Devotion

C20: Caroline's

When Steve and I arrived at Caroline's apartment later that night, it was as cold as it was in the morning. Steve was quietly keeping in how freezing he was the entire walk there, but I could tell he was shivering inside.

Before we had even reached the door Caroline opened it with her wide smile and bright eyes, jumping up and down in the doorway.

"Bucky!!!!"

She screamed as she ran into my arms. She was getting so tall, her hair was in my face and she continued to jump up and down.

"Hey Car!"

"You came! And you brought Steve!"

"Of course I did." I whispered into her head.

"Can you help me set up real quick?"

"Why do you think I came early?"

"I don't know, you're always early." She shrugged her shoulders.

I followed her inside and set my coat on a chair next to the door as Steve paced around behind me. She urged me into the kitchen which led to a huge living room, where her dog was sitting. I looked around, but so no signs of my family were anywhere.

"So when is the rest of the Barnes gonna show up?" I questioned her.

She tripped on a rug and in trying to catch herself she dropped a plate on the floor and the dog jumped at the sound. Thankfully it was plastic or I would've had a mess to clean up.

"They're not." She sighed.

"You didn't invite them did you?"

"No."

"Is something wrong?"

"No. I just didn't want them here... This is a party for my kind of people." She smiled.

I glanced over at Steve who was sitting in the chair next to the door, smiling.

We're her kind of people. He mouthed at me.

I rolled my eyes and walked into the kitchen to get out some food from the fridge. Steve followed me and sat down on a stool at the counter. I started cutting up apples as he talked to me.

"She has a nice place now. How can Caroline afford this?"

"She can't. There's a roommate apparently, but I've never met her. Maybe she'll be here tonight."

I struggled to get through the apple with the small butter knife in my hand.

"Hey Car where do you keep actual knives?" I shouted through the living room.

I opened up a cabinet below me and searched around, finding things that shouldn't be there.

"Caroline?! What is this?"

I pulled out two glass bottles of what looked like very strong liquor and set them down on the counter.

She ran into the room and stopped when she saw my face.

"Oops." She whispered.

"So this is why you didn't want them here?"

"Bucky it's not like I'm doing anything wrong. I'm legally allowed to drink now."

"I know and I don't care, but this is a party. I don't care to see a house full of people get drunk."

"Buck. Let it go. It's her birthday." Steve whispered from the counter.

"Yeah listen to Steve." She taunted.

I closed my eyes and thought about it. She's never done anything wrong before, it's not like anything will happen.