- Long Way Down; One Direction -

Aurora Holland

When I woke up the next day, Carter was gone. I was all alone in my bed, but it was still warm due to my body heat being trapped underneath the thick comforter. I glanced around, seeing a folded-up piece of copy paper on my art desk.

Slipping out of bed, I ignored the chill running down my spine from the cool air as I picked the paper up, smiling at the messy handwriting. Carter didn't have the best handwriting, but it was still readable. It also looked a little familiar, but I didn't question it as I read what was written on the white paper.

Left early that way your parents didn't catch me in your room.

See you tonight at 7, dress however you'd like :)

Unable to contain the grin covering my features, I reread the words over and over. It's crazy how something so simple with no huge meaning can make me look and feel this way. I feel as if I just won the lottery, although that's very dramatic, isn't it?

Remembering what he meant by picking me up at seven, I began to feel the familiar feeling of panic set in my body. The date is today.

Our date is today, and I'd simply been distracted up until now only because Carter was sitting here in my room with me. Now I'm by myself, and the reality of the date happening is setting in.

I walked back over to my bed, pulling my phone from the charger. I ignored the abundance of texts from Paige, even scrolling past the few from Logan.

I'd yet to talk to him about everything, and although I'm not as upset as I was before, I just haven't felt the need to actually talk to him. It was kind of annoying he had Paige give him my phone number as I don't like just giving it out to anyone, but there's nothing I can do about it now. She's already given it to him, and it's not that big of a deal to text her about it.

My nerves began to pick up more as I dialed Katherine's number. I didn't know who else to call, considering I wasn't close enough with any of the other girls in our friend group to tell them I'm going on a date with Carter. Not that I don't trust them, I do, it's just I'm very private about my life and I don't want to ruin whatever might happen between Carter and me.

Is it wrong to think something could happen from this? Considering this is a date and all, that's what I should hope for right? Unless he really did mean it as friends, and he's just too nice to say anything.

"What's up?" Katherine asked immediately as she answered, reminding me I was calling her.

"I need you to come over, I'm freaking out." I nervously told her, my voice shaky from the abundance of feelings I was dealing with all at once.

"What's going on? Is everything okay?" She asked, and I immediately felt shuffling on the other side of the phone.

"Carter asked me on a date last night and I'm freaking out!" I exclaimed, letting my emotions out for the first time since he'd asked me. "What happens on a date? What do I expect? Is he expecting anything from me? What if I fuck things up? What if--"

"Aurora!" Katherine exclaimed, cutting me off. "It's okay, alright? I'll be there in about twenty unless you want to meet me halfway."

"I'll meet you halfway," I said almost immediately. "I'm too fidgety to sit here and wait that long."

"Okay," She said. "I'll leave in about five minutes. Give me a bit to get ready, I just woke up."

"Okay, I need to change into something more presentable as well," I told her, nodding my head although she couldn't see me. "I'll leave in about five minutes and meet you halfway."

"Sounds good," She said. I said one last goodbye before hanging up, taking in a shaky breath.

"It's okay, it's okay," I repeated, throwing my phone on my bed so I can change into something appropriate for the weather. It was slightly chilly, so I just quickly dressed in some sweatpants and a T-Shirt. I shoved some socks and shoes on as well, running my fingers through my messy hair as I tried to not rush out of the house so quickly.

It wouldn't be a big deal if I left before the five minutes are up, if anything I'll just end up walking a little further than halfway. Not that it's a big deal, as I need to do something to get my mind off of things.

I grabbed my earbuds from my backpack and plugged them into my phone, turning on my liked songs on Spotify. I pulled a zip-up jacket on as well, putting my phone in my pocket after zipping my jacket up. There was no point in caring about what I wore besides making sure I was warm enough, considering I'll eventually be changing anyway.

It was currently noon, meaning there were a whopping seven hours until Carter will be here to pick me up. Just thinking about it causes my stomach to flutter with butterflies, my heart hammering loudly in my chest.

Is this what dating feels like? Is this dating?

God, it feels completely different than anyone I've ever talked to about it says. They all make it seem like it's nothing, but then again I'm known to overreact and be a bit dramatic about things.

As I walked, I couldn't help but ignore the music playing through my headphones. Usually, it's very easy for me to get caught up in whatever I'm listening to, but no matter how hard I try I just can't seem to focus on anything but Carter.

Not even just the date tonight, whatever that entails. But I'm meaning him. Everything about him. He's everything I didn't expect of him, as bad as it sounds.

When I first met him, besides the fact that he was absolutely breathtaking, I thought he was rude. I didn't have a very good first impression as he was very rude right off the bat. I mean, yeah, I did kinda barge into his bedroom, but before I could even explain or apologize and honestly even leave -- he was rude.

