❪ ﹟TEN ❫ ࿐ྂ
━━ THE MEEK-MARTIN'S !

     TRUTH BE TOLD, Carina wasn't really looking forward to her birthday. A summer baby, her birthday always ended up being this big thing at her house with her friends. Her mom would always go all out, and Carina would cherish it because it was always one of the few days out of the year when her mother seemed fully present mentally.

     However, with the recent Ghostface attacks and her mother being taken from her, as well as her Uncle Dewey and best friend Wes, a good chunk of her wasn't in the mood to celebrate. Sure, she still wanted to spend time with her friends, but there was an ache in her heart that felt wrong celebrating another year she got to live so shortly after those around her got taken.

     She's currently thumbing through some of her mom's old journals when there's a knock on her door.

     "Come in!" she calls from her spot on the bed. There are only a few people it could be, and she knows she won't be able to stop them even if she wants to.

     Ever since her mother's untimely death, Carina's been staying with the Meek-Martins to avoid joining the foster care system so close to her 18th birthday. Martha had been insistent and said that since it would only be until she left for school with the others it made no sense for her to fight it.

     So, she's been living with her best friends for the last couple of months, and in the next few weeks, they'll be leaving to take on college in New York. Which theoretically is wonderful, except for the fact that in recent months since Richie and Amber's attacks Carina's come to develop feelings for Chad in a way that makes her heart seize up anytime he so much as smiles in her direction.

     It's totally fine.

     The door creaks open, and Mindy's the one to stick her head in. Smiling at each other softly, Mindy drops onto the end of Carina's bed and pats her ankle. "Hey. Tara will be here soon, you almost ready to head out?"

     Tara and Mindy insisted on taking Carina out for her birthday, so they were planning to go to an early movie before returning to Mindy's for lunch with everybody else.

     "Yeah," she answers, dropping the journal in her hand on the bed and grabbing one of her ballcaps off the frame of her bed. She secures it on her head before standing. Mindy shoots her a smile that's only got a dash of pity mixed into it when she does.

     Carina used to wear hats every so often when she was having a bad hair day or something along those lines. But ever since Richie cut her cheek in a move of uncontrolled rage and left her with a scar running along her right cheek from the corner of her eye almost all the way down to the corner of her lip, there hasn't been a day where she left the house without a hat on.

     She smiles at Mindy and hopes it's enough to stop the onslaught of reassurance that she's 'beautiful even with the scar' that everyone seems to want to drown her with.

     "C'mon," she throws an arm over her best friend's shoulder and re-directs her out of the room. "Let's go, we don't want to leave Tara waiting."

     Mindy nods, and the two exit the room, shutting the door behind them. They walk down the stairs into the kitchen where Chad is currently eating what looks like cereal. He drops the spoon back into the bowl and hops up when he spots them, a huge smile cracking across his face. "There she is!"

     Without warning, Chad engulfs Carina in a hug. His arms come up to wrap around her waist, and she doesn't think before wrapping her own around his shoulders. While she probably only makes it worse for herself in times like these, she can't help but let herself bask in the moments Chad holds her close.

     "Happy Birthday, C." He whispers it right in her ear, and she tries to stop the shiver that runs up and down her spine at the words as well as the proximity.

     "Thanks, Chad."

     Neither pulls back for a few moments, only breaking apart when there's a very pointed cough that comes from behind Carina.

     Pulling back to look at Mindy over her shoulder, Carina drops her head to try and hide her blush when she sees her best friend looking at them with a raised eyebrow. "Alright, you two. We got to go, so let's wrap that up."

     She hears Chad chuckle, and then his arms fall away from her waist. "Yeah, I get it. I'm encroaching on precious time." Stepping back so the two are no longer chest to chest, Chad smiles at Carina after she looks back up. "I'll see you guys later when you get back, though." He looks at Mindy, and Carina misses the subtle nod with her back to her.

