Heart and Soul - Chapter 50: Chapter 50

Mike picked Richie up from the airport on Sunday morning. Jack arrived home a few hours after lunch, on the same day.
Tony had talked to Carter's mom and it was decided they would invite the Masons to go with them to the Everglades. So, on Monday, they had to split sixteen people between four vehicles. Luca rode with Lydia in Coach's car, Richie and Kevin drove with Jack in Mike's car, and the rest of the Santoro gang squeezed into Tony's seven-seat van with all the luggage, while Carter went in Seth's car with Bella and Johnny.
Although the trip was relatively short for the amount of preparation it required, it was still enough for Carter to fall asleep. He woke up sixty minutes later in the backseat, with Johnny's fingers running through his hair.
Stepping out of the car, away from the freshness of the AC, the humid heat immediately clung to his skin. Carter stretched his arms over his head, cracking his neck from side to side, while the others moved around between open car trunks.
"Okay," Tony spoke up, clapping his hands together to draw attention, "this is one of the cabins." He gestured to the modest wooden structure ahead of them, set on an elevated porch. "The other one is just a little farther down." He pointed somewhere past the dense vegetation.
"It looks great," Johnny's mom said through an open grin.
To Carter's side, Johnny shooed a swarm of tiny mosquitoes away from his face. "Yeah. Great," he mumbled.
Carter shot him a fond smile, but Johnny was too busy battling the teeny insects to see it. Bella and Seth stood nearby, leaning against the hood of Seth's BMW.
"We should start bringing the stuff inside. The kids can take this one and we can stay in the other one," Tony suggested, looking at Johnny's parents.
"Sounds like a plan," Coach said.
Tony turned to where Frankie had approached Luca and Lydia, near the Masons' car. "There are two rooms in each cabin. We're gonna keep the ones in ours and you kids can roll the camping mattresses in the living room," he told them.
"Wait, what," Luca blurted. "'You kids' as in 'us kids'?" He pointed between Lydia, Frankie and himself.
"Yup." Tony grinned. "You and Charlie are staying with us. It's not up for discussion," he added that last part firmly, before Luca could try to discuss. He looked at his oldest sons next. "You guys can room however you like here."
"Except," Carter's mom chimed in pointedly. Her eyes zeroed in on her son. "No couples. You know who you are."
Carter's lips parted as he looked around. Seth, Bella and Johnny all shared looks of coy innocence, smiling down at the ground. Carter felt heat rise to his face and looked down.
They took out their bags and followed the others into the cabin, while the adults took the younger ones.
Inside, there was a single room. A living room sort of space, with a rustic wooden couch and a minimal kitchen area to the back, composed of a single counter with a sink and a fridge. To the far-right wall, there was a doorway into a short hallway-like space with three doors; two of which, Carter assumed, would take to the bedrooms Tony mentioned.
"How about Seth and Carter stay in one room, and Bella and Johnny take the other?" Richie Santoro suggested, putting his large backpack on the small couch inside.
"I can't room with my boyfriend, but I can room with another random guy?" Bella asked, crossing her arms.
Jack grinned. "If the other random guy is gay," he replied, leaning against the wooden arm of the sofa.
"I'm gay, but she's not," Johnny retorted. "Is no one concerned about my virtue?"
Bella snorted. "Double standards."
"I can share with Bella instead, and you stay here with the others," Jack offered.
Johnny pulled a face, which Carter thought—only to himself—was really cute.
"No, thanks. Kevin farts in his sleep."
"I do not," Johnny's brother protested.
"You kinda do," Richie countered. "We're rolling your mattress on that corner, right there." He pointed to the far end of the room, near the fridge.
Kevin flipped him off and Richie snickered. Without a word, Johnny took Carter's hand and pulled him along to the bedrooms. They were halfway through the doorway, when Richie called out, "Wrong pairing!"
Johnny huffed with a dramatic eye roll. Carter smiled, dropping a kiss on his cheek before walking to the opposite room. Seth came in right behind him.
The space was tight, but comfortable. Like the living room outside, the walls were made of rugged wood, and there was a single double bed in the center that took up most of the space. Carter dropped his bag on one side of the bed.