But we just kept crossing paths. Having multiple classes together, he always seems to be there. Yeah, that's kinda expected considering I was constantly with his friends, but I'm meaning besides that.

I'm meaning times such as when James was hurting me, threatening me. He showed up out of nowhere and got him away from me.

I'm meaning times such as the time I went to his house to see Logan, and almost as if some type of perfect timing -- he was there. He'd been gone before then, meaning nobody was home. But he came home at the time I was just about to turn and leave.

Times such as the event for our parents. When I ran into Old Man Jenkins, he stopped me from doing something stupid. He stopped my mother from giving me another one of her lectures that didn't need to be had. He danced with me, despite him being very adamant about not being a dancer or liking dancing.

Then last night. I needed someone, and I didn't even realize I needed someone until he showed up. I didn't need to ask, didn't even need to think about how I needed someone. He was just there, almost as if he never left my house at all.

Call me stupid, emotional, dramatic, and lovesick. But I've never in my entire life had anyone put any type of effort into a friendship the way Carter does for me.

And now he's asking me on a date despite everything he's seen about me? Of course I feel over the moon about it!

My thoughts were interrupted as I saw the familiar blonde in the distance, a smile covering her features as she saw me walking toward her. She had a pullover hoodie on instead of her usual denim jacket, along with some sweatpants much like the ones she wore yesterday.

As soon as we met up, I turned around and we started walking in the direction I came from. I pulled one earbud out, letting the soft music play in my other ear as we walked toward my house.

"What kind of date is it?" Katherine immediately asked, her voice soft as she spoke.

"I don't know, I know nothing except that it's a date. I think." I murmured, causing her to look at me.

"So you don't even know if it's a date? Did he say it was a date?" She asked.

"Yes. He asked me, I said 'Are you asking me on a date?' and he said yes." I told her, replaying the conversation from yesterday in my head.

"Then obviously it's a date, dummy!" She exclaimed, nudging my arm with hers. "Did he say how to dress? Like whether it's casual--" She stopped, motioning for me to answer.

"He just said to dress however I want," I told her, twirling the ring around my finger. "I don't know how to dress for a date, I've never been on one."

"Neither have I," Katherine said. "But! That being said, I'm glad you called me."

"I just need someone to help me calm down. I've yet to even tell my parents, I don't know if he's going to come to the door, or--" I stopped, slapping a hand over my mouth. "Katie what if he tries to kiss me?"

"You kiss him back?" She spoke as if it were a question, raising a dark brow at me.

"I've never kissed anyone," I told her. "I've never thought about kissing anyone! I mean, I have but not like-- I don't fantasize about it! I just never thought I'd see this day so soon."

"Okay, do you want to kiss him?" She then asked, turning her body toward mine for a second.

"Yes-- no, I don't know." I stopped, rubbing my temples. "Just the thought of going on a date makes my stomach feel funny, now that I'm thinking of kissing him--" I couldn't even finish my sentence. My face began to heat up despite the chilly weather, and I knew I probably looked redder than a firetruck right about now. "Is that too fast? If I kiss him?"

"Depends on who you ask," She said. "Some people would say so, some wouldn't. Depends on how you feel."

"I don't know how I feel!" I dramatically exclaimed, throwing my hands in the air. "What do I do if I don't even know how I feel about it?"

"Well, for starters--" She stopped, grabbing onto my jacket sleeve. "Calm down. I know everyone hates being told that, but seriously. What time is he getting you?"

"Seven," I answered as we turned down my street.

"Seven. That's a good time from now. So when we get inside your house we'll eat some lunch, okay? Calm down a bit, and sort some things out. Then we can decide what you want to wear and lay it out, and you can shower and do anything you need to do before getting ready." She explained, letting go of my arm.

"Okay," I told her, despite feeling as if calming down would be the last thing I can do right now.

"What are you feeling for lunch?" She asked, following me up the driveway to my house.

I noticed my mother's car was gone, meaning she probably spent lunch at work. My father's car was here, meaning I can tell him about my date with Carter. I'd much rather tell him anyway.

Knowing my mom, she'd do anything she can to prevent me from going. And since I'm only seventeen and still living in her house, she'd probably get away with it too.

"We'll have to look and see what we have in the kitchen," I said, opening the front door.

Katherine didn't say anything as we walked inside. I looked to see my father sitting on the couch, watching TV. It was very unusual, considering I hardly ever see him and when I do, he's working from home.

"Hey, Rora! I didn't know you were gone," He told me as soon as he saw us walk in. "Hello Katherine, good to see you again."

"Good to see you too, Mr. Holland." Katherine shyly spoke, her cheeks pink from the attention.

"Please, call me anything but that," He said as he stood up from the couch, completely forgetting about whatever it was he was watching on TV.

