After work, Carolina climbed through Marcus's window instead of him always with hers.

Marcus was sitting up in bed, not surprised by this, but amused. "Interesting entrance."

Carolina shrugged, walking closer. "Inspired by a friend." Marcus chuckled, closing his laptop, placing it aside. "Hi."

"Hi," Marcus replied.

Carolina sighed. "My dad left."

Marcus frowned. "Shit. I'm sorry."

Carolina shook her head. "No, it's better this way, I think, even if my sister can't see it. My mom stays happy, my sister keeps her friends, Austin does too even if he struggles. I can stay here with you." Marcus smiled. "Dad'll be close in case we need him. So... that's a huge plus. Boston." Marcus nodded in understanding. "What about you? Do you feel any better?"

"A little," Marcus answered. "They got me on some pain meds. My head hurts, but it doesn't feel as bad as before. Plus..."

"Sleep helps," Carolina finished.

Marcus nodded in agreement. "And I've been getting plenty of that. So..." Carolina managed a small smile. Marcus looked at her for a moment, biting his lip. "I, uh... I said something last night to someone... about you, actually." Carolina raised a curious eyebrow. "And what I said was 'I think I love her.' You, Caro. I think I love you. You're basically all I think about. I just... want you to be happy. I love you, Carolina Miller."

Carolina processed the words silently in surprise, but relief, because of what she had felt, corners of her lips turned up softly. "I...  I think I love you too. I tried to fight it, because... I mean... hello. But I think about you all the time. And when you got hurt, I was so scared, and I was regretting fighting this and running from this, and I don't want to do that anymore. I love you. Marcus Baker. So... I just... I don't want to be held back by anything anymore." Carolina was flustered, but clearly meant every word even though it was terrifying to admit it given everything that had happened. Marcus placed a hand on her cheek, leaning in to kiss her. Carolina relaxed into the kiss for a long moment, both set more at ease, clearly happy to have admitted how they felt, pulling away. Carolina sighed. "Why did all this have to be so damn complicated and hard?"

"Well, feelings are hard," Marcus answered. Carolina nodded, placing her hands on his neck, kissing him once more, looking at him, smiling a bit, biting her lip. "This probably isn't good for concussion recovery."

Carolina let go, placing her hands over her mouth. "Oh, I'm sorry."

Marcus smiled. "Oh, I don't care." Carolina smiled, looking down. Marcus brushed back a piece of her hair, looking her in the eyes. "I really like your smile."

"Yeah, well, you might get to see it a little more than in the past," Carolina replied.

Marcus smiled. "Planning on it."

They looked at each other happily, continuing to kiss. Marcus leaned back, pulling her closer, leaning back a little. Carolina looked at Marcus, clearly wanting this, straddling his lap. They looked at each other, and Marcus wanted to be sure that Caro was okay with this, and Caro nodded in answer. They continued to kiss, as he slowly trailed his hands along her to her waist, guiding her hips against him, grinding on him. Carolina gasped at the feeling at first, pleasantly surprised by how okay she was with this, how ready for this she felt she was. They looked at each other the entire time as this continued, Caro soon making the movements on her own, both of their hands gliding across each other's body, touching each other's skin, feeling everything, breathing slightly heavily. Marcus unzipped her leather vest, and Carolina let it fall back off her arms. They looked at each other intensely, like they were both asking if the other was okay with this, nodding. Marcus took the hem of her top, and Carolina raised her arms over her head as he took it off. Carolina took his shirt, and he raised his arms so she could take it off and place it aside. As Caro was still moving, Marcus left a hand on the small of her back for support. They kissed passionately, holding each other close. This was clearly leading to much more after.

✯

Marcus laid shirtless in his bed.

Carolina laid beside him, wearing her bra, and a blanket covered the rest of her. "Wow."

Marcus smiled, chuckling. "Yeah." They were both stunned that that had happened, but glad it did. "Well, I wasn't a virgin this time. Plus, I did some Googling."

Carolina looked at him in surprise. "Wait. What?"

"I mean, not in a creepy way," Marcus said. "Just research."

Carolina turned to look at him. "No, you were a virgin when we..."

"Yeah," Marcus answered, busted at the slipup.

Carolina raised an eyebrow, using her arm to prop her head up to look at him. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I, uh, I wanted you to think I was cool," Marcus answered. "You show up, being this badass in black and leather, and..."

Carolina smiled, turning on her back again. "Aw. You wanted to impress me." Marcus shrugged sheepishly. Carolina gave him a sarcastic, teasing look, trying to make him smile. "We should've gotten each other balloons."

Marcus smiled, laughing lightly. Carolina smiled at having gotten him to smile, since usually it was the other way around.

