Chances

Chapter 35

With adrenaline coursing through her veins and nothing but the sound of her own heart pounding in her ears, Carina tries to zero in on placing one foot in front of the other, which is proving to be a difficult task considering how incredibly lightheaded she feels.

She doesn't know what the hell she's planning on doing, but she knew she had to act and do something . She couldn't continue watching Daniel get publicly shamed for something he never did and for something that was never supposed to happen. He can't keep taking the fall for her. God knows he's done more than enough.

Carina feels eyes fixated on her as she slowly steps closer and closer to where Daniel and Trevor are standing. And they're both looking at her with confused expressions on their faces.

"What are you doing?" Daniel mumbles under his breath, just loud enough for Carina to hear.

But she doesn't say anything. She instead just continues to look at him with the most apologetic look she could muster up, her bottom lip starting to quiver as tears make their way to the surface. She's never been so fucking scared in her life.

But when Carina hears Lily's small voice squeak out her name in question, she instinctively turns around to look at those concerned green eyes of hers. She tries to mentally convey to Lily that everything is okay and she must have understood because she just barely nods in response.

Carina's glad she's here. She always makes everything a little bit easier.

The brown-eyed girl absentmindedly reaches up and closes her hand around the silver locket hanging from her neck, squeezing it tightly. Her thumb traces over the two words carved into the metal and she repeats them to herself like a mantra.

Then she shifts around again, now gazing up at Daniel's worried face. Even in the midst of something like this, he still finds it in himself to be more concerned about her than his own self.

Carina stands on the very tips of her toes to place a gentle kiss on his cheek. There are no words to describe how grateful she is for him and for everything that he's ever done for her and continues to do. He's never once disappointed her or let her down in any way. He protected her since the very beginning.

Now it's Carina turn.

She shuts her eyes closed tightly because that's what she always does in scary situations. Then she counts down from three because that's what she always does before she gets brave. Then she opens her mouth and dives headfirst once she reaches zero.

"Daniel never cheated on anyone... because we were never even together in the first place."

Daniel's fingers suddenly lace with hers and she's so thankful because she probably would have fainted without him. She looks around at the confused crowd, which seemed to have grown since she and Lily first appeared. Unfortunately, one of those new faces is Alexus.

Her eyes widen for a split second as her breath hitches in the back of her throat. There's a initial moment of hesitation that flickers across Carina's mind, but she immediately forces it aside. This isn't fucking about her. She doesn't matter. Daniel, Amanda, and Lily are the only ones who matter in this moment.

As she always does, Carina's eyes find their way back to Lily and doesn't break contact. She looks unbelievably lovely standing there with her pale skin, dark hair, and rosy cheeks.

Carina's mind runs through a timeline of their relationship, starting with ever speaking to her for the first time on Tumblr, to meeting each other as roommates, to the petty and insignificant bickering, to the "blind date", to their first kiss, to finally making it official with her. Falling in love with Lily was the single easiest thing she's ever done.