Silent Love [Part 2] Read online

  The moment we were past the doors, I could hear all different kinds of noises. We could either go to our left, down the hallways, or to our right. Just as I was about to ask which way, I noticed a chart right ahead on the wall indicating which way to go. To the left was bowling, go-karts, laser tag, and some trampoline thing. To our right were the arcade, rides (whatever that was), and food.

  “Uh, which way?” I asked looking at Ethan, who stood next to me.

  “Let’s go left first then right afterwards. I mean, we have all day and can do whatever we want ’cause of our passes.” He held up his wrist. I grinned, getting excited thinking about all the fun things we were going to do.

  “Go-karting first it is.” With a wide smile, I grabbed his wrist and tugged him after me in the appropriate direction.

  ***

  “Sucka!” I yelled over my shoulder as I pressed firmly on the gas. My go-kart jerked ahead and passed Ethan’s. Grinning like a maniac, I turned the steering wheel along the course.

  We had been on the go-karts for about an hour now. Because we got the deluxe package, we could do anything for however long we wanted. Thankfully, the place still wasn’t that busy, so we were free to ride around and around the track. Currently we were on our third race against one another and I was winning. The last two, Ethan had won by a second and by cheating. He thought it would be funny knocking against me, so I’d be a jerk, which resulted in me stomping on the breaks. He, of course, only did it when the worker wasn’t looking, so we wouldn’t get in trouble.

  But now it was my turn to win. Instead of being nice on the track, I kept cutting him off. With my foot pressing the gas pedal down all the way, I was speeding around the course with Ethan way behind me. We were heading around our last lap and I couldn’t help but cheer knowing I was going to win this one. Finally!

  I was so focused on driving I didn’t even see Ethan coming up on my butt. I glanced quickly to my side, only to do a double take seeing Ethan right there smirking right back at me.

  “Hey!” I glared over at him. I saw his smirk getting wider, which should have warned me. I could see the bend coming, which worried me even more. Glancing at Ethan one more time, I didn’t even have a chance to open my mouth before he jerked the wheel toward me.

  I saw it coming before I felt it. The side of his go-kart hit mine hard. With no control, I pressed on the brakes and my hands jerked the wheel to the left. My whole vehicle turned in a circle as I braked. I couldn’t find my voice to scream; I only sat there with my mouth wide open.

  Finally, my cart came to a stop, leaving me in the middle of the track gripping the wheel hard. I could hear Ethan laughing as he continued on to the end. It was only a second later a loud screeching noise echoed around us. Confused, I started driving the cart to where we entered. Coming around the corner, I noticed Ethan’s cart sitting there and the attendant worker standing there glaring down at him. Stifling my laughter, I drove up to them. I came to a stop just as Ethan got out of his car.

  “You are not allowed to do that, sir,” the guy was saying as I stumbled to get up. It was slightly hard with heels. “I’m sorry, but you two can’t go on the karts anymore.” My eyes widened as I stared between both him and Ethan. We were dismissed with a hard look.

  Ethan grabbed my arm and led me out of the go-karting area. We passed by a family of five as we left, which made me glad we were done.

  “Great, you got us kicked out,” I said once we had walked some distance.

  “I didn’t!” he shot back at me.

  “Yes, you did. You had to go and knock into me.” I shoved his shoulder playfully.

  “Well I couldn’t let you win.” He bumped into me and sent me a smile.

  “Jerk.” We continued walking away from the track. I wasn’t mad that we got kicked out. We had enough fun there anyways. “So what now?” I asked.

  “Well, if you are hungry, we can grab a snack here, or we can go bowling. There’s also the arcade or laser tag.”

  “You can choose this time. I picked go-karting first.”

  “No, this day is for you. You get to choose.” Knowing he wasn’t going to budge, I decided.

  “Laser tag now, lunch after,” I said.

  “Sounds great.” Once he grabbed my hand, we headed to play laser tag.

