The Richardson List

Three weeks had gradually escaped, slipping from Carter’s fingers without as much as a warning. One moment Tiffany was there, beaming, by her side and the next Carter was scared she was forgetting the girl’s face. Even though, she remained composed, never allowing the tears to fall down her face in front of everyone.

The whispers surrounding the incident and died down, slowly fewer people whispered the name. Newer gossip had arrived and while Tiffany had not been forgotten, she was on the back burner for Zack Hanson hooking up with some Valerie girl she couldn’t quite put a face to.

She was slightly relieved though, it was easier to cope without the name constantly being shoved down her throat every corner she turned.

Audrey had been quite the consoling presence too, appearing with a tub of ice cream on some occasions and chick flicks on others. Carter could tell the girl was doing everything in her power to brighten her up, because Tiffany and her were never close it didn’t really effect her that much. But it still killed her to see Carter so down in the dumps.

And for that, Carter was grateful. She always knew that Audrey would be there for her, and vice versa if she needed it.

Cole had also been around a lot more than usual, but that wasn’t by much. He took the bus more often and on the rare occurrence that he showed up at her door, it wasn’t for long. It disappointed her faintly that it took her good friend’s death for him to be around more, but she took all that she could get.

A few times she found herself about to voice the words collecting on the tip of her tongue. How she just wished that he would stay for a bit longer, how their hugs could last a few moments more, how much she enjoyed the time where his arm was slung around her shoulders when they watched movies.

When he was just her good ol’ Cole, she wanted that time to be longer before he shifted back into Lily’s boyfriend.

Deep down she wanted to expose Lily, to confide in Cole about her little hobby on the side with Skye, but she couldn’t. Carter knew that Lily was an expert at twisting words and manipulation, she was a genius, and with Cole wrapped around her finger it would be more than simple to writhe her way out of the situation.

She’d load Cole with something or another for him to loose faith in Carter, how she was a bad friend and jealous and she should be dropped without another thought. Carter had enough faith in Lily that she could do it with a snap of her fingers.

Still, at times she wanted to confess about what she had seen, despite everything.

But when she tugged on his shoulder sleeve, swallowing all the clamouring doubts down her throat, when their gazes met and his blue eyes stared down into hers, she couldn’t. Her lips snapped tight shut and she stretched them into a tense smile, shaking her head that it was nothing.

Tiffany’s death should have taught her that life was too short to be timid and to sit back and watch everything happen when she could have stopped it, done something. It was too short to keep all her thoughts secured in her throat.

But she was still the same coward she always was.

And whenever she came aware of this again she would always attempt to distract herself. That is how she found herself at Parker’s, as he served to be a perfect distraction on many counts.

“See, they plant this seed,” Parker began one of his crazy revelations that never really made much sense and only proved that he should’ve been listening in class instead of letting his mind wander.

A slight twist of the edge of Carter’s lips conveyed her amusement as she nodded her head to show she was listening. He continued, satisfied.

“All it takes is one time. One time, they’re looking kinda sad, and you innocently ask what’s wrong, all innocent-like. They say nothing, and what’re we supposed to do? How’re we supposed to know something’s up and she says nothing? And whatta we do? Believe her. Strike one.”

He leaned in; whispering the last two words for what Carter assumed was dramatic effect. The seriousness painted across his features caused a smile to crack onto her face. She knew coming over to Parker’s was good for something, a laugh at the least.

“Then this giant whole fiasco type thing goes down, lesson learned. You think you’ve got this all down pat, you understand it all now, you’re king again. And you’re all wrong.”

“Am I?” Carter asked while shooting him a grin, watching as he shook his head solemnly.

“Definitely in Shitsville,” he reassured her.

A laugh poured from her lips as she shook her head. “Continue,” she pressed, awaiting the conclusion to his epiphany of some sorts.

“Well, another time comes around and she’s looking sad or something again, probably another pointless thing that she’s way overreacting about, and you ask what’s wrong being all nice. And she’s says nothing, but she’s already planted that seed. That one where you think nothing is something and now you’re screwed.”

