Sincerely, Carter (8 page)

“I don’t. Ari can drive.”

“Ari?” Josh’s eyes widened. “Arizona
Ari
?”

“Is there another Ari we both know?” I looked at him. “Yes, that Ari.”

“Dude, you’ve never let me drive your car.”

“What’s your point?”

“Ari is a girl.”

“And you’re a boy. Now that we’ve established what genders are, are we done here?”

“My point is, why does Arizona get to drive your car when I, your male best friend—best friend since junior year of high school—has to beg you to let me throw a goddamn house party …in a house we both practically share no less?”

I shook my head. Once a month, like clockwork, Josh brought up something about Arizona. Like a little child, he would ask why her and not him.

“You’re not going to answer me?” Josh shook his head. “And you seriously have to wonder why everyone that comes around thinks you two are fucking?”

“First of all,” I said, annoyed, “I don’t give a damn what anyone else thinks. Even if we were fucking—which we’re not, it wouldn’t be anyone’s business. Second of all, my car is a stick shift, and I would be more than happy to let you drive it if you knew how to drive one, but you don’t. Do you?”

“Oh yeah…” He tried to save face. “Right. I forgot…Ari can definitely drive tomorrow. I have no issues with this at all. Glad we could have this discussion.”

“Likewise. I want the eight hundred dollars a week before the party.” I said goodbye to him and his friends, and returned to my room.

I opened my drapes and looked out at the ocean, at the people who were taking a late night stroll along the beach. Remembering that I was supposed to call Ari’s friend Tina for sex later, I pulled out my phone and saw a message from Arizona herself.

“Get ready to eat crow! The Chris guy (Told you there was a spark!) is taking me out to the movies tonight. Take that!”

“You’re just supposed to have sex with him, Ari. Not go on a date. (Not eating crow)”

“Yes, well…Some of us NORMAL people like to get to know someone first before having sex! Sorry we’re not moving as fast as you and Tina are.”

“Me and Tina haven’t had sex yet.”

“Having problems getting it up?”

“Having problems getting across the bridge at rush hour.”

“Well, I’m sure you’ll succeed tomorrow. Meet up for waffles after my date? Ten-ish?”

“Eleven-ish.”

“Great. See you there.”

Track 5. Sparks Fly (3:23)

Subject: Tina.

Want to know what she’s saying about you behind your back?

—Ari

Subject: Re: Tina

No, but I would like you to hurry the hell up and get out here so we can get this over with. I thought you got off at noon today? (Why the hell do you still work here anyway? You barely show up and the manager hates you…)

Sincerely,

Carter

Subject: Re: Re: Tina

She’s telling all of her friends that you have one of the filthiest/sexiest mouths she’s ever experienced on the phone, and that she can’t wait until you finally “fuck her brains out.” (I honestly have no idea why I still work here…Give me a second to figure that out.)

Do I really have to drive?

—Ari

Subject: Re: Re: Re: Tina

No comment on any of the Tina shit.

Yes. HURRY UP.

Sincerely,

Carter

I leaned back in the passenger seat of my car—continuing to wait on Ari with Josh and two of his fraternity brothers at the marina. I was hoping today would pass by quickly, as I wasn’t sure if I could deal with the three of them for more than a few hours at a time.

“Did I tell you I started a private cannabis club in my fraternity, Carter?” Josh asked.

“No…” I immediately shot Ari another “Hurry up” email, and looked at him through the rearview mirror. “Did you already smoke too much weed today? It’s kind of early for you, isn’t it?”

“For the record, there’s no such thing as smoking too much weed,” he said. “Back to the topic at hand though, I have made it my personal mission to tell the new seniors that they are not to let my weed dreams die next year and to let my goals live on.”

“Let me get this straight, you’re happy about starting a secret club that promotes an illegal drug? Don’t you want to be a governor? ”

“Okay, first of all, weed is not a drug. It’s an
herb
,” he said defiantly. This shit grows from the ground, just like a goddamn carrot.”

“What about the side effects?” One of his own fraternity brothers countered. “The warnings?”

“What
warnings
? This herb may relax you and make you overwhelmingly calm, peaceful, and happy? Oh, yeah.” He rolled his eyes. “The side effects are practically lethal. Weed cures glaucoma, helps the blind, and the only reason it’s illegal is because the government knows that if they make it legal it’ll be hard to tax because people might attempt to grow their own untaxable stashes in their backyard.”

“Do you really believe this or are you actually high right now?” The other frat brother asked. “I’m honestly starting to worry about you...”

“Ha!” Josh laughed. “Trust me, when I do become governor—after they expunge my record for all the shit I did freshman year, making weed legal in America will be my number one goal.”

“Will cocaine be your number two?” I asked flatly.

“Screw you, Carter. Hear me out…”

I didn’t bother. I shut my eyes and leaned back in my seat.

Never agree to help Josh with a party again. Never again…

“Look…” one of the frat guys whispered. “I would totally fucking hit that.”

“Hell yeah.” The other one laughed. “Easily a twenty out of ten.”

“Nineteen point five…Half a point deducted for the smart ass mouth. I ran into her on our campus once.”

“We’re talking about looks, not attitude.”

“In that case, I’ll round up to fifty…”

The two of them laughed and I opened my eyes to see just who they were talking about, but the only woman I saw—the woman who was walking toward us, was Ari.

