Heart and Soul - Chapter 24: Chapter 24

Halloween fell on a Tuesday.
Which didn't stop Jenna from throwing her traditional party, just for football players, cheerleaders and other sports varsity teams.
Carter had asked Johnny about his plans on Monday. He said he and Lydia had a tradition to watch Halloween-themed movies on the holiday.
Their time at the library after school had been the least productive, that week. Filled with lingering glances and inevitable smiles. And an embarrassingly reduced amount of studying involved. Neither of them cared, though.
Tony would be working on Halloween night and Carter's mom was going to join him at the Ristorante. Carter was also surprised to learn the house would be empty, as Mike had offered to take Charlie trick-or-treating, and Frankie and Bella both had plans to stay at a friend's house, while Luca had made an insistent case to be allowed to go to Jenna's party with Carter. The two of them would not be staying for dinner, since Jenna had promised to order industrial amounts of pizza.
After getting ready, Carter walked into the kitchen, where Bella sat at the table with Spiderman-Charlie and a groomed up Luca, while Mike and Frankie moved around the stove.
Upon meeting the family, he expected the Santoro siblings to be mayhem in a kitchen—being who they were, in a space where there was a collection of appliances that combined gas, radiation and fire. He learned very early on, though, that they all seemed to have received their dad's magical cooking gene. Except for Bella, who usually sat back on Charlie-watching duty.
"Are we leaving?" Luca asked.
"As soon as Seth gets here," Carter answered.
It didn't take long. Seth texted Carter in a few minutes saying he was at their door and they left as the Santoros' kitchen finally started to smell of homemade pesto sauce.
Jenna's wasn't packed this time. She had a big house and she only invited athletes on Halloween. It had started as something she did freshmen year just for their year's players and cheerleaders, after they didn't get invited for the upperclassmen party. The year after that, after word had spread, her party was the event to go.
Costumes were optional, pizzas were abundant and alcohol was mandatory. That's all there was to these parties. A bunch of sportsmen and cheerleaders finding yet another excuse to drink and be drunk. On a school day, this time.
Carter returned grins and cheering greetings as he walked in, but he squirmed away each time someone offered him a drink, trying to pass it along to either Jenna or Joey. Mostly because he always got tipsy—or full-on wasted—on the account of those drinks people slipped into his hands or shoved under his nose. Carter didn't usually like turning things down, but he didn't want to get drunk on that particular night. Mostly because he planned to spend it texting Johnny.
Which was why he found himself sitting on Jenna's marble doorsteps, phone in his hands and smile on his face, a couple of hours after he arrived.
As though on cue, to prove his point, Scott Meyers yelled out a war cry, drumming on his chest like a gorilla. Besides him, Bobby Gonzalez cheered, bottle of Grey Goose in hand.
"What are you smiling at?"
Carter whipped his head up to see Melanie lower herself to sit by his side. Her lush dark curls were partially pulled back at the top, and a glittery silver-white top shimmered bellow the exposed dark skin of her chest. She held a cup with a dark liquid in her hand, but Carter suspected it was merely soda.
"Nothing," he said, blocking the screen.
His ex-girlfriend hummed. "No special someone?" She tried, bumping his shoulder with hers.
Carter shook his head to deny it, but she stopped his nerves from spiking with a light-hearted laugh.
"Relax," she said. "I was only messing with you. Sometimes you're too easy, you know?"
Carter breathed out a silent laugh. "I've been getting that."
Mel looked at him for a couple of seconds, in which he had the impression she was hand-picking her next words. She eventually tilted her head and said, "You know it would be fine though, right?"
Carter looked at her inquisitively.
Mel smiled. "I want you to be happy, Cart," she said. "It's okay if you found somebody else. You don't have to squirm around that topic with me." When Carter opened his mouth, she lifted a hand to stop him. "I'm not saying you are. I'm just saying... you don't have to. Just in case you ever think maybe you do."
Carter nodded slowly. "Okay. Thanks."
