CHAPTER 3 #2
Jamie hadn’t been able to distract Mrs. Conan long at all. We’d barely been dancing for more than a minute before Mrs. Conan had tapped the mic, asking everyone to take their seats. And after the ceremony, the Pembletons had left too quickly for me to make my way over.
I’d DM’d Carter last night and told him I’d be at Alderton-Du Ponte for today’s activity with two motives in mind.
One, of course, to actually talk to him more in person. While I still wanted—needed—to meet Dr. Pembleton, I wanted to get to know Carter-slash-Mr. ASMR a bit more beyond that.
Two, because people might recognize him, and recognize that he was here with me.
So maybe Lydia butting her way into our pickleball game was fine after all.
“Awkward to walk up when I was the topic of conversation,” Carter mumbled, giving an uncomfortable heh.
Beck didn’t seem to be embarrassed for being caught making fun of Carter. Then again, I wasn’t sure Beck had the capacity to be embarrassed.
“Would you like to play with us, Carter?” Lydia asked suddenly, stepping up to his side. Her fingers traced his shirt sleeve. “You’re not quite dressed for it, but we could find—”
“Oh, gosh, no.” Carter wore a pair of dark linen pants paired with a cream-colored shirt, looking even more handsome out of the suit.
But definitely not pickleball attire. “I’m the most uncoordinated person on the planet.
You put a racket in my hand, and I’m likely to hit myself in the head with it. ”
“Much more used to studying?” I asked him with a teasing lilt.
Carter’s eyes were knowing. “Yeah.”
Lydia looked between us. “Do you two know each other? I mean—did you meet before last night?”
“We kind of did, actually.” He didn’t elaborate, but it didn’t seem mean-spirited. “Can I speak with you in private for a moment, Eleanor?”
“Of course.” I easily rose to my feet, grabbing my practice bag at my feet and setting it in my chair. I pulled out my paddle and tossed it onto the table. “Beck can step in for me when Raelynn gets back.”
Beck looked at the paddle as if it’d bite him. Then he raised his gaze to me. It was still hidden by his dark sunglasses, so I stared at my own reflection in the lenses. “Pass.”
I could tell Lydia didn’t want to come across jealous, but it swept through her expression anyway. “Hurry back.”
“Five minutes,” I promised Daisy.
She nodded, eyes flicking over at Carter. Then she gave her eyebrows a not-so-discreet pump. You go, girl.
I followed Carter down the bricked walkway that led away from the tennis courts, where rosebushes obscured the view. My footsteps faltered when he turned down a path, away from the direction of the east pool and toward the serenity garden.
My feet stuttered, and I caught at his arm. “You don’t know where you’re walking to, do you?” I made sure there was warmth in my voice.
Carter turned, sheepish. “Ah. No. But I wanted to be sure we were out of earshot.”
“I think this is good, then.” I don’t want to go any further.
“I just—I wanted to apologize for how little time we got to talk last night.” He looked so different in casual clothes—so much more approachable. His smile seemed easier, too, without the glitz and glamour of the chandelier and marble floors. “It—it really was lovely.”
“I should apologize for being late, but I had a nice time, too,” I told him, giving him a gentle smile. “I’d been hoping to meet your parents.”
“Ah, so that’s why you reached out last month? Because you knew my secret identity?”
Carter was joking, but I wanted to leave no room for confusion. “I had no idea who you were until last night. In fact, I actually can’t believe someone like you would be a secret YouTuber.”
“That’s how I felt when you first reached out. That someone like you would watch my kind of content.”
I arched a brow. “Someone like me?”
“I was—well, I was worried. About how you’d be.” His cheeks began pinking again. “You’re so beautiful that I—well. I was worried you’d be… not nice.”
It was funny. Carter’s compliment was far more direct and obvious, but it was Beck’s that echoed in my ear. I’d hoped you’d be uglier.
The way Carter stumbled over his words, and the ridiculousness of them, made me want to laugh. “Pretty girls are mean, is that what you’re saying?”
“No!” The word echoed through the air, and his cheeks reddened. “No, of course not. Gosh, that came out wrong. I just—I don’t know.”
I calculated the move in my mind before reaching out, coasting my hand across Carter’s shoulder. He stilled. “You don’t have to be so nervous,” I told him. “I’m still the same person you’ve been talking to for the past month.”
It’d been early April when I’d reached out, messaging him about the pier. We hadn’t exchanged that many messages a day, but we had talked daily. I wasn’t a stranger to him, and he wasn’t to me.
Carter cleared his throat. “Speaking of. Can we keep that between us?”
