Love Bytes: Swap, Snoop, Swoon

Nathan

When Carter arrived to pick Cam up, he looked a lot less exhausted.
"Thanks, Nathan, for that. I really needed a rest"
"And I really needed something to do! So, don't worry about it. Cam was very well behaved, and he even slept for an hour or so."
"You- You got him to sleep?"
"Yes?"
"How? Me and Julie haven't been able to get him to sleep for days-"
"Oh? Weird. How is JJ?"
"She is ok, just struggling because we can't get Cam to sleep, how did you do it? What is your secret?"
"There's no secret to it- I was just sat with him, reading 'The Three Little Pigs' and he drifted off."
"Really?" He hesitated for a moment, looking around frantically- in such a way that made him seem to be questioning his life choices "That's all it took?"
"Yes" I chuckled to myself "Do you want to stay for a bit, maybe catch up a little?"
"You sure?"
"Of course, Carter!"
"Thanks" He walked past me and placed the carrier back on the ground before dropping himself onto my sofa. I went over to Cam and let him back out onto the floor again, "You want anything to eat or drink?"
"Can I have a coffee please?"
"Sure, I'll sort that now, give me a minute."

We sat and conversed for a while, it felt unusual, we hadn't been able to sit and chat in a friendly manner in a great while. It made me happy, to hear about Carter, and Julie, and Cam, and how they were getting on as a family- how far Cam has come in the past few months. Carter had always had such an organised, smooth life. A few ups and downs, but we all had those. A sense of familiarity came along side our conversation, a sense of longing. I missed the times where we used to sit and chat for hours like this, I have missed Carter. Ever since he met Julie, got married and then had Camden, I had just felt in such a way that I thought we were drifting, never to talk like this again, never to revert to friends. But I was wrong. In that instance, being wrong, was the best-case scenario.

After two hours, we finally ran out of things to talk about. Until Carter busted out "So Let us talk about the elephant in the room ay?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"You know! This phone!"
"Oh." I began to sweat "That elephant in the room."
"Yes! Of course!"
When I had remained silent for a few moments, he decided to carry on.
"You haven't been able to stop yourself from talking about her, I wonder you have been stalking her online? How much of her phone have you been through? What do you know about her?"
"Uh-"
"Come on, Nathan! I know you haven't just left it on the side and not at least taken a little peak."
"Well- The truth is. When I couldn't sleep last night. I couldn't get her from my mind, I needed to know more-"
"And-"
"And, I ended up going through her Instagram, Snapchat and some of her browsing history-"
When he fell silent for a few moments, my heart dropped in my chest. Was it that bad?
"Ah- ok. So, what do you know about her from that?"
"What do I know? Uh"
"Take your time, bud."
"I know that her name is Carlise Fotear, she is 20, has shoulder-length brunette hair, hazel eyes, she is really kind, she is 5'3'', she is single and works at Nectars Nook Café."
"Wow- you know quite a bit, now, don't you?"
I chuckled nervously, confused on his feelings on the matter.
"You called up yet?"
I furrowed my eyebrows, forgetting what we were talking about to begin with.
"You called Carlise? Spoken to her? About getting your phone back?"
"Oh- no. Not yet."
"You should call now!"
"Now? Really?"
"Yes! Why not?"
"I would have to call Sarah."
"Who the hell is Sarah?"
"Carlise's best friend, she has tried to call me before."
"And you didn't answer?"
"I was in an SLT meeting, with Sahrina."
"Ah- fair enough."
"Call Sarah then!"
"Must I?"
"I would say, just go for it. What do you have to lose?"
His words sounded like complete idiocy, yet I knew that he was right. Nothing was stopping me. I had nothing to lose. So, I headed to my room, picked up the phone and sat back down next to Carter on the sofa. I dialled Sarah and held the phone to my ear. After a few short moments, the ringing stopped, and I was startled by a sudden voice, "Hello?"
"Uh- Hi. Is this Sarah?"
"Yes- is this Nathan?"
How did she know my name? Did Carlise know as much about me as I knew about her? She told her best friend about me?
"Nathan?"
"Hi, yes, sorry. I am Nathan. You know Carlise?"
"Yes, I do, and you have her phone, don't you?"
"Yes, I do."
"Well, I have yours at the moment. Where abouts are you, do you want to meet up somewhere, I can give your phone back."
For a moment, I hesitated. Was this the right thing to do? Was that what I wanted to do? Either way, what was there to lose?