Chapter Sixteen: iNeed Better Locks
We've been home from Spain for almost five days and periodically, Carly will pull me into a bathroom stall in between classes or during lunch to make out with me. I didn't mind. It was interesting, to be completely honest. She hadn't been walked to class by her boyfriend since we returned from Europe. They weren't fighting but I didn't think they would stay together too much longer. I'm getting worried about Carly. She's putting a lot of stress on herself by keeping Michael around and sneaking around with me.
Today was like most days. I had answered a text message from Carls, one that said to meet her by her locker and that's where I was. When a teacher who I didn't recognize walked by, I flashed my hall pass at him and pretended to be struggling with my locker, when I was really pretending to break into Carly's locker. That's when I felt hands on my waist and I smiled. I knew who it was by the breath tickling my neck already. Before I could even turn or protest, she grabbed my hand, the one not holding the hall pass, and tugged me into the nearest bathroom stall, pinning me against the door and latching the lock.
"Where were you this morning?" She asked me quietly, moving her lips along my neck while my eyes slipped shut. I forced a laugh.
"My bus had a flat tire or whatever and we had to wait until another bus could come get us. It's an excused late, so no worries," I replied, threading my fingers through her hair slowly.
"Um, yes worries. I missed you this morning," Carly complained sweetly, pulling back and pressing her lips against mine briefly, leaning our foreheads together. "This is why you should have come over last night when we were on the phone,"
"Maybe if I didn't fall asleep on you last night, I might have been able to sneak in your window. I don't think Spencer would have let me in at one in the morning, Carls," I replied and she caught my lips again, keeping me from saying anything else. Taking my fingers out of her hair, I slipped my hand into one of her back pockets of her jeans, pushing her closer to me. I felt her hips grind slightly against mine and it made me smirk. "I'll come over tonight,"
"Not tonight. Michael is coming over tonight." She muttered, sighing and almost rolling her eyes. "Spencer invited him to dinner..."
"So let him have dinner with Spencer and have sex with me in the shower again," I teased but she bit my bottom lip.
"We should really try doing that in a bed, you know..."
"You're right," I agreed and she kissed me again. "So I'm coming home with you after school, okay?" She nodded against my head. "I gotta go back to class. I have to go bull shit a presentation on the French Revolution,"
"Sounds like bundles of fun... can I walk you back to class?" She unlocked the bathroom stall door and led us to the door of the bathroom and I shrugged.
"If you want Michael to know we were fooling around in the bathroom, sure, you can. He's in my class, remember?" I reminded her and she shrugged weakly. I had a feeling she was going to break up with him soon but I didn't want to press her. She's my best friend, so naturally, I should encourage her, but I don't want to make it seem like I'm jealous, even if I am. Well, there's not much to be jealous of though. He doesn't put out and she doesn't flirt with him around me anymore.
"Good point. I'll see you at lunch." She cupped my face to give me one last kiss and we broke apart. I watched her turn the corner and wave to me, then I slipped back into my classroom, setting the hall pass back in its respective place and sliding into my seat. Now I had something to look forward to at the end of the day. Fantastic.
-x-
When the end of the day finally rolled around, it felt as if the day had been stretched out just to torment me and make my school day hell before I could go home with Carly. I made my way to her locker, where she was surprisingly standing alone. I leaned my back against the closed lockers and smiled to her. Carly was putting her books away into her locker and stowing her back safely in the locker. I turned a little and started to put my own books away, the ones I actually decided to carry around for a change.
"I got a text from Spencer after lunch," She started explaining to me. "He said that he's going to be home around dinner time and said you can spend the night, if you wanted..."
"But I thought it was your night with Michael at dinner," I watched her close her locker as I spoke and she shrugged. "Carls, don't let my lack of a personal life ruin your relation – "
"Sam, it's fine." She explained, her voice soft. "He's grounded and he isn't allowed to come over now anyway. Something about failing Spanish... perfect timing to fail, right after the trip, right?" She forced the laughter that left her lips. I could tell. She reached for my hand and pulled me out of the school building. We walked the short distance to the bus stop and took a public bus to the stop a block away from her apartment building. I didn't mind walking and riding the bus with Carly, especially because the school buses sucked and kids were so obnoxious on them. The public buses were definitely dirtier, but quieter. That's what I liked about the public transportation in this city.
