"Carson, what the hell are you doing?" I said, pushing him off of me.

"I was doing you! But now-

"But now, nothing! Do you know how pissed Dylan would be?"

Carson rolled his eyes, "Like I care what Dylan thinks. So can we continue?"

"NO!" I screamed.

"Why not?" He whined. Yes, he whined.

"What if I am actually sick? I'll get you sick, too."

He rolled his eyes, "You're kidding right? I'm a big boy. If you get me sick, I'll live."

"Carson-" I started.

Before I could manage to get more words out, he rolled on top of me, the sides of his knees pressing against my hips. He pushed his body weight against me in a way that made me unable to move from under him. His head loomed over my face, forcing me to sink further down to the bed. His eyes were dark and cloudy, frozen on mine and his lips hung open, the sides curling up.

"Maddie," He whispered, his hot breath fanning over my face.

I inhaled sharply as I stared up at him.

One of his hands found place on my thigh, gently rubbing it up and down in slow, rhythmic movements. His other hand came to rest right under my jawline, his thumb tracing over my bottom lip.

He started leaning forward so slowly that I could hardly tell he was moving. Hell, I couldn't tell that I was also moving closer to him, tilting my head up towards his.

His lips hovered over mine now, barely a breath in between us. And then, suddenly, he paused.

His moved his gaze from my lips to my eyes, "Tell me you don't want this."

His lips almost brushed against mine as he spoke slow and smooth, and I sound myself frustrated that they hadn't. He made no further movements as he waiting for me to respond.

"Maddie," He said, calling my attention back to his words. "Look at me and tell me you do not want this. Tell me no, and I promise I'll stop."

It was so easy. He was literally offering me an out. An out I should have taken.

I reached up, wrapping my finger around loose strands of his hair that had fallen down, dangling between us, and brushed it behind his ear. I let my hand stay there, on the side of his face.

I couldn't. I couldn't tell him I didn't want this.

I lunged forward and crashed my lips onto his, wrapping my arms around his neck. I could feel him smirking in the kiss.

"Try not to be so desperate for me, Princess."

"Try not to be so smug about it, asshole."

* * *

This morning I woke up on time for school, which is a big improvement for me recently. However, I was more than a little startled when I realized I could not get out of my bed.

By that I mean there was a large, heavy arm slung over my torso. Carson. My legs were also completely tangled with his. His face pressed into the back of my neck, warming my skin every time he let out a breath.

I tried to slip carefully out of the bed, without disturbing Carson. Just as I was about to break free, his hand caught my side and pulled me back into him tightly. He pressed his face into the nape of my neck.

I rolled my eyes and tried again. This time, I grabbed the edge of the bed and tried pulling myself out. Spoiler alert, it really did not work.

Carson wrapped his other arm around me to keep me from trying again.

"Carson," I groaned.

"No."

"Carson, I have to get up."

"No, stay."

"I need to shower, let go of me!"

"But you're so warm," His voice came out all raspy.

The sun wasn't even up yet and I've already had enough of him today.

"Carson. I. Need. To. Shower."

"No you're not leaving," He whined. "Unless..."

"Unless what?" I asked. "Unless you can join?"

Carson's head shot up, all alert. He smiled in a childish kind of way.

I sighed, "Fine. Let's go."

"Really?" He asked.

"If it gets me out of this bed, then yes."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" He sprinted into the bathroom, as if he'd been awake for hours. I watched as his shirt flew from the bathroom onto the floor.

I laughed, as I wondered where in the hell I went wrong to end up here.

* * *

Classes went by faster than usual today, thank God. I was glad that they were over because Luna and I were going to the mall. Retail therapy is a real thing.

"Thank you," Luna smiled at the cashier as she grabbed her shopping bag and receipt. We walked out of the store, our hands full of bags.

"So, how is everything going with you?" Luna asked. "We haven't had girl's day in a while."

"I'm fine," I said, keeping it short as to not spill anything out that she didn't need to know. "Maybe we'd have more girl time if you weren't attached to Zach. I'm actually surprised you didn't cancel on me to be with him."

"Yeah, well," Luna coughed. "We were trying to spend more time together. I don't know, I guess that was our way of trying to fix everything?"

This was the first time Luna had mentioned their problems since that night after the party. I assumed they had forgotten all about it by now.

"What do you mean?"

