Stealing Home

Did We...?

Bright sunlight streams into the room and the bed shifts, slowly rocking me until I wake up. I blink against the light, I’ve forgotten to close my blinds lately, not smart. The bed moves again, and I see Carter turning over beside me.

“Uhm, hey,” Carter says awkwardly. He leans away from me, aware of his morning breath mixed with the leftover smell of all the alcohol he drank last night.

“Hi,” I say softly.

Carter sits up and looks around the room. He rubs his hands over his eyes and yawns. The room is brightly lit and thankfully not as messy as I feared it was. I can see Carter taking in everything. I haven’t had much time to decorate or add any personal touches so if he thinks he’ll get an insight into my life by looking around the room, he’s wrong.

“I need to shower and get ready for work,” I say, “and you need to get to practice.” I slide out of bed and make the bed behind me. Carter follows suit and fixes his side as well. “Help yourself to anything in the kitchen for breakfast. I’ll take a quick shower, if you want to shower after me, and then we have to carpool in together, obviously.”

“Yeah, okay. If you don’t mind I will hop in the shower after you,” Carter says. I nod and then leave the bedroom to go shower. Carter follows me out and continues on to the kitchen.

After I turn the shower on, I strip and toss my clothes in the hamper. Stepping into the hot shower feels great and I let the water rush over me. The steam fills the bathroom until a flush of cold air blows the shower curtain against my leg.

“Carter?” I call out.

“Yeah, sorry to let in the cold air,” Carter says and I hear him using the sink to wash up.

“Ah, it’s okay. Did you find something to eat?” I ask and Carter grunts.

“Got a bowl of cereal. I left it out for you, put the milk away though,” Carter says and I wait for the burst of cold air again but it doesn’t come, Carte is still in the bathroom. “Should we talk about what happened last night?” Carter says after a few seconds of silence.

“What do you mean? Your fight with Nolan? Yeah, is that normal? I’d never heard anything about fighting on the team, and yes I did research the team before I joined. So what happened tonight? That was crazy, I mean I’ve seen bar fights before and fights between friends but yikes,” I realize I’ve been rambling while washing off in the shower so I quickly close my mouth. I don’t hear anything so I peek out from behind the curtain. “Oh hi, I didn’t know if you were still here.”

“Yeah, but the fight isn’t what I meant,” Carter says and he looks at me. I start to worry that the curtain is see-through but I know it isn’t. I go back behind the curtain and finish rinsing off.

“Okay, what did you mean?” I turn off the water and grab my towel. I squeeze out my hair and wrap the towel around myself before pushing the curtain aside and stepping out of the shower. I stand next to Carter in the tiny bathroom and put moisturizer on my face.

“Last night, us,” Carter says and again I’m surprised that he’s floundering discussing this topic.

“What do you mean?” I ask for clarification, knowing he was quite drunk and I think I can figure out what he’s talking about. Carter looks at me in the mirror and he looks embarrassed and nervous.

“Look, I’m sorry about last night. Whatever we did, it’s…” Carter trails off trying to find the right words to say. “I don’t exactly remember but I hope I was nice and I hope I didn’t hurt you.” Carter sounds so sincere and so apologetic that I almost want to tell him the truth rather than torture him further.

“You don’t remember anything?” I ask, turning to face him. I evaluate the situation.

“I remember parts of last night but I’m sorry I don’t mean to insult you. I’m sure you were great,” Carter offers and I let out a laugh. “What?”

“I’m flattered,” I say before laughing again. “Carter, we didn’t do anything. You ate all my chips then we got in bed and fell asleep. Not anything you should be sorry for. Although, I was excited to eat those chips throughout the week, oh well. It’s not a big deal,” I laugh again and Carter looks confused then he laughs as well.

“So, nothing happened?” Carter asks to clarify.

“Nothing happened. Don’t worry. You did hit on me but it was really bad and got you nowhere,” I tell him and he laughs again.

“I’m usually pretty smooth,” Carter says with a chuckle. “Sorry to disappoint. Hey, how do you turn the shower on?” Carter asks and I turn around to help him. He starts stripping and I slap my hand over my eyes.

“Whoa! Wait till I leave the room, jeez,” I groan and put my hand on the wall and feel my way to the door. I hear Carter laughing as I shut the door behind me.

A few minutes later, Carter comes out with the towel wrapped around his waist.

“Any chance you have some clothes I can borrow?” Carter looks at me as I’m pulling on my shoes.

“Unfortunately, I don’t think you’d be able to fit into anything I have,” I say then turn to look in my closet.

“You don’t keep any clothes from your exes or hookups?” Carter asks, testing the water. I chuckle while I keep looking.

“No, I don’t tend to keep mementos like that. And I haven’t had any male visitors at this place who have taken off their clothes, besides you,” I laugh and dig through a box in my closet. I find a stack of my old t-shirts and one I stole from my dad. It looks like it could fit him. “Oh, I do have an old shirt from my dad. It’s one of my favorites.”

“Oh, then I can’t take that,” Carter protests.

“Well, I would hope that you’d return it,” I laugh and stand up, offering the shirt to him.

“Nah, it’s fine. I have a change of clothes in the locker room. I’ll just wear my clothes from yesterday. Thanks though,” Carter goes to find his clothes then I meet him in the kitchen. We each chug a cup of coffee before getting in the car and heading to the stadium.