Dressed in a pink tank top and jeans, she was mindlessly walking—not a care in the world. Her long brown hair was waving in the wind, and for some reason I couldn’t take my eyes off of her.

Nearly all of the men who were passing her by on the other side of the marina seemed to feel the same. They were doing double takes or staring at her in admiration for several seconds at a time.

“Yep…” one of the guys in the back said as she turned around to yell something over her shoulder. “And I would definitely hit it from the back.”

Normally, I would’ve told him to shut the hell up, but my mind was currently perplexed by Ari—wondering why I’d never given her much of a second glance before today. Even in fourth grade (metal mouth included), I’d always thought she was cute—pretty even, but the woman walking toward us was more than that. Much more than that…

In fact, the closer she got, the more her features stood out in the sunlight: Plump and perfect lips, almond shaped eyes in a light hue of hazel, and a smile that was driving her backseat admirers somewhat insane.

What the fuck…

When she finally made it to the car, she tugged on her door’s handle and groaned. “Really, Josh? I know this was you. Are you doing this to make a point?”

“Yeah,” he said, leaning forward and unlocking the door. “You don’t keep grown men waiting for you and if you say that you get off at noon, then you better make sure you get off at noon.”

She rolled her eyes and slid behind the driver’s seat, ignoring him as usual. “Since we’re the only adults in the car…” she said to me as she cranked the engine. “Um…Hello? Why are you looking at me like that? Is there something on my face?”

“No…” I turned away and faced the windshield. “I was just thinking.”

“About what?” She sounded concerned.

“I’ll tell you later.”

“You sure? You look really—”

“Um, hello?” Josh cut her off. “I hate to interrupt this daily episode of BFFs and their daily lives bullshit, but we have some party stuff to pick up.”

“Whatever.” She slowly pulled away. “Did I tell you that Carter is helping me to get laid before I leave for culinary school?” she said, smiling a perfect white smile in my direction. “He’s a
real
friend. Unlike someone I know.”

“I didn’t grow up with you for over half my life, okay? I don’t owe you anything. And as a matter of fact—”

I tuned out their voices. The two of them could argue for hours about absolutely nothing just because they wanted to. They always, thankfully, left me out of it for the most part.

And right now, I was more grateful than ever for their argumentative distraction.

I turned to my left to look at Ari again, hoping that the past few minutes were a mistake—that I was in the middle of a strange daydream. That there was no way I could be
this
attracted to her right now—no way I could want to tell her to pull over so I could taste her lips. Both sets of them.

The thoughts that were crossing my mind—ripping off that tank top—pulling off jeans shorts and spreading her across the top of my hood needed to be erased as soon as possible…

Holy fucking shit….

Track 6. Breathless (3:49)

I pulled over at a gas station and bit my tongue to prevent myself from screaming. I wasn’t sure how many more runs I could make with Josh and his frat brothers in the backseat, and if I heard him complain about my driving or heard the word “tiki torch” one more time, I was going to lose my mind.

I wasn’t sure why Josh’s fraternity was even attempting to throw another party. Granted, he knew how to throw a really good party, but he also knew how to break every rule in the book: Last year’s “Unforgettable” themed party ended with half of the attendees running from the cops. The year before that—the “Legendary Experience,” ended in a backyard fire, and I didn’t want to even think about what he had on his mind for this year’s “EPIC” event.

I shut the car off as soon as I put it in park and immediately got out, rushing inside the store to cool off. Literally.

Humming, I walked down the aisles and grabbed a bunch of junk since we still had quite a few trips to make. Twizzlers, Cheetos, and a couple of soft drinks for good measure.

Never agree to help Josh with a party again. Never again…

You want anything from inside?

I texted Carter.

Gatorade.

What flavor?

Surprise me.

I grabbed a blue one and walked to the register, setting down my collection. I waited for the attendant to turn around and ring me up, but she didn’t even look at me.

Her gaze was literally fixed on whatever was going on outside and she was mumbling to herself. “Oh my god…He is so perfect.”

I cleared my throat to get her attention. Nothing.

I coughed a few times, even throwing in an “Excuse me?” but I got nothing.

Her manager, another woman, came through a back door and I expected her to say something to me, or at least be kind enough to ring up my stuff, but she joined the attendant’s gaze fest instead.

“Jesus…” she said, making me finally turn around and look at whatever they were gawking at.

I knew it wasn’t Josh. He was on the phone yelling about something that sounded like Jell-O. His fraternity brothers were laughing about something and pumping the gas. They were cute, but nothing drool-worthy, nothing gawk-worthy.

I tapped my chest, preparing to clear my throat again so I could get out of their self-imposed Twilight-Zone, but my eyes suddenly latched onto Carter.

I’d seen him shirtless a million times before, seen his blue eyes gleam in the sunlight many times more, but I’d never felt the slightest bit of attraction. Until now…

And at that moment, it wasn’t “slight” at all…

With his six pack on full display, he was leaning against a different pump—looking off into the distance as beads of sweat trickled down his chest. He was flashing that charming smile he always used on an admirer across from him, but it was working on me from all the way over here.

He ran his hands through his jet black hair and I suddenly envisioned myself helping him with that, envisioned myself running my hands across his abs and lower—down to his perfectly defined “V” that trailed down to—