by M. R. Joseph
The guys who were around her gave Carter a dirty look when she waved to them and said she would see them later.
Carter and Casey waded their way through the salty, clear waters in search of one of the sea's treasures. The sun was setting and it cast an orange glow on the water and on Casey's bronzed skin.
"Oh look, Car! I found one." She exclaimed.
Casey bent down and dug it out from the sand. She held it up for him to see. It was the size of a silver dollar. She smiled up at him.
"I can't believe it! My first sand dollar. I'm keeping this forever. Thank you for suggesting we look for them." He grabbed it from her and held it up against the Florida sunset.
"Great thing about sand dollars is you can keep them forever. You can dry them out with bleach and keep them on display. As long as you don't handle them often, they will preserve and will always be with you."
She stopped walking and he didn't realize she did. When he discovered her absence from his side, he turned to find her with her hands perched on her hips.
He chuckled at her. "What?"
"Your vast knowledge of sand dollars is quite impressive Carter London. What else is there that I don't know about you?"
He walked towards her and took off his sunglasses to look directly at her and handed her the sand dollar. "Well, that's for me to know and you to find out. That's what friends do. They find more and more about each other everyday but for now I think I will forever name this beach Carter and Casey's Sand Dollar Beach of Friendship."
"I like that. It's our beach. Our sanctuary. Always."
~~~~
Casey hesitated for a moment before texting him back.
fine. I'll meet u at 7:30. Be prepared for sand dollar hunting:)
That was exactly the answer Carter was looking for. Casey put her phone on silent and mentally began to psyche herself up for her evening at the beach with Carter.
Carter began preparing as well. He was almost 100% sure that Casey was affected by his presence last night and he was just shirtless with oven mitts on. Was that sexy to her? He pondered that one and gave himself a mental high five.
He had to try to make it count today. He went into town and got a haircut, new cologne, and a new suit. He went for a five mile run and did about fifty reps of arm curls with Casey's little five pound weights, so he could puff his arms out when she saw him on the beach. He figured she usually ate dinner when she got home so instead he packed a light picnic dinner for them. He was ready for her but the question at hand was if Casey was prepared for Carter.
As 6:45 approached on the clock, Casey became very nervous. She could feel the perspiration gathering on the back of her neck. She fiddled with some of her final paperwork. When 7 p.m. came she ran down to her car and grabbed her beach bag that she always had packed in her car. She ran back up to the E.R. and changed in the nurses' bathroom.She slipped into her coral bikini and her brown cotton sundress. She took her hair out of her makeshift bun and fluffed out her waves. She popped on some lipgloss and slipped out of the restroom. When she rounded the corner towards the nurses station to tell her supervisor she was leaving, leaning against it talking to one of the doctors was Jordan. He stood up straight and slowly made his way over to her. He flashed his big, perfect smile at her.
"Well, look at my beautiful girl looking nothing less than gorgeous. Where are you off to my darling?" Casey froze and tried her best not to show Jordan that she was shocked and somewhat disappointed at his surprise appearance. She smiled at him as he leaned in to brush her cheek with a soft kiss.
"What are you doing here? I thought you said you would be in meetings til nine tonight?"
"They ended early and I decided to surprise my favorite girl and take her to a nice dinner. You still didn't answer my question though? Looks like you have your suit on. Were you going to take a swim?" The question was as simple as the answer, but for some unknown reason she had difficulty telling him the answer. What was the big deal? Jordan knew Casey and Carter were best friends and that they hadn't seen each other in a long time, so it wouldn't be out of the ordinary for the two of them to meet up and go for a swim. Jordan knew what their relationship was.
"I was meeting Carter at Redington Beach to go for a quick swim. He hasn't been to the beach since he's been back."
"Oh. OK, baby. I understand. I just figured we haven't spent any me and you time since I came back but I also know you and Carter haven't either. We can do it another night. I just missed you." He gave her a tight lipped grin and those big brown eyes of his sparkled. She loved Jordan. She thought she really did but the Rock Star God waiting for her at the beach seemed to infringe upon her decision making. Casey knew she should go to dinner with her boyfriend but to leave Carter in the dust at the beach made her stomach clench.
