Sorry I haven't updated in awhile! This story will be ending very soon, so stay tuned :)

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Carter stayed over the rest of the afternoon to hang out. Mostly, we talked about NYU-- what it would be like to live on campus, whether or not we would end up living near each other, what kind of pranks we could get away with. But I'd be lying if we didn't take some breaks to kiss a little, too.

I never realized how much I had really missed him until we were finally together again. It was the initial surprise I felt whenever he leaned over and kissed me and reminded me that I was his, and he was mine, and there was no faking a friendship anymore. Everything was out in the open, and we were moving on. Together.

We were in the middle of one of our little breaks when I pulled my lips away from his and looked into his eyes, breathless from our kissing, and I just searched his eyes with my own. Slowly, a large grin grew on his lips as he searched mine back, and he finally breathed, "What is it, Mina?"

"I'm sorry how I treated you at the beginning of the school year, when I saw you," I tell him, the words escaping my lips without my say-so.

His smile fades a bit as his brow knits together. "Why are you sorry?"

I shrug, pulling away a little so I can look at his whole face, but my hand is still resting on his cheek. "You never meant to hurt me," I murmur softly. "And I thought that was your exact intention. I was pretty brutal to you."

Carter sits up a bit and gives me a stern look. "You didn't know," He says, just as softly, as if he wanted to be as fragile as possible. "It's okay, Amelia."

"I just feel like I wasted so much time," I admit as I look into his eyes. "I wasted so much time hating you when we could've had this again."

And then the concern leaves his face and his familiar smile stretches across his lips again and lights up his eyes. I look at him in confusion as he just grins at me. "We don't have to worry about wasting time anymore, Mina," He says with a slight laugh. "Silly girl, we have all the time in the world together now."

My heart practically exploded in my chest when I hear his words and realize that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with this boy. And as quickly as the realization came, I heard the front door open and close, and I forced myself to practically jump away from him. He chuckled at me as he ran a hand through his hair to get rid of the mess I caused when we were kissing, and I straightened out my shirt to make it less obvious what we had just been doing.

But still, I had a stupidly wide smile stretched across my lips that I knew I wouldn't be able to get rid of. Seconds later, I heard footsteps approaching, and as I turn to see my mom walking into the room, I hear another car pull up outside. I glance out the curtains and see my father's car parked in the driveway, and the drivers side door opens to reveal the man himself.

Instantly, I feel myself stiffen, and my gaze shifts to my mom. "Hi honey," She greets tentatively, and then looks at Carter. "Carter, dear, do you mind giving us a moment?"

Carter takes the cue and hops up. "I should be getting home anyway," He says with a smile. "It was nice seeing you." Then he looks at me and tosses me a playful wink. "I'll talk to you later, Mina."

His playful attitude was enough to calm my nerves a bit, and I even allow myself a smile. "I'll call you in a little."

He nods and heads to the front door, but before he's fully out of the room, I look to my mom in surprise and ask, "How did your talk go? Why is he here?"

She smirks to herself, looking quite pleased with herself, and says ominously, "I'll let him tell you himself."

I look back out the window to see Carter stopped in front of my father, who extends his hand to shake Carter's, and I feel weirdly perplexed. The other day, he told me that I wasn't welcome living in his house, and then he spent the night in a hotel. Now he was shaking my boyfriends hand and coming up the walkway to our house.

What the hell was going on?

My mom comes over to sit on the armchair across from me, leaving the chair beside her open, presumably for my father. I hold my breath when the door shuts and don't bother turning to match the face of my father with the nearing footsteps. My heart sped up a bit in my chest as I remembered our last interaction, and I refused to stand up to greet him when he finally stood in front of me.

"Amelia," He says, somewhat warily, and I finally lift my gaze to meet his.

I nod stiffly. "Dad."

When he gets the hint that I wasn't feeling particularly warm towards him, he sits in the armchair across from me and folds his hands over his lap. I look back at him, wondering what the hell was going on here, and can barely keep myself from asking that exact question.

"I came by to tell you that I was a little... harsh... the last time we spoke," My dad starts out, and immediately, my jaw practically drops to the floor. "After you left on Thursday night, your mother and I talked about your future and how we treated you in the past. At first, I didn't want to hear it, and I left to stay at a hotel for the night."

He hesitates, and there's a thick air looming above us for a moment while nobody speaks. The atmosphere was nothing short of uncomfortable and full of tension.

"After some thinking, I can recognize that I haven't always been exactly fair to you," He admits, and suddenly I feel like the world has been turned upside down, inside out, and tossed up and down a few times. "I want to change that."

