way his eyes had flashed everywhere across the room except on her, the slight cherry tinge dusting his cheeks out of embarrassment, she couldn’t help the grin blossoming across her face.

“Yeah, yeah, I get it. Come on; now let’s make those believed to be awesome pancakes,” she said with a smile, hopping off the stool and placing her hands on her hips, eyeing the batter.

A relaxed grin was plastered across the Cole’s face as he raised the bowl into his arms and held it out towards Carter.

“If I let you stir will you make sure not to screw up?” he teased, eyes sparkling with amusement.

She narrowed her eyes at said boy and ripped the bowl from his hands, defensively stirring the smooth concoction. “Just do whatever you have to, I got this.”

He chuckled, his mouth twisting into a smirk as he searched for a metal pan.



“These are actually pretty good,” Carter admitted, severing another square of the fluffy pancake before stabbing it with her fork, lifting it to its demise.

Across the table from her sat Cole, his own plate in front of him. “It is,” he concurred. “I wouldn’t expect anything less from me though.”

Her chocolate brown eyes grazed over Cole’s features, swollen with pride.

“Could be better,” she feigned indifference, a betraying smile slipping onto her face when Cole glared daggers in her direction.

One thing about Cole was to never criticize his cooking, for it was hard for him to confess that he enjoyed it; to be bad at it would cause him to go completely ridiculous.

“You enjoy those pancakes and you enjoy them well!” His fist meeting the table in a large pound sounded in the room, shutting her up from any more of her smart remarks.

Carter snickered slightly, nodding her head in agreement as she brought another piece to her mouth. He scrutinized her movements, holding his gaze as she chewed.

He didn’t rest until she gave him a thumbs-up, including a smile.

Both their faces had a white powder dusting them, from when Carter lamely tried to add flour. Most of it had ended up outside the bowl, much to Carter’s dismay. When she had become the subject to Cole’s mocking she had decided to shut him up, which in other terms meant sprinkling flour on him.

Of course he felt the need to retaliate, and he did. It wasn’t long before the both of them were covered in flour.

“How are things with you and Lily?” Carter asked absent-mindedly,

Cole chewed thoughtfully. “Good,” he finally settled on, seemingly pleased with his answer. “What happened with you and Skye anyways?”

Carter hesitated briefly, picking the right words carefully. “Um, well, it just wasn’t working out. Artistic differences?” her voice became higher in question, unsure if this was correct answer or not.

Cole chuckled at her reply, reaching for the damp ivory cloth from across the table. She examined his movement as he leaned over the wooden table, bringing the rag up to her cheek.

“What are you doing?” she asked in bewilderment, eyeing the fabric near her skin.

A grin blossomed across his face as he took a swipe of the white powder off her cheek. “It’s starting to bug me.”

Carter let a laugh escape as she brought her fingers to the cloth, picking it from his hands.

“I can do this by myself, thank you very much. I’m a woman.”

Cole chuckled and raised his hands in defence, leaning back into his seat. “Sorry, Milady.”

With a grin she wiped away the remains of the flour, patting her skin afterward in case anything had unfortunately stuck.

“As you should be, here clean off to. You look like a ghost. Don’t die; it’s not a very attractive look.”

He glared and accepted the offered cloth.

The door bell echoed through the room, gaining Carter’s attention. Cole was busy patting his face and told Carter to get it.

She did, bidding him a little goodbye before vanishing from his sight. A broad grin was plastered across her face, refusing to leave as she strolled down to the front door. Meandering through the abandoned shoes strewn across the floor she reached her destination: the door.

Ripping the door open, Carter absorbed the scene in front of her. As soon as she processed this the smile fell from her face.

“Audrey?” she asked in disbelief.

Before her stood the familiar blonde that she formally deemed her friend. But when taking a second glance, Carter could see the apparent distraught compressed in her eyes.

Her dirty blonde hair was awkward and scattered with knots, leaving Carter to guess that it hadn’t witnessed a brush in a while. Her face was barren from the usual natural makeup she covered it with every morning; the difference was minimal but still there. Moreover, her features were weary, traces of what seemed to be guilt soaked in her gaze.

“C-Carter?” she chocked out, tears beginning to form in her eyes.

Said girl nodded her head, eyes wide with astonishment. That simply gesture was all it took for the tears to commence, racing down Audrey’s cheeks.

“I’m so sorry!” she apologized, wrapping her arms around Carter and burying her nose in the crook of her neck.

Still unable to comprehend much of the situation, Carter attempted to relax, rubbing her back in a consoling fashion. “Sorry?” she repeated.

Audrey paused her frantic weeping for a moment, pulling away and meeting her gaze. “For everything; for being a bitch, for doing weed behind your back, for lying to you, for blowing up on you over nothing.”

As the words poured from her lips Carter’s features instantly softened, finally being able to grasp everything. Shame began bubbling up inside of her.

“I’m sorry too,” she confessed, feeling much lighter in comparison then she had days before. “For kissing Skye behind your back and blowing up on you too.” She smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck.

“You did yell at me, didn’t you?” Audrey grinned, lighting up her entire face instantaneously. With trembling fingers she wiped away the tears that had stained her cheeks.

Embarrassment washed over Carter’s face in the form of a crimson blush. “Eh, adrenaline rush?”

Audrey giggled at this, attempting to comb through her hair with her fingers. “Yeah, sure. I think there’s secretly a dragon inside of you roaring to come out of this innocent school-girl act. But how are things with you and Skye anyways?”

It wasn’t accusing, more like interest in her voice.

“Over, there wasn’t really anything to begin with he’s sort of a complete ass if you haven’t noticed, but come I,” Carter admitted while beckoning the blonde inside with a wave of her hand.

Audrey’s paused for a moment, finally deciding the step inside Cole’s house. “That sucks, but uh, I look like shit and Cole’s over?”

Carter laughed while shutting the door, kicking a few shoes that were in her way.

“You think Cole cares?”

“Touché.”

Everything wasn’t right, everything wasn’t okay, but for once Carter was just happy for the moment, and that’s all she really cared about.