Luna shrugged, "I guess maybe we think if we spend more time together, we won't have room for problems, and the old ones we were having will just go away."

"I don't think that's how it works, my love. What are these problems?"

Luna sighed, "We fight all of the time over the dumbest things, but they seem so big. And we seem to have lost our trust in one another. Like, whenever Zach used to talk to Lana I wouldn't mind, but now it gets me really angry."

"Have you tried talking about it openly?"

"We have. It doesn't do much, though. The problems are still there."

I gave her a sad smile, "Maybe you guys just need a break. To focus on yourselves, see if time fixes things."

She sighed, "Maybe. But at the same time, it feels so wrong to just give up on us when we've been together for so long."

I nodded, "Maybe it's just a phase that'll pass. Just don't get frustrated. Talk to him."

I looped an arm through hers. "Come on," I said changing the subject. "Let's go to the food court and make fun of everyone."

* * *

After listening to Luna's problem all afternoon, I had begun stressing. And when I stress, I clean my room. Let me rephrase that, I deeply clean my room. Actually, let me be more specific: I tear apart my room first, so then it looks even better when it's all cleaned up.

Currently I was standing in a pile of clothes that I had yet to sort into "keep" or "donate" piles, all while contemplating how to improve Zach and Luna's current status. But then again, it was probably best I just stay out of it and let them figure it out for themselves.

"Madeline?" Carson asked, walking into my room, breaking me from my thoughts but not interrupting my chaotic cleaning.

"How many times do I have to tell you to knock?" I scolded.

"How many times do I have to tell you no?" He responded.

I sighed, "What do you want?"

"Well- actually first, do you mind telling me what you're doing, Princess?" he asked, analyzing me.

"I'm cleaning," I said, slightly out of breath from all the pacing around I had been doing. "I just needed to do a spring cleaning. There's nothing wrong with a little Spring cleaning."

"Sure, but it's not Spring."

"No one asked you," I muttered.

He chuckled, "Maddie, you look ridiculous."

I stood up straight and glared at him. Then, I threw the random garment of clothing in my hand at him. Of course, it just happened to be a pair of underwear.

He held them up in his hand, with a satisfied smiled. He tucked them in the pocket of his hoodie and smirked, "I'll be keeping these."

"You're gross. And perverted," I said. "And you still haven't told me why you barged in here!"

He laughed, and started helping me clean up the scattered clothes, and deciding for himself which ones he wanted me to keep or donate. (In all honesty, he had good fashion taste).

"Will you come with me to the your parents' thing on Friday?" He asked.

"Yeah, I thought we already established that we were gonna go together so that we can go to Jason's right after," I said. He's so forgetful sometimes.

He pinched the bridge of his nose as if this conversation was excruciating. "Princess... you're... that's not what I meant."

"Huh?"

"Will you go with me? Like, as my date?"

"Oh," I said. "Ohh," I said again, finally realizing what he was implying.

I laughed, "Are you being serious?"

"Yes."

I shrugged, "Okay, I guess. But why?"

"Because if I have to go to one of these things, I'd rather endure it with a hot babe on my arms."

I rolled my eyes, "You're gross."

"You've mentioned," he replied, sitting down on the edge of my bed.

I quickly rehung all of the clothes I decided (or really Carson decided) to keep. Finally, my room was perfectly clean. I sighed and laid down on the bed right next to Carson, letting my legs hang limply off the edge.

"So, what was the impulsive cleaning all about?" Carson asked, running a hand through my hair absentmindedly.

I shrugged, "I don't know. I just needed to think."

He hummed in response. I closed my eyes for a moment, allowing myself to relax for the first time all day.

"You know, it looks exactly like before," he said. "Your room looks exactly the same as it was this morning before you started cleaning."

I opened my eyes and I didn't need to survey the room to know that he was right.

"Shut up," I groaned, but couldn't help the smile forming.

He laid down next to me with a twisted grin on his face, "Maybe we should make it dirty again. I have plenty of ideas on how we could do so."

His hand grabbed onto my waist and slid underneath my shirt. His other hand was tightly pressing on my hip as he rolled on top of me and started kissing my neck.

"Carson, stop!" I laughed. I grabbed his arm and attempted to pull him off of me.

He finally pulled away after he had his fun, but he stayed on top of me, smiling cheekily with all of his teeth.

I shook my head, "You really find a way to make everything sexual."

He shrugged, "You don't seem to mind."