WE APPROACH HIM with our bags slung over our shoulders and fatigue slowing our speed. I glance around the dark neighborhood Carter grew up in, and it doesn't take long for me to notice I've entered a completely different tax bracket.

Rows upon rows of McMansions line the block all sporting perfectly cut lawns and driveways filled with high class cars.

Carter's dad is tall. Not quite as tall as his son, but he's not far off. He looked intimidating from the car and now that I'm close enough to take him in fully, I find him even more intimidating.

I know where Carter gets his scowl from.

The deep lines of his forehead wrinkles are pronounced from his furrowed brows. He has the same beauty mark near his upper lip, and an identical angular jawline that's still pronounced despite his loosen skin. He even has the same head of dark curls, the only difference is his has streaks of grey towards the front.

"Carter, my son," he says like he has to remind himself of his son's name and title. He drops his tough look while he watches us come up the steps of the front door and a hint of a smile starts to form on his face. It stays just a hint and doesn't expand to anything greater. I can see it doesn't come naturally, this is him putting in effort.

Carter sounds pained when he responds "Hi." He doesn't meet his dad's eye no matter how much the old man tries to catch it.

"And this is your girlfriend, you say?" He ushers us in and locks the door. "I didn't know you ever had one."

Carter purses his lips tight and I know he's close to dropping a sly comment, so I step in to deter any possible drama tonight.

"Mr. Reyes, it's so nice to meet you." I hold my hand out and smile wide.

He takes my hand and nods a approval at my firm shake. He's in business mode down to the dress shirt and slacks he's still wears at this hour of the night. "Nice to meet you, Summer, and welcome to my home. It's great to have you and Carter here for the week."

Mr. Reyes looks to his son to say something and when Carter remains quiet, he sighs and focuses back on me. "Well, it's late and you two look tired so I'll send you off to bed and we can get to know each other better in the morning. You can stay in Carter's room tonight, I don't mind since Jen is asleep but for the rest of the week, you'll need to stay in the guest room. Jen is very picky about not sharing rooms until you're married."

"I don't know why that's any of her concern," Carter rolls his eyes.

I cut him off and assure his dad. "It's no problem, I'm fine with taking the guest room. You have a beautiful home."

I not lying about the last part, this house makes mines look like a shack.

Shiny dark wood covers the floors and compliments the lively color scheme of the house. The living room is spacious. A grand piano sits to the side and a long brown couch takes up a good amount of space in the middle. There's a flat screen tv over top of the marble fireplace and giant portrait of the last supper sits on wall besides it.

Mr. Reyes starts to make his exit when he abruptly turns back around and walks up to Carter. For the first time their eyes connect as they stand face-to-face and it simmers the room with tension.

They're either about to hug or fight, and based on what Carter has relayed to me about his father, the latter looks more plausible.

When Mr.Reyes reaches his hand out and places it on Carter's shoulder, I audibly gasp before I quickly place my hand over my mouth with embarrassment.

His voice is less rough when he speaks directly to his son. "You and me will sit down and have a conversation before you go back to school. I love you."

With that he walks down hall and disappears into a room on the left.

Carter stands almost frozen in place until he hears the faint sound of a door being shut, then he clears his throat and puts on a stoic face I can see right through.

"Well, he seems pleasant enough." I try to cut the tension and bring him back to earth.

"Let's go to bed." He leads me up the spiral staircase.

Carter's room is at the end of the long hall. He opens the door and switches the light on, which allows me to look around and take in his childhood living space.

He's a clean person so I'm not surprised to find his room perfectly neat and uncluttered. The walls are forest green, his favorite color, and above his bed frame is a poster of Michael Jordan throwing a shot mid-air.

I walk over to his desk and examine the shelf above it that has a collection of NBA bobbleheads. Carter touches my shoulder and unhooks my bag to place it in his closet. He then picks up the Kobe Bryant bobblehead I've been staring at and passes it over to me.

"That's the last one my mom was able to give me," he says.

I hold the figure in my hand, trying to picture the scene of an excited younger Carter getting another toy to add to his collection. His mom was probably sick at the time, so I don't know how much excitement he was able to conjure in that moment, but right now, he sounds happy about the memory, almost proud.

"It's nice," I say, carefully putting it back in its place on the shelf.

"I wanna check on Mila real quick." Carter grabs my hand. "Let's go."

We walk across the hall and tip-toe when we get to the room adjacent to Carter's. He twists the knob slowly and pulls the door back making minimal noise in the process.

I lack behind him and circle around the fairytale-themed pink room. I can't see many details in the dark, but I know 6-year-old me would've killed for a space like this.

Mila's lays sprawled in her bed completely knocked out. Her curls cover most of her face and her back moves up and down as she breathes.

