Loving Carter

17

Elijah's POV

The second time Eli woke up, it was to a loud voice announcing "wake up Mr. West!"

He almost shoved Carter out the bed at her Kanye West reference, getting up abruptly.

She was laying next to him with her body turned towards him.

He noticed her eyes were puffy and her hair was a mess; he couldn't even imagine what his hair looked like.

He didn't get a chance to dwell on that thought because Carter moved closer to him and patted down his hair. He couldn't help but smile a bit and she smiled back.

She leaned forward and he felt flutters in his stomach as she gently pressed her lips to his forehead and kissed him. Eli melted into her touch.

"Just wanted to do that before I left," she whispered.

"Now I'm gonna go back to my room so Della doesn't suspect anything," Carter got up and took her pillow with her.

She looked down at Eli on the bed and he noticed that her neck was littered with hickeys from his work the night before. He liked it.

"Make sure you cover those hickeys," he said.

Her eyes darted down to his neck and she said, "You too, goldilocks."

He scowled at the name.

"Thanks for letting me sleep here," she said.

"Yeah."

"Do you want to just pretend nothing happened?"

He nodded, "I think that's best."

She nodded slightly, "see you later, Eli."

He wouldn't see her for a long time after that.

Just kidding. He saw her literally two
hours later when they were all packing their bags into the trunk of the car and getting ready to leave.

Porter was driving, but Carter called shotgun so she could sit in the passenger seat and pick the music, leaving Eli in the back with Della.

"Yo, Carter where did you go last night?" Della asked as Porter pulled out of the parking spot.

Carter made eye contact with Eli in the dashboard mirror before quickly looking away.

"What do you mean?"

"I woke up at like 3AM and you weren't in our room. I checked the bathroom too."

"Oh. I just went to the vending machine to get some water."

"But you were gone a pretty long time?"

"Uhhh... it was outside so I just stayed for some fresh air."

That was a stupid fucking excuse. What vending machine would be outside the building?

"Right," Della nodded hesitantly, "Well, next time wake me up, don't go by yourself."

It was good that Carter was wearing a turtleneck and he had his hoodie zipped up so no evidence was visible.

Porter and Carter were engaged in a loud conversation about jellyfish when Della yawned, scooting over to the middle seat so she was closer to Eli.

She put her head onto his shoulder sighing, "I'm fucking beat man. I'm gonna take a nap for the road."

He laughed, "Sure."

She inhaled and then Del's head shot up sharply. She looked into Eli's eyes, frowning slightly before her eyes travelled down the rest of him.

"What?" He asked.

"You smell like lavender," she noted with a quiet voice.

Eli's stomach dropped.

"You smell like...," Della trailed off as her eyes trailed to the front of the car where Carter was sitting. She was mid -laugh at something Porter said.

Della's eyes trailed back to Eli with a questioning look in them and her head tilted to the side.

Eli saw everything click in her head as realization dawned on her face.

She knew.

They both knew that she knew.

But she said nothing, leaning her head back on him and falling asleep in seconds.