"I can cancel, Jordan. We can go to the beach tomorrow night. Besides he will be here for a few more weeks and we will have plenty of time to go to the beach. Let's go to dinner." He cocked his eye at her for reassurance.
"Baby, are you sure? I'd hate for you to do that to Carter." He grabbed her shoulders gently and looked into her eyes.
"Yes. I'm sure." She lied. " He will be fine. He'll probably meet up with Tommy and Jake for a few beers. No biggie. Come on. I'll shoot him a text from the car." He pulled her into his arms and gave her a heartfelt hug. They made their way out of the E.R. doors and into the heat of the evening. When Jordan made sure she was in her car safely, he made his way back to his and they settled on going to local little Italian place not far from the hospital.
Casey stared at her phone and ran her fingers over the keys. She contemplated what to text to Carter. She was always honest with him. So why did she feel so bad for saying she was going to dinner with her boyfriend instead. Jordan was her boyfriend. Carter was just her friend. She took a deep breath in and began punching in the words.
Car sorry but I have 2 cancel. Jordan surprised me @ work n wants 2 take me 2 dinner. raincheck?
She pressed send and waited.
Down at the beach, Carter laid out a nice quilt out for them and began setting up the dishes he had packed for their dinner. He had some Coronas chilled and fresh fruit sitting in the center of the blanket. He felt his phone buzz in his pocket and got anxious when he saw it was a text from Casey. The words he saw burned him like fire and a sharp pang of pain was felt in his heart. Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! She wasn't coming. His plan failed or Jordan Reid sabotaged it. Damn him to Holy Hell. He sat down on the quilt.He held the phone for several minutes before saying, "Oh fuck it."
no problem sweetface. maybe aquarium with Haley Friday morning?
He waited for her reply and it came quick, as though she was hanging on, waiting to see what his next words would be.
i'd love 2. Beach next week. I promise. see u at home later. sorry Car. xx
He looked down at the message and threw the phone on the quilt. He looked out into the sparkling gulf and wished things were different. He wouldn't give up this time. Carter was not through with making Casey his.
When Casey got home from dinner she was surprised to see that Carter was in bed. She crept towards his bedroom door and heard his snoring coming from his room. She went back down to the kitchen for a bottle of water and when she opened it she saw the picnic cooler inside. She took it out and opened it. He had packed her favorite chicken salad, fresh fruit, and chocolate cheesecake. Damn him. It was all her favorites. Casey closed the refrigerator and leaned her back against it and sighed. She decided that for the next week she needed to focus on work, Jordan, his parents' dinner party, and the reunion next weekend. She needed a mental break when it came to Carter London.
The next morning Casey followed her normal routine except she left a note to Carter.
Car-
Sorry again about last night. We will do it again. Thank you for the dinner. I'm taking it for lunch. I know you have rehearsal tonight so I will talk to you later. Looking forward to the Aquarium with my little girlfriend tomorrow morning. Hope yo
u have a great day.
XX-
Case
When Carter woke up he read the note and crumpled it against his chest. He let out a big sigh and decided to sulk in the house until Luminosity's rehearsal. They needed to go over the song set for the reunion. They were going to play a few songs. Luminosity were the most famous alumni to come out of Bayshore. There was no way they couldn't perform for the people who helped them rise to success. They were meeting at Jake's girlfriend Chloe's house. Jake had his drums sent to the house. Tommy had his guitar and Carter brought his from Casey's house. When he walked into the garage, Jake was sitting at his drums and Tommy was no where to be found.
"Where's Lingetti?" Carter asked.
Jake shrugged his shoulders.
"I have no idea, man. He called me a little while ago and told me he would be late. He didn't say why. Did you see the fucking hotel he's staying at? Seedy if you ask me."
Carter sat down on a beach chair that was placed on the garage floor.
"Fuck! Why didn't he just take you and Chloe up on your offer to stay here?"
"You know him, Lond. He likes his own space."
