Left Behind

CARTER

The only reason I gave Bryce his cigarettes back was to prove a point to Kristen. But after that, I didn’t care anymore. I was over her, and more importantly, him. He was cool and everything, but the one thing that I won’t be called is a slut.

I inched my way through the crowd trying to locate Drake and Aliyah, but had no luck. I made my way through people until I was stopped by the guy that spilled his drink on me. He stopped me and I stared at him.

“Hey, look, girl, uh I didn’t mean to spill the drink on you. I was pushed,” he said.

I nodded my head. “It’s totally fine,” I said honestly. “I have a bad temper sometimes.”

He laughed and held out a hand for me to shake. I grabbed it. “I’m Peyton McMillian. And you are?”

“I’m Carter Deville,” I said smiling as I shook his hand. I almost felt bad for pushing him into the wall then, because his apology seemed extremely sincere by the look on his face. He was also extremely gorgeous; he had a muscular body, and those piercing eyes… “Where do I know you from?” I asked still shaking his hand. Once I realized it I yanked my hand away, my face turning slightly red.

He chuckled and ran one of his hands through his hair. “If you go to Bryce’s school then we go to the same school.”

“Yeah I do. I probably see you around all of the time, and never even realized.”

He smiled and took his phone from his pocket. “You should text me,” he said ready to put my number into his phone.

“Oh… Well actually I don’t-”

“Carter!” Brycen interrupted yelling my name. “Don’t hurt him it was an accident.”

I looked at him like he was a fool, and rolled my eyes in his direction pretending to be angry that he interrupted my sentence. Honestly I was thankful. Telling everyone that I couldn’t afford to have a phone isn’t on my list of favorite things to do. “Can I help you Brycen?”

“Bryce,” he said clearing his throat. “Hey man.” He and Peyton did one of those carefully planned out boy handshakes and laughed afterward.

“Bryce! What’s up dude?” I swear they were acting like they hadn’t seen each other in years.

“Nothing man. Is Carter attacking you again?”

He looked to me and laughed. “Nah, she’s cool. I just came to apologize for ruining her shirt.”

“Alright. You don’t know Carter like I know her,” he said like I wasn’t standing right beside him. “She can be a wild one.”

“And what the hell is that supposed to mean? And you don’t know me at all!” My arms were crossed and I just wanted him to say one more thing so that I could tackle him to the ground.

“Chill, I was kidding,” Bryce said looking embarrassed in front of his friend. That was my cue to get away before he tried to get my number again.

“I don’t have time for your BS, Bryce. And nice to meet you Peyton,” I said as I smiled and walked away.

BRYCE

After Carter walked away I had a quick chat with Peyton. The entire time, though, my eyes followed Carter through the crowd. I planned to go after her after she walked away, but I couldn’t just abandon Peyton.

“Dude, you like her don’t you?” he said snapping me from a daze.

“No, why would you think that?”

He shook his head and chuckled. “The way you look at her…You do.”

“Man, I don’t even know her. I know nothing about her,” I said looking back to the crowd.
“But I thought you just said that-”

“Forget what I said,” I replied. “Plus, I have a girlfriend.”

“I was making sure. Because if you don’t want her then-”

“Hey man, I’ll talk to you later. I gotta go check on something real quick.”I held up my hand for a wave and followed the path that Carter had taken just a couple minutes ago. I found her in the kitchen back at the punch bowl for probably the hundredth time.

***

“Everybody out!”

It appeared that a couple of drunken kids had gotten into it with each other and it escalated to a fight. They brought it outside and apparently developed a disturbance and some of the neighbors called the cops. When we heard them coming we hid all of the alcohol, poured out the punch, and tried to act normal. Instead the cops came in and decided to shut the entire thing down.

Everyone pushed and shoved through the door trying to all get out at once most likely considering the amount of trouble they could get in for having the least bit of alcohol in their systems. Once everyone cleared out I talked to the officers and they left eventually. Once again I was left in the huge house alone.

Being in the house alone was bitter sweet. I loved being away from my mom and dad because they were too self centered. Everything was about them and their jobs. But, I hated being by myself all the time. There was nothing else to do, so I thought it’d be a great idea to start on the cleaning that my dad instructed me to do. The house was a disaster.

