THE WAY IT ENDS ━ scream¹

02. THE BAR

CHAPTER TWO
( THE BAR )

        THE FIRST THING Carlyn did when the group got to the hospital was hug Tara. She squeezed her hard, but was mindful of her injuries. "I'm sorry," Carlyn muttered in her ear as she pulled away. "I was supposed to be there."

Tara immediately shook her head and reached for Carlyn's hand. "Hey, this isn't your fault." Tara knew the girl had a tendency to blame herself for things that she definitely couldn't have done anything about. She squeezed her hand. "I told you to go to Wes's house."

After that, the Carpenter girl didn't tell them much about what had happened, simply asking about school. She laughed a bit when Carlyn told her about all the people she didn't like coming up to them.

The hospital room door opened a while later and Samantha Carpenter, who Carlyn hadn't seen in 5 years, walked in, an unfamiliar man following behind her. The group of friends all stood up to greet them. Sam crouched down next to Tara. "How are you feeling?"

"You came," Tara stated.

"Of course I came," Sam smiled at her sister. She then remembered the boy behind her and looked back at him. "This is my boyfriend, Richie."

"It's so nice to meet you," Richie leaned down, stepping closer to her. "I'm so sorry if I'm intruding."

"Nice to meet you, too," Tara quietly replied.

Sam walked over to the teenagers, giving them each a hug. After Mindy, the girl glanced down at Wes and Carlyn's interlocked hands, giving each of them a knowing look as she pulled the boy in. "Thank you for calling."

"Of course," he nodded, squeezing her before she pulled away.

"Look at your hair," Sam ruffled his hair a bit as she moved over to Carlyn.  "I like it." After a few seconds, the two girls separated from each other and Sam motioned between the two of them. "So when did this happen?"

She recalled watching the two as kids. Carlyn had always been a touchy person, never failing to hold hands or kiss someone's cheek. Wes always used to be a blushing mess when she did it to him, despite it being a usual thing.

Carlyn felt her cheeks heat up. "Seven months ago."

Sam's mouth fell open. "Really?"  The two of them nodded and Sam moved back towards her boyfriend. "These are Chad and Mindy, the twins. And then we have Wes and Carlyn. I used to babysit them all."

"Which is always how I liked to be introduced," Wes quipped, intertwining his hand back with Carlyn's again. 

Sam's gaze moved to the last girl. "And Amber," she hesitantly introduced. "Hey."

"Hi," Amber mumbled. "Nice to see you."

"H-Hi, I'm Richie," the man stammered.

Amber shot him a fake smile. "Hi."

"Where's Mom?" Sam asked Tara.

"She's stuck at a conference in London," Tara answered. "She called me earlier."

"Yeah, for all of 10 minutes," Amber bitterly remarked. She then quickly realized her mistake when Tara looked down at her lap. "Uh, look, guys, Tara's really tired. Maybe we should just give her some space."