What was he doing? Was this really the way to treat someone he was supposedly in love with? Carter stared at him, hurt and shocked, as she contemplated what she could possibly say to make it all better. But she came up with nothing except more anger and more frustration.

Knowing Kiran, she assumed there was something deeper there. Something hidden beneath his gross behaviour, something possibly relating to his sister's condition. Maybe she had gotten worse. Maybe he wouldn't ever see her again. Then again, maybe this was how he would always treat Carter whenever he had a personal problem, and she wasn't sure if she was willing to put up with it.

"I think I better go," she said quietly, breaking eye contacting and promising herself that she would never look him in the eye again.

He put a hand on her arm, "No. Carter, wait. I'm sorry."

"Of course you are, until the next time I'm here and you'll do this again."

"No I won't. I swear. Don't go. I got a call from my parents-"

"I don't care," she lied. She did care. She wanted to hug him, to be with him, to tell him that everything would be okay. But he was making it impossible.

"And that's fair, I get it, but it messed me up. I shouldn't have taken it out on you."

"You did the same thing last time. I think that maybe, for now, we need some time apart."

A deafening quiet took over the hallway, and Carter was sure that Kiran was focused only on her. Her skin began tingling with strain, and she wished she could magically freeze him and leave the scene without anymore awkward conversation. When he still didn't respond, she reached for the front door, but he stepped in between.

"Kiran, I can't deal with this."

"So that's it then? You're going to walk out of here and we're over? I'm stupid. I screwed up."

"You can't keep doing this. You can't keep pressuring me. I want to be here for you, for what you're going through, but I can't do that if every time something's wrong with you, you do this. And it's not just you. It's us. We have serious problems." Their constant back-and-forth was beginning to stress her out. One moment everything was fine and dandy, and the next it was like a battlefield of psychotic emotions. "I knew this would happen."

Kiran ran a hand through his hair. When he looked at her again, it was with radiant conviction. "So what if we have problems? Would you rather be all happy and high on an illusion?"

"Illusion? I'd rather have a boyfriend that I don't want to strangle every other second. Please let me leave, or I'll end up saying something I'll regret."

He swung the door open for her without saying anything else, but she wished he would stop her. Apologize again. Keep her from walking away. When she stepped through the doorway and out into the chilly air, she was hit with the realization that maybe they were really over. Maybe they wouldn't even be friends. That had been one of her biggest concerns going into this with Kiran.

"Hey Carter!" he yelled after her. She turned to face him. He wasn't walking after her. He stood in the doorway, hands in pocket, head tilted slightly to the side. 

"What do you want?"

"I'm sorry."

~

Walking away hadn't been easy. It would've probably been better for her to give him a more dignified response. 

But what do you do when a guy tells you that he's in love with you? Fall at his feet? Melt in his arms? Cry your eyes out and say it back? No one had ever said it to Carter before, and she wasn't really sure how to process it. What she did know was that she couldn't let herself be swept up by him right now. Not this way. Not after what he had tried to do.

Was he even in love with her, or had he said it because he thought it was only way she would forgive him?

She walked through the streets like a zombie. A little lightheaded, and a lot confused. With her arms wrapped around herself, she wondered what things would be like on Monday. Maybe she'd be over it by then and they could live happily ever after. Maybe not. Probably not. Maybe she wasn't ready for a relationship, to tell a guy that she was in love with him, to become wrapped up in passion and desire and roses and chocolates.

Maybe. Maybe. Stop with the maybe's. 

At the core of her personality, she was a Drama Queen. She was immature and sometimes very pathetic, and unwilling to give into whatever was expected of her in such a relationship. It wasn't fair of Kiran to want things of her that she wasn't ready to give.

As she turned a corner and saw her house appear, she realized that she didn't want to go home yet. She needed to talk to someone. Leigh. She needed Leigh. But Leigh wouldn't pick up her cellphone. Or her home phone. Carter even walked all the way to the girl's house, but no one was home. What was going on? Had they drifted so far apart this quickly that Leigh was now avoiding her at all costs? No, don't assume things. Maybe she's out with her parents or something.

When Carter's cellphone rang, she answered without bothering to look at the screen. "Leigh?"

"No, it's not Leigh. It's Tala."

"Oh." Her heart sank, right down the floor of everything.

"I can just feel the welcomed excitement in your voice. Anyway, I'm about to head to the mall. I know it's late but the place'll be open for another hour. Want me to pick you up?"

Carter knew that if she were to go home, she would sink into her bed and cry her eyes out. Over Kiran. Over Leigh. Over her pathetic attempt at popularity and how quickly it had all fallen apart. "Sure. It's not like I have anything else to do."

"Awesome. And do me a favour; drop the woe-is-me attitude. We're going to smile and be happy and have sushi."

"Okay."

Twenty minutes later Carter was sitting in Tala's Porsche. She had finished telling the future supermodel what had happened, and was now waiting for the girl to come up with some  much-needed, mature advice. Tala had listened intently, never interrupting, never grimacing or laughing, and it was a refreshing change from Leigh's giggles and outbursts during serious conversations. 

"I have a question, just so I can get the full story. Did he, at any point, tell you that he wanted to have sex with you?"

"No, but that's where he was headed. You weren't there, you didn't see what he was like."

"And you know this for sure? You know for a fact that he didn't want you to go upstairs just to lie in bed with him? I know I wasn't there, and I'm not trying to excuse his behaviour, but you could've given him the benefit of the doubt."

"What guy would want to just lie in bed with a girl?"

"Yeah, I know, most guys wouldn't. But that doesn't mean they can't change for someone. You said his family was going through some serious stuff, so maybe he wanted to feel that closeness with you. He wanted you there."

Carter let Tala's words sink in. Sure, they made sense. Sure, they were full of logic and reason and intelligence and everything else Tala was. But that didn't necessarily make them true. "He didn't tell me that. He didn't deny anything. I'm not a psychic."

"Did you give him that chance?"

"Of course I did. It's not like I was screaming at him non-stop."

"Look Carter, I know we don't know each other that well, but you seem to push your opinions onto others a lot. Maybe if you had asked him what he really wanted, how he felt, before accusing him of something right away, he would've told you. All guys want to have sex with their girlfriends, that's not a crime. It's how they're programmed. But you can't go all Psycho-Carter on him every time he wants to get close to you."

This was why Carter had told Tala everything, to have it all laid out for her in a more reasonable way. But there was still one more thing that weighed greatly on her heart, and she was certain that even Tala the Great wouldn't have a proper explanation. "How about this - he told me that he was in love with me, but he said it like he was really angry. Like out of spite or something. Who tells someone they're in love with them that way? What would you do?"

"I don't know what to tell you about that."

"Hah, I've stumped you."

"Congratulations?" Tala said she pulled into the parking lot of the mall. "Guys are stupid. People, in general, are stupid. They do and say a lot of stupid shit. What you have to do now is decide if you're willing to accept Kiran's level of stupidity. Personally I think you should, since you can be pretty stupid too at times."