Parker nodded his head, disregarding the laughter on Carter’s part. Again, it seemed that this was no laughing matter. “And why are you screwed?” she asked between giggles.

“Because then this time, there isn’t anything wrong! And you spend all your time wondering ‘What did I do? Is it me? Should I ask again? Who’s ass am I gonna have to beat down?’ And then, after all this, you find out that nothing was actually wrong! And you go through hell and back trying to find out what it is and they get mad because you’re getting mad and it’s all for nothing!”

He threw his hands up in what appeared to be exasperation, but the smile on his face proved otherwise. Parker definitely had too much time on his hands.

“You do realize that not only are you ranting about girls, to a girl? Parker, do you realize you need a hobby, desperately?” Carter cast him a smile in a teasing fashion, glad that she was finally able to stretch her lips into something genuine.

He crossed his arms over his chest and sunk deeper into the couch cushions, knitting his eyebrows into an offended expression. “My hobby is trying to find the perfect way to confess my unconditional and irrevocable love for you.”

He regained his composure and lifted his palm to press against her cheek, his glassy hazel eyes gazing down into hers. A dreamy expression was occupying his face, no betraying grin that Carter was waiting for.

For a moment she remained still, neither of them allowing their bodies to make the slightest twitch. Their breathing had hitched and all that lingered was the tranquil silence. His gaze drifted down to her lips and she watched him carefully, catching his eyes once more for a long, suspenseful moment.

That was broken seconds later by Carter’s relentless laughter, draining from her lips and shattering the silence. It wasn’t too long before Parker’s chuckles were blending with hers.

“You so completely ripped off Twilight!” she accused, pointing a finger at him with her free hand while the other grasped onto her side as if her body was going to crumble at any given moment.

A grin split his face as he shrugged, not denying the allegation. “Eh, this chick told me the way to girl’s heart is through Twilight.”

“Would you like me to go jump in front of a van for you to save me?” Carter asked, mockery laced in her voice.

He hummed for a moment, acting as if he was considering the idea. “Hm, I’ll pass this time. I wouldn’t want to steal you away from your dear Cole, now would I?”

There was a suggestive undertone to his voice as he raised an eyebrow, implying something that Carter definitely did not want to be implied.

Few people still thought there was a spark between her and the blond, ignoring the continual insisting that there wasn’t, and one of those people was Parker. But his opinion didn’t matter much for a few simple reasons. One: he didn’t ever see them at school, or with his girlfriend Lily. And two: this was Parker, that's a reason in and itself.

In response she sighed and rolled her eyes. “He has a girlfriend,” Carter reminded him.

“Ah!” Parker’s finger was raised in there air as if his point was proven, although it definitely wasn’t. “You said ‘he has a girlfriend’, you didn’t say you didn’t like him!”

Another sigh escaped her lips as she threw a pillow that was within her grasp. “He has a girlfriend and I don’t like him!” she insisted, annoyance clear in her voice.

Parker grabbed the pillow in mid-air and stopping it from making contact with his face, peeking his head from the side and sending her a wink. Obviously violence was not a way to convince him, and Carter was running out of options for this lost cause.

She opened her mouth, about to sputter another protest but was cut off by the sound of the door being opened, footsteps and voices floating into the room. One was a girl, who Carter assumed was Parker’s mother, but a male accompanied her and she had no idea who he was.

The smug smirk on Parker's face deepened when he heard the noise, throwing the pillow abandoned to the floor. “Hey Carter,” he whispered, appearing to have forgotten the accusations she was spitting moments before.

However, she was intrigued, and she leaned in slightly to hear what he had to say.

“Remember how my mom was taking yoga because of the instructor she had a crush on?” he asked, eyeing the door as if he was expecting someone armed with a gun to jump out James Bond style.

“Yea,” she faintly recalled, finding herself lost on what this had to do with anything.

“He’s gay!” His whisper was hardly a whisper at all as he flung his head back and laughed, falling onto his back.

Carter wasn’t able to contain her own smile at the thought, remembering how his mother had such a dreamy infatuation with the man. It must have been awkward when he broke the news to her, hopefully before she had confessed her crush on him.

