"I suppose it is." Mariana indifferently said, dipping her fry into the mustard yellow sauce.

In all honesty, Mariana was overwhelmed from head to toe. She wasn't very good with confrontation- unless it was her confronting someone.

"I'm-"

"Doing this for me. By keeping Luke away you're protecting me." She sighed. She knew it was inevitable that he'd understand where she's coming from. It hurt her a little on the inside.

"No," Carl started, "I was going to say that I'm trusting you. I'm really believing in you Mariana. Because I really do love you. A lot."

Carl grabbed her hand that was placed on the glossy table. He rubbed her hand with his thumb and index finger.

Mariana was shocked. But she was swelled with a warmth. Carl really knew what words to say, but little did she know it was all because of his siblings- and mostly little Liam.

"So you're fine if I stay friends with Luke?" She reiterated the question, still wondering if she heard that right.

"Yeah. Of course I'm not the most fond of him, but you said yourself it's to keep you and your friends together. It'd be pretty selfish of me to keep you from doing so."

"What's with the change of heart?" Mariana couldn't keep her curious self from asking the question.

"A lot of thinking. Maybe a few sappy movies." He admitted to her. She couldn't help but smile.

"Carl Gallagher, I'm hopelessly in love with you." She mustered out, feeling a small amount of regret. Not because she didn't mean her words, she just didn't like being all that soft.

"Mariana Mendoza, I'm in love with you hopelessly." Carl smiled cheesily. He was content with how he handled the situation.

"You can't just take my words a switch em around Gallagher." She rolled her eyes, throwing a fry that fell onto the table at him.

***

Mariana and Carl we're in the hotel room. The Hispanic girl laid on the bed, body sprawled out to stretch. As for Carl, he was currently looking through his suitcase.

"Get some comfy pajamas. Movie nights usually last till three in the morning."

Carl struggled. He didn't want to wear something that showed he was poor. He didn't want Mariana's Hollywood friends to look down upon him.

He finally came upon some Nike sweatpants he stole from the locker room. He stayed in his white t shirt, just putting a maroon hoodie over it.

"What movie did you choose for movie night?" Mariana blew bubbles with her watermelon flavored hubba bubba bubblegum.

"I didn't know I was supposed to choose one." Carl shrugged, grabbing his stuff before the two of them left the hotel room.

"Well, duh. Course you were supposed to. Rule one if movie night; each person attending movie night must choose a movie. It's set in stone. Literally, Michael paid for someone to write the rules in stone."

"Fine, we'll just- stop at the Redbox or something."

"Okay the theme is 80's movies."

"What the fuck? They don't have 80's movies at the Redbox."

"Rule two; the movie must fit into the movie category chosen by the king of movies. And this week's king was Joe and he's really been into the 80's after Stranger Things."

"What the hell is a movie king?"

"Whoever brings the best movie from last week is the next week's movie king. Last week's theme was cheesy teen Netflix movies. Joe came with the heat and picked The Babysitter."

"Isn't that ironic because in season two he was like a babysitter to the av club?"

"Awe, you watched stranger things for Joe. You have a bromance." Mariana teased.

"Shut up, I promised him I'd watch it for him."

"So, who's your favorite character?"

"Isn't it obvious? Steve dude. Gotta support my man's."

"If you break up with me and date Joe I will literally be so giddy. Like it'd be cute. Coe, or Jarl. I'll ask Pia."

Of course Carl nor Joe were gay. Although, none of the elites would have a problem with that. Maybe Mariana, since she was dating Carl and him being gay would have probably been an issue.

"You what me to break up with you and date Joe?" Carl questioned. He thought it was funny his girlfriend would say such things.

"Yeah, you guys are my brotp." She shrugged. She scrolled through her Instagram timeline. A good portion we're of elites, and another portion was off her south side friends.

The two groups were very different. On her left hand is the elites. The group of people who welcomed her with warm arms and Rolex watches.

They were much richer than her, and she had to hide that from most of them. Only her closest friends knew of her south side descent. Nevertheless, Mariana was a fashion prodigy.

She knew how to fake it till she made it. Hours and hours of countless sewing to create the most stunning dresses to wear to premieres with her friends. Thus how she became an official elite.

Making dresses for young actresses and tuxes for actors. Many ideas had stemmed from her home if Chicago, and always on the inside would be stitched in red or gold thread, Southside.

She had made a name for herself at the young age of fourteen. Mariana still didn't think she was fourteen. Due to growing up in South side, you had to grow up faster. Become an adult. So that's what she did.

On her other hand was her southsiders. Criminals, with hearts of gold. Possibly stolen gold. She mainly only had ties with the Gallagher's and Milkovich's, but there were some exceptions.

People thought of her as Mari, half of a duo. It had always been Carl and Mariana. Everyone knew that. And deep down, everyone knew they would end up together.

"What movie did you pick for movie night?" Carl asked. It had been silent, although Mariana hadn't noticed because she was caught up in thought.

