Hello everybody! I sincerely hope that you are all well, I know that I am (: I haven't posted an update on this story in so long and I don't want to leave anything unfinished. I'll be wrapping this up in a few chapters, unless something goes terribly wrong, which actually happens a lot haha.

Sadly, at the moment I am not accepting one-shot requests, but thank you to the people who have been sending me them recently! I keep everything filed away, so I won't forget, I just get caught up with partying and stuff so I haven't been writing as much. I actually just got back into the kick of it, so once I get everything kinda updated I'll be accepting them again - look forward to that in the next two weeks or so.

Also, I'm starting schooling again in a few weeks, so I'm not sure how that will affect anything if it does at all. I apologize in advanced, I suppose lol.

Anyhow, enjoy!

Doing laundry during the weekends is always a catastrophe in my building, but this is the only day that I have off for the next four days, so I have to get it done or face the consequences – stinky, re-worn clothes.

I guess now that I think of it, I've been purposely over-scheduling myself so that I wouldn't have time to think about how bad things have gotten. Sam and I never hang out, she won't talk to Freddie and the only thing that is ever on her mind seems to be that wench, Nicole. I sigh in depression at how bad things were and how unladylike I was willing to be as I begin to measure out the appropriate amount of detergent.

There's a brunette five machines to my left who looks really familiar, and it's been bugging me since I first spotted her. I glance over at her and our eyes happen to lock. Her face lights up and she takes a few steps in my direction.

"Hey, you're Carly, right?" she asks, and then I realize that this was Nicole. I didn't really recognize her because she and Sam were always together, and I haven't really spent much time with Sam since they started dating a few months ago.

"Yeah, and you're Sam's girlfriend, Nicole," I say, and it's not a question as much as a confirmation. Now I can see why Sam is so… it hurts me to think this, but, so head over heels for her – she's gorgeous. She has piercing blue eyes that shine even in the dim light of the building's dingy laundry room and perfectly tan skin, as well as a flawless smile – she seems to be pretty much the whole package. I internally scowl, but on the outside I maintain a friendly smile.

"Mhm, how are you? I forgot Sam told me that we both live in the same building," she says and I have to say that I nearly forgot as well. I notice that she's wearing one of Sam's favorite t-shirts, one that I bought for her actually. I can tell that this is going to be a fantastic encounter.

"Yeah, that's right. I'm doing alright, just trying to get some laundry done before I don't have time to do iti," I say, sighing and slouching against the back of the machine behind me.

"Me too," she responds. "No matter what, I can't seem to get Sam to handle the laundry duties for me, even though she was glad to do yours," she comments, pouting slightly at the thought. "Oh well, it can't be helped, seeing as you guys are best friends and everything," she says with no malice in her voice.

"Hardly," I retort with a shrug before I can even think to keep it in. "Lately we seem to have grown apart, but I guess it's natural," I say, leaving it at that. Just because Nicole is the reason Sam has been ditching our friendship doesn't mean that I wanted to make her feel bad about it.

"Really?" Nicole asks, raising a brow and looking as if what I just said didn't make a lick of sense. "Her face lights up whenever she mentions anything involving you, whereas I have a hard time just getting her to open up to me," she says, putting a hand on her hip and furrowing her eyebrows together. "It's odd, like there's some invisible barrier keeping her from letting me in."

I grimace, knowing exactly what that invisible barrier was made of, and from what it was made to protect Sam from in the first place – me. "I thought you guys were happy?" I ask, secretly hoping that there was trouble in paradise and hating myself for it all at the same time.

"We are, but… there's just something missing. It's hard to explain, kinda like she's hiding herself away from me when we start to get into deep emotional places. It feels like there are parts of her that she isn't showing me,"

"I completely understand," I say, and I choose to leave out the part where I tell her that it's one-hundred percent my fault.

"So, I have to ask you something, Carly. But, you have to promise not to tell Sam, she's very touchy about this topic," she says, looking as if she were about to confide something extremely important to me.