     After spinning around to join Mindy, the two make their way toward the door, where the Carpenter's car is sitting in the driveway. Tara's sitting in the front seat, and she leans out the window to shout at them. "Thought I was going to have to come in there and get you!"

     She rolls her eyes as she hops up into the passenger seat. Once in the car, Tara stretches across the seat to wrap Carina in a hug. "Happy birthday!" Smiling, she squeezes her friend back.

     "Thanks, Tars."

     Once everyone's buckled in, Tara backs out of the driveway slowly. "Tara, Chad and Carina were being obvious again."

     Chuckling, the raven-haired girl rolls her eyes. "Are we surprised?"

     "You know what you two," Carina begins. "Stop it. There is nothing going on with me and Chad."

     "Yet," her best friends say in unison.

     Groaning, but deciding not to fight them on this again, Carina sits back in her seat.

     Ever since Richie and Amber decided to target their friend group that night in Amber's house, and Chad and Carina were left for dead, things have shifted in many ways. Of course, there were the obvious ways, but there were also the subtle shifts. One of those is her newly discovered feelings for Chad, as well as Tara and Mindy's knowledge of them.

     When Chad was in the hospital those days after, it was rare that Carina wasn't found at his bedside. Fortunately for her, he was almost always out of it and didn't realize she was keeping up a constant vigil at his side. However, Mindy and Tara had no problems figuring out really quickly what had changed.

     Now, they often went out of their way to try and insist to her that Chad felt the same way and that she should take her chance with him, but she couldn't force herself to believe them. It would just be too good to be true, and she couldn't see it. So there was no way she was going to ruin her friendship with Chad over something like this.

      Pulling into the movie theater, Carina jumps out of her seat and smiles. It's been a while since she's done anything with her friends, and she's looking forward to spending some time with them doing something fun and low-pressure. She smiles when she feels a person join her on each side, and the three interlock arms and make their way inside. It's already a better birthday than she was expecting.

     Almost two hours later, the three are on their way back to the Meek-Martin's while quietly discussing Birds of Prey, the movie they had ended up seeing.  Carina feels bubbly, almost like the fizz in her soda is still bubbling in her stomach and she giggles for no reason other than just being happy.

     When they get back to the house, Tara pulls in and parks the car quickly. The three get out of make their way through the front door, and Mindy calls out when they get inside. "Mom, Chad, we're home!" Surprisingly, there's no immediate answer. Carina frowns from her spot pulling the door closed and looks around Tara into the living room. "That's strange. The cars are here."

     "Let's see if we can find them," Tara shrugs. She makes her way to the kitchen, and she and Mindy follow behind diligently. Weirdly, there isn't a sound throughout the house, and it leaves Carina feeling a little unsettled. After everything, she likes to know the people she cares about are around and okay.

     Once in the kitchen, Tara and Mindy don't stop walking, and Carina frowns. The two open the back door and step onto the patio, and she hurries around the island to see what it is they see. To her shock, as soon as she opens the door after them, she's met by a loud call of, "Surprise!"

     Stumbling back into the house, she looks around the backyard and can't help grinning. Chad, Martha, and Sam are standing around a table that's been set up with all kinds of snacks and drinks, the centerpiece being a cake. In front of them, Tara and Mindy are only a few steps away from her smiling cheekily.

     "Guys," she chuckles, stepping forward to hug everyone one at a time. "Thank you, I told you, we didn't need to do anything really."

     While still small, Carina hadn't even been expecting a cake, much less the tiny stack of presents sitting off to the side her that she snags from the corner of her eye. For a second, she's afraid she's going to tear up. Instead, she steels herself and wraps herself in a hug with Martha. "Thank you," she whispers.

     Martha pulls back so they can look at each other but keeps her hands on Carina's arms. "Oh sweetheart, I didn't do this."

"But," she starts. Of course she had thought it was Martha who had planned everything out, because who else would go through all the effort. "Who?"

Nodding her head over Carina's shoulder, Martha smiles softly. "Chad. This was actually all him. He's been insisting on it for weeks. Made all the plans to get you out of the house, the cake, the gifts, all of it. He's been so focused on it I'm surprised you couldn't tell."

