"Is Mariana in her room?" Carl asked Isaac, who was sitting on the couch. He nodded a yes, not looking up from his iPad.

He tried to carry the dog up the stairs, and turned out to be somewhat successful. Although the dog dragged him up, he still thought it was pretty good for his first time.

He opened the ajar door. Mariana's back was turned to him. She was hunched over, hair wild and around her face. Soft sniffles could be heard. He sat next to her.

"Mari, you know Debs didn't mean it."

"It sounded like she did Carl." She snapped back, a little more forceful than she expected.

"She didn't."

"But why would she say that?"

"I—I don't know." Carl didn't know what to say. He'd never been one to comfort others. He'd been a bit sociopathic growing up.

"I shouldn't have gone to California." Mariana had feelings of regret. Things could've been better if she hadn't gone off to California.

"Don't blame this on yourself. You went to California to pursue your dream. Debbie is just being selfish. I don't know why'd she say such a fucking dumb thing."

Mariana turned around and faced Carl. She slowly fixed her hair, which was recklessly strewn about. She wiped her tears and wiped her nose. She cleared the lump from her throat.

"I don't blame her. I was different in California. I didn't really tell anyone I was only thirteen. I told them I was seventeen. And they all believed me. I kinda became a groupie and did some drugs.

You wouldn't expect a thirteen year old to be having relations with older men do you? But then you could go back to the seventies and see young girls like Sable Starr be dating a dude from Led Zeppelin or having sex with David Bowie.

I–I didn't have sex with them. I just had a relationship with a lot of em. More than one at a time. We'd act like we were in love. Hell, I think Jesse Rutherford is still in love with me."

Carl stayed quiet. He didn't know what to say. Mariana was never a girl to act like that. He didn't think it was bad. And hell, he didn't have a right to say so anyways. He used to eat every girl out, next after next.

"I don't really expect you to be into me after I told you this. It's fine if you'd rather distance yourself away from me."

"You really think I'm gonna distance myself from the girl of my dreams just because of something she did in her past?"

"Yes?"

"No, obviously. You stood by me when people used to call me the carpet muncher."

Mariana looked back into the days where Carl used to be a bit of a hoe. He gained his reputation as carpet muncher quickly.

"That was disgusting. Don't bring that back."

"Exactly, although it wasn't the best thing to do, you're still here, aren't you?"

"Well, yeah."

Carl moved forward and nuzzled himself into her chest. Mariana fell back into her bed, her hands placed on his hair.

"I love you." He couldn't see it, but Mariana was smiling ear to ear.

"I love you too Carl."