Chapter 11
Carter
“Can I have my phone back, too? I need to text Charlie.”
“Why?” she asks.
“He’ll want to know why you’re not there when they get done. He’ll see his phone as soon as he comes off the stage. I don’t want him to worry, either.”
She lifts up on one hip and pulls my phone from her pocket. “I’m sorry. I completely forgot it was there. I wouldn’t have left with it if I’d known.”
I smile at her. “It’s perfectly fine. At least I’d have had something to find you after you bailed.”
“This isn’t a fairy tale, Carter,” Amelie says with a half smile while tears glisten in her eyes.
“Never said it was. Just glad I’d have had some sort of tie to you after tonight.”
She stares at me, seemingly unsure of what to say as I type out a quick text to her cousin, the one who asked me to speak to her and make her feel welcome.
I don’t think this is what he had in mind.
And I hope he doesn’t take all of this the wrong way.
I hesitate one moment more before I decide to be honest with her. As honest as I can be, anyway. “You’re not the only one who doesn’t quite understand what’s going on tonight, ya know?”
Her gorgeous face crumples in confusion. “What do you mean?”
“I don’t even know how to articulate an answer to that question,” I say with a laugh-scoff combination.
She nods in understanding. Commiseration. Whatever it is, she gets it.
The next several minutes are blissfully silent. Somehow I gather she’s not in the right headspace to chat; the thoughts in my own head won’t stop or quiet, so I can’t imagine what’s going on inside of hers.