I looked at Katherine, seeing a look I couldn't really describe on her face. One second she looked sad, but then another she looked much like she had when I first tried to be her friend. She looked shocked, but a good type of shock.

What looked to be a sliver of belonging flickered through her eyes, but I could be wrong as I'm not the best at reading people. I can only assume it's because she doesn't have a father figure in her life, at least not anymore.

I don't know too much about her family life, we've only opened up little by little to each other about what our family lives were about. All I know is that her father is no longer around after he caught her mother cheating on him, and now her mother goes around with multiple guys on a daily like it's her career.

Not shaming those who do those types of things, just basically saying that's how much she does it.

"You girls eat yet?" My dad asked, breaking me away from my thoughts about Katherine.

"No, we were just going to," I told him, looking away from the blonde and at him. I watched as he walked into the kitchen, and we both followed shortly behind.

"I was about to make some grilled cheese, would you like some?" He asked, grabbing a pan out of the cabinet.

"Sure," Katherine and I said at the same time, sitting down at the kitchen island. We watched as he gathered everything he needed, whistling a song as he did so.

"What do you guys have planned today?" My dad started the conversation as he began making our food, glancing over at us every once in a while to show his attention was still on us.

I looked over at Katherine, who sent me a smirk. My heart began to race again as thoughts of Carter went through my mind, and I felt my cheeks flush as I cleared my throat. "I have a date," I mumbled, my voice barely above a whisper.

My dad stopped all movements, looking over at me with a weird look on his face. "A-A date?" He asked. It was funny, as much as I didn't want to admit it because his voice was a bit higher pitched than it usually was. He cleared his throat this time, looking back down at what he was previously doing. "A date, nice. Do I know this boy?" He asked as if he weren't caught off guard moments before.

If my face wasn't red before, it definitely was now. He knew Carter. Not only that, he knew his dad. He works with his dad!

"Carter Jackson, you heard of him?" Katherine asked after I didn't respond, her voice blunt and forward unlike it usually is.

My dad did a double take, looking at me with his brows pushed together. "You're going on a date with Cyrus' son?"

"Is that bad?" I asked softly, scratching at the skin on my hand lightly. I hadn't done it as much recently, but this was the moment of truth.

I'm not only going to find out what my dad thinks of me going on a date with Carter, but I'm going to find out if I can even go at all.

"Damn it," He mumbled. "No, no. Nothing bad. I just--" He stopped, standing on the other side of the island to look at me better. "I may owe Lainie twenty bucks."

Katherine immediately started laughing, and I looked at my dad in confusion. "What do you mean?" I asked, pushing my hair over my shoulder.

"Lainie's a smart woman, that girl." He chuckled to himself, moving back to the food in front of him. "Or maybe I'm just oblivious."

"I don't get it," I said, my face blank as I watched Katherine recover from her laughter while my dad seemed... flustered?

"Dude..." Katherine started, coughing a bit to stop herself from laughing. "Your dad betted on if you'd date Carter or not."

"No, no! Let's not be hasty with the assumptions, yeah?" My dad asked, holding his hands up in defense. "After the dinner, before the Jacksons left, us adults had a mature conversation."

"Adults as in--"

"Everyone but your mother and the boys," He cut me off quickly. "Lainie brought up how much Carter very clearly cares for you, but Cyrus said both the boys cared for you." He explained, his eyes focused on our food as he spoke. "Lainie's adamant, for sure. But I didn't realize you two were so close, and at the time your mother mentioned Logan had been over once or twice. I just didn't see you going for Carter is all."

"What do you mean by that?" I couldn't help but ask.

He shrugged, "Carter's a good kid, so don't take any offense to what I say. But he's not who your mother and I expected you to date."

"We're not dating," I quickly defended, my face heating up again.

"Right. Just going on a date, same thing." He waved me off, eating a piece of bread as he waited for one of the sandwiches to cook. "Anyways, the point still stands. He's not who we envisioned your first boyfriend to be. We always thought it would be Asher."

Just the mention of the boy's name was enough to make my hair stand on my arm, and the small smile that began to cover my features immediately fell from my face. My dad hadn't noticed -- thankfully -- due to focusing on our lunch.

Katherine, however, noticed immediately and rested her hand on my arm comfortingly.

I always knew I was a fan of being touched, especially in simple ways such as this. But I never experienced it much, despite my longing for it.

Now that I have people such as Elijah, Katherine, and Carter around, I'm constantly being touched and it always manages to calm me instantly.

Not even romantically, honestly. Sure, I think of Carter in a more romantic way, but with both Elijah and Katherine it's all friendly, and it makes me realize how much I love to be touched.

This sounds dirty as I think it, but I'm meaning anything but dirty.

"Asher's too old for me," I joked, trying to play off the situation.

