I'm fine, I promise ;; Marisol

Carter winced as she pulled herself up from her bed. She had just gotten out of the shower and had been laying down. The bruise on her back still hurt, and sometimes the pain would shoot down through her legs if she moved a certain way. She started to get dressed, and decided on skinny jeans and a long sweater, that way if she leaned forward her shirt wouldn't slide up and expose the ugly yellow and green monster above her waistline.

Before pulling her shirt on over her head, she looked back at herself in the mirror. He didn't mean it, she told herself, he was just having a bad day. Besides, anybody who came from a home like the one Caleb had would have emotional problems anyway. Plus, he apologized, and promised her it would never happen again. She sighed and pulled her sweater on.

Warren watched his clio cross the room and shook his head sadly. He had already tried to convince her that Caleb was bad news, but he could only do so much. He just hoped she would make the right decision.

Carter slowly lowered herself into her desk chair, and started to brush her hair. She had to be at Caleb's in a little while, and she didn't want him to get mad if she was late.

Lately, Marisol had been missing her best friend Carter. It seemed like she was never around anymore, and when she was around, she just seemed completely distracted the whole time, like she was worried about something else (or someone else). Marisol knew that after how she had acted towards her friends after Jeanine's death, she had no right to be miffed at Carter, but she couldn't help it. It didn't help that most of the time Carter blew her off, it was to hang out with her boyfriend.

Marisol wasn't a fan of Carter's boyfriend Caleb. She had tried hanging out with the couple a few times, but it was just unbearable the way he demanded Carter's attention. Marisol never would've put up with a guy like that. She had no problems telling Liam that sometimes she wanted to hang out with her friends instead of him.

Since making plans with Carter was useless since she was always just cancelling them, Marisol decided a surprise visit might be a better idea. She meandered across the hall to Carter's dorm and turned the doorknob, but it was locked. "Carterrrrrr!" she called, knocking.

Carter looked up from the mini mirror on her desk when Marisol came knocking. Thank Gods she had locked the door, it would have been awful if she walked in and saw the bruise. She wanted to hang out with Marisol, but if she didn't get to Caleb's on time... she felt guilty though, she had been blowing Mar and Skye off a lot lately to hang out with Caleb.

"Coming!" She called. Wincing, she pushed herself out of her chair and walked over to the door, unlocked it, then opened it. "Hey Mar!" She greeted, trying to sound cheerful.

Marisol grinned at her friend. Carter had answered the door at least, maybe that meant she'd actually want to hang out for a bit. "Hi Car!" she greeted right back. "I feel like I haven't seen you in forever. We should hang out!"

She waited expectantly for Carter to either agree and invite her in, or make up some excuse (probably about stupid Caleb) and close the door right back up. She hoped, hoped, hoped that Carter would wanna hang out. Maybe the two of them could get outta the dorms for a bit, go exploring. They hadn't gone exploring together in so long!

Of course she would want to hang out. Carter felt that familiar pang of guilt and opened her mouth to deny her best friend once again. "Oh Mar," she said, smiling sadly. "I already promised Caleb I'd go out with him tonight..." she bit her bottom lip nervously, her heart pounding. "But you can come in and help me get ready!" She stepped back to give Marisol some room to come in. "I'm sorry I haven't been around lately...I've been really busy."

Marisol frowned, not bothering to hide the disappointment on her face as she walked into Carter's dorm. Carter hadn't been busy, she'd been spending every waking moment with her boyfriend. That was not the same thing as being busy.

"You hang out with him every night," she told Carter. "We never hang out anymore. Just tell him you wanna hang out with your friends tonight!"

Carter bit her lip, but then waved it off like it was no big deal. "That's not true," she replied, even though she knew it was. "We still see each other everyday! Our dorm rooms are right across from each other!" She went back over to her desk where her make up was and bent down to look into the mirror, and winced in pain when she bent too far. She hoped Marisol hadn't noticed that.

"I promised Caleb I'd come tonight," she explained. "He wanted to take me out some place fancy." She turned away from her mirror to face Marisol again. "How about next weekend?"

Yeah, maybe they literally saw each other for a couple minutes in the hallway every once in a while, but they certainly never hung out anymore. Marisol pursed her lips. "Do you promise we'll hang out on the weekend?" she asked, sounding skeptical. "Or are you just gonna blow me off for Caleb again, as usual?"

She regretted the words as soon as she said them, but didn't take them back. Because they were true. Carter refused to ever cancel her plans with Caleb because she promised him, but she had no problems cancelling plans with Marisol.

Carter pursed her lips and crossed her arms over her chest. She wasn't mad at Marisol's comment, but she hated the fact that her friends felt that way. "I promise," she told her. "You, me and Skye, we'll all go out together next weekend." She just hoped that Caleb would be okay with that. It seemed like he didn't really like it when she hung out with her friends. She couldn't understand why though, he knew the three of them had been best friends for years.

"Now," she said, while sitting back down at her desk. "Help me with my make up!"

"...Fine," Marisol conceded reluctantly. "You'd better not change your mind, though." She walked over and sat on the bed near Carter's chair. After a few awkwardly silent minutes of helping Carter put her make-up on, she finally just blurted out what she (and everyone else) had been wondering for weeks: "What do you even see in Caleb, anyways?"

Marisol wrote:"What do you even see in Caleb, anyways?"

Carter's brow furrowed in frustration. She knew Marisol wasn't a big fan of Caleb, but she didn't understand why. Despite their fight they had recently, he was an amazing boyfriend. He did everything for her. Bought her gifts, took care of her while she was sick, took her out on dates, when he wasn't angry with her, he was so loving and gentle. "What do you mean?" She asked, sounding slightly irritated. "Caleb is amazing! He's so sweet, and handsome, smart..." Maybe Marisol was just jealous. Not of Carter, (Marisol herself was dating the Cuir overloridian), but of Caleb. Carter knew that she had been neglecting her friends a lot because of Caleb, so it made sense that Mar would be jealous that he got to spend more time with her best friend.

"Sweet?" Marisol repeated incredulously. Ugh, maybe when they were alone, but anytime Marisol had hung out with the two of them, Caleb had been anything but sweet. Being all possessive, getting snippy anytime Carter went more than like three feet away from him. "If you call bossy and clingy sweet I guess..."

"If you came from a family like he did," Carter snapped. "You'd be grumpy sometimes too!" She immediately regretted snapping at her best friend like that, but she was getting sick of hearing her dis Caleb. He wasn't perfect, but nobody was. "Look," she said, a little more softly. "I know he's not perfect, but I love him." She looked at her friend sadly. "I wish you'd just be happy for me, instead of constantly putting him down."