"The Goonies, a classic. Set in stone as one of the best movies ever." Mariana smiled, holding up the DVD case.

Carl pulled up to a parking lot. It was dimly lit, bugs flying around the light of the lamp post. He stopped the car, but left it so the music would stay running.

"Stay here, the movies a surprise." Carl had actually done a little research. He looked up where to get movies in LA and stumbled upon a movie store that held almost every single English movie.

He entered, and was greeted with the smell of vintage VHS tapes and plastic discs. He looked around, seeing numerous categories and smaller subcategories.

Western films.

Romantic comedies.

Horror.

Musicals.

Pretentious films.

Each category was labeled with a white sign with red lettering. He finally stumbled upon decades. 20's, 30's, 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's- and finally 80's.

It took him a little bit of searching before he found the perfect one. He had watched it before with his siblings.

It was a Gallagher tradition to watch that movie. Once you turn eleven, the whole family would take the day off to sit down with a bounty of snacks, just to watch the movie.

'its a cinematic masterpiece that transitions you from childhood to manhood.' lip said. The most iconic of 80's movies.

Carl picked it off the shelf, smiling brightly. He purchased the movie, getting a plastic bag to cover it. Carl was proud of himself.

"Ooh, what movie did you pick?" Mariana curiously asked, eyeballing the plastic bag.

"It's a surprise, but you might know what movie it is." He couldn't help but feel squealish. He felt accomplished.

The drive was tranquil, Mac Demarco lowly played in the car. It was a nice silence, much needed. The faint sound of cars added to the calm melody that strummed in Mariana's ears.

Soon enough they were back at the secluded and rather large house. Mariana knocked on the door, paper bags in her arms.

Pia opened the door, wearing PINK leggings and a nude knitted sweater. Her dark blonde hair was tied up in a lose and frizzy bun. She smiled exuberantly as she pulled the couple inside.

The living room smelled of popcorn. Blankets were strewn about, there for the taking. On the large coffee table were a bountiful of snacks. Any snack you could think of was placed on that chocolate brown table.

"Get comfy late asses, it's gonna be a long night." Joe spoke, wrapped in a large blue comforter.

"We're still waiting on Luke." Michael said, a bowl of melted caramel in his hands. He drizzled it over one of the many bowls of popcorn.

"Hope you brought a good movie Carl, I'm tired of Joe being movie king." Pia rolled her eyes, slouching on the one person couch, slipping onto the soft black duvet.

Carl smirked, he was confident he was going to win. No other movie could top off his. Carl was sure to win.

"I think I have a pretty good chance of dethroning the king over here." He smiled, looking at Joe. Him and Mariana took the love seat nearest to the kitchen.

"So here's the order, Joe, then me, then pia, then Luke, then Mariana, and finally our newbie Carl."

"Save the best for last, huh Mikey?" Carl teased, actually feeling like he fit into the boujie group.

"Watch it Gallagher, you're still the new comer." Joe pointed his finger.

"Fuck off Keery." He pulled a dark lilac colored blanket over him, tossing the rest over Mariana's exposed legs.

The door slammed, all attention was put towards the door. Michael put his fists up, although he knew he couldn't do shit if it was an actual intruder.

"Hey guys, sorry I'm late. Traffic is a total bitch." Everyone but Carl softened, being familiar with the Australian accent.

"Lucas, my boy." Michael hugged him. But the only thing Luke did was look at Mariana, who was cuddled up with Carl.

Carl realized where Luke's eyes had been. On Mariana's exposed chest. Carl thought quickly and flipped the blanket over both him and her.

Underneath Mariana was startled, from both the blanket and Carl, whose lips were tight against hers. The room went quiet, all of them listening to the sound of intense kissing.

"Wow, way to make things awkward." Joe threw some popcorn at the intimate couple.

"Hey! You're gonna have to clean that up!" Pia scolded. Popcorn was now all over her fur carpet.

"Shut up, you act like you don't have three maids cleaning up after your small ass." With that he threw more popcorn, this time directly at Pia.

"Way to sound like a douche man." Michael laughed, moreso giggled. Now Mariana had taken the blanket off of her.

"It's the truth, and only the truth i speak. And the truth is, you're a skinny dick."

"Fuck you, asshole." Michael got up, trying to wrestle Joe.

"Hey, hey! Time to start movie night." Pia threw small plush throw pillows at the two men.

Joe inserted the mystery disc into the DVD player. Everyone was completely quiet, the only sound was snacks opening and popcorn being shoved into mouths.

Carl couldn't help but give Luke a dirty look, although Luke was paying attention to the movie. He knew he had to be mature for Mariana's sake and not do anything childish—again.

Carl looked down at Mariana, who was deeply concentrated on the movie. His face softened, he had to do this for Mariana.

***

Finally, it was Carl's turn to put his movie on. He slipped in the disk, acting as if this was a life and death situation. The only option was winning, he wouldn't accept defeat.

The vintage commercials for 'new' movies rolled. Asoon as the title came up, Mariana gasped, "The ultimate 80's movie."