Carter's POV:

I'm so thrilled that we qualified. Absolutely shocked, excited, and so grateful that we qualified for semifinals. It's a stepping stone to finals and I'm so happy that we got there.

Maybe I'll will a medal this year... it's going to be hard and stressful, but last year, my lack of confidence was my downfall and I was so nervous and tense that I swam slower. Plus, I was a little sophomore at a finals meet with a bunch of juniors and seniors, so I deserved to be scared.

This year, however, I'll be better.

The bus ride is boring, since I'm really eager to see my boyfriend and go to Ben's for our party, but team spirit and all means I have to sit here.

Trenton keeps gloating that he qualified, and usually I'd be annoyed, but I push aside those feelings. He deserves to be proud; making it to semifinals isn't easy and he did work his ass off.

"Who all is going to be at the party?" Leighton asks before drinking the rest of his Gatorade. "Also, can I use your shower?"

Ben nods. "Sure, it'll be an hour or so before everyone else shows up. And it'll be the swimmers who want to go, Carter's friends, some of the guys on the baseball team... a group of, like, thirty to forty at the most."

"They better bring good drinks," Trenton says. "I'm planning on getting fucked up."

As long as he stays away from me and my boyfriend, whatever.

"No, I'm not washing puke stains out of my carpet," Ben scowls. "Besides, I can't have everyone spending the night at my place. I only have two extra rooms and a couch."

Yeah, lucky rich guy who has a whole three room apartment to himself and doesn't have to have roommate. Don't get me wrong, I love Janelle and having a roommate is fun, but it would be nice to be able to live alone.

That way Jeremy could come over every night and I wouldn't have Janelle giving me smirks and knowing looks.

Jeremy and I haven't done more than make out, but I'm pretty sure Janelle thinks we've gone much further than that. Not that I'll be telling her when we do; that's a me and Jeremy thing, not a whole world gets to know thing.

When the bus parks, I'm instantly out the door and I see Jeremy, Amanda, and Janelle waiting for me outside. We're going back to mine and Janelle's apartment first so I can shower and change before we go to the party.

"Look at that sexy man!" Janelle calls, and I can see how stoned she is. "Jer, you got a good one!"

I see Jeremy roll his eyes.

"Stop thirsting over my boyfriend," Jeremy scolds her, getting to me first and launching himself into my arms. "He's mine."

There's a collective "aw" from Janelle and Amanda before we get into the car, the girls at the front and Jeremy and I at the back.  Our hands are intertwined and Jeremy is sitting at the center seat so we can be closer.

We're only three weeks into our relationship and we're in that honeymoon phase where we're kind of head over heels for each other. Every day we have to see each other, text each other, or call. It's like he's a drug and I'm an addict, never unable to stay away for long.

Not that Jeremy seems to mind.

I've been in short relationships before, but I've never had the same connection with the other guys than the one I feel to my Jeremy. I can actually picture a future with him and I don't know if he feels the same yet, but I hope he does.

Once we're in my room, Jeremy lays on the bed while I grab my towel to take a quick shower.

"I'm going to borrow one of your sweatshirts," he tells me, peeking over at me.

"Don't you have one of mine already?" I ask, climbing on the bed and hovering over him, leaning down to kiss his forehead.

Jeremy smiles innocently. "It's back in your closet. It doesn't smell like you anymore, so I need to steal a new one." He leans up to kiss my lips, and I can feel him smiling against my lips. "Now go shower so we can go to that party."

"When you're more comfortable, you can join me."

His eyes widen. "Uh... that won't be for a while, just so you know... it still makes me anxious. The idea of, like, super intimacy. And being naked around you."

I kiss his forehead again. "Shhh, relax. I'm going to be patient and you don't have to force yourself to do anything you don't want to. You can always talk to me, Jer."

"I know," he whispers, sitting up and pulling his knees to his chest, causing me to sit down and stop hovering over him. "It's not your fault. I'm still learning about all this relationship stuff and I want to be more comfortable but... it's still hard."

"I know, Jer, and it'll never be something that I'll hold against you or be upset by. You're my boyfriend and I can see you trying, and that's enough. I care about you so much."

He blushes, his eyes meeting mine. "I care about you, too. Now go shower. Your shampoo smells better than chlorine."

I laugh and leave my room to go shower. It's quick and just to smell better than chlorine, and when I get back to my bedroom, Jeremy has already chosen one of my other sweatshirts to wear. Not that I mind because I will forever stand by my claim that he's adorable in my clothes.

Even if it's one of my favorite sweatshirts; the light blue one with a tiny turtle over the breast. It's too cute on him for me to want to take it back, and I'd never take anything from him.

"Let's go!" Janelle calls from the kitchen. "Peyton's bringing me some chocolate!"

I pick Jeremy up by his legs so he's upside down, but instead of fazing him, he just continues to play with his phone. It doesn't seem to faze him anymore when I do random shit, which shows me how comfortable he is with me.

"Babe, I need to put you down," I warn him.

