UNMASKED.

chapter 7.

after the long night of waiting by the station, carter sat alone in his dorm room and was mindlessly scrolling through social media on his phone. his dorm mate, chad was out who knows where, having left the room hours ago. usually, that would bother carter but tonight being alone was a blessing.

recently, being surrounded by people had become a chore. the constant need to hide his true feelings and act like everything was fine was exhausting. alone, carter could finally drop the act and let his mask slip.

the hours ticked by and he continued to scroll through his phone, the light illuminating carter's face in the dark room, the only source of light. his eyes were glued to the screen, mindlessly flicking through the various feeds of social media. each new picture or update only served to further drain carter's already calmed energy.

suddenly, the sound of the door opening interrupted his scrolling. his head went up and he saw chad entering the room with a smile on his face. carter's initial reaction was annoyance, but he quickly masked it with a welcoming expression.

chad seemed to be in an unusually good mood. he had a grin on his face that stretched from ear to ear as he closed the door behind him. "hey man, how's it going?" he asked, sounding far too cheerful.

he forced a smile, putting on the act once again. "it's going great." carter replied, trying to sound as casual as possible despite the irritation that was showing. "where have you been?"

chad chuckled and flopped down on his bed, still wearing his stupid smile. "with tara."

chad was still grinning as he lay on his bed, looking up at the ceiling. "we need to get up in the morning because my sister wants the group to have a discussion."

carter raised an eyebrow in surprise. "mindy?" he asked, wondering what kind of discussion she wanted to have.

chad nodded, his smile widening. "yeah, she mentioned something about needing to talk to the group tomorrow."

carter's mind immediately went to all sorts of possibilities. what could mindy possibly want to talk about? was something wrong? he had a sinking feeling in my stomach, not knowing what to expect.

chad seemed oblivious to carter. he was still lying on his bed, lost in his own bubble of happiness. carter forced another smile, trying to hide his growing anxiety. "well, let's get some sleep then. we've got an early start tomorrow."

chad nodded and settled into his bed, still smiling. "yeah, good idea." he said, closing his eyes. "night."