Well this chapter isn't quite as long as my others have been BUT I felt like I covered what I needed/wanted to cover so that's ok :) I also want to say thank you, AGAIN and ALWAYS, to everyone that reads and reviews! Not just this story, but Reclaim, also. You guys absolutely rock!
A text tone interrupted the song that Carter and Becky Lynch were currently singing along to, most likely much louder than they needed to be, in Carter's Jeep. Carter was taking Becky back to the performance center to drop her off at her own car after they had gone out for a quick lunch after their workout.
"No!" Carter laughed as the song faded out and came back in. "I can't be bothered right now."
Becky threw a smile at Carter and reached for her friend's phone.
"Oh, it's from Seth!" Becky teased. "Wait, Seth! Like Seth- Seth? Our Seth?"
"Yes," Carter replied, reaching to take the phone from the orange haired girl's hand. "We've kept in touch while he's been out recovering."
"Oh, have you now?" Becky's voice was light and playful and thick with her accent.
"He's fun to talk to," Carter added.
She dropped the phone back in the cup holder, reminding herself to respond to him when she was stopped and had dropped Becky off.
"Okay well I can tell you don't want to talk about so we'll just back to the music…"
"This is why I love you the most, Becks."
Becky made a goofy face at her reached to turn the volume on the music back up.
Carter watched Becky bound towards her car and reached for her phone to check her message.
Hi you. What kind of busy bee things are you up to? Still with Becky?
She smiled and quickly replied to him: Just dropped Becky at the PC. I'm about to head home.
She waited for a few moments, to see if he would respond, taking the time to flip through her Spotify and decide on a new playlist.
Don't text and drive. Let me know when you're home? Don't chat and drive either. Just drive.
Can I car dance and drive?
I wish I could see that…
Carter bit the inside of her lip, trying not to smile, and felt a small blush creep onto her cheeks. He had a knack for sliding in little flirty comments that would make her stomach slightly swirl. She hated it and she loved it at the same time.
She settled on a playlist she and Renee would listen to on road trips to their next show and headed out of the parking lot, ready to jam out and car dance on her way home to Tampa. It was a gorgeous day, despite the fact it was about to be January 1 in a matter of hours.
That was one thing Carter loved so much about Florida; it could be sunny and 80 degrees in the dead of winter. She would always prefer sun and warmth over the cold.
The drive home and the fresh air, sunshine and good music did a lot to keep her in her good mood. She had a good meeting at the performance center that morning, a really good workout, and a really good, fun lunch with Becky. It was New Year's Eve and she just wanted the happiness and good mood to continue.
There was a box on her front patio that she could see when she pulled in to her driveway. She cocked her head slightly, studying it from her car, trying to remember if she had ordered anything.
Oh god, that's from Seth! Popped into her head and she smiled, turning off the car and heading towards the package.
He had asked for her address the day after Christmas, she assumed to send along whatever he had in his head he should send to her nephews. She smiled brightly as she read the address scribbled across it and unlocked her door, using her foot to shove the box inside.
She discarded her bag next to small table near her doorway and dropped her keys on it, heading to the kitchen for her scissors to find out what was inside the box.
She picked up her phone when she returned and quickly put a call through to him.
"You better be home and not still driving," he said sternly, answering the phone.
"Are you really trying to tell me that you stay 100% focused on just driving when you're in your car- no music, no texts, no phone calls? And I am home, you old man. I'm looking at a box that was delivered to me from middle of nowhere, midwest America."
"Davenport is not the middle of nowhere."
"What else do you have in Davenport besides corn?"
"I'm sorry but you're from Tennessee, you don't have much room to talk."
"Nashville is vastly different than Davenport, let's be truthful here, Rollins."
"I'm not going to argue about this with you, we've been here before. It's my home so stop being a hater. Did you open it yet?"
"No, I called you first," she replied, cradling her phone on her shoulder and dropping to her knees to cut the tape and look inside. "I'm assuming this is your bribery material to win over my nephew's affections?"
"Look, I don't even know if I'll be back in a ring right now so I have to keep myself in people's minds somehow..."
"Seth, stop it. Seriously, you just got out of your brace. You're going to be back."
"Ok, Car."
"You really depress me sometimes."
"It's that fucking country music you made me listen to."
She scoffed at him and rolled her eyes, "you irritate me, too."
She could hear him laughing through the receiver and she smiled before she set the phone down on the floor next to her and put him on speaker.
"Jesus, Rollins...did you send me the entire WWE merchandise shop?"