Jeremy groans. "Fine, do it over the carpet so I don't get concussed," he says, and I lay him down as gently as possible. "I appreciate it."

"What are you even doing?" I ask as he turns his attention back to his phone.

"Starting an OnlyFans," he deadpans before showing me his screen and I see that he's playing Plants vs Zombies. "My parents didn't let me play video games on any gaming device when I was younger."

"How do you know what OnlyFans is?" I ask, since he's still pretty innocent.

Jeremy turns his phone off and puts it in his pocket. "Janelle told me what it is when you were taking a nap a few days ago."

"Ah, fantastic."

The party is in full swing when we get there, and Jeremy stays tight to my side because it's a bit crowded. It's all swimmers and some of their friends so I know most of the people here thankfully. I'm glad that there's not super loud music because I know that stresses Jeremy out, but the crowd is a bit much so we escape to the balcony upstairs.

Janelle appears and hands me an unsmoked blunt and a lighter before she grins. "Happy birthday," she slurs, and I see a nervous Peyton keeping her on her feet.

"She's really drunk," he says, patting her back. "And high."

"I'm gonna puke," Janelle says.

Peyton starts leading her away. "Okay, let's go find you a bathroom."

With anyone else, I'd be wary, but as much as Peyton can be annoying and cocky, he's really a sweet guy under all of that macho energy. I'm sure he'll take care of Janelle or call me if he needs me to take her home or find her a bed and keep an eye on her.

"What's that?" Jeremy asks, looking at the blunt in my hand.

"Weed."

He purses his lips. "I want to try smoking it," he tells me.

"Are you sure?" I ask.

"Yeah, let me try it," he insists. "You can show me how, if you want to."

I hum and light the end before inhaling from the other end, holding it for a couple of seconds, and exhaling. I'm not a weed addict, but I do prefer smoking to drinking and it's a pretty good way to relax.

"Just inhale slowly, hold it for a few seconds, and then exhale. Since blunts have a high content, you don't want to smoke it like a cigarette."

Jeremy looks confused. "I've never smoked a cigarette."

"...you don't want to smoke it until it's all gone, especially not your first time. Also, this will make you feel it pretty quick, but it'll wear off much quicker than an edible. You need to hydrate while high, okay?"

Jeremy nods and I hold the end to his lips. He inhales way too quick and starts to cough, so I pat his back until he's able to stop coughing.

"You alright?" I ask and he nods with teary eyes. "Hm... let's try it another way."

Jeremy seems suspicious, but he agrees.

I inhale the smoke and hold it in, before cupping the back of his head and kissing him, exhaling the smoke into his mouth in a slower, controlled fashion. When we break our kiss, he exhales without coughing, but his face is really red.

"That was nice," he says, his voice cracking. "But I don't feel high enough so you should probably do it again."

I chuckle and obey, and soon we end up leaving the blunt on the balcony's railing and start a heated make out session in one of the spare rooms.

We're both pretty high, but I'm a bit more level headed than Jeremy, so I know I'll have to stop this at some point before we go too far. However, it's just kissing for now, so I'm not too worried.

His hands are all over my back and his legs are wrapped around my waist. He's involuntary grinding against me, which makes me groan and push back, earning a hot moan from him.

"I think we're too high for this," he pants as I part from him and start to kiss down his neck. "Right?"

I hum in agreement. "Probably."

Jeremy sighs, his voice high pitched as he grinds against me again. "We should do this sober."

"Mhm," I agree, still focusing on his neck, but not leaving any marks.

He probably wouldn't appreciate that.

Jeremy reaches under my shirt and begins to feel my abs and pectorals, and I know he's more comfortable doing this in the dark so he doesn't have to meet my eyes. He's a touchy kind of person, but I really like that so I don't try to stop him.

"I'm really turned on right now," he mumbles. "But I want chocolate milk more than I want to deal with being turned on."

That makes me laugh and I get up, pulling him with me. We raid Ben's fridge, and I'm thankful he has a gallon of chocolate milk. Pouring us both glasses, I sit on the counter and Jeremy grins as he situates himself between my legs.

"Hey, have you ever heard me say the f-word?"

"I don't think so," I reply, drinking my glass of milk and handing Jeremy his. "Do you want to say it?"

He nods.

"Go ahead, then."

He grins. "Fuck."

"Proud of you, baby. Now let's finish our drinks and go crash in one of the spare rooms."

Jeremy agrees with me. "Congratulations on qualifying. I'm really happy for you. And proud of you. I'm... prappy."

I can't help the laugh that bursts from my chest. "Fuck, you really are the best thing that's ever happened to me."

"Obviously," he says cockily. "You're kind of awesome, too. We should go cuddle once we finish our drinks."

"Or..." I trail off, noticing that most of the party people are winding down and relaxing. "We could play a game."

"What game?" Jeremy asks, still smiling in a dorky way.

I snicker. "How about seven minutes in heaven?"

Now, I didn't expect him to bite my arm in retaliation, but I definitely deserved it.