We Used To Be Friends

Chapter Thirteen

A/N: Thank you very much for the kind reviews! I know I said I wasn't going to update again this week, but I couldn't help it. I desperately needed a distraction from studying. So enjoy!

"I think that's the last one!" Lucy exclaimed as she placed a box on the floor in the living room. It had been a week since Shelby and Dave had announced they were moving in together and Lucy had agreed to let Carter move in. Shelby had moved out yesterday, and today after work Lucy helped Carter move his stuff to her apartment. Actually, now it was their apartment. She still wasn't sure that having him move in was a very good idea, but she was willing to give it a shot. Between working and helping Carter with his things, she was exhausted. She walked around the numerous piles of boxes and sat on the couch.

"Thank God it's the last one!" Carter explained placing a box on the floor that was much heavier than the one Lucy had brought with her. He was glad that she had offered to help him move, but he knew that she wasn't nearly as strong as he was so he gave her the lighter boxes. The only problem with that strategy was that he had to carry all of the heavy stuff. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and sat down next to Lucy on the couch. "Remind me not to move again anytime soon. It's too exhausting."

She laughed. "Ok. Do you want to order a pizza? I don't feel like cooking right now."

"Sure. That sounds good." Carter nodded.

Lucy got up from the couch and picked up the phone. After pressing the speed-dial button for the pizza place, she ordered their pizza. After she hung up, she turned back to Carter. "It will be here in about forty-five minutes."

"That's more than enough time to take a shower then." Carter said out-loud. He had packed a small overnight bag filled with a couple changes of clothes and his toiletries so that he wouldn't be rushed to unpack. He grabbed the bag and headed towards the bathroom.

She watched him leave the room and tried very hard not to think about him taking a shower in the same bathroom that she's taken dozens of showers. Ok, I won't think about that. I'll think about something else. I wonder if he wears boxers or briefs. I shouldn't be thinking about that either. She heard the shower water run and nervously bit her lip. He had given her the light boxes to carry up to the apartment because he knew that she wasn't as strong as he was. One of those light boxes contained some of his clothes. Glancing down the hallway to make sure he was still in the shower, she crept over to the boxes she had carried up and started to open it up. She was about to look inside the box and find out once and for all whether it was boxers or briefs when the phone rang. The sound sent her jumping and she silently cursed whoever was calling. "Hello?"

"Hey. It's me. I just wanted to see how you and Carter are getting along." Shelby asked.

"We're fine." Lucy replied. "He's taking a shower right now."

"Any chance you'll be joining him?" Shelby asked casually.

"No!" Lucy screamed. "Shelby, you know that's not going to happen!"

"I know." She sighed. "But you can't take away my optimism and hopefulness."

Lucy decided to change the subject. "So how are you and Dave getting along?"

"Just fine. He's out picking up dinner right now, so I thought I'd call and check up on you two." Shelby explained.

"Well we're fine. Thanks for the concern." Lucy laughed.

"Ok. Talk to you later." Shelby laughed, hanging up the phone.

Lucy put the phone back down and started to stretch. Even though she hadn't carried the heaviest boxes, she was a little sore from the physical labor.

"Did I hear the phone?" Carter asked as he entered the living room and saw Lucy stretching.

Lucy turned around and saw Carter was dressed in a white shirt and shorts that came down to his knees. "Shelby called to make sure that we are getting along like good little children."

Carter laughed. "The bathroom's free if you want to take a shower now."

Lucy looked at him strangely. "Are you trying to tell me that I smell or something?"

"You do smell." He told her with a grin on his face. He really enjoyed teasing her. "But it's a very nice smell." Noting that she was rolling her eyes at him, he clarified his earlier statement about the shower. "I just noticed that you were stretching. If your muscles are sore from carrying boxes, a shower would feel good. I know it helped me."

She looked at the clock hanging on the wall and saw that she had about twenty minutes before the pizza came. That was more than enough time to take a shower. "In that case, then I'll go take a shower."

He watched her leave the room and resisted the urge to 'accidentally' walk in on her while she was in the shower. Instead, he sat down on the couch and started to watch TV while he waited for the pizza to get there.