  Four hours later I slumped down on a bench that was inside the arcade. I was getting tired of being on my feet for so long. We ended up playing three rounds of laser tag: two by ourselves and the last one with another group of people who happened to be there. That took around two hours itself. Afterward, we got a quick snack here at the arcade before playing one game after another.

  It was now three, and I was getting tired although I was having a blast. The day really had been great, and I was so happy I agreed to let Ethan take me out. It was a much-needed break.

  I think both of us were getting tired of being here, and the place was getting even busier with little kids. It’d started getting packed around two hours ago.

  “Are you ready to go?” Ethan asked, sitting next to me. He held a bucket filled with tickets that we had won. I had both hands filled as well as my pockets, as did Ethan. We got lucky today and won a lot from the games.

  “Yeah, are you?”

  “Definitely, my head is starting to hurt,” he said.

  “Let’s go turn these in and go.” I stood up, offering Ethan a hand that had the least amount of tickets in it.

  We made our way through the little kids running around toward the ticket machine that counted tickets. That of course took us forever because we had too many and had to unravel most of them. When we finally got done, we printed the receipt that said eight hundred tickets. Damn, we did great!

  “Woah, that is a lot,” I said out loud, staring at the amount.

  “All because of me,” Ethan boasted, patting his chest. I shoved him and stuck my tongue out.

  “Yeah, right, it was all my skill.” Before he could return the favor, I turned and headed for the counter. Now the best part…we got to decide what we wanted. With the worker helping out a little kid, Ethan and I had a few minutes to decide on what to spend our tickets on.

  “Man, there are a lot of prizes,” Ethan said, staring at all the things hanging up on the wall and in the cabinets in front of us. All of them were of course cheap and would most likely break in a few minutes, but that never stopped anyone from getting excited about them. Oh, and we couldn’t forget the hard, expired sweets we could get as well. Somehow, they always tasted amazing, even if they were hard as rocks.

  “What are we going to pick?”

  “Well, we can get one big prize or a ton of little ones.” I bit my lip, deep in thought. Times like these made for the hardest decisions. I wasn’t the only one having a hard time choosing; the little kid in front of us kept going back and forth trying to decide on something.

  “How about we split the tickets up? You get four hundred and I get four hundred to use on whatever we want?” I offered.

  “Sounds fair.” He shrugged. About five more minutes passed before the little kid finally decided on something and it was our turn. We gave the guy our ticket stub and told him we were splitting it up between us two. Just as I was about to pick something, Ethan, being the gentleman he was, cut in front of me and started choosing his stuff. I wasn’t even mad, but it didn’t stop me from whacking his back. While Ethan figured out what he wanted, I looked around getting what I wanted in mind before my turn. I didn’t want the poor guy to be standing there all night while I decided.

  Once Ethan was done, I already knew what I wanted. Immediately, I listed them off. The small blue teddy bear that was worth two hundred fifty points, one of those snap-on bracelets, a few fake tattoos, a plastic ring, some stickers, a bouncy ball, and lastly, a handful of Tootsie Rolls—the ones with all the different kinds of flavors. The guy was nice enough to give us each a little bag to hold our stuff. Finally, we left the building holding our treasures.

  When we got to the ca
r, I noticed the parking lot was packed. I was glad we got here when we did. We didn’t have to wait in any of the lines, which was great. Sliding through the passenger door, I put my bag on the floor and held my other bag with my stuff in it on my lap. It didn’t take me long to take a few of the Tootsie Rolls out to eat.

  I was in the middle of eating a delicious lemon one when Ethan threw his bag on my lap as well. I glanced down at it, curious as to what he got. I hadn’t been paying attention to him when he’d chosen. “Oh, what did you get?” I opened the bag to see a matching teddy bear, but his was red. I held it up grinning and turned to Ethan. “We got matching bears!” I held up my blue one.

  “You so copied me!”

  “Did not! I wanted it as soon as we came up to the counter,” I said defensively. “Anyways, I think it is cute. They will make a cute couple.” I gazed down at the two bears.

  “Well, if they are, we have to name them,” Ethan said as he backed out of his spot and drove out of the parking lot. “How about Red and Blue?” I sent him a look.