“Which part?”
“That we talked before. Or, really, why we started talking before.” He leaned his head closer. “Mr. ASMR.”
I fought a smile. “Don’t worry. I’m not really into gossiping.”
A relieved expression crossed Carter’s face, and the urge to laugh rose up again.
Despite being from one of the most influential families in Fenton County, he was so animated.
Poised at times, stuttering at others. It caused a surge of affection to race through me, like looking at a little kid tripping over their feet.
“I was afraid someone else might’ve caught your eye first, though,” I went on. “I heard you danced with quite a few girls last night.”
His expression sobered. “My parents treated last night like my Victorian era introduction into society. They were all polite, but nothing like you.”
Only then did I wonder if I’d misread Mr. ASMR entirely. I’d gone into last night curious to connect with a new friend, but had he gone to Senior Night thinking it was a romantic rendezvous? His nerves would’ve made more sense then. The uncomfortable tension in my chest did not.
“I actually can’t stay,” Carter told me a little sadly.
“My parents are meeting the Hollands here for brunch, but I wanted to stop by and say hi, since you said you’d be here.
And say… I’d love to see you again. There are more things I’d like to talk with you about.
Maybe we can meet up for coffee? If you know a good spot? ”
I knew better than to ask if I could join them for brunch to meet his dad. The long game was always a better one. “I do know the perfect place, chance would have it. Have you heard of Crushed Beanz?”
“I haven’t tried it. I could pick you up if you wanted to DM me your address. Maybe… Tuesday? Say six?”
“You should know I’m big on punctuality,” I told him, tucking my arms behind my back. “Don’t be late.”
Carter grinned. “Noted.”
My lips fell back into a neutral position after Carter disappeared around a rosebush, going off in the direction of the garden. It would take him a while to get to the country club’s restaurant from that way, but I didn’t rush after to stop him.
Despite another short interaction, sweet triumph welled in my chest. Not a checkmate, but the game was advancing. Out of everyone he’d spoken with last night, Carter came to me for the first date. Not Lydia, even though she’d been at the same table moments ago. Me. You’re so beautiful.
Except the idea before had been to charm Carter to get to his father, and I wasn’t sure I could do that to Mr. ASMR. Maybe I could convince him to just be friends. Friends could introduce each other to their parents. It’d make my plan less diabolical.
But it wouldn’t be the first time I’d made a diabolical decision for my own benefit.
D-I-A-B-O-L-I-C-A-L.
I closed my eyes, a different voice creeping in. I thought you’d be uglier.
“Jeez, he’s gag-worthy, isn’t he?” I jerked my head up to find Beck leaning against a pillar at the mouth of the pathway. He had his arms folded across his chest, his hair tipping into his eyes. His sunglasses were gone. “Please don’t tell me you actually liked that fluff.”
It wasn’t quite horror that hit me, but something similar had my cheeks on fire. “You were listening?”
“I figured you wouldn’t want me to interrupt.” Beck straightened before slipping both hands into his pockets, giving a boyish shrug. “I couldn’t find the restrooms.”
The lie was obvious. “You know where the bathrooms are.”
“Do I?”
“They’re inside.”
“Are they?”
I clenched my teeth together, fighting the exasperation that welled as he coolly looked back. I refused to give him a reaction.
“That’s who Mr. ASMR is, then?” Beck asked. He tipped his chin in the direction of the garden. “A secret lover?”
“Don’t say anything.”
“Makes sense that it’s a secret. It is pretty geeky. ASMR is all the whispery roleplay stuff, isn’t it? You watch that, Nell? I’m scandalized.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time.” The quip slipped out before I could stop it.
Beck’s lips spread into a devilish grin.
I knew what he was doing. Baiting me—successfully.
He always could. Before, his teasing had been harmless.
A welcomed sort of button pushing, because if he’d picked on me, it’d meant he’d been paying attention to me.
And my chest, even now, gave an embarrassing, traitorous flutter—one I crushed instantly.
Before, button pushing had been harmless.
Now, button pushing was dangerous.
“You don’t want him, you know,” Beck went on as he came closer, giving up on his initial pass at flustering me. He decided to change his strategy. “You only want him because you want to get an in with his father.”
I looked around, making sure Carter had continued down the path. “How do you know his father?”
“I have ears.” Beck tapped one of them. “And people are loudmouths at the ADP parties. Dr. Pembleton, the most revered lawyer-turned-professor at Mullhound—which, coincidentally, is the college your father went to, right?”
“I like Carter for him. I knew him as Mr. ASMR before knowing him as a Pembleton.”