"Thanks for helping me today." Carter smiled as they ate pizza on the couch. "I didn't know that I had this much stuff."

"I know what you mean. I was astonished to see how much stuff I had when I moved from Indianapolis." Lucy laughed. "And you're welcome. Helping you was the least I could do considering that you have agreed to move in here."

"You make it sound like you're a horrible person to live with!" He laughed.

"Well, I'm sure that Shelby could rattle off a whole list of bad qualities that I have." She grinned. "But I have a whole list about her, so it's all fair."

"I just don't see how she could list many bad qualities. I mean, you do have a few, but…"

"Excuse me? What are you talking about? I don't have any bad qualities!" Lucy interrupted.

He smiled. "You have a few."

"Oh really?" She put her pizza down on the coffee table and looked directly at him. "Name them then."

He put his pizza down as well. "What?"

"Name my bad qualities!" Lucy dared him.

He was starting to regret the fact that he had told her she had bad qualities. But 'bad qualities' was not really the right way to describe it. On anyone else, he would consider them bad qualities; however, on Lucy they were more like endearing quirks. "Are you sure you're ready to hear them?"

"Yes. Tell me. What is wrong with me?"

"Ok. You asked for it. You're incredibly stubborn and won't listen to anyone. You also have trouble accepting help or kindness…"

"I do not have trouble accepting help or kindness!" She interrupted.

"Yes you do! You hardly ever let me pay for dinner when we go out together. We always end up arguing about your insistence to go Dutch treat." He pointed out. "And you interrupt me a lot."

"I only interrupt you when you're making false statements." Lucy defended herself. She knew that she was appearing to be very mad, but she wasn't really mad at him for what he was saying about her. Still, she decided to get her revenge. "Are you through bad-mouthing me now?"

He chuckled at her words. "Yes, I guess I am."

"Good. Now it's my turn to tell you what your bad qualities are."

"This shouldn't take much time. I don't have any bad qualities." Carter boasted, trying to get her angrier.

"You don't have any bad qualities?" She questioned. "I find that very hard to believe. You're just as stubborn as I am, you're easily peer pressured, and every time we go out to eat you end up taking my food. Besides that, your ego is the size of Eastern Europe! I'm amazed you could get it through my door!"

He laughed at her comments, knowing that she was only joking around. "Well I'm so sorry that you have to put up with my enormous ego. I didn't realize it was such a burden to you."

Lucy grinned. "It's quite a hardship." She took the pillow that was resting behind her and smacked him on the head.

"Hey! What are you doing?" He exclaimed as she continuously hit him.

"I'm trying to deflate your ego!" She laughed.

He knew he had to do something to get back at her for attacking him with a pillow. So he took a nearby pillow and started hitting her. "Let's see how you like it!"

"Hey! That's not nice! I was trying to help you by getting rid of your ego. You're just…"

"I'm just defending myself!" He laughed. The pillow fight continued until he found himself on the floor, and he was right on top of Lucy. Somehow they had fallen off the couch and he had landed on her. They were both breathing heavily from the pillow fight. He looked and saw that her pillow was gone. "It looks like I win. You're unarmed." He grinned. "You give up?"

She was trying to catch her breath from the pillow fight but the fact that Carter was laying on top of her wasn't helping much. She was basically pinned down to the ground and at his mercy, but somehow she didn't mind. Inwardly, she cursed herself because she knew this was going to happen. Since they were living together now, she knew that something like this would happen and she would lose all self-control around him. She just didn't expect it to happen on the first day he moved in. "I give up." She replied quietly. A part of her never wanted this moment to end. But the other, more responsible part of her knew that this was a situation that she didn't need to be in. It was way too tempting to close the few inch gap between them and start kissing him.

He had finally gotten his breathing under control, but it wasn't easy considering the fact that he was laying on top of Lucy. Their faces were so close together that all he would have to do to make their lips touch was lean in a couple of inches. He was incredibly tempted to kiss her, and almost did. But he decided that it probably wasn't a very good idea and stopped himself. He reluctantly got up and held out his hand to Lucy so that he could help her get off the floor.

