When Lydia returned from getting the pizza from the delivery boy at the front door and dropping off her brothers anchovy free pizza, she got a startling fright upon finding Carter on her bed.

He was reading a magazine, sitting against the headboard with his legs crossed at the ankles. She admired his slim fit fade wash jeans and fitted long sleeve black shirt that clung in all the right places.

It was an odd sight to see, having a boy in her room that wasn't Riley. While she had male friends, she'd never had other guys in her bedroom out of respect for her relationship.

Irony at its finest.

"Hello killer," Carter put the magazine down when he heard the bedroom door shut. Lydia didn't miss the subtle way that he swept her from head to toe as she strolled towards the bed. "Cute bedroom."

"Thanks," she put the pizza down on top of her comforter. "Glad to see that the instructions weren't to hard to follow."

"They were easy," he grinned. "That smells good."

Lydia smiled and sat down on the bed as he stretched out on his side, keeping himself propped up on his elbow.

While the aroma of pizza was at the

forefront of her senses, she still found herself overwhelmed at the familiar Hugo Boss fragrance. It was the sort of smell that had you stop in your tracks when a boy walked past, inhaling with a sigh.

The soft sound of Kendrick drifted in the background, but of course, music wasn't needed to fill awkward pauses. Carter seemed to fit fine in her room. Like he had been sneaking through her window for pizza parties for years.

The two of them indulged, devouring the entire pizza while they talked tirelessly. By the time Lydia threw the pizza box on her desk and fell back on the bed with a grunt, it was almost ten o'clock. So much conversation between the pair had slowed the meal considerably.

"Holy shit," Carter cried, abruptly sitting up and staring at the corner of the room where Vidia was standing up, stretching her old limbs. "I didn't even see him there."

"Her," Lydia laughed, rolling on to her stomach, "that's Vidia. She's old. I've had her since I was five."

"Oh," Carter nodded as he stood and walked over to the pug. He knelt down, keeping balanced on his feet as he scratched her chin. "She's done well then. What's with the rhyming name though?"

"I used to be obsessed with tinker bell," Lydia confessed with a shrug. "Vidia was the wind fairy. I thought the matching names thing was cute."

"Aw cute," he glanced over with a breathtaking smile as he continued to pat the dog. Vidia laid back down in her bed, her non existent brows moving up and down as she glanced around with her big bug eyes.

"She loves that bed. She doesn't leave it much. And while it's winter I don't take her outside unless it's toilet time."

"Fair point. It's fucking cold."

Carter stood up and stretched his arms above his head. His shirt rode up and revealed his toned abdomen. Lydia couldn't help but shamelessly stare, swallowing at the thought of certain things that she shouldn't be thinking.

"Huh, that's a throwback and a half."

Carter's voice brought Lydia out of her raunch thoughts and she realised that she'd been chewing on her thumb as she stared at the gorgeous boy. She stood up and subtly shook her head as she walked towards where he was hovering over her tall stand alone shelf.

On the fifth tier was a photo of her, Carter and Riley when the three of them were about seven. She'd almost forgot that the photo was there and it was obvious from the layer of dust that covered the glass frame.

"What did you see in that little twerp?" Carter pointed at Riley. She didn't see a thing wrong with the photo but she put the comment down to the fact that the last two weeks had resulted in a split in their friendship.

"Well he wasn't mean to me and we didn't fight about every little thing," Lydia teased, glancing up at Carter who had his arm rested on the wall beside her, watching with a lazy smirk.

"Yeah well he didn't like you first either."

"What?"

"I liked you first," Carter told her with a serious expression.

"Elaborate," Lydia demanded, folding her arms across her chest. She was well aware of how close the two of them stood, but she didn't move.

"Well it was a long time ago," he began, grinning like a deviant as his thick lashes fluttered, sweeping her face with hooded eyes. "But we heard that a new girl was coming to school and of course being five year old boys we were like, whatever. Girls. Gross. Ya know? But then in walked this little girl with big brown eyes and long curls. I remember thinking, wow!"

Lydia felt herself blushing. Carter had made comments on her appearance before. But it had always been jock remarks about her nice ass and great rack. And it had always been when he was drunk.

"See, Riley wasn't interested. He didn't give two tosses about the new girl. Until I told him that I wanted her to be my first girlfriend," Carter sighed and shrugged a shoulder, moving a little bit closer. "Then he went all in and I got punched in the face."

"Okay, that's because you pushed my friend!" Lydia held up an accusatory finger.

"Oh that's right," he nodded. "Well there was a reason for that. I don't even remember her name now but she was talking about how she thought your hair ribbons were ugly. I was feeling chivalrous. Instead I got smacked."

"You could have told me why you pushed her!" Lydia cried at the newfound revelation.

"You hit me. I was five. I didn't have rational thoughts. I was just like, well fuck that bitch."

The both of them started to laugh, Carter's chuckle fanned her face and she leaned into him as she shook with giggles.

"And then it began," Lydia sighed as her laughter subsided. "The back and forth. The love hate. The constant jeers that we made at each other."

"Yeah," Carter lifted his hand and wound a piece of her hair around his finger, his knuckles grazing her soft cheek. "Thinking that you were beautiful never changed though. I still do."

"You do," she whispered with a breathless voice as he leaned in closer.

"Absolutely."

The fingers that had been wound in her hair, moved at slow pace, goosebumps rising on her skin as he wrapped his hand around the nape of her neck. She wasn't sure that this was a good idea, but then again, the closer that he got, the more that she thought there couldn't be any harm.

Any arguments that were forming were squashed when she felt his full lips grazing against her own and before she could over think the situation, she leaned in, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him with a rough intensity.

She heard the intake of his breath as their mouths opened and their tongues met. Carter leaned off the wall and wrapped his other hand around her waist, giving her a rough tug into his body as he pushed her back against the wall.

His hands travelled her petite frame, not settling in one place for long. Their kiss was picking up speed and heat— fast. Lydia could feel desire and need budding in her core and she knew that he felt it too. His front crushed against her, his mouth moving furiously with hers.

Suddenly a pucker sounded when their lips separated and Carter slammed his hands on the wall, either side of her head as he panted just inches from her face. Lydia's hands were still tugging on his hair, the two of them shifted restlessly as he spoke.

"Do you want me to stop?"

While a small part of her mind might have been telling her to halt things before they went to far, the rest of her body was screaming that she needed more and in that moment of heat, passion and lust, that was what she listened to.

"Don't stop," she breathed, barely finishing her sentence before his lips were smashed against hers once more.

Carter reached down without breaking their kiss and with a rough grip, he lifted Lydia, wrapping her legs around his waist. Her arms rested on his shoulders, wrapped around the back of his neck as he carried her towards the bed.

They collapsed against each other, their movements frenzied as their bodies lost articles of clothing and Lydia became unsure where she ended and he began.