Part 40

"So, by together…you mean together."

"Yes."

York dipped his head and covered his face with his hands, letting out a soft moan. "So when I asked you how Wash's trip went and you didn't want to tell me…it was because you two were already together. Together together."

"It happened because of the trip. I mean, the trip happened because—it's confusing, York. I don't know how to really explain it."

"No, I get it." He didn't move. "Never wanting to talk about you. Not wanting to be around me after he got back from his trip. The fucking sand idea—he betrayed me and went after you. He never wanted you to have the chance to take me back. Man, all this time, I really thought we were friends."

"You are," Carolina insisted.

"You're an idiot if you think that's true," York snapped, sliding his hands up into his hair, gripping the strands. "There's no fucking way I ever want to even look at him again, much less talk to him."

"This wasn't because of anything you did. Wash and I…it's different. It's not like you and me."

"If you think this is helping you're wrong," he muttered.

"York, listen to me. He never did anything behind your back. This all happened after you and I broke up."

York finally turned to look at her; his face was red with what she assumed was humiliation, or just anger. "It doesn't matter when it happened. The point is that Wash still fucked me over and stole you from me."

"I wasn't yours to steal!" Carolina said in an exasperated tone, feeling the carriage stop. They were back where they had started, and the driver was looking back at them with an awkward expression.

"Uh…the ride is done," he said, tipping his hat in their direction. "Unless you'd like to go around again—"

"No!" York and Carolina exclaimed at the same time. York grabbed the blanket off of them and shoved it under the bench, climbing out of the carriage. She picked up the bottle of Pepto Bismol that had fallen to the floor and got out after him, watching him stomp down the street. Praying that he'd paid for the carriage ride ahead of time, she ran after him, her boots clicking along the cement.

"York, please wait!"

"You should go home," he called back over his shoulder, not slowing down as she got close to catching up.

"You drove!"

He stopped suddenly and she smacked into him, stumbling back a few steps. A second later he dropped to his knees and smashed his left fist into the sidewalk, letting out a yell.

"How could you two do this to me?" he shouted, holding his now-bleeding hand with his other one. He sat down on the pavement and looked up at her, his face twisted in a grimace of pain and sadness. "What did I do to you that made you run to him? Does he kiss you better? Does he fuck you better?"

Carolina knelt down next to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "York, it's nothing you did. I swear. It just…it just wasn't our time, okay? We moved too quickly and it didn't work out. We wanted different things. That's all."

"You promised me something, a long time ago."

"I remember."

"Can you…" York sagged into her hand, looking up at her. "Can you promise me again?"

She nodded. "If that's what you need."

"It is."

"Then I promise."

He nodded. "I'll take you home," he said, sounding broken and defeated. She helped him to his feet and he handed her the keys. They slowly walked back to the car as he leaned on her just slightly, cradling his hand to his chest.

(b)

"Hey!"

Wash looked up from his book as she walked into the apartment, tossing her purse on the floor. The bottle rolled out of it and Epsilon bounded over, batting the bright pink bottle around as she collapsed on the couch next to him, dropping her head to his chest.

"What happened?" Wash sounded panicked. She snuggled up to him and started crying, unable to respond to any of his frantic pleas to tell him what was wrong. He rubbed her back as she cried and by the time she finally calmed down enough to breath, she was exhausted and closed her eyes, sniffling against his chest.

"Did you know?" she finally asked, reaching up to wipe her eyes.

"Yeah," he said gently.

"Why didn't you warn me?"

"Because I knew it was something you had to decide on your own."

"You're a dick."

"I know. What exactly did he say?" He handed her a tissue from the table beside the couch and she took it gratefully, blowing her nose.

"He asked me for another chance," she said, tossing the tissue to the floor. Epsilon came over and started playing with it, mewing happily.

"What did you tell him?"

"I told him that you and I were dating."

Wash let out a low groan, patting her head. "Oh, Christ. That's gonna have some fallout, isn't it?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry; it's the truth, and at least now he knows. I mean…that's not exactly the way I thought he'd find out, but I figured it'd be disastrous no matter what."

"Do we still have to go to the New Year's party?"

"Ugh…If we don't, North will throw a fit."

"Yeah."

"So what happened after you told him about us?"

Carolina half-shrugged against his chest. "He accused you of stealing me away, and I said I wasn't his to steal in the first place—not anymore, anyway."

"You managed to calm him down, though?"

"Yeah, I guess. We didn't speak the entire drive home though."

"Drive home? Where did he take you?"

"Out to the townhome he was going to buy."

He whistled. "Wow, pullin' out the big guns. Impressive."

"And there was a horse-drawn carriage waiting for us."

"I don't even know what to say to that."