I can’t even begin to explain the damage done. I walked around picking up coke cans, cups, food, and all of the above. That is until I had forgotten that I didn’t feed the dog or take him to pee. I ran up to my room to get my bathroom, which is where we keep her during parties so she won’t bark at everyone. I practically tripped going up the stairs thinking about all of the leftovers the dog probably left on my bathroom floor. I threw the door open only to be confused at the figure laid across my bed.

Carter.

CARTER

I woke up to someone shaking my shoulder and calling my name loudly. Wait, when did I even go to sleep? I had a major headache and I had no intentions of budging. I opened one of my eyes to take a peek around the room, and that’s when it registered that I was in Bryce’s room. What the fuck?

I jumped up and almost bumped heads with the boy who was standing directly over me. “Morning,” he said smirking. “You look… nice?”

“Ha, that’s funny. Um, why am I in here and why are you standing over me?”

“I don’t know. Everyone else left when the police shut the party down.” He shrugged and walked over to his bathroom door. When he opened a cute yorkie hopped out and started pouncing around the room. “Come here Stupid,” he grunted trying to catch the dog.

“What’s her name?”

“Priscilla.”

I rolled my eyes. “Well, try using it.”

“Come here Priscilla,” he said mocking me. “This dumb dog hates me.”

“Cool. But um, would you happen to have Drake or Aliyah’s cell numbers?”

He thought for a second and pulled his phone from his back pocket. “I know I don’t have Drake’s because I don’t like that lil’ dude, but I think I have Aliyah’s. Why? Did they leave you?” He smirked which made me want to punch him.

“Can I just use your phone to call please?” I said with an attitude.

“What are you gonna do for me if I let you use it?” He asked while winking.

I scoffed at him. “Nevermind. I’ll find my way home.” I got up and walked out of his room door with him and Priscilla following closely behind.

“Carter, I’m kidding. It’s two in the morning and I know Aliyah’s parents. They’re not letting her out anymore after she gets home and she lives right down the street. You can stay in the guess room or something tonight and I’ll bring you home in the morning.”

“No thanks. I don’t want Kristen and her BFF to come after me with miniskirts and hair bleach,” I said sarcastically.

“I’m helping out a friend,” he said seriously.

“We are not friends.”

“Shit Carter, do you want me to take you home in the morning or not?”

I gave him one of my looks and rolled my eyes. “Don’t raise your fucking voice at me. I’m not Kristen and you won’t treat me like her, kay? And… yes. I do want you to take me home.”

***

BRYCE

“Where’s your maid?” Carter asked as she picked up some of the last few cups from the couches.

“She’s off tonight,” I joked. We didn’t have a maid and never have. “My parents think that it’s good and valuable that I learn how to clean after myself. What kind of crap is that?”

She laughed. “You act so… rich. If you saw my place, you would never complain another day in your life.” She opened the garbage bag and gathered a pile of plates from the living room table.

“What does your place look like?”

“God, it’s like the complete opposite of your’s. And I’m being one-hundred percent honest.”

“Who takes care of you?”

“I do.”

We cleaned for about another hour after that which added up to about two hours of cleaning. That was half of what it took me alone, so I was actually kind of grateful that Carter offered to help. I told her that she didn’t have to but she insisted. I had the brilliant idea of playing a game since she didn’t look like the movie type. It turned out successful and I know that because of the angelic laugh and massive smile that stayed painted across Carter’s face the entire time.

It was successful for me as well. Not because I let her win when she thought she was actually doing well on her own, but because I got to admire her smile the entire rest of the night.

*** MORNING ***

CARTER

Lucy rushed over to me with worry covering her face. She looked like she hadn’t slept all night and had bags under her eyes. We may not sleep well, but we always get the right amount of sleep. “What’s your problem?” I asked her as she grabbed a hold of my shoulders.

“My problem?” she asked pointing to herself. “You were gone all night and had me scared to death that you weren’t coming back! What is your problem?”

I scoffed. “Lucy, you have no room to be mad at me right now. You did the same thing a couple of days ago. Now you see how I feel!”

“So this is about payback? You know, that’s real childish. I didn’t leave you hear on purpose! I had-”

“I didn’t leave you here on purpose either!” I interrupted. “I went to a party and I fell asleep. When I woke up everyone was gone and the guy brought me to the bus stop this morning.”