"I have a lot of things laying around. I had a moment when Zahra left and I went through everything, took everything off the walls, just..."he paused for a second, searching for a word, "cleaned everything up. Some of those shirts are a couple years old and they're probably too big but they're signed. There are pictures, some hats, some belts and some Black and Brave stuff- for you."
"Seth you didn't have to do this," she said sweetly, "seriously...you-"
"I wanted to," he interrupted her. "It's helps me out and it helps you become an even cooler aunt than you already are, or claim to be, so it's fine."
"Well thank you; this is great, and super sweet, and they'll be ecstatic."
"I know you have your own access to stuff but if you want or need anything else, just ask."
Carter chuckled, "ah, I don't know how to ask for things, but I'll keep that in mind. You're not a bad guy at all, Rollins."
"Don't let that get out," he sarcastically replied. "Do you have any New Year's plans?"
"No," she replied, trying her best to reorganize the items in the box and closing the lid up again, pushing it to the side against the wall.
"No?"
"No."
"Wh...but it's...a new year. You can't just not do anything."
"I'm not a big party person."
He snickered, "um, right, because you don't drink or go out with the girls and get into Brie Mode or anything. I'm sorry, I forgot about that."
"Your sarcasm just oozes out of you," she countered, sighing. "I like to enjoy myself with close friends but I'm not a party person."
"No, no, there's more to this. Either you didn't get invited anywhere, which I seriously doubt, or you turned down 5 different guys for a date tonight and don't want to run in to anyone or something...I'm not buying this 'I don't party' bullshit."
"I'm a homebody, Seth. I watch movies and drink tea or wine and just...relax."
"Bullshit."
"I'm serious!"
"Bull – shit."
"Fine!" She huffed. At this point she had made it to her kitchen and was taking her water bottle and other things out of her bag so she could throw it in with laundry and clean up what she needed to clean up. "Nikki and John are out of town, the other girls are out of town, Becky and Ferg are going out and I did get invited to a big party with some other of our people that live around here but Nick is hosting it so I decided it wasn't a great idea for me to make an appearance there. I would end up drunk off of champagne jello shooters and throw things at him or something...especially if she is with him."
Seth chuckled lightly, "I'm picturing a very angry you throwing your shoes at him in the middle of his house and it's pretty entertaining. It's kind of..."
"Stop," she interrupted him. "So I just decided I was going to stay home tonight. I'm going to order food that's really bad for me and drink some champagne and watch movies and the twilight zone."
"That sounds really sad."
"Thank you for making me feel good about it."
"No! I'm sorry. I wasn't...trying to make you feel bad, it's just...it's New Years..."
"I wouldn't have pegged you for the type to make a big deal out of this holiday. I would have guessed you were the 'it's just another day' kind of guy."
"Well I have a lot of reasons to be happy this year is over and that a new one is starting."
"New year, new you!" She teased him. "What are you doing tonight, then?"
"Some of my friends I grew up with are having a party, Brandon will be there too, nothing fancy. I don't think you can even really call it a party."
"I'm sure it'll be a-" Carter's phone made a beeping noise and she frowned, looking at the screen. "Ah shit, hold on that's my mom."
"Just call me back later," he said.
"I will."
Carter's conversation with her mom had ended up being one of those long, drawn out conversations about nothing important that lasts a lot longer than anticipated. By the time she had hung it had been well over an hour and she hadn't done anything other than lay on her couch.
She plugged her phone up to charge and busied herself with doing dishes and laundry and showering. She finally settled back on her couch, surfing through the channels to see what movies were on that night.
She heard a text alert from her kitchen and her eyes widened.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck I forgot to call him back…" she mumbled to herself as she hurried to the kitchen.
She grabbed her phone, eyeing the text she had received from Renee and then sent one to Seth.
So I kind of forgot about you…I'm sorry!
She followed up the text with a row of sad face emojis.
That's a real blow to my ego.
I'M SORRY!
It's fine I'm headed out to dinner. Try to keep yourself out of trouble tonight.
Same to you. Be safe.
She left her phone charging on her counter top in the kitchen and sauntered back into the living room. Time to get her exciting night started. First thing was first; what did she want to eat?
Carter's eyes fluttered open and as she blinked she could swear she heard her phone ringing. The sound of her 'Everlong' by the Foo Fighters ringtone was faint but she was definitely hearing it. She started feeling around in the blanket she was snuggled under and finally felt her fingers brush against the device wedged between the couch cushion and the side of the couch. She must have been sleeping hard.
