Warnings: Angst, profanity

Word Count: 2000

Author's Note: Just a heads up, this chapter goes back in time a little bit! I know the chapters have been pretty linear up to this point, but I wanted to show how both the reader and Tyler reacted to what happened, so I rewinded a little bit. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter! :)

*     *     *

Your throat hurt. Bad. Worse than it ever had before, you were pretty sure. Except for maybe that time you had strep and were out of school for a week.

That had been pretty bad, too.

The tears had finally stopped coming, but you knew it wouldn't be long before they were back again. Thankfully none of your family was home, so you could cry as loud as you needed to without anyone asking what was wrong. You preferred it that way, at least for now.

It was hard to believe that he was actually leaving.

Not wanting to sit with your thoughts any longer, you headed downstairs to get yourself something to drink. There was some juice in the kitchen leftover from when Carter had decided to surprise you with breakfast the other morning, so you poured out a cup and took a seat at the dining room table. It hurt a little to swallow, but it still tasted good.

You heard Carter before you saw him. He was whistling as he shut the front door behind him and kicked his shoes off next to the door. For a moment you thought he might not have seen you sitting at the kitchen table, but his eyes met yours when he was about halfway up the stairs.

"Didn't expect you to be down here," he said as he backtracked and joined you in the kitchen. "Is Tyler still here?"

"No. He decided to leave early."

Your voice didn't sound right, so you took a long sip of your juice. Maybe Carter would think it was because of that. Somehow.

"That's a first," he smiled as he sat down. "Wait - have you been crying?"

"No," you lied, but his simple question caused you to break down again. You buried your face in your hands and tried to hold back the sobs.

"Woah, hey, Y/N," Carter said.

His chair scraped against the wood floors as he stood up again. He was at your side in seconds, lightly rubbing your back.

"Let's go upstairs."

You nodded and let Carter guide you up the stairs towards his room. He helped you get comfortable and wrapped you up in blankets. It was silly, but he used to do it when you were kids and your parents weren't home to properly comfort you. Something about the childish gesture always made you feel a little better, even now. Once you were settled in, Carter sat down in his desk chair.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"It's Tyler," you muttered. "He's leaving."

"Leaving? What do you mean?"

"His label is having him tour. He's leaving next week and won't be back for three months. I don't know what I'm going to do without him, Car."

A fresh wave of tears started to fall down your cheeks. Carter reached out and gently tried to brush them away with his thumb, but they were only replaced by new tears in a matter of moments.

"Alright, come here," Carter said.

He took a seat next to you on the bed and held his arms out. You buried your face into his shoulder and held onto him tightly, no longer caring how hard you cried. Carter just rubbed a hand along your back and held you.

"It's ok, Y/N," he whispered.

"It's not."

You hated the way that your voice sounded. It didn't even sound like it was coming from your mouth.

"He's not going to be gone forever."

"That's what it feels like."

Carter held you at arm's length. You were too embarrassed to meet his eyes, so you stared at the belt he was wearing. It had belonged to your dad at some point. You could tell by how worn the leather was.

"Will you look at me?" You shook your head. "Please?"

You took a deep breath and tilted your head slightly so that you could look at Carter.

"What?"

"This isn't going to be the end of the world. The relationship that you and Tyler have is special and neither one of you is going to let it end just because he's not in Ohio for a few months. Just think, he'll be getting back right as you get done with school for the summer."

"I guess that isn't too bad."

"And you're still going to have me, alright? Sure, I'm not Tyler, but at least you don't have to deal with this alone."

You nodded. Carter was making some good points.

"It just sucks, you know? To not have him here."

"I know. Come here."

Carter pulled you into another hug. You held onto him, just taking a moment to appreciate that he was looking out for you. It was hard to imagine where you would be without him and Tyler.

"Alright, I need to talk about something happy now," you said, wiping away the last few remaining tears. "I want to hear all about this coffee date with Marenna."

Carter immediately started grinning like an idiot, which was always a good sign.

"Ooh, what happened?" You poked him in the side a couple times.

"Well, we were just catching up," he explained. "She was talking about grad school and I told her about working and stuff."

"Did you pay for her coffee?"

"I did."

"Was it a caramel latte with half the normal amount of espresso?"

Carter's eyebrows furrowed, "Yes. How did you know?"

"She used to take me out to coffee before school when I was a sophomore! I remember her always ordering the exact same thing, but I tried it once and it was disgusting."

"Oh yeah," he smiled. "I remember that now."

"Ok, sorry for the interruption! What happened next?"

"I decided to be bold and ask her if she was seeing anyone..."

"Carter!" you gasped. "You decided to be bold?"

"Yes, now shut up and let me finish."

"Sorry!"

