by K. A. Hobbs
“Shall I turn out the lights?” he asks.
“Yeah.”
He climbs in next to me and rolls over onto his side to face me. There’s a slither of moonlight coming in through the window and his face is illuminated. He smiles and reaches one hand out to brush away the hair from my face. I feel warm where his fingers touch, and a shiver runs up my spine.
“Do you want to go to sleep?” he whispers.
“I guess so…”
“What do you want?”
“I really want a cuddle.” I laugh nervously.
“Well scoot over then, I won’t bite.” I move closer and he wraps his arm around me, holding my body to his. I take a deep breath and suddenly, I feel myself relax. “This okay?” he asks.
“More than okay.”
When I wake up the next morning Carter isn’t there. I roll over and there’s a note on the bedside table.
I’ve gone for a run, it’s 7.30, I’ll be back at 8.30. Feel free to use the tub. I’ve not taken my key so you’ll have to let me in X
I look at the time, it’s not even eight yet, I have time. I slip out of bed and run the bath, pouring in a generous helping of the vanilla scented bath bubbles sitting next to it. When I sink into the bubbles, I groan.
It’s perfect.
Looking out over London while soaking in the water is the best feeling in the world. I close my eyes and let yesterday run through my head. Today I need to start looking for somewhere to rent, I can’t stay with Mum and Dad. I check the time and it’s nearly eight-thirty, I drag myself out of the bath and get dressed in last night’s clothes. Except for one thing, I cannot wear last night’s knickers so I search the drawers until I find Carter’s boxers, slipping them on just in time as he knocks on the door two seconds later.
“You’re awake, did you take a bath?” he pants as I open the door.
He walks into the room and drags his t-shirt over his head in one move, tossing it to the floor and turning to face me.
Oh. Dear. God.
Standing before me, with his muscles rippling and sweaty, his hair sticking up all over the place and his cheeks pink from his run, he’s more gorgeous than anyone should be allowed to be.
“Yeah…” I mumble.
“Did you sleep okay?”
“Yeah.”
“Are you okay, Carmen?” he smirks.
“Yes, half asleep. I’m going to go.” I tell him slipping my feet into my heels and picking up my bag and jacket. I turn around and smile before heading to the door.
“Thank you for last night.”
“No need to thank me, are you sure you’re okay? As okay as you can be, I mean.”
“Yes, I’m okay. I’m going to go home then I’m going to try and find somewhere to rent, I need to get things sorted before… Well… You know.”
“Can I help?”
“Do you want to?”
“Sure I do. I’ll have a look around too. Can we meet later? Go over what we find?”
“Sounds perfect.” I smile.
“I’ll text you.” he smiles, walking over to kiss my cheek.
“See you later.”
I leave his room and stop just outside, pressing my back to the wall.
What is going on with me right now?
I don’t have time for this.
Snap out of it Carmen, now is not the time to fall for anyone.
Not even Carter.
I spend the morning on the phone to Doug. After chatting with him at the wedding and after talking to Harry who told me Doug helped him find the house he and Megan are buying, I figured he was the best person to ask. He promised not to say anything to anyone so no one will find out until we tell them. Doug seems to be one of those people who are good at everything and it turns out that the apartment that Sophie used to live in is currently vacant. It also happens to be only fifteen minutes from Carmen’s Mum and Dad and a little over half an hour from the hospital. I think it will be perfect for us.
Us.
I’m really not sure how she’s going to take this idea, but I guess I’ll find out soon enough. I find a table in the coffee shop and wait. When she comes in, she spots me and smiles and my heart rate picks up.
Shit, I’m in trouble.
A whole lot of trouble.
“Hey.” she smiles, kissing me on the cheek.
“How’s your day been?” I ask as she sits down.
“Tiring, Mum and Dad are really against me moving out. It’s been exhausting trying to find somewhere and explain to them why it’s important I do this. They don’t want me living alone after the surgery and I don’t want to live with them.”
“I might have a solution.”
I have to admit, I’m a little nervous about showing her what I’ve got in my pocket, but one of us has to think long term and with everything going on in her head right now, it’s not going to be her. I did the responsible and sensible thing and took the time to look around and find somewhere for both of us to rent. I take the piece of paper out of my pocket and hand it to her. Her eyebrows shoot up and she scowls at me.
“What’s this?”
“What does it look like?”
“It looks like the details of a two bedroom flat to rent, Carter, that’s what it looks like.”
“Well you would be right.”
“Why are you showing me details of a two bedroom flat?”
“Well, because we both need somewhere to stay, right? Well I found somewhere.”
“You did, huh?”
“I did, I found us somewhere to rent.”
“As in, together?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“What’s the problem here?” I ask her. “You need somewhere to live, you’re going to need looking after and you won’t stay with your parents. You just said it’s been exhausting, that they’re worried about you living alone when… Well when everything… You know,” I rub my face, a little uncomfortable. “ I found us somewhere we can rent. Two rooms, a nice kitchen and everything we could need. It’s nice Carmen and you agreed I could look, so I looked. I think it’s in our budget, so why is it a problem?”