Obviously, neither of my parents knew anything about the Asher situation. Therefore, I won't act like something happened.

As far as they know, nothing's happened. I just had a very obvious lovesick puppy-type crush on him.

"He's the same age as Carter, which if anything just rests my case even more." My dad responded quickly.

"Asher's a senior in high school and you think he's too old for you? You're a senior though, right?" Katherine asked, looking at me with a confused look on her face. She seemed hesitant to mention Asher's name due to seeing my reaction, but she didn't want to get lost in the conversation and I could tell.

"Carter's eighteen right now, he was held back," I told her. I knew this, simply because Carter told me the night we met. When we were asking each other questions, I asked how old he was and when he told me he was eighteen -- I basically asked the same thing.

"Hmm. Wonder why," She muttered.

"When he was in third grade he fought a kid for stealing his muffin," I told her as if it were basic knowledge, remembering how embarrassed Carter seemed when he told me the story.

"That's... fitting, actually." Katherine nodded, her lips pouting at the thought of a little Carter fighting someone over a muffin.

"Back on the topic of the date, this is like-- this is happening right? Like an actual date?" My dad asked, changing the subject.

"Yes," I said, the same time Katherine nodded.

"Okay, cool." He nodded, making it seem as if it were no big deal. Which I appreciated, considering if he were to freak out, it'd make me freak out much more than I already am. "Well, either way, despite the fact I'm down twenty bucks I'm happy for you, bud."

"It's nothing," I spoke, although it was a lie.

It's not nothing. If anything, it's everything.

My dad laid out a couple of sandwiches on a plate, more than enough for the three of us. Noticing Jason was nowhere to be found, I looked at my dad as I took a bite of my grilled cheese.

"Where's Jason?"

"With a friend," My dad said. "Got picked up early this morning. They're going to the arcade."

"Oh, okay. So you have the house to yourself?" I asked, watching as Katherine peeled the crusts off of her sandwich before eating it.

She sent me a sheepish look as she saw that I was watching her, but I just smiled before putting my attention back on my sandwich.

"Yeah," He said. "Well, besides when you leave for the night. When will Carter be here to get you?"

"Seven," I said. "I have a bit."

"He gonna come to the door so I can give him a talk?" He asked, causing me to choke on my food.

Katherine let out another beautiful laugh, covering her mouth with her hand as she did so.

"What?!" I asked. "Dad, you know him."

"I'm kidding, sort of." He held his hands up in defense, a grilled cheese resting in one of his hands. "I've never had the luxury of scaring one of your boyfriends yet, let me enjoy it."

"He's not my boyfriend," I muttered.

"Yet," My dad and Katherine said at the same time, the two high-fiving after.

I rolled my eyes, my stomach fluttering with butterflies so much to the point that I didn't feel hungry anymore. "You guys suck," I said.

"Seriously, though, Rora, I'm happy for you. But do be careful, please." My dad's tone grew serious, causing Katherine's light laughter to halt completely. "I feel better knowing it's one of Cyrus and Lainie's kids, but you're still my only daughter and you haven't had any experience in anything like this."

I picked at my food, taking his words in. He was right, and it was the most compassionate and caring side I've seen of him in a while. Maybe he was still trying to make up for what my mom did, but I didn't care at this point. It was nice, and it made me yearn for more.

"Your mom won't be happy with this, you know." He then softly said.

I glanced at Katherine, seeing she was looking down at her food. She probably felt awkward, and I didn't blame her. I feel awkward and this is my situation.

"I know," I said. "But it's not fair. I get she thinks Carter's a bad influence, but he's the most caring person I've met since I've been here. More caring than Paige has been for sure."

"I know, I agree with you. Your mother's just taking a lot of the changes to heart, it's hard for her." Of course, he was coming up with excuses for her. I didn't expect it to be any different, even though it was a plus he said he agreed with me.

It didn't change the fact that she's still acting how she is, and it's not fair to me.

"I'll tell your mother, take the load off of you. I'll even take her to supper or something to make her feel better." He then added, once I hadn't said anything in response to him. "Either way, don't let your mother's thoughts and opinions change how to act with Carter. If you like him, go on the date."

"Thank you," I said softly, not knowing what else to say.

"I'm still your father, though, Rora and I don't care if he's Cyrus' son. He hurts you, I hurt him." My father tried to say it in a threatening tone, but I couldn't help but laugh.

"You're as threatening as a fly." I stood from my seat, passing my plate toward him.

"Thank you, I try." My dad held a hand to his chest as if I complimented him, and I just rolled my eyes.

"Let's go, Kat."

The blonde's eyes shot up from her plate, a giant smile covering her beautiful features. I knew this look, it was one I saw often from Paige. But instead of dreading what was to come, I felt... excited.

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* This chapter is not edited *