Her smile grew playful. "Any girl would be crazy lucky to have you. You were always a great boyfriend."
Carter bit his lip around a bashful smile. "Yeah?"
The teasing grin on Mel's lips faded and her eyes softened with honesty. "You were a great boyfriend, because you're a great guy," she stated, reassuringly. "Don't stress so much."
"Thanks."
"Of course." She beamed, nudging him with her shoulder again. Then, with a lighter tone, she asked, "Are you planning on hanging out with Seth?"
"I haven't really seen him since we got here."
Mel hummed again, giving him the impression she was thinking more than she said next, as she suggested, "Maybe you should look for him."
Carter watched her eyes bulge out as something caught her attention on the front lawn. He followed her line of sight to see Jenna and a girl from the volleyball team starting to remove their tops. They both looked beyond hammered.
Mel got up with an apologetic look. "I should go handle that," she said, before taking off and leaving Carter sitting alone again.
He looked down at his phone.
An involuntary smile tugged at his lips, and his thumbs started typing of their own accord.
Carter laughed down at his phone.
"What're you smiling at?"
Carter's head whipped to his side, to find Seth sitting down on the steps next to him.
"Hey," he said. "What's up?"
Seth shrugged. "Not much. You?"
Carter shrugged.
Their interaction felt like a middle-schooler's text thread, and not two friends talking at a party. Mel's suggestion just minutes prior and Coach's requests to check up on his best friend echoed through Carter's thoughts and he felt compelled to take further initiative.
"Haven't seen you much in school this week," he said.
"Haven't seen much of you either lately," Seth returned.
Carter nodded. "Yeah. Been busy, I guess."
It was a lame answer. It sounded lame and it felt wrong. Inadequate. Insufficient. Because it was.
Carter remembered the text he got from Seth on Saturday at the drive-in theater. He had yet to try to reach his friend after that. He hadn't had the chance to do it in person in school, because Seth skipped Monday and they barely saw each other that Tuesday. That realization left a sour aftertaste in Carter's mouth.
He cleared his throat. "Did you need anything this weekend?"
"It was nothing," Seth was quick to reply.
"Okay," Carter muttered, unconvinced. "Enjoying the party?"
Seth smirked. "Been babysitting Joey all night. He's so drunk he's been making moves on Jenna Torres."
"He does that sober too," Carter reminded him.
Seth laughed and some of the tension Carter hadn't realized he was building around his shoulders dissolved.
Seth pressed his lips together, looking ahead. Carter took in the way his elbows rested on his knees, hands laced in the middle, holding at each other tightly. Seth wanted to say something. Carter didn't ask though, he waited until it came out on its own.
And it did.
"Saw my dad this weekend."
Understanding flooded Carter's mind and his chest constricted a little. "Oh," was all he said.
Seth nodded silently. "Yeah," he murmured. "Had dinner at his house. With his wife and kids."
"How was it?" Carter asked softly. Whenever Seth talked—really talked—it wasn't always the best course of action to ask follow-up questions. But in that moment, Carter felt like he could.
"The usual."
"How old are the kids now?"
"Hera is fourteen and Mars is eleven," Seth told him. "Joy wasn't very happy to see me. They told me to leave after I brought up Freyja."
Carter let that breathe for a second. "And your mom?" He eventually asked, slowly.
Seth shrugged.
"Need a place to stay tonight?" Carter offered.
"No, I think I'm fine."
Carter understood that. Seth was going to stay with Freyja. Which meant he might not show up for school the next morning.
Almost simultaneously, as though it had been arranged, their phones buzzed in their pockets. Carter and Seth both moved to take it out and look at the screen.
Carter bit back a smile, not wanting to willingly play the fool grinning down at his phone once again. When he glanced over at his side though, he was surprised to see Seth barely managing to conceal a smile of his own as he typed. His screen was blocked from view.
Carter had never seen his best friend smiling at his phone. It made him wonder if they hadn't both been missing a lot of each other's lives lately.