That awkward, inevitable question (private)

Carter was on the balcony of his house, reading a little bit on Mars, even though he felt like he knew all of this. He wore his contacts, opposed to his glasses. Carter invited Ainsley over and wanted to talk to her about being his girlfriend. He didn't know how this would end up. He wasn't even sure he truly knew how Ainsley felt about him. They'd been on like, two quests together and she killed a family friend, and before all of that, he kissed her on the first day they met. It had been a long, windy, weird road, and he didn't know how the dead end would work out.

Ainsley was wearing jeans and a nice lacey shirt. She disliked anything to do with beauty, but at least decided to clean up a bit before meeting Carter. She knocked on the door hesitantly and bit her lip. Ainsley was kind of scared because she was invited to 'talk'.

Carter heard the knock on the door. He went up to it and opened it. "Hey," he said, moving out of the way. "Come in." He closed the door behind her. "Look, we need to talk."

"Hi." was all she could get out. "Y-yeah, I got that. But talk about what?" she felt the urge to fiddle something, as she always did when she was stressed. Ainsley crossed her fingers it was nothing that serious. I mean, what was the worst that could have happened, right?

"Uh, well. Let's go out to the balcony and talk about it." He went outside, looking at the view and then her. "I was thinking maybe...look, we'v..." he sighed and paused. "Ainsley, I'm crazy about you. If you feel the same way, I want you to tell me. I don't want you to be uncomfortable around me. I realize we've talked about this before, but we just kind of scratched the surface. Deep down, honestly, how do you feel about me? If you don't feel anything, I won't be upset. I promise."

Ainsley let out a relieved sigh. She thought it was something horrible, like a grave subject. "Let me cut to the chase." Ainsley was fiddling with her hair, curling it around her finger like she had seen girls in those 90's chick flicks do. "I like you a lot, like a lot." she said in a bit stressed voice.

Carter started laughing- not at her, because he was so relieved to hear that. "Ainsley, I'm so glad to hear that. So, I guess that brings up an easier question, at least easier now that I know that. Do you want to be my girlfriend, like, officially?" Carter asked, taking one of her hands. He blushed a little, not having to ask that question ever before, minus with Aquila.

Ainsley was a bit pulled off the tracks by that one specific question. She was avoiding his eyes and staring somewhere far behind him. "I umm.. I guess so?" Ainsley laughed. She was not really a fan of formalities like this nor had anyone asked this question ever before.

Carter smiled. "It's a yes or no question. No guessing," he joked. He slowly put his arms around her and kissed her lightly, leave her to decide whether she wanted to kiss him more or not. He stayed in the position he was in, hoping she'd kiss him back.

Ainsley was surprised at the kiss, and stood like a statue for a second, before kissing him lightly back. "It's never that simple." she finally pulled off and said in an all knowing voice. "You scared me to death with the 'We need to talk'" the girl murmured to him.

"How so? Did you think I was going to stop seeing you or something? Or something worse than that?" he asked in a concerned tone. "I didn't mean to scare you, I just wanted to have this conversation without an audience. AKA Emmett and Sophia." He sighed, looking at her. She was his girlfriend. He couldn't be happier. "Have you met my cousins yet?"

"No it's nothing. I'm just glad we're over this." she giggled. He was her first ever 'real official boyfriend' and she didn't really know how to react, other than furiously blush. "I haven't met your cousins, why so?" Ainsley blinked twice in confusion.

Carter smiled. "Me too," he said and laughed in relief. He looked out in the distance, seeing some kid crash on his bike. "Ouch, that couldn't have felt good. I'd laugh if that was Emmett." He smiled, and then heard her ask about his cousins. "Oh, no reason, I was just wondering if you have. They're pretty different from our side of the family. I know for a fact that you'd hate Shiloh, considering your anti-beauty. I mean," he blushed. "Like not superficial. You're still the hottest girl I know."

Ainsley was a bit weirded out that Carter would laugh if his sibling got hurt, even though they were polar opposites. She was also taken a bit back by the sudden insult..compliment..wait what? "I'm not anti-beauty. I also don't usually..hate anyone." Ainsley let out a nervous laugh.

"That's not...if I kiss you, does what I just said disappear? I just meant that you're not superficial or necessarily care about beauty, and she does. Really? I'm surprised you don't hate my siblings, considering they pretty much hate you. Hate's maybe a strong word, I just meant like, dislike. Can I please just kiss you and pretend this never happened?" he laughed.

"You're giving me weird vibes" she crossed her arms and rested them on her chest. Her emotions were a mix of euphoria, disappointment and everything between the sky and the earth. Not that great of a start for a relationship.

"Sorry. I'm just nervous. My last relationship, my only relationship, was with this girl, Aquila, and it was easy to randomly talk to her because our families were both famous Romans. With you, I don't really have that conversation to lean on yet, so I'm just making it awkward." Carter smiled at her. "Do you want something to eat or drink?"

"Oh that's..nice." Ainsley thought about the new information she got. "Well uh, it is kind of different in here than where I came from. I understand you" she started collecting her hair in an updo to keep the hair away from her face.
"No thanks, I'm not really feeling like eating anything now."

"Thanks," Carter said, glad she could relate. "So, did you want to go out for dinner or something?" he asked, grabbing his wallet. "Like, later. I know you're not hungry right now."

Ainsley stopped fiddling with her hair. She still felt uneasy of how much she owed to Carter. "I uh, I'd prefer us to do something uh, together?" she said with a hesitant voice, signaling for the damn wallet to disappear.. Because going on a dinner isn't being together, good job Ainsley. Killin' it. the redhead thought in her head.

"Dinner would be together, but okay, what else did you have in mind?" he asked, putting away his wallet. "Like, checkers?" he joked, being a bit awkward. Was he not taking a hint or something? Was he doing something wrong? He started mentally panicking.

"I uhm.. You choose!" she panicked out and guided a tress behind her ear. She did like checkers, just that it wasn't that appropriate. She started noticing Carter's light distress, and decided to step a bit closer. Ainsley looked left and right, you know, for the siblings. She then kissed him lightly.

"I mean, we could go to the lake or go see a movie or play or something," Carter said. He kissed her back. "What was that for? I mean, I'm not upset about it, I'm just curious," he said and smiled, kissing her cheek.

"You looked really stressed so I came up with a spell to calm you down." she demonstrated a spell with her hands with some cute sound effects. "I just want to spend a day with you! I don't really mind where we go." Ainsley patted Carter on the head. What shampoo does he use?