They ended up having pizza for dinner, in the second cabin, ordered from some local place. After eating, they returned to their cabin with the promise they were all meant to be up early the next day for family time. Frankie, Luca and Lydia followed them, after Luca fought Tony over curfew for a while.
"You're back here by midnight. Eleven if you take Charlie," Tony declared as a final offer.
"Charlie, you're staying," Luca announced before leaving.
Somehow, they fit eleven people in the porch. Richie and Kevin shared a six pack they brought from home by the cabin's front door. Jack, Mike and Lydia sat on the porch floor to their side, while Luca and Frankie shared a one-person porch swing with a little bit of imagination and quite a lot of brotherly physical contact. Bella and Seth were side by side on the porch stairs, while Carter and Johnny rested to the corner.
Carter had his back against the cabin wall, with Johnny stretched out over him, back leaning into his chest and Carter's arms around him. They were both only half aware of the cheerful conversation flowing around them, while Carter's hand ran up and down Johnny's arm. Without thinking, Carter rested his other hand over Johnny's t-shirt flattening his palm on Johnny's stomach, feeling heat spread inside his own belly.
"Don't think I don't see your hands on my brother," Kevin Mason called.
"I think your brother likes Carter's hands on him," Bella murmured from behind the neck of the beer bottle she'd manage to coerce Richie into giving her.
"I'll report this back to my dad," Kevin promised.
Carter's hands lifted off Johnny's body and Johnny huffed loudly in annoyance.
"Don't be a jerk, Kev," Lydia chided with a pout.
Kevin Mason rolled his eyes, but he didn't offer any words of objection when Johnny stood, pulling Carter up with him.
"We're going inside."
Carter let Johnny lead him into the room he shared with Seth. Johnny pushed the door closed with his foot as he wrapped his arms around Carter's shoulders, to pull him in for a kiss. Carter yielded easily and let himself be moved to the bed. They tumbled down together, in a tangle of arms and legs.
"It's too fucking hot," Johnny whined against the clammy skin of Carter's neck. "Who chooses to come here, on purpose?"
Carter smiled. "You did."
Johnny rolled his eyes. "Only because you're here," he muttered.
Carter bit his lip. "I'm glad you came."
Johnny gave into a slow smile and Carter caught it in his own lips.
There were nine people just outside the cabin and Seth could come in any moment, so they didn't let themselves go beyond lazy kisses and gentle touches. Still, in the moment, Carter felt that was all he needed. Just Johnny. Soft, comfortable and unrushed. Like they had all the time in the world. A big part of himself wished they had.
Eventually, Seth did come, but he knocked first. Johnny left to his own room and easy silence fell over them. Carter stripped off his clothes and pulled the sheets back to get on the bed. Seth stood to the other side, with nothing but a pair of pajamas pants hanging from his hips and a knowing smile hanging from his lips. Carter shot him a questioning look.
"Should I lay down on this bed?" Seth asked quietly, pointing down at the mattress where Carter and Johnny had been together, only minutes ago.
Carter rolled his eyes. "We didn't do anything."
Seth laughed, sitting down. "Just checking," he teased, pulling the sheets over his legs. He eyed Carter briefly. "But you fixed your... insecurity issues, right?"
"Yeah. Kinda. Mostly."
Seth shot him an exasperated look. "What does that mean? Are you overthinking shit again? Or are you just being awkward because I asked?"
Carter rubbed a hand down his face, sinking down the mattress. "We're good, but we still haven't gone all the way," he mumbled into his hand.
"That's okay," Seth delivered simply.
"Easy for you to say."
"Why?"
Carter looked up at his friend, still sitting on the bed with his back against the headboard. He raised his eyebrows pointedly.
Seth laughed, shaking his head. "Bella and I haven't had sex yet."
Carter's face fell. "Wait—seriously? Like, nothing?"
"Like, something," Seth mocked his dumbfounded tone. "But we're taking it slow."
Carter was surprised to hear that. Not that he thought about his best friend's sex life often, much less Seth's sex life with Bella.
"That's new for you," he mused.
