Bullet

Chapter 3 - Dark Blue Threats

Chapter 3
Dark Blue Threats

A/N - That's Carter on the side :)

Two Weeks Before…

“I just can’t believe it you know,” Marnie rambled on, gesturing wildly as we made our way to lunch. “We’ve been dating for a month now and I feel like I know him.”

Trying to restrain myself from rolling my eyes in front of her, I sipped from the bottle of tea in my hand and kept quiet while she continued to go on. For the past three hours since I picked her up for school this morning, she hadn’t shut up about her and Carter’s one month anniversary coming up. Of course, they weren’t officially a couple or anything, but she thought he would be asking her any day now…or so she kept repeating to me every few minutes.

“He’s just so down to earth and kind,” she sighed, looking up towards the ceiling like she was thanking God himself for bringing such a special guy into her life. “He pays for the bill every time we go out. He introduces me to his friends. He listens to me drone on for hours about stupid things,” she shook her head like she was in utter disbelief. “It’s crazy. Isn’t it?”

I almost spit out my drink when she looked over to me for a response. In the past few hours she had been droning on about Carter, she never once looked to me for a reaction or a word in edgewise. I was just expected to nod along to her elongated story-telling and just pretend like I was listening when I really wasn’t.

To tell you the truth, I could barely manage to bite down on my tongue and not let her in on the secret that had been haunting me since their first date last month. Although Carter made it his mission to be in the presence of Marnie every single time I was in a room with her, he seemed to be losing the signature smirk and paid more attention to Marnie than to me. I felt like he had an ulterior motive, suddenly treating me like I hadn’t existed when he was the one constantly beating on my older brother. At first, I kept thinking he was using my best friend as a way to get back at me for calling him names and reminding me who held the upper hand here. But as the weeks went on and he was becoming immersed in everything Marnie Matlin, I couldn’t help but think he was truly falling for her and not just using her against me.

I still didn’t like the fact that a guy like Carter was courting my best friend around and acting so oddly different with her. No one knew how long this ‘nice’ streak of his would last in their relationship. And before you knew it, as much as I hated to think about it, he could be wailing on her as well.

“Um,” I stuttered, taking my time to screw the cap back on my bottle to form a logical response that didn’t involve spilling the beans. “Yeah…it’s crazy how close you two are getting.”

She sighed dreamily once again, clasping her fingers together and clinking together the many gold and silver rings she was wearing. “I can’t wait to get to lunch to see him!”

This time I couldn’t hold back the eye rolling. “You just saw him an hour ago, before English. Remember?”

She waved me off nonchalantly. “That’s so long though!” As we walked by the girl’s bathroom on the way to the cafeteria, she halted in her tracks. “Give me a second! I have to pee and I want to freshen up before we see Carter.”

Before I could respond, she was already pacing towards the door and leaving me alone in the silence of the hallways. We were already ten minutes late for lunch and the other students who didn’t have lunch at this hour were seated in class. Basking in the first bout of peace I had since this morning, I fell against the row of lockers with a lengthy sigh.