"Thanks." Lucy whispered, wondering what to do now. It was too bad that she had already taken her shower or she would excuse herself to go do that. Instead, she faked a yawn and picked up her pizza. "I'm really tired. I think I'm going to go get some sleep."

"Yeah. I think I will too. These boxes can wait until tomorrow to get unpacked." Carter replied, also faking a yawn.

"Goodnight." Lucy smiled, practically running back to her bedroom.

"Goodnight." Carter nodded.

Carter crept along slowly as he entered her room. The blinds were closed, but a faint trace of moonlight slipped in, illuminating the bed and it's occupant. When he approached the bed, he knelt down and looked at the vision in front of him. He started to smile as she woke up and looked directly into his eyes. "I couldn't sleep." He whispered.

"Why not?" Lucy asked quietly.

"I kept thinking about you having to be in this big bed all by yourself. I thought you might be cold or lonely." He grinned devilishly.

She cocked her head to the side and raised one of her eyebrows. "Well I am. Do you want to help me correct that problem?" She made some room for him.

"I'd be happy to help you with that." He replied as he climbed into bed next to her. He immediately felt her arms wrap around him and pressed his lips to hers.

She deepened the kiss and scooted closer to him so that there was no room left between them. When she finally broke away from the kiss she moved down to kiss his bare chest. She reached his waist and smiled widely. "So it is boxers!" she giggled.

"Come here." Carter commanded, bringing her lips back up to meet his again.

Carter was jolted back to reality as his eyes opened and adjusted to the dark room. He realized it was just another dream when he looked around and didn't see Lucy there. It seemed like he was dreaming about her every time he went to sleep. Somehow this dream was different though. It seemed more intense, but maybe that was because of the precarious situation they had been in before they both decided to go to bed. He didn't think he was going to get to sleep right away so he decided to go out to the living room and quietly unpack a couple of his boxes. If he couldn't sleep, then he should try to do something productive.

Lucy's eyes opened suddenly and she looked around the room. It was only a dream again. These dreams have to stop or I'm never going to have a decent night of sleep! She released a low groan of frustration after realizing that she wasn't going to be able to get back to sleep after this dream. This dream had been different. It was more intense and much more vivid than any of her other dreams. She was about to go into the kitchen and get some warm milk so that she could try to get back to sleep sooner, but she heard a huge crash from the living room. She jumped out of bed and ran into the living room to find Carter sitting on his butt with boxes scattered around him. Even thought she tried, she couldn't stifle her laughter. "What happened? Are you ok?"

"I'm fine. I just was coming out here to unpack a few things and…well, it's dark in here at night. I ran into some boxes." Carter replied, embarrassed about the situation.

She held out her hand for him to take so that he could get up from the floor. It was then that she noticed he had taken off his shirt and she was given a nice view of his bare chest. She was surprised that she her dream had been accurate in the portrayal of his chest. Then she realized that she was probably staring at his chest and focused her attention on his face. "What are you doing out here in the middle of the night?"

He didn't want to tell her about the details of his dream, but he didn't want to lie either. "I had a dream, and I couldn't get back to sleep."

"Was it a bad dream?" Lucy asked without thinking.

When he thought about the dream, it brought a small smile to his face. "No, it wasn't a bad dream." He then let the smile leave his face. "I'm sorry that I woke you up."

"Oh don't worry about it. I was already awake."

"Couldn't get to sleep?" He asked.

"No. I didn't have trouble getting to sleep. I had trouble staying asleep. I also had a dream that woke me up." Lucy replied sheepishly.

"Bad dream?"

A slight smile appeared on her face. "No. I wouldn't call it a bad dream." Lucy shook her head. "Well if you're ok, then I'm gonna go and try to get back to sleep."

"Ok. Sorry about the noise." Carter apologized again.

"Like I said, it's ok." She assured him before heading back to her room.

"See you in the morning." Carter called out after her, still not realizing that Lucy was having the same dreams he was having.

As soon as Lucy shut the door to her room, she put her head in her hands. Living with Carter was going to be harder than she thought. She shook that thought from her head and curled up in bed, completely oblivious to the fact that she was still sharing dreams with Carter.