"A lot of stuff are," Seth confessed. "I'm not exactly disliking it, so far."
"Really? So you don't wanna...?"
"Oh, I want to," Seth assured him. "I really do. She does too. But we're still taking it slow."
Carter twiddled his fingers over his stomach. "How do you know she wants to?" He asked, without meeting Seth's eye.
"She told me. We talked. We talk about this," Seth answered. He tilted his head slightly, assessing Carter's silence, before asking slowly, "You and Johnny don't?"
Carter winced. "How do I even bring a topic like this up?"
Seth shrugged. "You just do," he said. Carter shot him a desperate look and Seth laughed. "Not out of the blue and in front of other people, but yeah. You're supposed to have these conversations when you're in a relationship."
Carter shook his head. "What do you know about being in a relationship?"
"Mostly Lauren wisdom, delivered through Bella," Seth replied honestly.
Carter laughed. "Do you think Lauren books appointments?" He tried.
Seth chuckled. "Maybe." He shrugged. "But if you love him, it shouldn't be so hard for you to tell him what you want."
Carter wasn't sure whether it was the words themselves or the easy tone in which Seth spoke them that caught him off guard. Seth shot him a curious look.
"You haven't said it yet?"
Carter just shook his head.
Seth looked surprised. "Sorry, I kinda assumed," he said. "By the way you two look at each other, I really thought you were past that."
"No..." Carter mused, suddenly feeling an inexplicable surge at the base of his stomach and a tingling in his chest he didn't quite know how to interpret. He shifted on the mattress, turning on his side to face Seth as he asked, "Are you?"
"Yeah."
"And do you?"
Seth smiled. "I wouldn't have said it if I didn't, dude."
Carter wasn't even sure what sort of reaction his expression must have conveyed from that reply.
"Right."
"Do you love Johnny?" Seth asked slowly.
That rush came back, warm and prickling, foreign yet pleasant. Carter bit his lip. "I think so," he said.
Seth snorted. "You think?" He repeated. "Stop thinking, man. You always fuck it up when you do that."
Carter scoffed. "How am I supposed to know for sure?"
"You just kinda do," Seth answered ambiguously. "And I think you do," he added, matter-of-factly, before reaching for the lamp on the bedside table to turn off the light.
A soft knock on the door woke the two of them up the next morning, and Mike's head poked inside to tell them everybody else was getting up. Carter grumbled a groggy response, rising slowly to a sitting position on his side of bed. Next to him, Seth had his head under the pillow and he had kicked the sheets off him over the night. Carter tried shaking his shoulder to wake him up, but Seth just mumbled for him to go shower first.
Carter grabbed a fresh change of clothes. He has one foot already inside the single shared bathroom, when someone bypassed him, making them both bump into the door frame and stumble back.
Carter scoffed as he saw Bella push past him to get in.
"Is this always going to be a thing?" He huffed. "Can you smell when I'm about to get into the shower or something?"
Bella turned around with a cynical smile. Her brown hair was all over the place, seeming stragglier than its post-sleep usual, probably from the humidity.
"Yup. You reek," Bella spat. "Now, get out."
Carter let his arms give out to his sides, clothes still in hand, as she shut the door between them. The sound of quiet laughter to Carter's left made him turn to see Johnny standing inside the room he shared with the bathroom usurper.
"She's annoying," Carter sighed.
"I heard that," Bella shouted from inside.
Carter rolled his eyes. "Good," he hollered back.
Johnny smiled, walking out of his room to stand in front of Carter. "You don't reek," he mused.
Carter winced. "I've been sweating all night," he confessed.
"Yeah," Johnny hummed, stepping closer to trace a finger over Carter's chest, before leaning in to whisper in his ear, "But we've already established I like you a little hot and sweaty."
Those words shot straight to Carter's stomach and a little farther south, eliciting a familiar tingling in his chest. All those sensations were heightened as Johnny connected their lips for a languid kiss.
"Am I gonna have to watch you suck my little brother's face all week?"
Carter's hands pulled back from where they had settled on Johnny's hips, and they broke apart.
Johnny rolled his eyes. "Will you stop ruining my life for a day, Kev?"