Carter crouches down by the side of her bed and with the lightest touch, he brushes her hair out of her face and places a kiss on her forehead. The sight makes my heart swoon. He whispers I love you to her and gestures for us to return back to his room.

After showering and changing into my pajamas, I get into bed with Carter, excited about being able to spend the night in his arms. He pulls me in and I rest my head on his shoulders the same way I did the first time we spent the night together.

It feels like ages ago. I never would've thought running to comfort a puking Carter would have brought us to this point, if I did, I would've run in the opposite direction straight home instead.

"Was it hard forming a relationship with Mila?" I ask. "You were an only child for so long and you don't have a relationship with either of the people who created her."

"No, actually it wasn't. She was born a few months after Jake, and by that point I was used to helping Sam with her baby. It was a good distraction, so when Jennifer gave birth to Mila, I swooped in to help especially when she started battling a severe case of postpartum depression. I spent most of my senior year taking care of her, while Jennifer got help and my dad was working."

He makes a face at the last part, anger boiling up at the memory of his neglectful father. I can relate to it somewhat since my parents spent a lot of time at the restaurant, though it was never close to what Carter's had to deal with. His father completely abandoned him the moment he needed him the most. I can't imagine that pain, but I can see the results of it and it breaks my heart.

"I think it's good he wants to sit down and talk with you, you know," I say "You should use it to get some answers. See if he'll take accountability and make up for his mistakes in the past."

He takes a deep breathe and rubs his eyes with force. I feel him pulling back from me, not physically, but his eyes travel elsewhere. "I don't have anything to say to him. I expressed everything to him years ago. He only cares now because Jennifer wants to make us into some picture perfect family even though she never gave a shit about me before."

"Will you at least let him talk to you?"

"I don't have a choice, when my dad wants you to do something, one way or another, he'll get you to do it. How do you think he was able to build such a successful construction company?" He looks filled with dread and annoyance.

"Well, I think a lot of good will come from this. For now, let's just leave that in the future and get some sleep." I give him a peck on his lips and switch our position to circle my arms around him for the night.

He doesn't protest and after a while, he settles down and I start to hear his snoring.

After having napped for three hours, sleep doesn't come easy to me, so I cautiously unravel myself from him and dig into my bag to retrieve my laptop. I sit up on the edge of the bed and catch glances at Carter's sleeping body ever so often.

As he remains asleep, I outline the materials I need to study and the assignments I intend to get a head start on during the week. I planned to do this days ago, I don't know why I've pushed it off until now. It's only a study outline but still, I set a deadline for myself, I didn't meet it, and I don't have a good explanation for my failure. There's no excuse for that.

By the time I complete my outline, I'm exhausted and ready to go to sleep. When I shut my laptop off and place it back in my bag, I hear a small knocking sound at the door.

I wipe my clothes down to ensure my shirt and tights are appropriately in place, thinking it may be Carter's dad wanting to talk, or his step-mom wanting to chew us out for sleeping together unwed.

The knock sounds more like a bang but it's so weak that Carter doesn't even stir out of sleep. Before I can go to the door and see what's up, it opens on its own and Carter's little sister wobbles in with a stuffed animal in hand.

"Cathy!" She screams, causing Carter to shoot up and nearly fall out of bed from shock.

He slides to the edge and I rush over to help push him back so he doesn't stumbled to the ground. I try to hold back my laughter and ultimately fail.

She rushes to his bed and flings her stuffed rabbit on top before she climbs up with precision.

Carter gets himself together at this point, albeit groggy, he opens his arms out for her to dive into.

"Oh, I miss you, Cathy. Do you miss me?" She asks.

"Of course I miss you." He's already developed a morning voice and it's deeper and more raspy than his normal one. He kisses her cheek till she giggles and settles herself in bed.

"Can I sleep with you, Cathy? Please, I'll be a good girl," She says in her cute toddler voice.

I sit on the edge of the bed to observe since I'm not sure what to do.

"Of course you can," Carter says. "But you're gonna have to make room for my girlfriend."

It's at this point that Mila takes notice of my presence. She climbs out of Carter's arm and crawls over to me, poking my stomach and face with interest.

"Mila, are you poking her?" Carter asks.

"Yes." She laughs, which causes me to laugh and Carter to eventually join in.

"That's Summer, my girlfriend. She's the girl you saw with me when you Facetimed me a few weeks ago, remember?"

"Oh." Realization dawns on Mila. "She's princess Tiana, yay." She jumps into my arms with a hug.

"No quite, but I'll be glad to pretend I am when we play princess tea party," I say.

She squeals even more at this and it takes half of Carter's strength to eventually detach her from me.

"What did you just say you'd be?" He asks her.

"A good girl." She replies and calms herself down.

With Mila in the middle, I climb back in on the left side of the bed. Carter reaches his hand over and entwines it with mines, and this is how we fall asleep. Not even Mila's sleep-filled stirring and kicking can separate our union.