I sit silently for a moment, too enveloped in my own shock to speak. Did he just admit to being an asshole of a dad for my whole life?

"I was too caught up in your future and what I wanted for you that I never considered you may want something else," He continues, looking even a bit-- get this-- sheepish. "I always assumed that with a talent like yours, there was no other option. I should have considered the options you wanted to explore, but I was too blinded by Juilliard."

I blink at him as my jaw goes slack. He was seriously apologizing, wasn't he?

"I understand if you can't forgive me right away, but I wanted to take the time to tell you that I'm sorry." After a brief pause, my mom coughed pointedly, and he glanced at her before looking back at me. "Your mother suggested that we go to family therapy if that's something you want to do, so we can work through these issues. I know that things won't be better between us overnight."

And finally, all at once, I get my voice back. "I appreciate the things you're saying, but you're right. It won't get better overnight." I shake my head slowly, still feeling the years of hurt boiling inside me as I look at him. "You made me feel like an object for the past eighteen years. Like the only thing I was good for was good grades and playing piano. And honestly, I can't put all the blame on you for that."

I look at my mom, whose smugness falls off her face immediately when I put an accusatory glance her way. To be fair, we made up already, but she had spent months trying to be better to me after what Carter said to her after camp.

"The difference is, mom is genuinely sorry and trying to make things better. How do I know you weren't just forced to say this, that things won't be the exact same in a week?" I ask in exhaustion. I was tired of being so angry at him all the time.

"I don't want you to go to Juilliard," He says roughly, and I meet his gaze with a smidge of surprise in mine. "I mean, go if you want to, but I know you don't. So go where you want to go. I should have told you that a long time ago, but better late than never."

Something that Poppy's mom had said to her a long time ago, something I've yearned to hear the past few years, something I never thought I'd hear, finally came out of my father's mouth. And he wasn't saying it sarcastically or ironically but with a straight face and serious glint in his eye as he gave me his steady gaze.

I met his gaze and didn't waver as I nod slowly. "That's a good start."

And then something incredible happens: he cracks a smile. And then my mom starts grinning ear to ear, and even I feel my lips tug upward at the corners, begging to let me pour out a smile. It was a weirdly intense moment, where all three of us knew that some long-established barrier had been torn down between us.

And it felt awesome. It was an odd sense of lightening the atmosphere, where unspoken words were now said and a mutual agreement was reached and the past didn't seem to dictate the present any longer. Like we were going to give this another shot and see where it would go.

Upon hearing the shift in my voice, my dad straightened up a little bit and nodded at me. "Well, have you had dinner yet?" He asks almost innocently. "I'd love to take you two out."

My eyes almost bulged out of their sockets. Family dinner? At a restaurant? That had been unheard of for years now.

"That's a great idea!" My mom cries. I had to hand it to her— I was sure this sudden change from my dad was because of my mother. She was trying her hardest to bring our family together instead of letting us continue to wedge apart, as we had been doing for years.

And even though impulse told me to refuse dinner, I ignored it with a smile. "Sure, lets go to dinner."

The thing is, it wasn't just dinner. It was the beginning of a new relationship, the beginning of a new family. Not to sound dramatic or anything, but we weren't a family before. We simply coexisted under the pretense that father would make all my decisions and I would follow them.

But not anymore. Now, we're a family. Or trying to salvage what's left of ours.

* * *

When I went to school on Monday, I was more than antsy to see Carter. I hadn't been able to talk to him about dinner with my parents last night, and I was eager to tell him the news— that my dad was actually trying to be a good dad.

Dinner last night with him had been a little awkward, but I could tell he was trying his hardest. He even held himself back from ordering for me at the restaurant. He still tenses up whenever I mention NYU, but it's a start. He's trying.

Every second I wasn't in class, my eyes were peeled for Carter in the hallways. I didn't manage to find him before lunchtime, but the second I turned the corner to walk toward my locker, I could see his familiar frame leaning against it, waiting for me.

He had his typical narrow eyed glare at the crowds of people walking past him, almost daring them to accidentally brush against him. He looked like he would kill anyone who touched him— accident or not.

But when he turned to see me approaching, his eyes lit up and he grinned at me. "Hello, beautiful."

My smile is immediate as I look at him. "Hello to you, handsome."

"You never called me last night," He says cautiously, raising an eyebrow as he leans closer to me. "Did I do something?"