A few moments later a cab pulled up in front of Chloe's house and Tommy hopped out of it and ran up towards the garage doors. His clothes were mismatched and looked dingy. Nothing too out of the ordinary for Tommy but his mannerisms are what caught Jake and Carter off guard. He was sweating and a bit shaky.
"Yo guys, sorry I'm late. I had some stuff to do and it ran a little late. So let's go. I have some songs in mind and I want to ask what you think."
Tommy was pacing in front of the drums and kept twitching his face and cracking his neck. He wiped sweat from his brow and started running his lips back and forth with his teeth. Jake and Carter looked at each other and bowed their heads. Carter had seen this face before on Tommy. He knew he was high. Carter didn't hesitate. He came right out and asked him. "You high Tom?"
Tommy shook his head a chuckled.
"Just a little weed, man. Nothing to get your panties in a bunch about."
Carter didn't want to dismiss it but he did anyway.
"Fine. So we decided on five songs correct? We can't play all night. We have to enjoy ourselves too at this reunion."
Tommy and Jake nodded in agreement and they went over the song list. Tommy appeared to be all over the place. Disagreeing with all of Carter and Jake's suggestions. He wanted to play all the new stuff and the others wanted to mix it up. He was being extremely unreasonable and Carter and Jake were frustrated.
"Christ Tom, some people won't recognize the new stuff right off the bat and I think we need to showcase some cover songs. If they want to hear the new stuff they can buy a fucking ticket and go a concert once we make our way back down here."
"Whatever, Lond. Your obviously the ring leader here and you know how it goes. Carter knows best." Tommy said it sarcastically and it was ignored but not appreciated by Carter.
"Let's just rehearse this shit so I can go home and go to bed." Carter said rubbing his eyes.
" Oh right. I wouldn't want to keep you from the one that got away. Right? You fuck that tight piece of ass yet? I bet your just waiting to steal her from that rich prick aren't you? Man, oh man, I would have made her scream my name and come a dozen times if I were you. That's got to be some fine pussy, Lond."
Carter threw down is guitar and stalked over to Tommy. Jake jumped down from his drums to stand beside them in case havoc was about to erupt. Their noses were touching and Tommy's eyes were squaring off of Carter's. He bounced up and down just looking for a fight but Carter remained as cool as he could without resorting to punching Tommy's fucking lights out. He took a few cleansing breaths.
"I'm going to tell you this once and only once, Lingetti. You will NEVER ever talk about Casey that way again. You understand me? If not, then we are going to have a big fucking problem, my brother. Now, I suggest we finish this shit up and you go back to your hotel and sort yourself out. Next time I see you, you better be clear headed and curb your mouth especially where Casey is concerned."
Tommy stepped away from him. He got his guitar, put it in it's case and swung it over his shoulder.
"My, my, Carter. Aren't you just the knight in shining amour. I'm out. See ya later."
Tommy stalked out of the garage and into the street and began walking. Carter rolled his eyes.
"Tommy, come back." Jake yelled to him.
"Just let his sorry ass go, Jake. We did enough rehearsing. It's not like we haven't performed what we picked for our set dozens of times."
"Lond, I just don't know who he is anymore? It's like he's a different person. You don't think it's more than weed with him again, do you?"
Yes. Carter knew it was more because of what he witnessed at Beach Bums. He swore he wasn't going to get Tommy out of another mess again. He was a twenty-eight year old man who had to deal with shit on his own. Carter couldn't be his keeper forever.
"Nah, man. He probably had too many Red Bulls. It's just weed."
Carter and Tommy talked and played for a little while longer. Carter glanced at his watch and saw it was well past ten. He packed up his stuff and Jake gave him a ride back to Casey's. When they got to the front of her townhouse they saw Lyla walking into her house with Tommy. They both looked at each other puzzled. They didn't see them pull up but Tommy's hand was on the small of Lyla's back and she stepped into her house with Tommy following behind.
"Oh man. Here we go again, Lond."
Carter laughed. "Well we all know they haven't ever been able to get over each other. No matter how much ass Tommy gets, he would always talk about Lyla and how he could never shake her. Guess some things you just can't get over." Jake turned to him.
