Chapter 20: Hope (Carter's POV) "Come on, come on, come on!" I grabbed her hand and tugged towards the school exit. It was now Friday. Because I've been walking her to school and back every day, I still wanted to do it, but to set up our little date, I had to be home early. She was standing at her locker, talking to Hannah with some of her books in her hands. "Why are we rushing?" she asked while walking with me anyway. "Because I have to get home," I answered. "Why?" she asked. "To set up our date." I gave her a pointed look. "Why?" "If I don't set it up, who will?" "Why?" she laughed. "You think you're so funny," I narrowed my eyes at her. "I know I am, ouch," she laughed when I poked her sides. "I just show up at eight?" she asked, linking her arm with mine. "I will come get you at eight," I replied. "Oki-doke," she said as we approached her house. "Oki-doke," I chuckled, "Bye." "Bye," she smiled before going into her house. I continued walking home and then went straight up to my room once I got there. I tossed my bag aside and sighed. Let's set up. ◆:*:◇:*:◆:*:◇:*:◆ I stood up with a sigh while crawling out. "Please don't fall apart again," I whispered under my breath. It seemed to listen because it didn't. Obviously, I wasn't just going to call her to my room and we played games, what the hell kind of a date would that be? So I set up a fort. And added those little twinkling lights- what are they? Fairy lights! Because she liked them. I set up pillows, blankets, snacks, put my laptop in there so we could watch a movie later if she wanted. I went and changed before crawling back inside and sitting there, staring at what I just did. I could not believe I put in so much an effort for a girl, the kind of effort I've never put in before. It seemed to click in me a few days ago that I liked her. I knew it, but I didn't really admit it to myself and just disagreed with it, blowing it off. But now that I was sitting here, looking at how foreign the feeling of wanting to please someone the way I want to please her was. I knew that I liked her. I really liked her. I caught feelings for her. And all I can do is hope. Hope that she feels the same. Cause otherwise, this will be awkward. I stepped back out and pulled on my slides before grabbing my keys and going downstairs. I walked over to her house, suddenly very very aware of how I felt. What do I do tonight? Do I act on it? Do I tell her? Do I just sit there and let her figure it out on her own? I don't know! I dialed her number while standing in front of the door but she wasn't picking up. So I rang the doorbell. Despite knowing her mom doesn't want her to see me. And my luck, she's the one who opened the door. "Can I help you?" she asked. "I'm here to pick up Alex," I said. "Alex isn't home," she said. I stepped back and looked up. The light in her room was on and as I stood there, her head appeared moments later. She was dancing and lip-syncing to music. "Yeah, she is," I nodded, turning back to her mom, biting back a smile. Before her mom could say anything, Alex looked down, her eyes widening. She quickly grabbed her stuff before the light to her room turned off. "It's for me! I called him, I called him, I called him!" she exclaimed while running down the stairs. "Where are you going?" her mom asked. "Out. Bye!" she said before running over to me and grabbing my hand, making me run with her. "Why are we running?" I asked. "I don't know," she shrugged before slowing down till we were simply walking. "You're insane, she wasn't going to grab you and lock you in like Rapunzel," I laughed. "Yeah, but she was going to slam that door in your face," she shrugged. "Then I would have made you climb through the window," I shrugged back. "Yeah, no thanks," she replied. We entered my house and my dad wasn't home yet, so I was just praying he doesn't walk into my room mid-date. I let her lead the way but stopped her before she could open the door. "What?" she asked. I put one hand over her eyes before opening the door with the other. "Are you kidding?" she laughed while putting her hand over mine, trying to throw mine off. "Uh- no. The least we can do is act like this is a surprise date," I whispered. "Okay," she chuckled, stepping around cautiously. "Alex, you're not walking on mines. I cleared the way for you," I laughed. She continued walking cautiously anyway until I pulled her to a halt. "Are you ready?" I sang. "To see your room that I've seen before? Yeah," she laughed. "Idiot," I mumbled before taking my hand off her eyes. She turned to me in confusion. "I'm not the surprise, Alex," I rolled my eyes, spinning her around to look at the room. She froze and looked at it, staring. She looked captivated and almost mesmerized. "You did this?" she asked, her voice coming out in an adorable squeak. "Yeah. No big deal," I shrugged it off, scratching the back of my head. Awkward habit. My mom used to smack my hand off every time I did it. "What do you mean 'no big deal?' How long did this take?" she questioned while stepping closer and looking around. "Not too long," I shrugged. It took a little over two hours. I forgot how hard building forts was. She turned to me. "This took you over an hour. Didn't it?" she asked knowingly. "Maybe. But to be fair, you said nothing fancy and no spending too much money and I didn't," I shrugged. "No, you just spent a lot of time on it," she sighed. "I think it was worth it," I said. "Did you get help? With the lights?" she smirked. "Nope. All me," I grinned. "Okay! What's first?" I asked while grabbing all the board games I could find. There was scrabble, monopoly which nobody finishes ever. I even had snakes and ladders. There was Uno, Pictionary, Clue, Chess which I don't think she knows how to play and some other stuff. "Uno! Cause I always win," she grinned. "You're not winning tonight," I said while going into the fort, she followed me in and we sat down before starting the game. We played three rounds of Uno and she won. Every single time. "How do you do that?" I huffed. "I don't know, it's my luck," she shrugged while snacking on gummy bears. "Are you hungry? I can order in," I chuckled. "No, I am good with having all the red ones," she said while looking for more in the bowl. "Don't have them all," I whined. "Did you know the green gummy bears are actually strawberry flavored," she said. "What's the red one then?" "Raspberry," she answered. What? We played all the board games, packing up monopoly about ten minutes into it because it always takes too damn long. "Do you wanna watch a movie?" I asked. "Sure, which one?" she asked, scooting over and sitting beside me rather than in front of me like she had been for the games. "I don't know, what do you wanna watch?" I asked. We were both sitting against the foot of my bed, leaning against it while staring at my laptop. "I don't know, you pick," she shrugged. "You know I'm not just on a date with myself. You can pick some things too," I said, turning to look at her. I almost shifted back when I realized how close we were, but she hadn't realized it yet. I think. Or if she did, she didn't want to move, so I didn't either. "Yeah, well you've picked everything else, and it seems like you have great taste, you can pick," she shrugged before turning to face me. "Pick a genre, I'll pick the movie?" I asked, clearing my throat and facing the screen. "Horror," she said. My kind of girl. Sorry, I had to say it. We looked through some movies before I clicked play on The Purge. She linked her arm with mine while grabbing a blanket, wrapping herself in it. I looked at her with a smile dancing on my lips. "What? I like being all cuddled up when I'm watching a movie," she shrugged. I shook my head while she rested hers on my shoulder, her eyes on the screen, mine on her. "Imagine if that was real, God," she huffed towards the end of the movie. "Would you make it out alive?" I looked down at her. "I don't know," she mumbled. "Yeah, you would. I'd save you," I smirked. "You would?" she chuckled, looking up at me. I scanned her face before coming to a conclusion. I wanted to kiss her. . . . . . Chapter twenty Next chapter: Besos