Almost Too Much

--Carabella's POV--
"I'm never going bowling again." I huffed, plopping down onto the couch.

"Why because you lost?" Mariela teased, sitting down with me.

"Yes." I snorted, crossing my arms.

"Oh, pipe down." She rolled her eyes playfully. "Lets do something!"

"No, Mariela! I'm exhausted." I complained.

"Please? I'm wide awake!" She begged.

"No."

"But I-"

"No."

"Cara-"

"No."

"BUT--"

"NO. Oh my god, Mariela. No. I'm not going anywhere but into the shower and into my bed." I finalized the argument.

"Boo." She frowned.

"Call one of the boys or something. They can stay up for years I swear. Vic doesn't sleep. I fall asleep before him and wake up after him." I said, getting up to go to the shower.

--Mariela's POV--

I watched my friend leave the room and I thought I was literally going to die of boredom.

So I did what I'm best at.

I dialed my phone and listened to it ring.
Riiing, riiing rii-

"Hello?" Tony's voice filled my ear.

"Hey, come over." I said.

"W-what?" He stammered.

"Did I stutter? Come over." I laughed.

"Is Carabella there?" He asked. I didn't see why that mattered.

"Yeah, but shes going to sleep after she showers." I explained.

"Okay, yeah. Text me your address." He said.

"Okay, so I'll see you in...?" I trailed off.

"Like half an hour."

"Okay, bye!" I hung up and sent him my address as he requested.
I smiled to myself.

About twenty minutes later, Carabella came out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel.

"Oh my god! PUT ON CLOTHES! Tony will be here any minute!" I exclaimed, running over to her and pushing her up the stairs.

"Ew! You could have told me Christ! Why is he coming over?!" She asked as we ran up the stairs together.

"Because I asked him too? I need to keep myself busy." I said.

"Ew Mar."

"Not like that you whore. Get dressed." I snapped and shoved her into her room. "And then go to sleep! I told him you'd be sleeping!"

"Oh cool, I'm confined in my own house!" She complained. I rolled my eyes and trotted back downstairs, just in time to see Tony's truck rolling up into my driveway.

I had a mini-heart attack and then I greeted him at the door.

"Hey, hun." I smiled.

"Hi." He grinned back, following me into the house.

"Your house is insane." He said, looking around.

"Yeah, Cara and I, we're...financially stable." I explained.

"I guess so." He examined the house.

"What are we going to do?" He continued.

"Teach me how to play guitar!" I remembered our little deal.

"I didn't bring mine!" He panicked.

"I have one!"

"Why if you can't play it..."

"Shut up. Follow me." I laughed, leading him to the back of the house.

I opened the door, and there was a wall with three guitars, one acoustic, and then in the far left corner their was a piano, and a desk, and two stools.

"For someone who doesn't have a music career, you have a lot of equipment." He said in awe, looking at all the amps and cords and such.

"I wanted to for a while, I just lost the inspiration and I wasn't going to put out half ass music." I shrugged.

He nodded in agreement. He looked at all the guitars and picked up the acoustic one before sitting in the stool.

"Come here." He commanded, looking up at me.

"Watch first, then I'll show you." He explained, and began strumming the guitar. I didn't know the song.

I sat in the stool next to him and watched him play. His soft black hair framed his face, his plump lips sat partially parted, and he stared contently down at the guitar. I smiled softly.

"Mariela? I'm done." He chuckled, catching me staring at him.

"Okay, gimme." I smiled, reaching out for the guitar like a little girl.

He laughed and handed it to me.

"Okay, put this finger there, and this one here...yeah, like that. And strum these two..." He stood behind me, towering over me trying to teach me.
I strummed, and it sounded....
horrible.

I laughed, and he laughed with me. I looked up at him.

"I suck."

"It takes practice." He encouraged me.
I tried again. Still sucked.

"Tony, maybe I'm just not supposed to play guitar. Not everyone can play as good as you." I complimented.

"Oh, stop stalling and try again." He laughed, pointing towards the instrument.

I tried a few more times until finally, a normal noise was made.

"See!" He said, proud of his teaching skills.

"I played one note, calm down." I chuckled.

"I'm proud anyway." He beamed.

We tried for a little while longer before my short attention span got the best of me.

"Lets go swimming!" I stood suddenly, hanging the guitar back up.

"Um, where?" He raised an eyebrow at me.

"Duh, in our pool." I rolled my eyes playfully.