She pulled the phone out and looked at the screen. Well, it wasn't midnight yet so she hadn't missed that, and her phone call had been from Seth. She made a face, scrunching up her nose and yawned. She needed coffee.
Her phone started ringing again and this time she answered it.
"Hi."
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah I'm fine. I was asleep. Your call woke me up and then I couldn't find my phone."
Seth chuckled, "and here I was worrying about you and you've just been asleep. You're lame, Car."
"I had a really long day," she defended. "And why in the world were you worried? And what are you doing? I thought you had a party to go schmooze at."
"I did, I do; I'm still here. I…" he stopped for a moment, silence coming from his end of the phone.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah I just, um…I was keeping an eye on the time. It's almost midnight in Florida and I just didn't want you to celebrate New Year's alone. I thought I could at least call and I don't know- wish you a happy twenty sixteen when it got here."
Carter sat up on the couch at his words, crossing her legs Indian style, and bit her lip. She could feel a light sting of tears and she shook her head, chasing it away.
"It all sounded way less pathetic in my head," he added.
"No, Seth, that's really sweet of you. I haven't even heard from anyone else yet…"
"Maybe they text you while you were dozing."
"Could be. How is your party?"
"It's fine. It's nothing crazy. There are maybe 10 of us here."
"I don't want to keep you from them. I'm good. I'm just going to restart my movie and probably go back to sleep, honestly. I was awake at five and I had nachos and a burrito and a bottle of wine for dinner and it put me in a coma."
"A whole bottle?"
"Most of it," she chuckled.
"Nachos and a burrito?"
"Don't judge me. It's New Years."
"Hey, there is no judgment coming from me. You do you, sunshine. You have to talk to me for at least four more minutes though and then you can go back to sleep."
"Are you at least having fun at your 'not a party'?"
"It's been good to spend some time with everyone although I haven't exactly enjoyed the trips down memory lane. I was such an idiot in high school."
"We were all idiots in high school. I was in the show choir. I can jazz hands circles around you."
"I would concede that to you in a heartbeat. I will never, ever, do jazz hands."
"Never say never," she smiled as she replied to him.
"Hey, I had something I wanted to talk to you about earlier but you forgot about me, so...it got tabled."
"I'm so sorry that I did that. I got caught up talking to my mom and then I started cleaning and doing laundry and I just-"
"Forgot about me, it's ok. I was bruised for a few minutes but I carried on."
"Thank you for being understanding. What did you want to talk to me about? I feel like I'm about to be in trouble." She was untangling herself from the couch and blanket as she spoke, intending to head into the kitchen and fix a cup of coffee.
"So I'm going to be in town this week, well Orlando, at least. I have a check in with the doctors and I'm going to do some stuff at the performance center. I know you'll be on the road Monday and Tuesday but would you want to do something on Sunday?"
"I'm leaving on Sunday," she replied.
"Oh."
"What time are you supposed to get here, though?"
"Nine something, I would have to look."
"I don't have to be at the airport until two-ish so I can do lunch or brunch. There's a place near the performance center that makes the most ridiculous bloody mary's and they have chocolate covered maple bacon."
"You sold me at chocolate covered maple bacon. I'm in."
"Ok," she replied.
"Ok."
She was watching the stream of coffee pouring into her mug in her Keurig when she heard the sound of fireworks and her head and eyes darted to the glass double doors that led to her patio. She headed over to them, smiling, looking out at the distant ocean and fireworks erupting above it.
"I guess it's midnight," she said.
There was a slight pause before his response, she guessed he was probably checking the time on his phone, "it is."
"Well Happy New Year, Rollins."
"Happy New Years. Don't sound so sad, please?"
"Go get back to your 'not a party' now, enjoy your friends while you're able to be home and enjoy them. Thank you for thinking of me."
"Of course," he replied.
She ended their call by telling him to let her know his flight details and they could hammer out plans for Sunday. She almost pushed him off the phone, but he couldn't really hold it against her. He got it. He slipped his phone into the pocket of his coat and quickly downed what he had been nursing in his bottle of beer.
"The fuck are you doing out here? You do know it's like 20 degrees don't you?"
Seth cast his eyes up at the sky, sighing heavily and turning to look at his brother.
"I was on the phone."
Brandon laughed, "of course you were."
"Don't," Seth pointed at him, giving him a stern look. "I'm not listening to it tonight."
"I didn't say anything."
"Keep it that way."