Lasagna and Zombieland

Five hours passed by and we were still stuck at the same place. We drew many sketches and pieces that we thought represented us but the other person didn't agree with it. Even if we did, something felt missing. Carter had the image that he is some strong bad boy but I pointed out that he had girlfriend issues and he cried when we first ate out. His face turned red in embarrassment and I pulled his cheeks. He snapped my hand and glared at me but I just laughed more. He groaned and went back to his work. I had the image that I am a strong willed person trying to find my place in the world. He said it's nice but it wasn't complete.

"This is hopeless. We have been at this for hours and we are getting nowhere!" He said out loud in frustration and to be honest, it was getting on my nerves as well.

"Look, calm down Gray! Let's stop here for today. We definitely know now what not to do so let's start fresh tomorrow. Does that sound good?" I asked and he sighed in relief.

"Yeah." He said after a moment.

"Carter, Liv, come downstairs! Dinner is ready." My mom called us and we went down, Carter following me. All three of us sat down and my mom served us lasagna.

"Mr. Claire won't be joining us?" Carter asked and I stiffened. I looked at my mom and her hand stopped while she was serving Carter. I quickly took over the question.

"Dad is not in the picture anymore." I said and Carter's eyebrow furrowed in confusion. It's clear he wanted to ask more but he kept quite.

"Oh I am sorry." He said and we all kept eating. It was awkward at first but things became smooth after Carter asked my mom about her work. When we were done, he helped me and my mom with the dishes.

I wouldn't say it was a successful day but atleast it was fun. I learned a lot about Carter. I got to know that his parents fight a lot about silly stuff. He said that they were great when he was little but ever since they co-founded a company together, they have been at each other's throats all the time. Their company is a success but their personal relations have gone downhill. I felt like he is trusting me with so many things about himself so I should tell him about my life too but I feel like there rarely are any listeners and people always like to talk so I refrained from being on of them. Of course the real reason being I don't trust him enough. I don't like telling people about myself. It makes me feel vulnerable and I hate that feeling.

When we were done, I walked with him to his bike and he turned around to look at me.

"Hey I am really sorry I asked about your dad. I didn't know it was a touchy subject." He said with concern in his eyes.

"It's okay. You didn't know." I said awkwardly.

"If you wanna talk about it with someone, I am here." He said politely and I smiled sadly at him. I knew he want me to open up to him but it's not as easy as it sounds. It didn't feel like the right time yet.

"Yeah I know. Thanks! I will see you tomorrow in school." I said and turned around to go back to my place. I know I was being rude but I can't help it. I never liked whenever someone brought up my dad and I just ignored the topic all together.

I went back and my mom was sitting on the sofa waiting for me. She tapped on the space beside her and I gladly sat there leaning over her.

"Peach, it's okay. He is not here anymore. He can't do anything." She said and I nodded slowly.

"I know mom. I hate what happened and whenever someone mentions him, it just reminded me of what he did to you. He just never considered us his family."

"I know Peach, it's okay. Let's watch a movie. It will take your mind off him." She said and put a random episode of Mom on TV. We laughed and saw five episode until it was time for us to go to bed. I didn't get much sleep that night. I kept shuffling and every time I closed my eyes, I saw my dad and I got up, gasping. I didn't know why it bothered me so much. It wasn't like he was a monster or anything but I did hate him. I hated him with every inch of my body and I don't think that feeling will change.

When I woke up next morning, I hardly had any sleep in me and I was very agitated the whole day.

"Dude you look like you are one of those zombies that Jesse Eisenbery shoots in Zombieland." Mia commented when we were taking books out of our lockers for the next class. I gave her a bored look and she chuckled.

"Didn't sleep." I mumbled and leaned on the locker. I was going to black out when someone shrugged me to wake me up.

"So I see you and Carter hooked up." Sofia said and my head whipped towards her.

"Fuck no! Ew." I said and cringed at her.

"I think he is really good looking and from what I am seeing, he is a great kisser as well." She said.