I smirk at his misplaced worry and instead lean in to close the distance and give him a quick kiss. I was never one for PDA, but when it comes to Carter, I couldn't help myself. I wanted to touch him all the time.

"You didn't do anything," I tell him when I finally break away from him.

His gaze drinks me in hungrily as he asks with a slight pout, "Then why'd you stop?"

His arms snake around my waist and he draws me closer, but I laugh and hit his chest. "Not in school," I mutter. "Plus, I have something to tell you."

Carter sighs dramatically and takes a step away from me to give me space to open my locker. As I start switching out my books, a small smile grows on my lips and I tell him exactly what happened last night.

"My dad came home and apologized," I say excitedly. "For everything. He's dropping the whole Juilliard thing."

"No way," I can hear the smile in his voice but still glance at him to see it, too. "That's great, Mina."

I grin too. "It is, isn't it? He even took me and my mom out to dinner last night. He never does that." I let out a sigh as I shut my locker and turn to him. "Things finally feel like they're about to go forward. I have this feeling in my stomach, like this really good feeling, that everything is going to be great."

His smile grows as he looks at me and the warmth in his eyes deepens. I feel my heart quicken in my chest when I see how much he cares about the situation with my dad.

He may glare at outsiders, but he had a soft spot for me. Others may fear him, or getting beat up by him, but I couldn't stay away. This boy truly was something.

"That's incredible," He murmurs as he pulls me into an unexpected hug. "I'm so happy for you, Amelia."

I hug him back and move my lips so they're beside his ear. "I think it's you," I tell him honestly, keeping my voice low so only he can hear me. "Ever since you came into my life, things started getting better."

Carter is silent for a moment, and I'm almost afraid I've said too much or went too far, when I hear him chuckle a little and reposition himself so he's looking into my eyes.

"I could say the same for you, Amelia," he whispers. "You've brought me so much happiness the past few months."

My heart is heavy in the best way possible and even though we're in the middle of the hallway and we're at school and there are way too many people around, I lean in and kiss him. I can't help it— I loved him way too much.

"PDA, much?" A joking voice asks from dangerously close, followed by snorts of laughter.

I pull away from Carter immediately with flaming red cheeks and a "I'm so sorry" on my lips to apologize to whoever witnessed our PDA. Of course, it was Wes and Georgina standing there with smirks on their lips, and Joey outright laughing at how red my cheeks had become.

"Fuck off," Carter muttered at them with a small glare. "As if I didn't catch you two making out in Wes' car this morning."

Instantly, Georgina's smirk turns to a sheepish smile and her cheeks flush to look similarly as embarrassed as I. My eyebrows raise and I pick up the smirk she dropped as I eye the two who, I hadn't noticed, were standing oddly close to each other.

"So the date went well?" I ask innocently.

Wes, unlike Georgina, isn't the slightest embarrassed. "Very well," He glances at her and grins. "We're dating now."

Georgina's eyes grow a bit when he says this and she says, "W-what?"

"Oh, did I not tell you?" Wes asks, his grin growing a bit. "I want you to be my girlfriend, Georgina. I want more dates like last night. Are you in or are you out?"

My heart warms for my friend as she smiles widely, all traces of embarrassment long forgotten. Carter subconsciously wraps an arm around my waist, and I steal a glance at him to see a smile on his lips as he watches Georgina for an answer.

"Uh, yeah," She says slowly. "I'm in."

Wes' eyes sparkle as he grins at her. "Are you sure? That didn't sound very convincing."

"I'm in, weirdo," Georgina says, this time with much more urgency. "As long as you don't steal my fries off my plate anymore."

"I was hungry!" Wes cries.

"You has a whole steak to yourself!" She cries back. "Those were my fries!"

"Gross," Joey interrupts their playful feuding as he makes a face. "Now I'm the fifth wheel."

"We can find you a girlfriend," Carter supplements easily. "I know this great girl named Poppy. She's funnier than you, though. I don't know if that's too much for your ego or not."

Joey rolls his eyes. "First of all, nobody is funnier than I am. Second of all, the only sensitive ego here is yours. Thirdly, nobody is funnier than I am."

I laugh as Joey continues to fight with Carter about egos and hilarity, a small smile on my lips at all times. I wasn't kidding when I told Carter that he made things better in my life.

Ever since Carter has come into my life, I gained my parents back and I made quick friends here at school. I had gotten accepted to NYU, the only school I ever really wanted to go to, and I felt like things were falling into place.

Who knew the boy who always told me that he was bad for me would actually be the best thing to happen to me?