It seemed that Parker was just in time because his mom and a man, who was most likely the yoga instructor, were in the door frame, confusion marked upon her faces.

“What’s so funny?” His mom asked, a slight warning hint to her tone.

Carter guessed that this wasn’t the first time Parker had brought up the subject in a teasing manner.

“Nothing, nothing,” he dismissed the thought, rising to his feet with a grin.

Carter followed suit and ended up in the kitchen, leaning against the table as they all greeted one another. Parker was rummaging through the cupboards for something his mom had asked while she was gathering plates for the dinner lying on the stove. Parker had heated it up before she came and it was ready to be served.

“Are you staying for dinner, Carter?” Parker’s mom asked, glancing over her shoulder at the girl.

“Um, sure,” she agreed gingerly, always enjoying the woman’s cooking.

It wasn’t until then did she get a good look at the man. He had chocolate brown hair that hung loosely at the nape of his neck and a warm smile on his lips, accompanied by emerald green eyes that seemed to be familiar.

“Thank you again Patricia for inviting me over again, this place has a very calm atmosphere, it’s very enjoyable.”

His voice was so incredibly serene that Carter thought he sounded like he was border lining comatose.

The instructor turned to her and shot her a grin. “And who might you be?”

“Carter,” she introduced herself, sticking out her hand in a friendly manner.

He took her up on her offer. “Dave Richardson, but you can just call me Dave.”

She was taken aback momentarily by the familiarity of his name but brushed it off seconds after, cursing herself for jumping to conclusions too quickly. The last name was fairly common.

It wasn’t long before they were all seated around the table, talking amongst each other about trivial things that strangers talk about. Everyone had a plate of food in front of them that consisted of mashed potatoes, pickles and steak. Carter had to admit, it was pretty good.

She was fairly quiet, munching on her food while the rest of them conversed about their day, Parker regularly picking fun at his mom over the smallest things and earning him a few whacks on the head. Dinner at the Daniel’s was always entertaining.

“You know, I have a son around your age,” Dave mused, Carter much too busy chewing her food to take any real interest in his words.

“Is that so?” Parker’s mom asked, “is he a trouble-maker like Parker is?”

Carter chuckled and Parker protested, stabbing his steak with his lips pressed tightly offended.

“Not quite so.” Dave laughed. “But I do have a picture somewhere.”

He began searching in his pockets before producing a black leather wallet, opening it up and picking a small photo from one of the slits. “Here it is, my boy Skye. He looks a little different now though.”

Carter instantly froze at the name, finding this all to be a little more then coincidental. She placed her fork down carefully before taking a peek at the picture, which almost caused her to spit out the contents behind her teeth.

It was Skye, that much she could tell. However, he looked different, extremely so.

His hair was longer, seemingly darker but from what Carter could tell that could have been from the amount of grease dousing it. He wore a smile that was concealed by metal, and his eyes were much more nervous then Carter had ever seen before.

“I know him,” she blurted out involuntarily, pursing her lips afterward in shock in case anything else unnecessary slipped out.

“Oh, do you?” His father asked, “Have you seen him before, is he doing well?”

“I’ve seen him around,” she replied, as this wasn’t a lie because she had seen him during school. It wasn’t really her fault that she didn’t divulge to entire truth to his father, as she didn’t think anyone really would. “He’s doing well.”

Well was an understatement.

“That’s good.” He smiled, causing for the crows feet beside his eye to deepen. “I’m always worried about that boy. He used to get teased so much we had to home school him. But when my wife and I divorced it seemed a new start was just what he needed.”

In his eyes was genuine concern from a parent, but Carter found herself much more shocked by what he had just exposed.

There were many things Carter could associate with Skye; being teased was definitely not one of them. Skye Richardson being bullied was a scenario that she just couldn’t bring herself to muster.

“You can have that picture; I have so many I might as well give some of them away.”

He grinned at her and she nodded, however left the photo where it sat.

This was way too much for her to digest, and the food had nothing to do with it.