“Our budget? I didn’t realise there was an ‘our budget’?” she smirks at me.
“Well, there is now. It makes no sense to rent two places, I can’t look after you properly from a different place can I?”
“You’re really serious about this?”
“Completely.”
“You’re going to move here, leave everything behind to look after someone you’ve known less than a week?”
“Yes.”
“I still don’t think you’re real, Carter.” she sighs, looking at the piece of paper in her hand again.
“I’m real, believe me. Just wait till you’re coming home to a home cooked meal and a bath every night, you’ll think this is a good idea then.” I smirk.
“Then let’s go look at this place.”
“We’re not having coffee?”
“No, we’re going to look at the place you seem to think is so perfect for us.”
“You’re going to love it, you know.” I tell her.
“Will I now?”
“Yes, it’s the perfect place for us, plenty of room, light, close to everything we need to be close to.”
“You’ve thought all this through, haven’t you?” she laughs, linking her arm with mine as we walk to her car.
“Absolutely.”
“So… What do you think?” I ask her after five straight minutes of silence.
“It’s… It’s perfect, Carter.”
“Really?”
“Yes, absolutely perfect. How did you find it?”
“Okay, don’t be mad.”
“Carter…”
“I asked Doug.”
“You asked Doug.”
She looks mad.
Damn.
“Yes, he helped Megan and Harry find the house and this is Sophie’s old flat… They rent it out, this is how I found it. He is
n’t going to tell anyone Carmen, he thinks it’s just for me right now.”
“You’re sure he isn’t going to tell anyone?”
“I’m certain.”
“Okay…”
“Okay?”
“Yeah, it’s pretty much perfect. And if you’re sure we can afford it.”
“We’re getting a really good deal… Doug says we’re practically family.”
“I’m beginning to realise why Josie and Megan find him so attractive,” she grins. “Apart from the obvious.”
“The obvious?”
“The fact he is, absolutely gorgeous.”
“Okay, moving on,” I glare at her, walking towards the lounge again. “We can move in whenever we’re ready… It’s vacant. We just need to go and see Doug to sort everything out.”
“So we could be in here before I have my surgery?”
“Yes, if you want to be.”
She looks around and then meets my eyes again and suddenly looks like she’s about to break and before I know what’s happening, she’s sitting on the floor sobbing, her knees pulled to her chest. I sink down onto the floor and just sit there, then I rest one hand on her back and try and soothe her, running my hand up and down her spine until the tears slow down and she turns to look at me.
“How did all this happen? How did I get diagnosed with cancer, come home and meet you? Then, suddenly I have people who want to help me? How did it happen, Carter?”
“I can’t answer those questions, why does anything happen? But I think fate brought us together, fate got your best friends and my brother together because it knew you were going to need a tall, dark, handsome American to look after you.” I joke, hoping she’ll laugh.
She does.
“You’re exactly what I need.”
“So… Are we doing this?”
“We’re doing this.”
“Good,” I grin. “Because I kind of already paid Doug the deposit.” I tell her sheepishly.
She sighs and wipes her eyes.
“Of course you did,” she rolls her eyes. “What if I’d said no?”
“Then I’d go back to Doug and tell him, I needed even more of a good rate because I was going to be living here alone.”
“You sort everything out, don’t you Carter?”
“I try, I’m a born trier.”
“Okay. Well, we’re going to need everything. Like, beds, sofa, everything.”
“I know, exciting isn’t it? And I told Doug, he can take that small ass refrigerator out, if I’m living here, we’re getting a proper one.”
“Whatever,” she laughs standing up. “Get up, we have to go tell my parents.”
“Errr, we?”
“Yes, you found this place so you can be there when I tell them. Something tells me, if I’m living with you, they’ll be okay with me moving out.” she holds her hand out for me.
“Okay then.” I take it and stand.
“I really do mean it, Carter. Thank you.”
Four days later, the flat’s ours and we’re moving in. Admittedly, all we have right now is two blow up beds, pillows and duvets, but it’s ours and that in itself is exciting. After asking my permission, Carter told his parents what the plan is. They’re all due to leave in couple of weeks and since Carter won’t be needing the room at the hotel anymore we can’t not tell them. Soon after Carter told them, his Mum, Hilary, phoned me to invite me out to lunch the following day, and I accepted. When I walked into the busy restaurant she’d chosen, she stood and when I reached her, she wrapped her arms around me and hugged me like my Mum would. I was overwhelmed with emotion and when we both pulled back, our cheeks were wet.
We spent three hours together talking, she told me one of her best friends had been diagnosed last year, that she understood it was so different for me being so young, but that she can remember how her friend felt. She told me she’d be there for me too, whenever I needed to talk and that there was always a place for me at her house when I wanted to visit. I was taken aback by her kindness and her acceptance that Carter wouldn’t be going back with them.
