Cocaine| c.g. [UNDER CONSTRUCTION]

32°

Mostly dialogue this chapter.

Mariana woke up alone that day. She had remembered that she told Carl to go to the hotel instead. A little time away from Carl would be good. Mariana had some things to get off her mind.

As for Carl, he was a wreck. All his thoughts were about Mariana. He didn't really have anything else to look forward to. He was also too hung over to do anything other than staying and watching tv in the hotel room.

"Marmar?" Pia knocked on the closed door.

"It's open." Mariana mumbled from under the strew of thick blankets.

"Hey youngin. I heard what happened last night. You good?" Pia tried to speak in the most sympathetic voice she could.

"How'd you find out?"

"Luke."

"When did he tell you?"

"A few minutes ago. He's kinda in the kitchen right now."

"Pia!" Mariana groaned.

"Sorry, Sorry. But I just wanted to check up on you. What happened after that?"

"Carl and I got kicked out, then I got mad and told him to go back to the hotel and I'm staying here."

"Awe, it'll be okay. Just—talk to him."

"I know I should. I just don't want this to go on forever. Because Luke is our friend. No matter what happened between us, he's still our friend."

Mariana wasn't just doing this for herself. She also had her other friends in mind, Pia, Joe, Michael. She didn't want to seem selfish if she said to keep Luke away. It'd hurt her other friends too much.

"Do what you think is best."

"What if I don't know what's best?" Mariana had no idea what to do. Too much was on her mind to even come up with one good solution.

"Mariana, I've known you for how long? You're smart, you'll know what's best." And with that Pia walked out of the room, leaving Mariana alone with her thoughts.

Mariana picked up her phone and clicked on Carl's contact. She held the phone up to her ear, waiting for him to pick up.

"Hello?"

"Carl." Her heart was pumping fast.

"Hey."

"We need to talk about last night." She was dreading this conversation. She knew it would be uncomfortable.

"Yeah, we should. I'm sorry. It was out of line and I shouldn't have done that." He confessed.

"It's fine. You were drunk. But you need to trust me."

"I do trust you. I just don't trust Luke." Carl shrugged.

"But the thing is, he isn't just my ex. He's Mikey, Joe, and Pia's friend. He's in a band with Michael. No matter what, he's always gonna be around Carl. And you're just going to have to get used to that."

Carl stayed silent. He didn't know what to say. He didn't know how to feel. He was just—confused. Maybe he could ask Fiona for help. Or Ian or Lip. Maybe even Debbie. He just needed help.

"I gotta, um, go." He muttered, hanging up without even hearing Mariana say goodbye. He decided that calling each of his siblings and getting their input would be a good idea.

He scrolled through his numerous contacts until he got down to the 'F' category.

"Hey Carl, how's LA?" Fiona answered.