When we were riding the bus for about fifteen minutes, Carly had tugged me into a two person seat. She set my hand on her thigh, palm up, and drew shapes on my palm with her fingertips. She drew circles and squares, diamonds and pentagons, and hearts. I like the way she draws her hearts. They are drawn in one continuous motion, not stopping midway and drawing the other side to make them symmetrical. She rested her head on my shoulder as she traced her shapes in my palm. Then when our stop came, she pulled me off the bus with ease. We were acting like a couple, holding hands and smiling brightly at one another. The moment we stepped into her apartment, though, the mood shifted drastically, and definitely in my favor.
As soon as Carly turned her key in the knob, she squeezed my hand with hers and pulled me into her apartment. She set her keys door and closed the door behind us, locking us in, as she was always instructed to do whenever Spencer wasn't home. Then, almost in an instant, she crashed our lips together. I almost stumbled in where I stood, but I steadied myself by putting my hands on her hips, pulling her close to me. She didn't really seem to mind much.
We migrated towards the couch, where I landed on top of Carly, staggering our legs to crash our hips together in a slow rhythm. But I knew she wanted more. I could hear her moaning into the kiss and grinding her hips up into mine, threading her fingers through my hair slowly and starting to tug innocently. When I felt the pulling at my locks, I hesitantly pulled back from the kiss, my eyes closed and my forehead on Carly's, a goofy smile strung across my face.
"Is this really what you had in mind for me coming over today?" I asked curiously, letting her soft laughter fill my ears as I leaned in for a chaste kiss.
"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't... what does it matter?" She asked back. I felt her fingers moving underneath my shirt and before I could say anything else to her, she dragged her nails down my skin, causing me to moan against her lips. I felt her smirk up at me. She knew what she was doing.
"Let's go upstairs," I suggested and she nodded in agreement. I climbed off of her, offering a hand to help her up from the couch. She took it and slipped off her sneakers. I did the same with mine, leaving them by the couch. I led Carly upstairs to the room that we had come to know as the iCarly studio. It was very familiar territory to us both. Honestly, I was happy that the race car couch had been upgraded for a bed, because I loved sleeping in that bed with Carly whenever I crashed here.
We didn't bother turning on the lights as we made our way into the room. I closed the door behind us, and watched Carly's smile grow as she pulled me towards the bed we had watched so many movies in and cuddled on so many nights. There was just something in the way her lips felt against mine today as our steps moved across the room. Once Carly lowered herself to sit on the edge of the bed, I climbed onto her thighs, straddling her lap and holding her face with my hands.
"You look cute today," I whispered against her lips, grinning to her. She walked her fingers along my legs. I could feel heat radiating off her face; she was blushing. I didn't have to look at her to know that one.
"I thought I looked cute everyday," She countered softly.
"You do. But today you looked especially cute," I informed her, keeping to the softness in voices. She tugged at my bottom lip. I knew what that meant. She wanted another kiss. That's fine by me; I love kissing Carly Shay. It's almost addicting.
In one fluid motion, she leaned back and flipped us, putting her on top. She had me pinned down to the bed, my hands held above our heads and her hips grinding just gently down into mine. Gosh, she was amazing. I don't understand how she can get away with doing things like this when she clearly has a boyfriend. Then, of course, our fun had to get ruined...
The door opened and before she could pull away to see who it was, Spencer was just standing there, his expression blankly curious but shocked nonetheless.
"I, uh..." He stammered. She climbed off of me and I sat up, running a hand through my hair slowly. I bowed my head weakly, forcing a smile. "I came home early," He offered meekly. "Carly, can I speak to you... uh, downstairs?" He weakly shrugged and gave me a half apologetic look, but I understood why I wasn't allowed to be in the conversation. That's perfectly fine with me, though. I don't like tense conversations. They are too... uh, tense.