“Carmen, I can see how much he cares for you, sweetheart. If he’s happy, we’re happy. It’s all we want for him, for all our children.”
“But he’s only just met me and we’re not in a relationship, we’re friends.” I told her.
“Right now, yes. But I see a beautiful love blossoming from you both, it will happen when the time is right and not a second before.”
I’m lost in thought when I hear Carter making a noise in one of the bedrooms. I walk towards them and find him dumping shoes onto the floor.
“Are you having this room?” I ask him, walking into the smaller of the two rooms.
“Errr, yeah?” he looks up and frowns. “Did you want it? I thought you’d want the room with the en-suite?”
“Carter Manning, are you for real?” I sigh, walking over and pressing my hand to his forehead. “You’re giving me the better room?”
“I don’t plan on spending a lot of time in here.” he smiles, then realises what he said and frowns. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Where are you planning to be then?”
“Well, follow me.” he takes my hand and walks me down the hall to the lounge.
“I plan to be in here, sitting on the big ass sofa, in front of the huge flat screen TV I plan on buying. It’s nearest to the fridge, which will be stocked with beer.” he grins at me.
“You have it all planned, don’t you?”
“Pretty much. So you know, we really need to go and get furniture.”
“You mean, we need to go buy a big arse sofa and huge flatscreen TV don’t you?”
“And a refrigerator. My beer is warm.”
“We can’t have that now can we?”
An hour later, Carter is sitting back on a sofa in the middle of the shop trying to work out if it’s big enough for what he wants. He sits this way and that, he lays back and then sits up again, then he takes off his shoes and lays completely on top of it. I try my best not to laugh, but it really is funny to watch.
“Come here.”
“What? No thank you, it’s your dream sofa, not mine.”
“Will you please come here, we need to make sure we both fit on it.”
“Carter, it’s huge, we’ll both fit, trust me.”
He stands up and marches himself over to me, picks me up and carries me back to the sofa, depositing me on it then sitting down and pulling me so I’m under his arm, my head resting on his chest.
“Pull your legs up.”
“I feel like an idiot.” I huff, kicking off my boots and doing as he says.
“You’ll feel more of an idiot if we have to sit on it with your legs hanging off because it’s the wrong sized sofa.”
“Carter, I fit. I’m getting up.” he holds on tight and chuckles.
“Does it feel comfy?”
“Yes.”
“Do you like the cushions? Are they comfy enough?”
I get up and put my boots back on. Standing, I glare down at him, he doesn’t even try to stop the shit eating grin spreading across his face as he looks up at me.
“Yes, the cushions are fine. Get up you silly arse!”
“I like the chocolate brown, do you like it in chocolate brown?” he asks me, putting his shoes back on.
“Yeah, kind of reminds me of your eyes.”
I slap my hand over my mouth but it’s too late,
I’ve already said it.
“Does it now?” he grins at me.
“Order the sofa Carter.” I huff, walking over to where there are decorative cushions and throws.
Carter orders the giant L shaped sofa while I fill the basket with pretty blankets and girly cushions. When he comes over and looks into the basket he frowns, picking out a particularly pretty turquoise flowery one.
“What is this?”
“A cushion.”
“But why do we need it? And why do we need this white thing?
” he asks, poking the blanket that I have in there.
“I like cushions and trust me, when you’re watching whatever it is you’re going to be watching and it’s cold, you’ll thank me for getting the fleecy white blanket.”
“I can put a sweater on.”
“Well, I want the fluffy blanket.” I tell him.
“Okay,” he nods. “Are we done here?”
“Yes, we need to go to the electrical department, we need somewhere to chill your beer, right?”
“Yes, I want the biggest refrigerator they have, you English have no idea when it comes to refrigerators.”
“You American’s just have to have everything bigger, don’t you?”
“Well now, how would you know that?” he grins at me.
“You know,” I tell him as we walk over to the escalator. “When you say stuff like that, you sound like your brother.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
“I don’t want to answer that.”
Three hours later, we’ve got everything sorted, my feet hurt and I’m exhausted. The thought of a bubble bath and a chilled out night sounds perfect right about now.
“We’ve ordered the sofa, the TV and the refrigerator. Mum has sorted the beds and Dad is coming to help you with the wardrobes in the week. Can we just go home, order take away and chill now?”
“On what exactly?” Carter laughs.
“Well, we have two blow up beds, how about we push them together? I have movies on the laptop we can watch?”
“Are they all girly films?” he frowns.
“Mostly. But I also have Harry Potter.”
“We’ll watch that,” he grins throwing his arm over my shoulder. “You’re on.”
“If you had to pick, you’d pick Gryffindor every time though.”
“Of course, unless you’re a rebel then you’d pick Slytherin.” he agrees, shoving a handful of popcorn into his mouth.
“No,” I disagree, taking a handful too. “If you want to be a rebel, pick Hufflepuff, no one picks Hufflepuff.”
“That’s because Hufflepuff, suck. Who wants to be called a Puff for damns sake?”
“They have Cedric though.”
“Who dies.”