Behind the Façade

------------Carson------------

I can't stop thinking about this afternoon.

The way Hunter held my hand, how I was so, so tempted to kiss him...

This wasn't right, it wasn't the way things were supposed to go. Logan was the boy I was dating, my boyfriend. Hunter was the arrogant, conceited jerk of a best friend that was so confident he has my heart in his hands that...he just might be right.

When my cell buzzed, alarming me when a message popped up on the screen, I stretched toward it, not moving from my position on the couch. It was a text from Hunter.

I rolled my eyes, trying to ignore the flutter in my chest and the smile that came to my lips.

I think we need to talk...without Logan around.

I was not going to have this conversation over text, so I put the phone to my ear, listening to its ring echo from the speaker. "Yes?" Hunter's voice was confident.

"What was it I said this afternoon about you leaving me alone?"

There was a pause, "Can't we be friends?"

"Not when you want something so much more than that."

Hunter sighs, "Please...Carson, I -- I know how I appear to you. Really, I do. Some arrogant, conceited jerk," I freeze. Hadn't I just call him that? "who's trying to steal his best friend's girlfriend, but there'so much more than that."

"Even if there is, this isn't fair to Logan. It's not fair to me to make me choose between the two of you when I don't even know your middle name. This --."

"It's not fair to me to not give me a chance," he quickly counters.

I sigh because I know he's right. "Hunt...I -- I don't know."

"Friends. That's all I'm asking for right now."

"Right now," I say, playing with a loose thread on the couch. "And then when we do become closer, you'll want more. And more. And --."

"What's wrong with that? We all have something we can't have, it doesn't mean we ever get it."

I couldn't tell him that he wasn't the only one wanting something more. I couldn't let know that if we were friends, there would be so much pressure to be more - like there was in his house this afternoon.

"Carson?" His voice was smooth and I let it wash over me. Even if I wanted to ignore him, I couldn't. There'd be no way.

"Hunter, I..." The front door opens and my dad sees me sitting there, curled up on the couch, phone attached to my ear. "Gotta go."

My father stumbles over to me, "Is that your boyfriend? Huh? Does he love you more than your mother loved you? That wouldn't be hard to do considering she left you."

"Carson, are you alright? Do you want me to come get --?"

"I'm fine. I have to go. Bye, Hunter." I slam my phone shut and stare at my father's unbalanced stature. "She didn't leave just me. She left you too, you selfish bastard."

Slap. Kick. Pain.

"Carson?" Brianna called downstairs.

"I'm fine," I yelled back, "I'm on my way up shortly. Lock your door."

I could tell she understand the pain, the worry for her, in my voice, and a door slammed shut.

"You ungrateful little girl." My father's foot connected with my side and I bit my tongue. "You don't talk to me like that!"

The beer bottle in his hand crashed to the floor and he picked me up by the fabric of my shirt, "You disgust me. The way you remind me of that woman."

"At least the feeling is mutual," I spit and rip myself out of grasp, but he grabs my wrist, pulling me back.

I wince, knowing there would be bruises the size of his fingertips by morning.

He opens his mouth to say something but instead, tosses me aside, causing me to crash onto the floor and into the coffee table. "I'm done with trash like you. Your mother included."

I get up, grab my phone, running up the steps - taking two at a time. Running past my bedroom, up the attic stairs, I stop in front of the large window that leads right onto the roof. From there, you can see for miles. The town, and even some of the city lights on the outskirts.

I can see a life beyond my crappy one.