Left Behind

CARTER

“Where do you think you’re going?” Aliyah asked me as she folded her arms walking into the room I was occupying.

“Hang out,” I replied as I used her zebra Chi flat iron to add a curl to my hair. She stared at me for God knows what reason and examined my every movement. “What? You don’t have weekend plans? I thought you were going out with Drake.”

“I am,” she said flopping down onto my bed and messing up the duvet. “I just want to know who you’re going with.”

I sighed and looked at her through the reflection of my mirror. “Uh, with Blaine, Paris, Laken, and Blake.”

“And is that it?” she asked accusingly. I didn’t respond so she urged me to answer. “Anddd?” she sang raising her eyebrows at me.

“Bryce; but we’re only hanging out. You really need to stop accusing me of liking him.”
She sent me an evil look. “See, I didn’t even say anything this time,” she defended. “But since you brought it up, remember what I told you, Carter. You may not like him now, but he has that look that he gives you, and he always knows what to say. He knows how to get you to fall for him.”

“He doesn’t give me any looks, and plus, I don’t fall for anybody. I don’t like him,” I laughed,
“So just stop talking about it every time I mention his name.”

“It’s hard to when the only name you ever mention is his.”

“That’s not true!”

“Yes it is.”

I rolled my eyes and looked down at Aliyah’s ringing phone. I had been listening to music and texting Bryce from it as I did my hair.

“Who is it?” Aliyah said with a smirk on her face.

“It’s just a text message from… Bryce.” She threw her hands up for an ‘I told you so’ and rolled her eyes at me.

“And… give me my phone whore!” She grabbed it from the counter and walked from the room with a humorous, “Have fun, Bitch.”

***

We rode there in two separate cars. Bryce, Laken, Blaine, and I rode in one car while Blake, Paris, and Kristen rode in another. Apparently it was time for their whole group to talk everything out because ‘it wasn’t supposed to be this way’. I honestly didn’t mind Kristen coming. One of the problems that I’ve had since day one was forgiving people too easily. I always wished that I could hold a grudge if I wanted, but it’s simply impossible.

We had been driving a while, and obviously we had left N.O., so I was anxious to see where we were going to end up. “Where are we going?” I asked Bryce who was driving his car.

“Probably a corny movie date or something. I’m just following Blake.”

“Oh,” I replied turning the music on to fill the air. The silence was terrible.

Nobody’s Perfect came onto the radio by my favorite music artist J. Cole. I started to sing it, but when I looked over at Bryce he was looking at me confused. I laughed and kept singing the chorus of the song as I kicked my feet onto the dash board.

All of a sudden, I heard the music click off and I shot Bryce an annoyed look. “Why?”

He laughed and simply replied, “I would rather silence.” I smacked him on the shoulder, playfully, and turned it back on. I was surprised that Laken and Blaine hadn’t said a word the entire ride, so I turned around to see what they were up to. It was no big deal; they were only sticking their tongues down each other’s throats.

I laughed and looked back to the front. Bryce was running a hand through his silky brown hair. God, why does he have to do that? “Are you trying to show me your muscles? Because you don’t have any,” I commented.

“I was, and that was a fail,” he said laughing.

I laughed and shook my head. “It was a fail,” lie.

He frowned a little. “Are you trying to be funny? Because you’re not.”

“Yes I am!” I defended. “Don’t say that I’m not funny, because my joke offended you. Are you mad? You don’t want to talk about it?”

“What ever happened to silence?” he joked with a smirk on his face. I squinted my eyes at him, and he laughed. “Just kidding.”

“If this is a ‘movie date’, then why is Kristen coming?” I asked curiously. There were seven people going, and a date consists of two people hanging out, in my case. If I remember correctly, two did not divide into seven equally.

“She wants to talk everything out with Paris, Blaine, and… me,” he said unsure of himself.

“Oh,” I replied more irritated than I was before.

“Why’d you say it like that?” he chuckled. “You aren’t jealous, Carter…”

“I know I’m not jealous. I was just wondering, because if everyone is talking things out, then I’ll be left out because I have nothing to talk out,” I said.

