The original plan was to head home, but on the way Carter and I figured we had a few hours before Dad was to be home from the office. So we drove into the back area of Lima, deep into the wooded areas where the road turned to loose gravel. We pulled as far as we could to the side of the road, locked the car, and began to hike into the woods. In the first week we had moved here we had gone exploring through the town, with strict warning from Dad that I not get into trouble of any kind, and found this particular wooded space.
I held onto low tree branches for balance, hiking without a trail isn't my strongest point. Sticks snapped under the weight of my feet as I stomped the ground making sure that at least my footing wouldn't betray me. The seasons were in the middle of turning from spring to autumn; freshly colored leaves layered the ground and crunched as we walked. It felt like Carter was miles ahead of me, "Carter, wait up!" I laughed, pulling my foot up from a tangle of roots and sticks.
He automatically stopped in his tracks and glanced over his shoulder at me, "We're almost there!"
"You're seriously going to ditch me in the middle of the woods. Who knows what goes on out here?" I said as I caught up to him.
Carter let out a loud, but short laugh as he squatted down to the ground. The perk of Carter being the older brother of the twin situation were in, he's capable and willing to give a piggy back when necessary. I climbed onto his back, wrapping my arms around his neck, "Hold on, spider monkey." He mocked Twilight as he rose and began walking again.
It was my turn to laugh.
"As much as the people here suck," I said resting my head on my arm, "the weather is amazing." Nothing made me happier about it.
There had been a lot of places we had moved that weren't so Candice friendly. Los Angeles was too hot. Chicago was too cold. Lima, right here, right now was just right.
"Just wait til winter hits. Some teachers have already planned for it." Carter injected as we broke the barrier to the small clearing.
It was and awkward shaped clearing, almost like an ameba, chances are it was someone else's clearing before us. What appeared to be a fire pit was in the middle of it though there wasn't anywhere to sit around it when we first came here. Eventually, a severe wind storm had caused a dead tree to fall close by. We had brought out a chunk that was long enough for the both of us to sit on and dropped it by the pit. It was nifty for the cold day get aways, but what I can't stop myself from wondering was when the tree fell, did it make a noise?
Carter let me down from his back, pulled out a pocket knife he had brought from the car and began to look for a large stick, "You wanna tell me about Puck?" He asked as he picked one up only to reject it.
I smiled, "You wanna tell Dad how you don't want to be in his business?" I countered.
"Not in the slightest." He replied as he picked a suitable hunk of wood and sat down on the log we had moved.
Our Dad is an executive with the company he works for. He never let the chance to tell us how he worked his way up in the world slip by. He put more pressure on Carter than he did me, probably because Carter is the son, but he did drop hints often. I was sure he wanted both us of to follow into the business to be sure we would be okay. I already told Dad I wasn't very interested but would think about it, Carter on the other hand was a little intimidated.
"Funny how that works out…" said as I sat next to him.
"The situations are completely different." He said chipping away at the hunk of wood with his knife, "And you know I'll end up finding out either way." He shifted his eyes in my direction and back at the knife.
"Well, I already told you, nothing is happening between Puck and me." I replied. It was the truth and I'm sticking to it.
"But you want something to be between you." He said it with ease, with no feeling either way; it was just words to him.
It was so simple for him to say, but for me to even think about it made my brain want to shut down. I don't know what I want. I never know what I want, but I kinda know I want this conversation to switch gears, "What are you carving?" I asked resting my arms crossed on my knees.
"A stake; and I'm telling you now little girl," He fell into our heritage accent, "it's not a good idea to be mixed with Puck."
"I don't want to hear you talk about me getting mixed with anything." I forced an amused laugh.
"Then just stay away from him." He warned pointing the knife at me before going back to the stake.
"You shouldn't believe everything you hear. That's how we wound up here in the first place, remember?" I asked.
It wasn't so much the Carter believed the rumors of the last school so much as Dad. Though there was no hard evidence of anything they were saying, I took Dad uplifting us and moving us as his small lack of trust in me. I haven't thought about it much and I wanted to keep it that way.
"I remember, you just never know what the actual truth is." He replied shaving a sliver of wood off of the stick before spinning it around in the palm of his hand and throwing it point down at the ground. It stuck as he stood up, "Do you have any idea when Dad is supposed to be home?" He asked shaking the shavings from his clothes.
"Not a clue." I replied.
"Let's go home and order a pizza."
I nodded in agreement as I stood and we began our hike back to the car. The hike back to the car was worse than getting to the clearing. My footing slipped going up one of the hills; Carter grabbed onto my wrist and stopped me from slamming to the ground. We somehow managed to get back to the car with little mud on us, but still took our shoes off before getting in the car. It is the only time that Carter ever broke the law, driving with no shoes on, but it's easier than getting caked on mud out of the floor of the car.
Sorry this took so long, and that this is a filler. I was trying to give a better idea of Carter, not sure if I did it or not. But, nonetheless, here it is. Reviews?
