Imprint.

Two

Carter shook me awake, a piece of bacon already in his hand. His hair was already wet from a shower and he didn't have a shirt on. Nothing had changed with him since I left.

I slapped his free hand and rolled onto my other side.

"Did you sleep here all night?" He asked, sitting on the coffee table.

"Dean stayed out here too."

"Please don't tell me you slept with him."

This time, I hit him with the pillow. "Be serious, Carter."

"I'm just looking out for you."

"No, you're saying I'm easy."

"I am not. I'm saying Dean is."

"Hey, I'm only easy around girls I like." Dean said from the kitchen.

I rolled my eyes and sat up. I glanced at him and there were pots all over the counter. Batter was dripping onto the floor. "What'd you make for breakfast?"

"Just pancakes, bacon, and toast."

"So everything, right?"

"Almost. Dean's mom is making dinner tonight for us so we're storing up."

"How will any of you survive?"

He smiled and finished his bacon. "Have you talked to mom?"

"No. I haven't talked to her on the phone since I wrote to her about dropping out of college."

"You wrote to her? Now she has every right to be mad at you, V." Oh mom was pissed. She screamed at me the whole time. She kept telling me I was ruining my life and quitting the only good thing to happen to me. Like she knew my life.

"Well, how would you feel if your only child to go to college dropped out?"

"I'm nothing like mom."

"Neither am I."

He wiped his hands on his shorts then stood up, towering over me. "We're going for a run later if you want to come."

Going with the guys on a run was one of my favorite things to do. Typically when we went, Will would carry me on his back while he ran. If he didn't go, it would've been Dean. The last one I did was the day before Will died.

"I'll stay here."

"Do you want one of us to stay back?"

I shook my head. "I'll be fine."

"Then I'm taking your keys with me."

"Just so you can lose them? I don't think so."

"Look, I just don't want you being alone right now."

"I'll be fine. Your place needs cleaned anyway."

"Hey, I do a good job cleaning it."

I rolled my eyes. "If you say so."

He nodded to the kitchen. "Go eat something while it's still hot. We're leaving in twenty minutes."

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"He's not going." Carter said, walking into the living room.

"Then let's go. I have too much energy to waste sitting around." Dean said, jumping to his feet.

"Let me get this straight: he moves in with you to be closer to you yet doesn't leave his room?" I said.

Carter shrugged. "I'm not going to force him to do anything."

Dean clapped Carter on the back. "We must be too much for him to handle."

Bentley rolled his eyes.

"You can't blame him there."

Dean headed out the door and Bentley followed.

Carter stopped in the doorway. "Are you sure you don't want to come?"

I nodded.

"Alright. We'll see you in a few hours."