"You talking from experience, Lond?"
Carter laughed and opened the car door.
"Thanks for the ride, Jakers. Talk to you tomorrow."
He started walking towards the house when he noticed the shiny black Range Rover in Casey's driveway. Fuck! He had a feeling it was Jordan's. He silently prayed that they were asleep and he wasn't going to walk into anything that would make him turn right around again. He used his key and silently crept inside. It was dark except for the kitchen light. He didn't hear anything so he locked up. He tip-toed past Casey's room and felt a sense of relief when it was clear that they were sleeping. Carter went into his room and slipped off his clothes. He crawled into bed in his boxers and laid his head down. He was exhausted. As soon as he closed his eyes, he heard sounds coming from Casey's room.
"Oh, sweet Christ, Jordan. Don't stop. Oh Please!"
Carter pulled his pillow over his face and screamed into it. The sounds stopped and he thanked the heavens. Suddenly he heard Jordan.
"Oh God, Casey. You feel so good, baby. Yea, that's it."
Fuck those thin walls. He was not staying to hear the climatic conclusion. Carter put on a t-shirt and grabbed a pillow from his bed. He stalked downstairs to the office. He closed the door, put on his headphones to further drown out the sounds of another man taking his woman to pleasure town. He laid down on the uncomfortable chair and ottoman and drifted into a dismal sleep.
The next morning, Casey ran around the house searching for Carter. She yelled his name frantically.
"Casey, calm down. I'm sure he came home honey." Jordan said softly.
"Jordan, he would have called me if he wasn't coming home. I'm scared. He has always called."
" Your not his mom, honey.He's a grown man. Maybe he went out with the guys after rehearsal and he crashed at one of their places." He placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder which she shrugged away in disgust. He just didn't get it.
She walked past the living room and noticed the office door was closed. She closed her eyes and prayed that Carter was in there. She slowly opened the door with Jordan behind her. Carter was half hanging off the chair with one leg on the ottoman and the other hanging on the floor. His arms were sprayed above his head and his earphones were haphazardly h
anging off his head. Jordan peered over her shoulder to look in.
"Why does he have earphones on? They're not attached to anything."
Casey bit down on her lip and backed out of the room and shut the door quietly. She didn't answer Jordan. She went into the kitchen to start a pot of coffee. Jordan turned to her.
"I got to go, baby, but the limo will pick you guys up at 6:30 ok?" He leaned in and kissed her forehead. He grabbed his briefcase and headed out the door.
"Earphones?" She asked herself. She poured two mugs of coffee and brought one to the office. She walked in and stuck the mug under Carter's nose. He slowly opened his eyes to see an angel with fresh coffee in front of him.
"Yo." He said as he yawned and stretched and proceeded to fall off the chair in the process.
"Oh, shit!" Casey laughed and he looked up at her and he laughed along with her. "I'm not even going to ask why you are sleeping in here. Take your coffee. I'm going to shower. What time do we have to pick up Haley?"
Carter sat up and took his coffee. "Nine-thirty. Thanks for the coffee." He took a sip, scratched his morning stubble, and smiled up at her. He never gave her a reason why he slept in the office. What did it matter anyway?Casey made her way upstairs to shower.
An hour later, they made their way to Clearwater to pick up Haley and take her to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. When they got to Domenic and Eva's house they saw Haley standing at the front door waiting for them. They noticed she began jumping up and down when she saw the car pull up. Carter and Casey looked at each other and laughed. Carter put the car in park and Casey jumped out and ran to the front door. Eva let Haley through the door and she flew right into Casey's arms. She twirled her and her blonde locks around.
"Auntie Case!" She yelled.
"I missed you, girlfriend! You ready to go see the fishes?"
"Yep. Mommy says I have to be a good girl for you and Uncky Car."
"That's right and if you are, Uncky Car will buy you a present. That means no potty accidents ok?" Carter put a hand on her head and winked at her.
"Ok, Uncky."
Casey released Haley and hugged Eva. She handed Carter Haley's little princess back pack with a change of clothes and a sippy cup.