"I'm so sorry you had to help him think of gifts for me," she said, sitting up to look Wash in the eyes. "I can't imagine how frustrating that must have been."

"That's why I disappeared for a couple days." Wash sighed, tilting his head forward to touch their foreheads together. "I'm so sorry, Lina. I just couldn't handle it."

"I figured that out. It's okay. I understand."

"Do you want to get some dinner? I didn't have anything planned for us because I wasn't sure what York had planned, but I'm sure someplace is still open and not booked up because of the holiday."

"Sure." Carolina tilted her chin forward and kissed Wash. He grinned and stood up, offering her his hand to help her up. "Let me just go wash my face, okay?"

"Sounds good, I'll pick a place." He reached out and cupped her face in his hands, lightly brushing his lips against hers. She covered his hands with her own and smiled, nuzzling their noses together. "Go get ready," he whispered. "I'm hungry."

"Me too." She laughed and walked to the bathroom, wiping her cheeks on her sleeve. Once inside she shut the door and stared at her blotchy face in the mirror, reaching out to start the sink.

(b)

"I want you to be happy."

York finally broke the silence but Carolina couldn't bring herself to look at him. They'd been sitting in the car for over a minute, parked outside the apartment building.

"I am."

"I'm sorry for everything I said."

"I know."

"Are we ever going to get back to normal?"

"I don't know."

"Do you want to?"

Finally she looked over at him and saw his already-bruising hand against his face, covering his scar. "I always wanted to."

"And you'll keep your promise?"

'Please, give me that. Give me something to hold onto. That's all I ask.' He'd looked so broken; she couldn't say no, now or before. "I will."

York held out his right hand and carefully set it on her arm she'd been resting on the center console of the car. She didn't react and listened to his labored breathing; his other hand was probably hurting like hell from punching the sidewalk.

"If he's what you need, then…I won't pretend I'm even a little bit okay with it, but I know I have no say in the matter. I'll leave you alone."

"Thanks." It was barely audible; she was close enough to tears that anything might send her over the edge. When had she gotten so emotional over everything? She breathed in and out a couple times, feeling his fingers flex against her arm. She resisted the drive to hold his hand out of habit.

"You should probably get back," he said, moving his hand from his face to the car door. He pulled his other hand from her arm and climbed out of the car, slamming the door shut behind him. She waited a moment and opened her own door, carefully getting out. York was already inside the apartment building, having not said goodbye.

It was probably better that way.

Part 41

"I can't afford anything in this place."

"It's on me."

"I can't let you do that! I can't even afford to breathe the air in here, let's just go—"

"Hello!" An entirely-too-chipper saleswoman popped up in front of Carolina, gesturing to the inside of the store. "Have you been in before?"

Carolina opened her mouth to talk but Maine put a heavy hand on her arm, silencing her. "We're just going to look around for now. We'll let you know if we need anything."

The woman smiled at him, a little shakily, and excused herself as Maine guided Carolina over to a bank of chairs outside the dressing rooms. "What size are you?" he asked, glancing around the store to inspect the various dresses hanging on racks.

"Uh…I guess it depends?"

"I'll guess." He disappeared into the sea of clothing and Carolina looked around, feeling entirely out of place.

Maine had insisted that he pick the place to go shopping, and she had trusted his judgment, not having any ideas of where to find a nice dress with less than a week to go until New Year's Eve. He'd driven them to one of higher-class malls just outside of the city and walked her inside, ignoring her protests that she had no money because of the holidays. 'I've got money' was his only reply, and considering he'd bought her a very nice set of fountain pens and three high-quality sketchbooks for Christmas, she was inclined to believe him.

"Here." He reappeared a few minutes later, his arms filled with about ten different dresses in varying shades of green and blue. "Try these."

"Okay," she said, taking them from him to go hang in a dressing room.

"Hang on." He went over to a shoe display and picked out a pair of black three-inch heels, bringing them over to her. She looked down at her boots and smiled.

"Yeah, I guess I need heels for a dress."

"Go." He pointed at the dressing room and she obeyed, closing the door behind her. She looked up at all the dresses and sighed, feeling completely overwhelmed.

A moment later she came out in a strapless green dress that tapered in the back but was shorter in the front, wobbling a little bit on the heels. Maine looked at her and shook his head, returning his attention back to the pamphlet he'd found on a nearby table. She rolled her eyes and went back inside to try on a different one, choosing a bright turquoise dress with ruffles across the front. Already knowing the answer, she approached him and did a little spin move, going back into the dressing room a second later as he shook his head.

"I really appreciate you taking me shopping," she called out over the door, grabbing another dress to wrestle herself into.

"No problem."

"And thank you again for the Christmas gifts—I've been eyeing those pens for a long time."

"I know. North told me."

"How's it going with you guys?"