"Yeah," She nodded to him and he slipped into the hallway. Carly turned her head and gave me a smile, kissing the corner of my lips. "No matter what, you're sleeping over tonight; no exceptions," She whispered to me, pecking my cheek lovingly. Then she got up. I didn't say anything to her. Why? Because I could not find my voice to respond to her verbally.
I didn't want to eavesdrop on the conversation between Carly and Spencer. That would be rude, especially after all they had done for me. Whenever I needed somewhere to go, they welcomed me with open arms. I know I've fallen hard for Carly, and I know that if she didn't return my feelings on some level, I would be a wreck without her. I really do love her a lot.
"I'm not upset that you're... doing what you're doing with Sam," I heard Spencer say to something that Carly must have mumbled. "But the fact that you're still dating Michael..."
"Yeah, well I really don't want to be dating him anymore." She replied to her brother. That uplifted my spirits some. Does that mean she only wants to be with me? Score! "I was going to break up with him but then someone had to go an invite him to dinner," She complained. I could just imagine the look on her face right now.
Spencer just sighed to her. I hoped he was smiling. I'm glad he was taking this so well. "How long have you and Sam been... uh, more than just best friends?"
"Not nearly long enough," I muttered to myself, folding my arms over my chest as I waited for Carly's response.
"Spain," She replied to her brother. "It's all Europe's fault," She chuckled at her words. I'm glad she didn't tell him we had sex; I'm sure he would have flipped out that his little sister was getting more than he was.
I couldn't hear much more of their conversation, so I laid back against the bed, staring up at the ceiling. I was getting lost in my thoughts at the moment. What if Spencer didn't approve of whatever Carly and I were? I mean, he sounded upset with her, but he wasn't blowing things up. That's good, I suppose. He seemed very relaxed when he was talking to her.
Before I could get too lost in my thoughts, I heard the door open and close carefully. I sat up, my arms folding over my chest. Carly was biting her bottom lip. I wasn't sure if she was trying not to cry or trying not to smile.
"So, what's up?" I asked curiously and she smiled back to me softly.
"He's not happy that I'm still with Michael and... fooling around with you, but he's happy that I'm happy with you." She informed me, sitting down beside me. I looked over to her and blinked some.
"If you're so happy with me, then why are you still with Michael," I asked, my voice sounding flat and lacking emotion that it probably should have held.
"It doesn't matter because I'm breaking up with him anyway. I was going to today, but he said he was grounded and that he was bummed he couldn't have dinner with Spencer and I... I felt bad,"
"Your heart is too big, Carls." I teased her, kissing her cheek. She yawned softly and leaned back on the bed, pulling me down with her. "What? I tired you out already?"
"Psh, I'm waiting on round two, Puckett." She informed, allowing me to shift on top of her. She held me above her, keeping us close. I caught her lips softly, but I didn't want to get too involved anymore. I'm getting sleepy, I'll admit it. But I wanna be able to cuddle with Carls. She's very comfortable to cuddle with, believe it or not, and I found that out in Spain, after our magnificent date. Since our date, things seemed to be looking up for us.
"Mm, maybe in the morning; I'm getting tired," I whispered against her neck, dragging my lips up to her ear and smiling. "I kind of just want to cuddle with you," I admitted quietly. I felt her fingers curl around my hips and she shifted to catch my lips.
"Why are you sex crazed one minute and a complete romantic the next?"
"Because I'm in love and that's what happens when you're in love: you're emotions of very roller coaster like," I explained to her and she let me shift off of her. I laid next to her on my side and she turned on her side, pulling my arm around her waist and pressing her back into my chest. I closed my eyes and breathed in the scent that was coated in her hair.
"So, I really am the love of your life, huh.." Carly let her words trailed off. She turned her head a little to give me a broad smile before falling asleep in my arms. It took me forever to close my eyes and stop focusing on how beautiful she looked while she was sleeping.
"Yeah, Shay... you're it for me, kid." I kissed her hair before nestling into her, closing my eyes, and letting sleep find me for the night. Morning would come soon enough.