  “No, those are stupid names. They need to have real ones like Ryan and Bell. The ‘R’ in Ryan stands for red and the ‘B’ in Bell stands for blue.”

  “I like it.” He grinned over at me. I couldn’t help but smile back at him. Placing both bears in my lap, I shifted through the rest of his bag. He basically got the same things I did; I mean, what else could you get at an arcade?

  After I gave Ethan a few of the Tootsie Rolls to eat, we sat in silence. I couldn’t keep the grin off my face. Today had been a great day. I got to spend all of it with Ethan, and we got to do a bunch of cool stuff. I mean, it wasn’t every day you could spend hours go-karting, playing laser tag, and following it all up with a bunch of arcade games. If this was a date, it was a great one. Ethan sure knew how to ask for forgiveness.

  To think I thought this would be a disaster. I ended up having an amazing time with Ethan. Maybe even for a split-second I thought we were out on a real date. It felt like we were boyfriend and girlfriend. Stupid, I know. Instead of being sad that this wasn’t a date, I was insanely happy. Ethan might not feel the same about me, but what he did was super sweet. He made it a day to remember.

  I was jerked out of my thoughts when Ethan stopped the car. I looked around and noticed we were back on campus.

  “I’m sorry, I should have asked if there was anywhere else you wanted to go,” Ethan said, rubbing the back of his neck.

  “No, that is okay. I should probably go do some homework anyways, I didn’t do any yesterday,” I admitted. It was almost four anyway. I bet both Macey and Luke were wondering where we were.

  “You sure? ‘Cause we can go somewhere else.” I looked over at him and sent him a smile.

  “That’s okay. I bet Luke is wondering where you are, and I know you do have homework or studying to do since you were away playing football.” He sighed and nodded. He quickly got out and I followed suit. I stuffed the bears in the bags, not really looking at them and grabbed my purse.

  We quietly walked away from the parking lot and in the direction of the dorms. The silence wasn’t awkward or tense; in fact, it felt very comfortable. It felt nice walking next to Ethan. His hand brushed against mine, causing mine to tingle.

  “Ethan, thank you for taking me out today. I had a lot of fun, even though we got kicked out of the go-karts,” I said, shooting a smile at him.

  “Hey, I didn’t get us kicked out! The guy was just in a bad mood.”

  “The sign said don’t hit other karts! It was on the rule chart.”

  “Sometimes rules are meant to be broken.” He looked down at me. His blue-green eyes held something in them I couldn’t place. He was staring at me with a weird expression, and I felt my body heating up. Ethan definitely had an effect on me, whether he knew it or not. I bit my bottom lip and ducked my head as we continued walking.

  We entered my building, and Ethan followed me up until we reached my door. It was sweet he walked me to my door. I turned around to face him with the door to my back.

  “Thank you.” I glanced at him, wanting him to know I meant it.

  “You are welcome. I am glad you had a fun time.” He smiled softly down at me. “I hope you forgive me now.”

  “Of course. I forgave you earlier, you know,” I pointed out.

  “I wanted to make sure. I don’t like it when you’re mad at me, Carter.”

  “You know I can’t stay mad at you forever.” I nudged his shoulder. He stared at me for a few more seconds, as if he were searching for something.

  “I better let you go and do some homework. I can’t have you falling behind, can I?” He took a step closer to me, and I felt my heartrate speeding up. “Thank you for spending the day with me.” He breathed out, his breath fanning my face. All I could do was nod, my voice caught in my throat.

  He dipped his head and I froze. Was he going to kiss me? Was I going to kiss him back? I watched frozen as his head closed in on mine. But instead of kissing my lips, he brushed his against my cheek. It was light as a feather but still made me weak in the knees. He pulled back with a small smile, his cheeks slightly pink. He kissed my cheek! I mentally screamed.

  “Have a good night, Carter.”

  “Y-you too,” I stuttered out. I could feel the heat coming off of my cheeks. A soft chuckle left his mouth as he took a step back.

  “Goodnight.” He turned and started walking away. I wasn’t thinking straight, and I was using the wall to steady me. If I hadn’t, I would probably be on the floor by now.