She shakes her head, because, no. She never would've imagined that Chad would go out of his way to do all this for her. Of course, that's not to say she couldn't see him doing it for someone, but she never would've placed herself in the spot of being the sole focus of Chad Meeks-Martin's for weeks, even if indirectly. It makes her feel warm, and the bubbles in her stomach fizz even more intensely. She's sure Martha can see her cheeks heating up, but she does her best to act unaware when she hears a call for her name.

     "Carina!"

     Smiling at Martha one more time, she gives her a quick hug before turning and running at her friends, wrapping all of them in a group hug before she can help it. Her hat flies off in the commotion, but she doesn't bend down to pick it up. Comfortable with the people surrounding her. Her family.

     All of them wrap their arms around each other good-naturally. Their smiles feel too big for their cheeks, and it's the happiest Carina thinks she's been in months. For a second, she's overcome with a wave of sadness for the people who don't get to be here with them, like her mom and Wes.

Dewey.

     Like it can't be helped, Carina once again feels tears forming at the thought of the man who was more of a father than the one Carina barely knew. She missed him everyday with a fierceness she didn't know she had. Sometimes, she feels guilty for missing him more than her mom, but then remembers he was there for her more than her absent mother ever was.

     Almost as if they can feel her thoughts slipping away, and she's almost positive they can, her friends start chattering about the movie they just saw, directing questions to Carina so she can engage herself into the conversation.

      Smiling, because what did she do to deserve the people around her, she lets herself be lead to thoughts happier than her own.

     Later, after too many pieces of cake and ripped open presents, Carina is sitting with her feet dangling in the edge of the pool, laughing as Mindy and Tara fight Sam for a float in the middle of the pool.

     A presence makes itself known on her side, and she smiles at Chad as he sits down next to her. For a few minutes, they sit in a comfortable silence as they watch the commotion of the three in the middle, content to be surrounded by the sounds of their people just being happy.

     Once the others have calmed down, all relaxing on their own floats and soaking in the sun, Carina turns to Chad. "Thank you for today," she tells him. When he opens his mouth like he's going to protest, she cuts him off. "Martha told me it was you. And really, thank you. This was the best day I've had in a while, and much more than I ever expected. You didn't have to do it."

     Shaking his head, Chad smiles at her and grabs her hand where it was resting on the edge of the pool. "Yes, I did. It's the least of what you deserve, and I'm just glad I could do it for you."

     Glowing with the words, Carina blushes. Chad must notice, because he scans her face and his eyes light up. For a second, Carina can even convince herself that he was starting to lean in. Just like she was.

     Less than an inch away from each other, Carina feels a shock of cold her side and rears back, looking toward the source of the intrusion. To no one's surprise, Mindy is smirking at them and shaking her head.

     "C'mon, lovebirds. Get in the water!"

     Chad, who doesn't react to the jab, narrows his eyes at his sister playfully. "Fine."

Standing quickly, he abandons Carina on the edge of the pool to walk farther away, ripping his shirt off with one arm. She tries not to stare, but knows she fails greatly. There's no way to look away, not when Chad looks like that. Thankfully, he's too focused on running toward the water to notice.

Screaming, "Cannonball!", Chad jumps in the water almost right on top of Mindy, successfully causing enough of a wave to knock her off her float and dump her into the water. She resurfaces gasping but laughing. "Oh it's on!"

The twins waste no time in attacking each other, throwing each other around in the water. She glances toward Tara and Sam, the former of which is watching the wrestling match in front of them while laughing her head off. Sam though, is looking at her. She's got a soft look in her eye and smiles when she notices Carina looking. "Good day?" she asks, the reflection of the water sparkling in her eyes.

"The best," she responds.

madi speaks! 💌
hey guys!! god i've missed y'all, and my babies. i can't wait to get back to them and give them the story and the ending they're deserving of. ahhh im so excited!! 🫂