Johnny's older brother grinned proudly. "Nope." He pointed a warning finger at Carter, in a gesture disturbingly reminiscent of his father. "Hands off my baby brother."
Carter took a step back for good measure, ignoring Johnny's pointed disapproving look.
It was nearing lunch time by the time everyone was ready for the day. They fed on tuna sandwiches, while the parents shared with them the activity plan they had devised. No one was happy with the idea of a hike, but the complainers ended up being outvoted, since the parents decided their votes were the only ones that counted.
So, after lunch, everyone got their comfortable shoes on and set toward the hiking trail.
Carter and Johnny fell a little behind; on purpose to stay together, in Carter's case, as a protest, on Johnny's case. Carter smiled fondly as he watched his boyfriend swat away mosquitoes and other louder, buzzing insects that hovered above their heads. Johnny let out a specially loud yelp as he slapped his own arm, which was looking a little reddish already, like his face.
"Stop laughing at me," Johnny snapped, noticing Carter's grin.
"I'm not."
"Don't lie to me, Parrish," Johnny grumbled moodily.
Carter raised his hands in surrender. "I would never."
Johnny narrowed his eyes at him, stopping his walk just before a bend in the track. Carter stopped too, standing in front of him. Frankie, Luca and Lydia, who'd been walking directly in front of them, had already disappeared past the turn, so Carter stepped to stand close enough their chests were practically touching.
"Can I kiss you?"
Johnny's scowl melted into a smile. "Why do you even ask?"
"I don't know. Whenever I touch you now, I've got your dad or your brother glaring at me."
Johnny rolled his eyes, his face taking on a sourer expression again. "Kev's a moron. You should kiss me whenever you want."
On command, Carter leaned in to link their lips. Every time he kissed Johnny, it was pure magic. Their mouths fit together like pieces of a puzzle, falling into an immediate effortless rhythm. Time moved on a parallel line that had nothing to do with them. Things happened, but only outside their little bubble of delicious excitement.
Unless somebody burst that bubble.
"What are you two doing?"
They parted to see Lydia staring at them. She smiled knowingly, putting her hands on her hips.
"Never mind, dumb question," she said. "Luca was bitten by a snake, by the way."
Carter's jaw slacked. "What?"
"Yup. Tony's, like, sixty-percent sure it's not venomous, though."
Johnny and Carter exchanged a look.
"Sixty is not a lot," Johnny mused, before they followed her around the bend.
Luca was sitting on the ground, in the middle of the track. Frankie, Bella and Seth stood the closest to where they'd just come from, while everyone stood around him. Tony was knelt by his son's side, analyzing Luca's ankle, with Mike standing directly behind him holding his phone.
"I think I found the snake that bit you," Mike announced, turning his phone around so Luca could see a picture of a gray snake covered in dark and reddish spots.
Luca huffed. "I didn't get a good look at it."
"I did," Frankie said. "That's the one. Looks bigger on the photo, though."
Mike turned his phone back around, tilting of his head. "I googled venomous snake species in the Everglades," he explained. "Bad news—this is one of them. Good news—although aggressive and quick to bite, the Dusky Pygmy Rattlesnake has small fangs and releases only a small amount of venom, which means the bite is rarely fatal."
"Rarely? What the fuck, bro?" Luca screeched, eyes wide. He pulled his knee closer to his chest trying to get a look at the tiny bite.
"Apparently, this species accounts for the majority of snake bites in Florida. It's only really dangerous when it comes to children, or pets..." Mike stopped talking as he noticed Luca's distressed look and Tony's stern one.
Richie parted from Kevin's side to step toward his dad and brother. "We'll have to take him to the hospital," he spoke up, flashing a reassuring smile. "You'll be fine, little dude. Jack was bitten by a snake when he was your age and he lived."
"It wasn't poisonous, though," Jack murmured near Bella. "I just had an allergic reaction to it."
Tony helped Richie pick Luca up, bridal style, before giving his oldest son a serious look.
"You got him?"
Richie looked calm as he smiled, nodding. "Don't worry, old man. It's not my first time taking this guy to the ER."