She caught him hiding a smile as she came out in a floor-length, skin-tight, one-shouldered emerald gown. The smile quickly became a frown and she rolled her eyes again, retreating into the room. "You picked these, you know," she said loudly.

"We're doing great."

"What was that smile just now? I saw you."

"He just makes me happy."

"That's so great to hear. I've honestly never seen North happier than when he's with you."

"He's a wonderful man."

"He really is, I'm glad you bring it out in him." Carolina came back out in a fitted midnight-blue dress with small cap sleeves. Maine frowned and she sighed, hoping the next one would work.

"I think I'm going to propose."

"What?" Her head was sticking out of the dressing room, the dress half-hanging off of her, revealing her bra. She quickly shoved herself back into it and ran out wearing one heel, limping over to sit in a chair next to him.

Maine nodded, his cheeks slightly pink. For the first time she noticed that his hair was beginning to grow back in, just barely—she remembered North complaining that he appreciated the baldness but always liked having hair to pull on when the time called for it. Thin fuzz was already covering most of his head. "We've been talking about making it official, but he seems hesitant for some reason."

"Really? I would think he'd be all for it."

"I think he's scared of commitment. He keeps talking about kids and I keep telling him I'm not ready for that. I don't know what he's thinking. I think he's trying to push me away, but maybe not on purpose."

"But you still want to be with him?"

"Of course." He frowned at her. "He's not going to get rid of me that easily."

"You guys did break up over a misunderstanding—"

"We got over that."

"Well, I'm really happy for you, and if there's anything I can do, let me know." Carolina leaned over and hugged him, smiling to herself when he awkwardly reached up to pat her arm.

"I can't hug you when you're half-naked," he said, glancing away. She looked down to see that the dress had slipped forward, revealing most of her barely bra-covered chest.

"Oh god." She ran back into the dressing room, hearing Maine laughing.

"Just don't say anything to anybody," he called out a minute later as she was zipping up another dress.

"I won't!"

"Not even Wash."

"Oh my god, I won't, you can trust me." She pushed open the door and came out in another dress, raising her arms to her sides as she posed. "How about this one?"

Maine stayed silent, looking her over, a pleased expression on his face. It was a strapless dress in a vibrant cerulean blue, rouched at the hips at an angle, giving her stomach the appearance of being flat while emphasizing her curves. It stopped a few inches above her knees and tapered slightly at the sides, revealing another inch of skin along her legs. The heels added much-needed height and extended her legs. The neckline was low without being too low, dipping in the middle for a sweetheart neckline.

"I approve," he said finally, and she grinned, resisting the urge to check the price tag.

(b)

"When am I going to get to see this dress?" Wash complained, rummaging through her suitcase. Carolina laughed and threw a magazine at him, watching as he narrowly dodged it.

"I'm not keeping it in my suitcase, you moron."

"Oh, okay." He went over to the closet and started digging through the rows of hanging shirts.

"I'm not even keeping it here," she said, shaking her head. "I didn't want Epsilon to get to it, so Maine's keeping it at their place."

"Oh." Wash's face fell and he sat down on the bed, stretching his arms over his head. "So, what do you want to do tonight?"

"Dinner and a movie, I guess? We still have those rentals due back soon."

"Ah, I guess you're right. What sounds good for dinner?"

Carolina's phone rang and she picked it up from the dresser, checking the caller ID. "Who is it?" Wash asked, cocking his head.

"York."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah." She tilted the screen in his direction, the phone still ringing. "Should I answer it?"

He shrugged, suddenly inspecting the carpet. "Up to you."

Deciding she may as well, she hit the answer button and held the phone up to her ear. "Hey, York."

"Carolina! So glad you answered."

She recognized that tone, knowing that he was well on his way to a massive hangover the next morning. "What's up, York?"

"Can you come over?"

"I can't just come over; it's eight o'clock at night. What do you need?"

"Come on, just for a little bit. Wash won't mind."

She looked over at him and saw that he was glaring at her after having heard the mention of her going to York's place. "Yeah, he does, actually."

"I just want to talk."

"We can talk on the phone."

York sighed loudly and she shook her head. "I want to talk in person. Don't be like this."

"Good night, York."

"Wait! Just—are you going to North's party?"

"Yes. Both of us will be there."

"Good. Then I guess that's it." He sounded disappointed but tried to hide it by suddenly laughing. "Guess I can't drunk call you anymore, huh?"

"I wouldn't recommend it, no."

"Okay. Night."

"Good night." She hung up the phone and set it down, shrugging. "He's drunk," she said, as though that explained everything.

"Of course."

"So, about dinner?"

Wash smiled and nodded, trying to hide his obvious uncomfort by standing up to take her by the hand. "Chinese?"

"Sounds great."