"You have a fuckin' pool?! Jesus." He shook his head.

"C'mon!" I wrapped my hand around his wrist and dragged him out to the backyard, where our large, lima bean shaped pool stretched across most of the yard.

"Mariela, I don't have swim trunks." He stopped in the middle of the yard, rubbing his neck. I smirked. My name sounded so good coming out of his mouth.

"You have boxers don't you? Same thing!" I smiled, ripping off my tanktop and my shorts.

"You're crazy." He smiled at my half naked self.

"Yeah, I've been told." I said before throwing myself into the water.

The cool water felt amazing against my skin, and when I came back up for air Tony was sitting on the edge of the pool with his feet in the water, in nothing but his boxers.
I knew he didn't need swim trunks.

"Get in here." I smirked.

"Its freezing." He complained, shivering slightly.

"You'll get used to it if you just jump in. Please?" I bit my lip at him, trying to look seductive. Key word- trying.

He raised an eyebrow at me. "Do you torture all men or just me?"

"What do you mean?" I asked innocently, swimming over to him.

"You stripped down to your underwear, and now you're begging me to come in with you and biting your lip. Its just torture." He laughed, using his foot to splash me.

I grabbed his foot and yanked as hard as I could, and he fell into the water with a splash.

"Oh my god!" He exclaimed, coming back up to the surface. "That was so uncalled for."

"Well you were being a pansy." I smiled, grabbing his hand and pulling him closer to me.

"Was not." He objected quietly, our faces just inches from each other.

He reached up and pushed some of my wet hair behind my ear, and let his hand linger on my neck.

"Everyone warned me about you." He whispered.

"How so?" I asked, locking eyes with him.

"That you were trouble. You wouldn't commit. You'd flirt with everyone." He explained, not breaking our gaze.

"That may all be true, but who did I call when I wanted company tonight?" I whispered back, bringing our faces even closer.

He looked down at me and parted his lips slightly.

"I don't want to get hurt by moving too fast with you." He admitted. It was refreshing to hear a guy be the one to talk like this.

"I understand." I stepped back slowly.

He frowned a little bit. "Sorry."

"Don't be sorry." I smiled, reassuringly. I didn't know what it was...but I didn't want to make him feel like every other guy.

We played around in the pool for a little while and then we decided to go back in and change into our dry clothes. When we walked back into the living room, much to our surprise, Kellin and Carabella were sitting on the couch.

"Hi Kellin...its--" I looked at the clock, "Midnight? What are you doing here?"

"I just had to talk to Carabella." He said defensively, and stood up quickly.

"You don't have to leave--" I started.

"It's fine." He spat, and left the house without another word.

"Um, Bellbell? What the fuck?" I asked, and noticed her eyes were watery.

"Oh my god, don't cry." I pleaded, rushing to the couch and sitting next to her. Tony came with me.

"He's pissed at me because of Vic." She explained.

"Why? You and Vic are still so innocent. It's not like you're dating or engaged or something. Shit." Tony said, his eyes filled with concern.

"I know, I know. He's just mad I guess that I like him. But I can't help it. When I went up to him, it was just to get back at Kellin and--"

"Woah, what?" Tony stopped her.

"Shit." I murmured.

"You started talking to Vic just to get back at Kellin?" Tony asked, flinching slightly. Like he was afraid of the answer.

"Well, yeah. But its more than that now! He's so sweet!" Carabella said, exasperated.

"Well, don't let Vic get wind of that. He'll flip." Tony said, leaning back into the couch.

"Kellin doesn't really have a right to be mad. I get he's your ex and all, but he broke up with you. And he had to know when he introduced us to all of his attractive male friends they were going to be all over you." I explained, resting a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah, I guess." She shrugged. "I need to go to sleep. Night guys." She slumped up the stairs.

"Jeez." I breathed out.

"Yeah, Vic thinks shes just perfect. He's like a high school girl with her first crush." He chuckled.

"Good, she deserves it." I said sincerely.

"So do you."

"I don't know about that." I locked eyes with him.

"I should go. We have an early practice tomorrow." He told me, "I wish I could stay longer."

"I know, its okay. We'll hang out soon, okay?" I smiled, pulling him up off the couch. I walked him to the door.

"Um, okay, bye.." He said awkwardly, and began walking out the door.

I grabbed his wrist.

"Tony?" I pulled him back to me and kissed his cheek.

He blushed and smiled at me before walking out to his car.