Marcus became more serious, knowing they still had to talk about the other night, and everything that happened. "I, uh... you know my friend died last year." Carolina looked at him, nodding. "For a couple months after that, things got... really bad for me. I'd be at school, whatever, talking to people, and, uh, I'd just wanna scream at them. 'Can't you see I need help?' Obviously, I never did that. And I thought about dying. A lot." Carolina looked down, knowing what he was doing. "Like, 'okay, at least there's that option'. Things just got... really dark, and... I really scared myself. I saw you with the lighter. We don't have to talk about it. But we can. If you wanna scream at me, that you need help."

Carolina couldn't meet his gaze, ashamed. "I... I have these feelings. Since last year, after everything. Like they're gonna explode, out of my--my eyes, my teeth. And the burning... concentrates it. Like a release. And then I... I feel better. Like it's not going to make me explode."

Marcus turned on his side to face her. "Okay." Carolina turned on her side to face him. Marcus held her hand. "But maybe... it might help to talk to someone." Carolina sighed. "I went to therapy, took medicine. Things got better. I know you said you didn't believe in those things before. Because your mom didn't. And you couldn't afford it before. I didn't believe in those things before either. But they did help."

Carolina took a deep breath before letting it out. "I guess I... I thought it was okay, because no one knew about it. I wanted to think that the attacks would get better on their own. That the flashbacks and nightmares would. I thought I could do it on my own."

"You don't have to," Marcus pointed out. "You shouldn't have to." Carolina looked at him, eyes glazed over. "Come here."

Marcus turned on his back, and Carolina slid closer as he put his arm around her and laid her head on his shoulder, his other hand holding her hand which rested on his chest.

"So what happens now?" Carolina asked.

Marcus sighed. "I have no idea. Hey. Caro." Carolina looked up at him. "I love you."

Carolina gave a small smile. "I love you." She traced a finger along his chest. "We also do need to finish our conversation from before I left earlier. Before Ginny came to get me for work."

Marcus's face went expressionless, knowing she wasn't going to let it go, but knowing if he told, it would make things for her a lot worse, not just between her and Ginny, but mentally because of the betrayal. "I already told you."

"Who could've said something bad enough to drive you away like that?" Carolina asked. "And what could've been said that would cause that?"

Marcus exhaled slowly. "Can we drop this for now? I don't wanna talk about it."

Carolina's gaze searched his face, but decided to let it go for now because of how tired he looked and she didn't want to push given he must have still been in pain. "Okay."

✯

Little did they know, Max found Marcus's phone downstairs and she had read all of Ginny's texts to Marcus, begging him not to tell Carolina or Max about the things that she said and knowing that it was her fault that he got into the accident. And Max was absolutely furious that her new best friend who she had been nothing but supportive and amazing to was the reason behind why her brother almost died and she was keeping it secret, and begging Marcus to keep it secret so she didn't lose her sister, or Max as a friend.

When Carolina was leaving, Max walked up to her. "Caro. I didn't know you were here."

Carolina turned to face her. "Yeah, I just... wanted to check on Marcus."

"Marcus is what I need to talk to you about," Max told her. "You won't believe what Ginny did."

Max handed Carolina Marcus's phone.

Carolina frowned. "Is this his phone? I thought he lost it on the road."

"Yeah, we all did," Max explained. "Just read."

When Carolina read over the texts that Ginny had sent to Marcus, everything started to make sense, and she was getting more angry by the second, furious with her twin sister, realizing that just after Ginny had sent Caro into an episode where she had nearly burned herself, she had lashed out at Marcus and took advantage of how they were both messed up, causing Marcus to lash out, not think clearly, and take off on the bike and get into the accident, which could have killed him.

Knowing that Ginny was behind that, all in one night, was enough to make Caro's blood boil. But knowing that on top of that, Ginny was trying to beg Marcus to keep it secret just so that Caro and Max didn't know, just so she didn't lose her twin forever along with her new best friend... it was far crossing the line, and neither Caro or Max knew what they could do after this discovery.

That night, Carolina refused to see or talk to Ginny, trying to control her anger so that she wouldn't go right into a fight response, knowing that it would only make everything worse for her, for Ginny, for Georgia, and for Austin.

She couldn't believe that her own twin sister was the cause of that much pain in her life since that night, the overwhelming worry and paranoia and fear that she felt when she knew that Marcus was hurt and he could have died, how hurt he was, how she had been thinking history was repeating and she was reliving the past... knowing that Ginny had seen every moment of that pain and sorrow and still said nothing and did nothing that helped her, and wanted to beg Marcus not to say anything just so she didn't lose her out of guilt... it was too much for Caro.

And she knew that she could never forgive her sister for this.