"I love you." I finally said.

The corners of his perfectly shaped lips tilted up, and when he said "You have no idea how long I've wanted to hear that from you." I went weak at the knees.

"Really?" I asked, still in shock. I smiled wider than I think I ever have before and hugged him tight.

Just then, my dad's beat up truck pulled into the driveway. The headlights were glowing before us, and they lit up the sight of Carter and I's closeness. He spotted us immediately and his face went stale. "Who are you?" He asked immediately. I assumed that -because he didn't seem shocked to see me - my mom had told him. Which was fine, less explaining for me.

Carter put on a charming smile. The kind that says 'I'm in love with your daughter; so buckle up sir'. He walked to my father and held his hand out as an offering. My father took it and shook his hand. "Who are you?" He asked again. "What are you doing with Olivia?"

"Liv and I," he glanced back at me, then quickly back to my father, "Are dating. We met at University. And well, from there, just..."

"Fell in love." I chimed in. I walked next to Carter and grabbed his hand in pride. He looked down at me and smiled, his eyes showing reflections from the headlights.

My father seemed to be a bit surprised, and he looked to me and chuckled, "Go back to college, dear. You've got a nice young man there with you."

"What?" Carter and I asked in unison.

He repeated, "Go back to Uni. Go. I'll tell your mom what happened, so, please don't worry about it."

"Thank you," I replied and skipped happily to Carter's car. "Thank you sir." I heard Carter say before he followed me.

Hours passed and we ended up stopping at a hotel for the night. Carter was too tired to drive this late at night and it was the safer thing to do anyway.

The room had only one bed and a tiny bathroom. A flat screen was shoved against the corner wall along with a small desk under it. The desk had every remote sorted out perfectly.

"Only one bed?" I asked nervously.

"Yep. All they had at this time of night." He chuckled. "Does it scare you?"

Yes. It petrified me, actually. "N-no." I sat down on the end of the bed. "I just wasn't expecting it." He nodded and grabbed the remotes before sitting beside me.

"Let's watch a movie." He suggested carelessly. His hair was messy from the long day he's had, which made his eyes stand out even more. This made me feel vulnerable.

"Okay." I ignored the fact that we needed to rest, that was the whole reason we stopped. Right?

~

I wake up with my forehead touching Carter's. I gasp, which causes him to wake up and his eyes to open. "Morning, babe." He groans. He looked absolutely adorable. With his messy morning hair and droopy tired eyes, Carter just seemed so gorgeous at the moment. Who was I kidding? He was always gorgeous.

The previous night we watched Shrek. (It was the only option) And we'd fallen asleep together. Which I didn't know what to call. Are we a thing now? He calls me babe... and he told my dad we're dating. But that could've been a cover up, nothing more....Nothing less.

"I need to know, Carter." I whine. "What-what are we? You keep sending these mixed signals... but never let me know. Please, tell me. What are we now?"

"Liv, you know I'm in love with you." He smiled. But that didn't answer my question. He got up and entered the bathroom. I heard the water begin to run, which means he was getting into the shower.

~

I was on my way walking home when a loud crash came from around the corner. At first I was skeptical, but then Amber revealed herself. I smiled and laughed slightly. "You scared me." I said. I hated this girl. But I didn't want to make a scene so I kept walking.

She stopped me, "Wait." And grabbed my arm.

I turned to face her, and she was holding something from behind her back that made me nervous. "What?"

"How's Carter?" She asked.

"Fine."

"He's still adorable, I assume?"

".....I guess, sure." I tried to pull my arm out of her strong grip but failed. She held on tighter. Tighter until it started to sting. "Ow. T-that actually kind of hurts, Amber." I clawed at my wrist, hoping to free it, but failed again.

"Not yet." She smirked. Then, whilst pulling me into the darkness she descended from, she said "I'm not done with you."

My eyes weren't adjusted to the pitch black I was surrounded by so I couldn't see a thing around me. All I could feel was a sharp stabbing pain in my right side. Worry struck through me, "A-Amber?!"

"What? Don't act like you don't deserve this. You tried to steal Carter, but he doesn't even love you. So I don't know why you'd even think about it." She removed the knife and left me with a bloody side.

As I was laying there, feeling vulnerable and dead, a stronger voice revealed itself. "Get off her, Amber!" The familiar voice shouted. Two muscular arms lifted me up and in my blurry vision I saw Cole. He looked so worried, and I could barely even see him through the tears welling up in my eyes.

At this point, I blacked out, and as I drifted off, all I heard was ringing.

😂

🖤🖤🖤