Carson Keller used to think her biggest problem was their rivalry against the Kooks, but that was until buried secrets rose to the surface. Now her biggest problems included a dangerous treasure hunt and a hot-headed teenage boy.
✰ season 1-3 ✰
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"WHAT DID HE SAY TO YOU?" JJ asked as they walked back to the truck to meet up with Kiara. He in no way blamed her for having broken Luke's nose because he knew whatever the reason was, she would be valid with it. He trusted Carson a whole hell of a lot more than he trusted Luke. He just wanted to make sure that whatever he had said, Carson knew that JJ didn't think the same.
"Nothing true," she said. He gave her a look and she let out a sigh. "Just some shit about my mom and that he hopes for your sake that I'm not like that. I'm sure you can imagine what he said." She couldn't even care less that he had brought her into it, but she hated that he had talked about her mom like that. It's why she couldn't even really get herself to tell him exactly what he had said.
"I hate him," JJ said angrily, but the way that he still had tears in his eyes from Luke having left told Carson something else too. As much of a horrible father as Luke was, deep down JJ still cared about him. At first Carson struggled to see why, but after everything with Ward and the conflict she felt watching him die and finding the box with the photos, she now understood. They were all just products of a misfortunate environment.
"But you also love him," she said. He looked over at her curiously.
"Do you love Ward?" he asked. They never really had the chance to talk about what had happened with Ward, mostly because Carson kind of just shut it all out, but he wondered if the reason she recognized the way he felt about Luke was because she felt the same about Ward.
"No," she said almost immediately. She hadn't known him as her father long enough to feel any sort of love for him, and the time that she did know he was her father he had done shitty things. "But that doesn't mean watching him die had been easy. It didn't help that I found out he had been been in my life at some point and I didn't even know it. He helped my mom when I was a baby, and then when it got to be too much, he continued to try to be in my life by sending birthday cards and letters to me," she told him. "I think I just felt this guilt that I hated him because I thought he had never wanted me, but then maybe the truth was that he did? But then I also felt this anger that he made me feel that guilt because he didn't deserve it. I guess I just didn't know what to feel."
He slipped his hand into hers and pulled her closer to him until they were standing facing each other.
"Well, I love you, Car," he said with a cheeky smile. "Never forget that." She could feel her face burn at him repeating the words that she had said to him in comfort not too long ago. It's not that she was embarrassed by it, but it was more the realization of how he could make her feel. She couldn't even remember why she hadn't felt like this sooner because JJ had always been there. But maybe that was the point, he had always been there.
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Carson didn't even want to know how mad the others would be when they finally got back. The Twinkie was probably well under water by then, but they would just have to find a way to understand.
