Freshman Friday

Chapter 11- The Guilt Is Eating Me Alive

"Carla, I-," Chase begins to say before he stops and just runs his fingers through his hair. He looks a bit scared but I don't know why he would be since he's not the one who's afraid of thunder.

He stares at me on the ground with a frown and mutters, "Fuck it."

I see him walking towards me through my blurred eyes. He reaches a hand out, offering to pull me up, but I shake my head.

"I-I'm not supposed to be here," I say, ashamed. "Rule two, remember? Please don't kick me out the house right now."

I feel so vulnerable right now, and I hate it. I can't believe Chase is seeing me like this. I thought he'd laugh or be a jerk if he ever saw me in this state, but he's being very concerned right now.

He looks at me in disbelief and sighs. "Carla, fuck the rule. Do you really think that's what I care about right now?"

I look at him confused. He did make it clear before that he didn't want me to step a foot upstairs. Here I am lying in the upstairs hallway and he's telling me that he doesn't care at all.

"Come," he says hesitantly, before pulling me up with a firm grip. "Let's go to... my room."

I am a bit surprised at his words, but I stumble on after him. He leads me in his room and onto his bed. I didn't know what to expect of his actual room really. I look around and even though it is dark, I can tell that there's nothing special about his room. It's really plain- white walls, gray and black tiled floor, and basic furniture.

Well, I guess there's really no reason to decorate it considering he doesn't even live here really.

Unlike his room in Adam's house, there aren't any posters of busty models on the wall.

"Lie down," Chase orders gently, helping me in his blankets. His bed feels very warm and cozy, and for a second I forget about the storm going on.

That is, until another booming sound of thunder erupts, making me flinch under the covers. I was distracted by Chase's actions before, but now I find myself focusing on the sound of the cascading rain.

Chase takes a seat on the edge of the bed, next to me. He looks frozen.

"Carla, I was never good at comforting people..." he says, hands hesitantly reaching out to stroke my arm. "I'm lost as fuck right now."

"It's okay," I say softly.

"No, it's not," he mumbles, looking at me with worry in his eyes. "I-"

He is interrupted by another loud sound of thunder. It erupts through the silence and I swear I could feel the world shake beneath me. Once again, I find myself scared as hell and I whimper faintly.

Chase gets up and I reach for his arm, pulling him back. He hesitates and turns around to look at me.

"Don't worry. I'm just getting something," he assures, walking over to a desk nearby.

Seconds later, he flops back on the bed next to me and puts headphones over my ears. He connects it to his phone.

"Maybe this would help," he suggests, uncertain. "Music solves everything."

I snuggle in his blankets as music starts to fill my ears. I recognize the first song to be by Bon Jovi, but I'm not sure what it's called.

This Romeo is bleeding, but you can't see his blood
It's nothing but some feelings
That this old dog kicked up
It's been raining since you left me
Now I'm drowning in the flood
You see I've always been a fighter
But without you, I give up