“That’s the biggest lie if I ever heard one. Let’s start with you being at a party. Lie. Falling asleep at a party? Stupid. And spending the night at a guy’s house and having him bring you to the bus station the next morning? Bullshit.”

“So now I'm a liar?” I shrugged my shoulders and gave her an eye roll. “Lucy, I don’t care if you believe me or not. You’re getting real aggravating and I’m starting to think that us getting split up is not such a bad idea.”

“What are you talking about?” she stood with her arms crossed and honestly, a hurt look on her face. We’ve been together for so long that if she would’ve said that to me, I don’t know what I’d do. “How do I aggravate you?”

“Well, you’re a hypocrite for starters. You want everything to go your way all of the time and my opinions are never good enough for you. Let’s not forget about how you’re keeping something from me that you won’t tell me and it’s really pissing me off. And, oh, let’s not forget about how you’re always holding me back! I probably wouldn’t be here now if it weren’t for you always holding me back!”

She forced a laugh which was clearly from agitation. “Are you kidding me right now? No, the real reason that you’re here right now is because your mother and your father didn’t want you, Sweet Pea. They left you behind so quickly and never came back to find you. And let me tell you, I had nothing to do with that. Explain to me how you being irrelevant to your family has anything to do with me?”

I glared at her. It took everything in my body to reach over and punch the shit out of her. It was well known that I would easily win a fight between the two of us, so Lucy wouldn’t dare to even attempt to touch me. But I was so close to beating the hell out of her. I took a couple deep breaths before putting on a fake smile. “Well, I guess everybody’s true feelings are coming out, right?”

“I guess so.”

“Well, I hope you’re as happy with us being apart as I am because I'm done.”

“Like you have anywhere to go,” she said rolling her eyes.

“Well, you know, I’d rather be anywhere but here,” I said mocking the same line that she said after the orphanage conversation.

“So one fight and that’s it?” I started to walk down the street. I started towards Mr. Bourgeois' restaurant since it was the only other place I felt comfortable at. “Are you really gonna just walk away from your problems, Carter?”

“Yeah, because I know what I'm gonna do if I don’t.”

“Whatever. I don’t have time for your bull, anyway.”

“Okay and I’m fine with that.”

“You’re being so immature right now,” she yelled after me.

I turned around to stare at her for a little while. “Honestly, I don’t give a fuck how immature I’m being right now. That was so low what you just said to me! Yeah, you do hold me back! Yeah, they did leave me! But you know what? It was NOT okay for you to say that I don’t matter!” Before I knew it I had tears streaming down my face and Lucy was standing in front of me trying to calm me down.

“You know I didn’t mean it,” she said grabbing my arm and trying to pull me back.

I snatched away from her hold and pushed her backward. “Yeah you did. And that was a bitch move.” She just stood there silently this time as I walked away.

***
I sat in Mr. Bourgeois' restaurant for at least an hour sitting at my own private table in the back corner and watching one of the TVs that hung on the walls. Mr. Bourgeois, being his generous self, gave me a free hot chocolate and told me that if I needed anything to give him a holler.

“Where is she?” I heard a faint talking. Of course it had to be Lucy trying to find me when the last thing I wanted to do was to see her face.

I saw Mr. B point at me and then Lucy coming towards me. She got to my table and pulled up a chair. “Hey,” she said almost whispering.

I gave her a head nod because I really didn’t want to talk to her.

“I’m sorry. You know it wasn’t supposed to come out like that.” I gave her a shrug. “You care. If you didn’t care you wouldn’t have stormed off like you did.”

“Yeah I do care. Just like you did want it to come out the way it did. But why would you want that? To get ‘revenge’ on me for saying something about you first. Talk about childish…”

“Well, fine, it was to get back at you. But you hurt me just as much as I hurt you.”

“Whatever.”

“Carter, I came in here to tell you what I’ve been keeping from you. You either wanna hear it or not. This is your only chance, too, because after this I'm not repeating myself.”

I looked up at her and she was completely serious. Of course I wanted to know what her problem was. Why would I give up the chance? “Fine.”

“Let’s take a walk,” she said beckoning me to walk with her.

I sighed and grabbed my hot chocolate off of the table. “Kay.” After pushing in my chair, and thanking Mr. B, I followed her out of the door.