“Just hush. You’re jealous.”

I gasped at his accusation. “I am not! Why would I be jealous?” I said laughing it off. I wasn’t jealous. I couldn’t be jealous, because I had already spent so much time convincing myself that I wasn't emotionally attached to him.

“You’re jealous because you’re attracted to me,” he accused.

“If anybody is attracted to anybody, it’s you being attracted to me,” I lowered my voice.

“Nope.”

“Yeah, it is,” I whispered remembering that other people were in the car. “You don’t have to lie.”

“And you don’t have to whisper,” Laken said from behind us. “We can still here you.”

Blaine giggled from the back and I rolled my eyes at my failed attempt to keep this conversation between Bryce and me. “How much longer?” I asked him looking at the bright green 9:30pm of his clock.

“We’re almost there,” he said.

***

BRYCE

We got out of the car and we were at the movies. The plan was to go on a ‘date’ at the movies and then we were all going to go out to eat at Logan’s. That’s where all of the talking would happen. We bought tickets to The Lucky One, girls’ choice unfortunately, and we bought popcorn, drinks, and snacks.

“Theater three,” the woman said who took our tickets tearing them and giving us the studs back. We walked to the theater awkwardly as Kristen positioned herself beside me opposite from Carter. Other than me, everyone else seemed pretty satisfied. Paris and Blake were walking hand in hand, as well as Laken and Blaine.

It was very different for us all to hang out again. Blaine and Kristen barely talked, Paris gave Kristen tons of dirty looks, and Kristen strangely smiled at Carter every once in a while. I kept having the feeling that I was missing something, especially when Carter smiled back.
When we found seats, I ended up being stuck in between Kristen and Carter. Kristen was on the very outside of everyone, and Carter sat between Paris and me. She completely ignored the fact that Kristen was beside me, but I guess she didn’t care. I knew that it was impossible to make her jealous. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe she doesn’t like me.

“Bryce?” I heard from my left side. The movie hadn’t started yet, only the previews, so we were all chatting amongst ourselves.

“What Kristen?” I said looking at her with no emotion.

She looked around nervously for a moment. Sometimes I wished that I could read girls’ minds. Life would be so much easier.

“I’m sorry for like everything I put you through. I know that I was tough to put up with, and stuff, but I’ve recently learned my lesson,” she said quietly.

“Sure you have,” I said sarcastically. A person just doesn’t change in a period of two days.
She sighed. “No, really. Would I really be apologizing without blaming somebody else for at least part of the problem? I’m done being ridiculous.”

“Say I believed you... Why are you telling me this?”

“Well… before you say anything, let me finish. I honestly miss you so much. And I miss Blaine, and Blake, and Laken. I miss hanging out with you, and talking on the phone until the sun came up, and kissing you, and actually having somebody there to understand me. I miss our relationship. I miss us.” I could see the tears start to fall. That is one thing that I hated. I could not ever stand to see a girl cry.

“Kristen… don’t cry. You know I hate to see you cry,” I told her.

“I’m sorry, it’s just that I really hate myself right now. Like I pretty much pushed all of my closest friends away and now I don’t have anybody.” She wiped her face with the sleeves of her jacket.

Carter touched my leg making my jump. “The movie’s starting,” she said.

“Kristen, the movie’s starting, we can talk about this later,” I said trying to turn around. Unexpectedly, she grabbed my face and immediately pressed her lips to my lips. I didn’t know what to do, so I sat there stupidly letting her kiss me.

“Hey Bryce I-” I looked up to see Carter’s eyes as big as ever as she noticed exactly what was going on. She sighed and rolled her eyes before getting up. “I need to go to the restroom,” she said as she made her way down the aisle.

I glared at Kristen because I know she planned that. She came acting like she was sorry about everything, but in reality, she wanted to hurt Carter, or maybe even me. “See what you did?” I practically yelled, gaining stares from people in the movie theater. I didn’t care about them, though. I walked down the aisle quickly and followed Carter to the restroom area.