"She said no, she isn't," Carter paused. "And that slowly led into a conversation about where we left off. I told her that I missed her and she said that she missed me too."

"Carter!" You got so excited that you reached out and smacked his arm, although it was a bit harder than you had intended it to be. "Oh, sorry."

"Ouch, Y/N," he laughed, rubbing at his arm. "Anyway, we just talked some more and then I walked her out to the car and..."

"And?" you said, hardly able to contain your excitement.

"I kissed her."

"Carter!" you stood up on his bed and began to dance around. "Carter! Carter! Carter!"

"Y/N! Stop, you're going to mess up my bed!"

"Sorry," you fell back onto his bed, "This is just so exciting!"

"I know," he grinned. "I'm really happy."

"So are you two together now?"

"Not officially, but I'm taking her out on a proper date later this week. You know, just to test the waters before we dive back in."

You sighed, "I want to get taken on a proper date."

"Your time will come." Carter reached out and placed a hand on your shoulder.

You shoved it away, "Yeah, yeah. Just like my time was supposed to come in high school, too."

He rolled his eyes at you, "I bet there's a guy out there who's head over heels in love with you."

"Not likely."

"How would you know?"

"I just know, Car."

Besides, even if there was, he would never live up to Tyler.

*      *      *

"Fuck," Carter muttered as he pulled burnt chicken nuggets out of the oven.

"Carter! Our nuggets!" you sighed.

"I don't know how I managed to mess up this bad."

"Now what are we going to have for dinner?"

"Burnt chicken nuggets," he grinned, holding the pan up.

"No."

He groaned and tossed the burnt nuggets into the trash can. Carter had offered to make you a nice dinner since you were still dealing with the news from Tyler, but his subpar cooking skills were putting a bit of a damper on things.

"Are you sure you don't want any help?" you asked. "I could make us some noodles real quick."

"No, I've got this. I'm capable of making dinner for my little sister."

"You have yet to prove that to me."

Carter turned and shot you a look before returning to rummaging through the cupboards for a second option. With each passing minute that he was unable to make you something good for dinner, you were growing hungrier and more impatient.

"What are you working on?" Carter asked.

You looked down at the paper that was sitting in front of you. It was covered in random words and sentences.

"A list."

"Of what?"

"Ideas."

Carter sighed, "For?"

"Tyler and I want to make our last day together really special, so I'm trying to come up with ideas for stuff we can do to make it as much like a movie as possible."

"What do you have so far?"

"Just random stuff: eating an entire gallon of ice cream, going on a picnic, playing Mario Kart. Just like our regular days together, really."

"Then how do you plan to make it like a movie?"

"Um, well, I hadn't really gotten that far."

That made Carter laugh, "Glad to see it's going well, then."

"That's why I'm brainstorming ideas!"

You sighed and tapped your pencil against the counter. On the other side of the kitchen, Carter was cutting up some fruit for you. He had decided to make them into funny shapes, just to help you cheer up a little more.

"Hey, Car?" you asked.

"What?"

"What did you and Marenna do on your first date?"

He looked up at you with a raised eyebrow, "Are you actually brainstorming date ideas and using it being your last day together as a coverup?"

"I wish."

"Then why are you asking what we did on our first date?"

"Because you're good at coming up with ideas."

Carter smiled, "I try. And, um, let me think."

You doodled flowers around the edge of your paper while you waited for Carter to think of his answer. His first date with Marenna had been close to six years ago, but you still remembered how excited he was as he got ready. You, being the curious fourteen year old you were at the time, had been asking him rapidfire questions while he tied his shoes. He had been nice enough to answer all of them for you.

"I remember!" he said as he slid your plate of fruit over to you. Most of it was flower-shaped, although he had managed to make a few attempts at dinosaurs. It made you giggle. "Ready to hear it?"

"Yes," you said as you grabbed a strawberry flower.

"So, I picked her up and took her to this food place that we both really like. It actually ended up becoming one of our favorite date spots." He allowed himself a small smile. "And then I took her out to this overlook and we ate our food and got to know one another. I even managed to hold her hand."

It was like Carter was sixteen again, smiling like an idiot about his first date with a girl. You were happy that they were back together again; he hadn't been this happy since before the breakup. At least one of you got to be happy.

"Did you kiss her?"

"Maybe," Carter answered, drawing out the end.

"Aw, Carter had his first kiss" you teased.

"And definitely not my last."

"Too far!" you squealed.

You munched on a piece of banana while you wrote down a few more ideas. Tyler had managed to set aside an entire half of a day to spend with you amidst all his last-minute tour preparations. The thought of a "last day together" before he left for so long still made you sad, but you were determined to make the most of what you had.

After all, maybe some time away from Tyler wouldn't be such a bad thing.