I noticed that she was looking behind me in the hallway. I followed her view and saw Carter shoving his tongue down Carla's throat. Carla is the head cheerleader in our school and she is smokin' hot. Like, getting turned on just by looking at her, hot. And that's me saying. But she has never been in a serious relationship that we heard of and since we are a five member group, we know almost everything. She dumps her present guy when she finds someone new. Judging by what I know about Carter, they seem to be made for each other. Still, I felt this little voice inside me telling me I am jealous of her. I wanted to keep her quiet, I wanted to say she was wrong but then I'd be lying to myself. I like Carter. And even though I wanted to say what Carter was doing was wrong, I couldn't because the kind of relationship Carter wants was exactly what Carla wanted. It was clear as a crystal.

"I guess she got her new boy toy of the week." Emma said pulling me out of my thoughts.

"Boy, what would I give to have a body like her." Ashley said. Mia turned around and gave Ashley a pointed look.

"Excuse me! You have a body like her." It was true. If there's anyone who comes even remotely close to Cara was Ashley. Her long figure and wavy hair made her look like a supermodel. And I am not exaggerating.

"But look at her long legs dude. They look so smooth." She said in a dreamy voice and we all stared at her.

"Yeah I heard myself, shut up!" She said and we laughed at her.

Rest of the classes went as smoothly as they could provided I didn't get enough sleep and the image of Carla's legs wrapped around Carter's waist kept popping up in my head. I thought about asking him to come to the library with me for the project work. I would even ask him about this thing he had with Carla if he is comfortable. It didn't mean anything, I was just curious, I convinced myself.

I couldn't find Carter anywhere after school so I thought I would check out the parking slots. I went outside to call him out but I heard his name being chanted there. I saw people surrounding something constantly saying his name in encouragement. I pushed them away and somehow managed to see what was so interesting. I should have guessed it was a fight. Carter was sitting above a guy from school and was punching him mercilessly. The guy was already covered in blood. I went to Carter and pulled him back. I stood between him and the guy. I saw Mark running towards the crowd and Noah standing behind Carter obviously trying to stop him.

"Noah! Mark! Take this guy to the nurse." Noah nodded and they both held the guy from each side and practically dragged him outside the crowd. When I was satisfied that they would be able to do the work, I turned to face Carter.

"What the hell is wrong with you!?" I asked Carter in frustration. All negative emotions were coming to the surface and I had to take deep breaths to keep my emotions in check.

"That's none of your fucking business. And while we are at it, why don't you stop butting in other people's lives!?" He spat.

Calm down Liv. You can do this. I said to myself.

"Your business!? So I am just supposed to let you beat the shit out of a guy and not do anything like these bunch of losers?" I said and motioned towards the crowd. They were filming the scene and I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, cause you belong there. You are a loser Olivia Claire. You go around pretending to be some tough girl but in reality, you are just as weak as them; even worse. You don't tell people about your problems because you are afraid that they will leave you and betray you one day with all your pathetic little secrets. Well guess what, they should." He said. Yup that's it.

"Well atleast I am not some rich asshole who goes around being a man whore fucking whatever girl that gives him even a little attention. You are so afraid of loneliness, you dump girls before they could because you are terrified of rejection. You have abandonment issues and you go around pointing fingers when you yourself are as broken as others." I said and I saw his face getting red in anger. His chest moved up and down and his nostrils flared. He laughed darkly.

"Maybe this attitude of yours is the reason why your dad is 'not in the picture anymore'. Did you piss him off like this too? You always were a spoiled brat and maybe that chased him away leaving you alone."

"Fuck you Carter. I am not alone. I have my friends and I have my mom. And this is not attitude, this is putting you in your place. You don't know shit about me so you better shut that damn mouth of yours or you will regret it. You might have screwed over girls after girls but I am not one of them, Carter fucking Grayson."

"Yeah? What are you gonna do? Hit me like you did last time? Do your really do that to make your self feel stronger or do you do that to run from things you don't want to deal with?" He said coming closer to me.

"At least it's better than dealing them by hurting people around you. By using them and treating them like objects to satisfy your own revenge against some else." I said and came closer to him as well.

"How dare you!?" He said and took one step towards me.

"Truth sucks, doesn't it?" I said and took one step forward as well.

"Mr. Grayson! I would like to see you in my office right now. Thank you for stopping the fight, Ms. Claire. But you can leave now." Our Principal said but we didn't move and kept staring at each other.

"Mr Grayson! Now!" This time, he shouted. Carter grumbled and pushed the crowd away to follow the Principal.

...........

Okay, things did not go well you guys! Let's see what happens. Will Olivia and Carter find their way back to eachother?