"Sure thing," I say, a little nervous about where this conversation could be headed. I toss the remainder of my clothing into the machine as well as two quarters as I start the washing cycle.

"Well, I've asked Sam a couple times if the two of you were ever, you know, together, and she always evades the topic or she begins to ignore me altogether. She never acts like that for any other reason, and I just wanted to know if there was something," she says, biting her lower lip and looking a little bit unsure of herself.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't feel like it, but I'm not really the jealous type, and I'm not out to pick a fight, Carly," she says. "I just want to be able to be a good girlfriend and be sensitive to her needs, and right now I have no idea what they are."

Damn, she really is perfect.

A small sigh escapes my lips and I shift my weight over to my right side as I think over what to say before I speak. "Er, yeah, we were together for about three years – from our senior year of high school into college, and things turned really bad really fast for us," I begin. "Sam wanted to get married, and I told her it wasn't something I was going to be able to do." And yes, that is how I decide to summarize the terrible thing I did to the previous love of my life – don't judge me.

Nicole's eyes were wide as she took this information in. It was most likely more than she expected. I didn't even expect Sam to propose to me – no one did. It was something that seemed out of her character, and marriage never seemed to be a priority for her.

"Wait, you mean to tell me that Sam proposed to you and…"

"And I said 'no,' Nicole," I finish for her, feeling the sting of tears at the corner of my eyes. "I guess she's never really been the same," I mutter, turning towards the washer and rub the side of my index finger over my forehead as I try to regain my composure.

"I see," my fellow brunette says after a time, a hint of revelation in her voice. "That really helps to clear things up for me, Carly, and I just want to thank you very much for letting me in on that." There's so much sincerity and caring in her voice and I can't help but think that this girl is going to make Sam very happy – just like I refused to do.

We make pleasant small talk for a while, talking about television shows and our favorite nail salons until Nicole's machine stops signifying that her laundry is done. My mind won't stop thinking about how much I've really done to hurt Sam and how now that Nicole has come to love her, I've finally lost my chance for good. It's what I deserve – how I treated Sam was unforgivable.

As she leaves, Nicole gives me a hug and a warm smile. "Don't beat yourself up over the past, Sam still cares about you very much," she says before exiting the laundry room.

I release a forlorn sigh and slump against the machine that was behind me once more as I waited for my clothes to finish drying. My thoughts begin to wander off to the past.

.

I sit inside of Sam's dorm room, watching the door as if it would bring her back. Hours have gone by, it's about two in the morning and she has yet to return or even call. I'm starting to feel like neither will happen. Needless to say, I'm a nervous wreck. I'm so worried; what if something has happened to Sam?

At this point I am completely exhausted and I don't feel like walking back to my dorm even to sleep. As I shuffle over to Sam's bed, I catch sight of the black, crumpled ring box sitting dejectedly on the floor.

Leaning down to pick it up, I open the box and examine it. It had to have been at least a thousand dollars, if not more, and I know that Sam had been eyeing a new meat locker. I wondered why she didn't just buy it, since she had a job. Now I know why. She wasted her money on me.

She picked me over meat.

Moving slow and uncoordinatedly, like I had no life left inside of me, I tuck myself in between the sheets of a bed that Sam and I had shared countless nights on and fall into a fitful sleep.

The next morning, I wake up feeling terrible. The reality of the situation that was last night just hit me like a Mack truck and I think maybe I have lost Sam for good. Maybe she's with somebody else right now, trying her best to forget about me.

I roll over and cast my eyes over the edge of the bed, allowing them to look about the room sluggishly as I finish waking up. As they drift ever-closer to the ground, I see the crushed ring case and the abandoned / homeless ring on the floor, having probably fallen out of the case when I knocked it to the ground in my sleep.

I reach down and pick up the ring, examining it closely. It seems to be engraved on the inside. I squint in the dim light – Sam never opens her blinds – and make out what it says.

'You will always have my devotion,' it says.

I cover my mouth with my hand as I choke back a sob. I could feel my cheeks warming as tears spilled over them. Carly Shay, you've really done it this time.