  Wait, his bag!

  “Ethan!” I suddenly yelled and pushed off the wall. He stopped and turned around. I found myself walking quickly toward him.

  “Yeah?”

  “Y-you forgot your bag.” I shoved it in his direction.

  “Oh, thank you. Can’t leave Ryan, can I?” He grinned.

  “No, that would be bad parenting.” I stared up at him. Oh, what I would do to kiss him right now. To feel his soft lips pressed against mine. Before I could even think about it, I was raising up on my toes. My lips pressed against his stubbly cheek. Once I was back on my feet, I realized what I just did. I just kissed Ethan on the cheek!

  “Uh, I, um, goodnight, Ethan.” With that, I turned and almost ran back to my door, my cheeks flaming. I didn’t even glance back, fearing that he would be standing there with a grossed-out expression. I threw open my door and slammed it shut behind me, pressing my back against it.

  I couldn’t believe I just did that. I hadn’t even thought about it fully before I was pressing my lips to his cheek. It isn’t a big deal. It isn’t like you kissed him on the lips, my inner voice explained. That was true; it could be worse. I could have kissed him and humiliated myself.

  Taking a few deep breaths to calm myself, I was finally able to move away from the door. As I got more into the apartment, I noticed Macey wasn’t here. The TV was off, and no sounds were coming from the bathroom or her room. I wondered where she went. Not really thinking about it, my mind was still focused on Ethan. I headed to my room.

  A smile was plastered onto my face and there was no way it was coming off. Going into my room, I set my purse down as well as my bag. Just as I was turning to take off my shoes, something red caught my eye.

  Frowning, I went back to my bed and opened the bag. Inside sat Ryan the red teddy bear. Ethan’s bear. My eyes widened as I grabbed it. I must have accidentally put it in my bag and put mine in his. For a split second I thought about calling Ethan to tell him I had his bear, but it left my mind the second it appeared. No, I was keeping it. He would have the bear I picked out and I would have his. It was like I had a small piece of Ethan here with me.

  Almost squealing like a little school girl, I set the red bear on my bed near my pillow. Still grinning like a fool, I turned and headed out of my room to grab a cup of water. Just as I was filling it up, I heard my cell phone ringing in my bedroom. Thinking it was Ethan or even Macey, I set my cup down and practically ran to my bedroom. And
mind you, I was still in heels.

  I made it to my room in record time, not wanting it to go to voicemail. I threw myself against my bed and ripped open my bag for my cell phone. Seeing it right then, I grabbed it and swiped the answer button, not even glancing at the caller name.

  “Hello?” I said breathlessly.

  “Carter!” the person on the other end of the line yelled my name.

  “Dylan?”

  “Carter! Come quickly…it is Gage.”

  Chapter Four

  It felt like my entire body was doused in ice-cold water. I could hear Dylan yelling through the phone, but it was coming out all muffled. My mind wasn’t working as I stood still in the middle of my bedroom. My hand was clenching my phone so tightly I was afraid it would snap.

  “Carter! Carter!” Realizing that it was still Dylan yelling my name, I tried to snap out of it.

  “Y-yes?” I stuttered out.

  “You need to come over. There’s a lot of blood and I don’t know what to do.” I could clearly hear the panic in his voice.

  “I’ll be there in just a minute. Make sure to have the first aid kit out,” I said before hanging up. I could feel myself shaking and my mind was racing. I had to hurry. The only thought I had at the moment was to get to Gage and make sure he was okay. With that, I scrambled around my room grabbing my bag, my phone, and running to the bathroom to get our first aid kit. If it was as bad as Dylan made it out to be, I’d need both.

  Making sure I had everything I needed, I snatched my keys up from the counter and ran out the door. All I could keep picturing was Gage lying on the ground with blood pooling out of him. As soon as I left my building, I hightailed it to Dylan and Gage’s dorm building. Thankfully, not many people were out, so I was free to run without dodging people. I might have looked like a crazy person running across campus, but I could not care less.