Free Sincerely, Carter by Whitney G.

“And I’ll do my best.”
    On the way home, Carter and I acted as if that moment near the couch never happened.
    The night ended like it usually did in the summer after classes: Him pulling up to my house, waiting on me to go inside before pulling off, and then a late text a few hours later:
    You feel like talking or getting a late dinner with me?

Ninth Grade

     
    Dear Arizona,
    You owe me twenty dollars.
    Sincerely,
    Carter

    Dear Carter,
    Could you at least TRY to look like you’re paying attention in class? And why are you passing me a note when we both have cell phones?
    Annoyed,
    Arizona

    Dear Arizona,
    I didn’t see the twenty dollars you owe me in your last note. Please respond with the appropriate funds. Thanks.
    Sincerely,
    Carter

    Dear Carter,
    The only way I could possibly owe you twenty dollars is if you had sex/lost your virginity this weekend. And since we both know you didn’t, you can stop pretending like you did. You can, however, send me twenty dollars for putting up with this note writing bullshit.
    Grow up and use your cell phone,
    Arizona

    Dear Arizona,
    Like I said….You owe me twenty dollars
    Sincerely,
    Carter
    She gasped as she read my final note, looking over her shoulder and shaking her head. She sent me a text right before the bell rang:
    I’ll see you after my Home-Economics class? Your place?
    Yours.
    I texted back.
    My mom is having her therapist over later. If you guys bake brownies again, bring me one.
    Done deal.
    I floated through the rest of my day at school, not paying any attention to anything that was happening around me. I even spent an extra hour at test-prep tutoring—something I never did unless I was bored out of my mind.
    I walked the long way to Ari’s house—stopping every minute to look around at nothing in particular, but when I arrived she wasn’t there.
    “Hey, there, Carter!” Her older sister, Ariana, ushered me inside. “You want something to drink?”
    “Water, please.”
    “Coming right up,” she said, quickly pressing a cold bottle into my hand. “You can go wait for Ari upstairs in her room if you want. She should be home in a few minutes.”
    “No, thanks.” I narrowed my eyes at her. “I’ll wait here until she gets back. Thanks to you, your mom thought we were up there having sex last time I was here. Or do you not recall lying to her about that?”
    “It was a joke.” She laughed. “I honestly think we’ve all accepted that you two are just friends. Weird, strange, and way too damn close friends, but just friends.”
    “Not trusting it.” I plopped onto the couch. “I’ve been scarred for life. Sorry.”
    She smiled and crossed her arms. “You know, I was just telling one of my friends about you two. I was telling her that although I think it’s nearly impossible to be strictly friends with a guy, that I think you and Arizona are the rare boy and girl friends that will always remain strictly platonic.”
    “Thank you for your random thoughts,” I said. “I was hoping that you would throw some my way today.”
    “Well, smartass, between you and me, have you ever had any non-friendly thoughts about Arizona? Has it ever crossed your mind that maybe one day she’ll be your girlfriend? Or maybe—”
    “You know what? I’m going to take you up on that room-pass now.” I immediately stood up and walked up the stairs, ignoring her cackling laughter. I shut the door and sat by the window, resorting back to far more entertaining thoughts of sex.
    It was ten times better than I thought it would be, and I couldn’t wait to tell someone else about it. I wasn’t sure how I was going to focus on anything else at school this week because I was going to need to have sex in my life a lot more often to cling to this current feeling.
    “Can you stop smiling like that?” Arizona threw a pillow at my face. “You’re giving it all away.”
    “So, you believe me now?”
    “After seeing you sit there with that dumbass grin on your face