-x-
Much to my dislike, we had school the next day. I honestly have to say that waking up in Carly's arms, in Carly's bed (in theory), was one of the most stress relieving things that could ever happen to me. That is, until I remembered she still had a boyfriend and he called her this morning. I didn't hear the whole conversation but it was something about wanting to talk to Carly when we all got to school. I didn't hear my name littered into the conversation; I guess she didn't care to tell him that I spent the night. After all, we are best friends. She doesn't have to report to her boyfriend what she's doing.
Spencer opted for driving us to school, but when Carly went to climb into the back seat with me, he shook his head. He wanted her sitting up front. That's fine. I sat in the seat behind her so that I could reach her if I needed to reach her. The drive to school was pretty quiet, except for the soft music coming from the radio.
Once we made it to school, we both waved to Spencer and walked inside. No, we weren't holding hands or anything like that. We didn't do that kind of stuff at school because, as far as everyone else was concerned, Carly and I weren't a thing of any sort and she was still dating Michael. Plus, I'm not out to the school and if I was, I wouldn't want to bring Carly down with me. Being out in a school like this could mean trouble, and that's why I don't really go out of my way to tell people; I just let them think whatever they wanna think.
"So, what did boyfriend want this morning?" I asked her curiously as we opened our lockers, getting our books for the classes we had before lunch.
"He just wanted to talk. He said he missed me and he wasn't even supposed to be on the phone this morning, but that he was willing to risk it for me." She explained and I could hear the hurt in her voice. Michael was telling her how much he missed her and deep down, Carly wanted to end her relationship with him.
I reached over to rub her shoulder, giving her an apologetic smile. "If you need me, for anything at all," I wasn't just talking about our little rendevous in the bathrooms during the school day. "Just send me a text,"
"I was planning on it," She smiled to me, but I knew that her smile had another meaning to it. She closed her locker and I took my hand off of her shoulder. As if right on cue, Michael walked up to us.
"Hey, can I talk to you, Carly?" She nodded to his question. His eyes darted to me. "Alone, perhaps?"
"Anything you have to say to her, you can..."
"Sam," I rolled my eyes to her and nodded.
"I'll be in the bathroom, Carls." I told her and she nodded back. I could see that she was fighting off a wide grin because she knew what the bathroom meant for us, well at school.
I moved around the corner and leaned my back against the wall. I didn't want to eavesdrop, but the part of me that was jealous, deep down, wanted to stay and listen and make sure Michael didn't try to guilt trip Carly into staying with him.
"Sam's right," I heard Carly tell him. "Anything you want to say to me, then you can say to her too: she is my best friend, I do tell her everything..."
"And that's why you've been sneaking around with her, right?" My eyes grew wide at his accusation. Well, it was the truth, but that doesn't mean that he should know about it.
"I'm not cheating on you, if that's what you think," She replied to him, her voice growing firm. I remember a time when you could easily detect when Carly's lying. At least, I can detect when she's lying. As she grew older, she became better and better at lying; I bet she gets that from me, from hanging out with me all the time.
"Then if you aren't, kiss me... right now," I knew they hadn't even kissed yet. Not like a real kiss: he's kissed her on the cheek, but that doesn't really count.
"I..." Carly's voice was hesitant. "I want to break up," She told him. I bet she folded her arms over her chest and she's probably shifting her weight between her feet, and avoiding eye contact. She does that when she's nervous.
Michael sighed. "If you wanted to break up with me, then why are you beating around the bush around it?" He almost laughed.
"Because I don't want to hurt you?" I could hear Carly's forced laughter. "You're a great friend, Michael, but I just... don't think I like you the way I thought I did anymore. If you don't want to be friends, I can understand."
"No, it's fine. We can still be friends." I think they did something like hug or shake hands. But I didn't see what they did. I moved into the bathroom where I knew Carly would be to find me.
Now that I think about it, I really didn't have to hang out there and hear that whole conversation. Carly's right: she does tell me everything. Well... everything but how she actually feels about me.
A/N: Only two more chapters left! Sadness, I know. I'm stealing my neighbor's wifi right now to upload the three chapters I typed while my internet was knocked out. And hey, I got my license!