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Carmen sits at her vanity table, applying concealer to the marks gifted by blake when he demanded her presence the night before. it was the night of midsummers, meaning carmen would be forced to attend an upper class party with her boyfriend while pretending as though he wasn't the literal spawn of satan.
kiara seemed to have similar feelings towards the event as she stormed into her sisters bedroom. "this is disgusting."
despite agreeing wholeheartedly, carmen only scoffs. "i know, it's just horrible. they're asking us to relax and go to a fun party."
kiara flops upon her sisters bed, ignoring the girls scowl. "i look like a bourgeoisie pig."
"can you chill with the socioeconomic injustice for one night?"
"carm, people not three miles from here have no power, no running water, and we're going to midsummers." kiara sits up, "that's so tone-deaf."
carmen rises from her stool, crossing to the other side of the room to sift through a pile of earrings on her dresser. "do you know how hard mom and dad had to work to get into the island club?"
kiara sighs, "yeah, how could i forget? they had to grovel for, like, ten years—"
"twelve." carmen corrects, "they also had to cough up a huge chunk of dough."
"god, carm, who's side are you on?" kiara groans. "you're sounding an awful lot like mom."
"yeah, well, you're sounding an awful lot like an ungrateful bitch, kiara." carmen finalizes, snatching her bag from its hook beside the vanity. "i'm going to a friends. get the hell out of my room."
carmen first met blake barlow when she was twelve years old. she had been riding her bike home from school when a tire popped, causing her to walk it the remainder of the way.
blake happened to drive past on his way back from the kook academy, where he attended as a senior in high school. he recognized the seventh grader as freshman kiara carreras little sister and pulled over, offering a ride.
"yeah, sure." carmen had smiled, hooking her thumbs through the straps of her pink backpack. blake helped place the bike in the bed of his dads pickup, hands accidentally brushing. carmen's cheeks blushed to match the color of her backpack and blake liked that about her—liked the innocence she still possessed. so girlish, so naive.
he continued to offer her daily rides from then on, ending the school year off by kissing the younger girl in the front seat of his truck. at first it was fun—sneaking out after curfew to pick her up and driving around the island till the sun began to peak above the ocean and kissing on the sand beneath the stars. but as time went on and carmen grew older, blake grew bored.
he began meeting up with other girls closer to his own age, but could never entirely let go of carmen. something about her simply infatuated blake, and he knew he could never break away from her spell. they had become too intertwined with one another—there was no blake with carmen, no carmen without blake. they were one; nothing without the other.
this much was true for carmen as well, however she felt more obligated to stay with blake due to the other options consequence rather than love.
"you look beautiful, babe." he says now, arms linked together as they stand outside of the midsummers venue.
carmen shoves down her disgust at being so close in proximity with the man, "thank you. you as well." play nice, carmen. just for the night.
jealousy courses through the younger girls veins as she watches her sister conversing with pope out of the corner of her eye, wishing she could shake off people's opinions as easily as kiara.
carmen's pulled out of her jealous gaze when blake leans down to whisper into her ear, "hey, let's get shitfaced tonight, all right?"
carmen beams, "you know me so well."
the couple and their friends spend the next few hours sneaking glasses of top-shelf champagne, ducking into the crowd to down the drink in one swift gulp to avoid being caught.
while blake sneaks off to do a line with rafe, carmen spots jj posed as a waiter as he lurks through the crowd. she quickly creeps over, grabbing the older boys arm.
he whips around, "jesus little c, don't sneak up on me like that right now."
"thank you." carmen whispers softly, "you didn't have to do that."
"don't worry about it." jj brushes her off, "kie would've killed me if i let her little sister go to jail for something i told her to do."
carmen points to the blondes rapidly forming black eye, "did shoupe do that?"
"oh, this?" jj shakes his head, "this is—it's my dad. you know, has that right jab. can really snap it off at times."
"jesus, that looks like more than a jab, jj."
the older boy just shrugs. "nothing that hasn't happened before, carm. don't worry about it."
"i'm sorry, i shouldn't have let you take the fall. it's my fault."
"no, it's not." jj shakes his head, "shut up."
"i'll go down to the station in the morning and tell the truth, like i should've already—"
"god, carmen, just shut up!" the older boy steps closer, placing both hands on the brunettes shoulders. "you do that and blake will find out that you sunk his boat, and then he'll have yet another reason to cave your face in like on the golf course."
"and whose problem is that, jj?" carmen deadpans, crossing her arms defiantly. "not yours."
"no, no it definitely is mine." jj makes like he's about to argue before looking over the younger girls shoulder, "i gotta go. you be careful, all right?"
carmen watches suspiciously as the pogue elbows his way through the crowd of partying kooks, tapping a certain sarah cameron on the shoulder. the brunette arches an eyebrow, making her way to the bar with intentions of flirting the bartender into giving her more drinks without asking for an id.
like usual, her plan is every bit successful. carmen disguises the alcohol in a red plastic cup, sipping it nonchalantly as she stands bored next to her parents and sister. always supplying the entertainment, jj is soon escorted out of the venue by security. he manages to free himself, joining john b and pope down the lawn and calling out for kiara to join them.
carmen watches on with thick green envy as her sister gleefully joins her friends, leaping into her boyfriends arms as he whirls her around.
