Angel Dust. (golden/delicate continuation]

daughters

"Carma!"

Chase peeked out his bedroom door as his twin was walking past. She'd been sort of mopping lately. She hid it well. She'd smile at dinner time and play wrestle with their dad in the living room per usual.

But he knew something was up.

"Yeah," she answered, perking up her face a bit.

"You straight?" he took off his gaming headset.

She nodded and it wasn't convincing at all.

"Come here. Close the door." Chase turned off his system to give Carma his full attention. "Come on,"

Chase stretched his arms out and Carma sat on his lap. She buried her face in his shoulder and he cradled her in his arms.

"What's going on?" He asked, resting his chin on her head.

"You don't want to know," she said quietly. "Trust me,"

"Okay," he sighed deeply. "It's like that. Well, lay it on me. I won't freak out."

"I don't know. It's... a lot."

"I can handle it. Go ahead. I'm... ready. Kinda."

"See!"

"I'm sorry. Go ahead. I'm listening," Chase nodded.

"So," she sighed a little and lifted her head up. "I, um, lost my virginity to Stevie,"

Chase closed his eyes and shook his head. "As in recently?"

"As in two days ago,"

Chase knew this conversation would be in the ballpark of Stephen but he wasn't expecting all of this. Maybe he should have listened to her when she said it was a lot.

"Alriiighhhttt," Chase blinked. "I did not see that coming. Are you okay? Did he pressure you? You need time to whoop his ass?"

"No, he didn't pressure me. I asked. I do want you to beat his ass though. Or maybe mine for being so dumb." Carma looked down and fidgeted with her fingers.

"You're not dumb, CJ."

"Yeah, I am." Carma nodded as tears escaped her eyes. Chased pulled her tighter to him as she cried. "I thought he would like me if I did it but he's still been dating Blu. I wasted my first time trying to get a guy to like me!"

"Damn. Okay, okay. Shhhh," Chase ran his fingers through her hair. "It's okay. You can't get that back but it's not the end of the world. It'll happen again one day and it'll be someone you like and it'll be amazing-"

"That's the thing! I do like him and it was amazing. So now I'm just... I'm probably not going to get over it."

"Ahhhhhh shit," he cuddled her. "We're way more alike than I give us credit for,"

"What do you mean?" she wiped her eyes.

"I've never told anyone. I've never even said this out loud..."

"I won't tell,"

"When we were younger, Kamil and I sort of had a crush on each other."

"What?!"

"I know. That's not even the bad part." Chase took a breath. "I lost my virginity to her when we were 13,"

Carma's head popped up and her jaw was damn near on the floor.

"I know. I pretend it didn't happen. I completely buried that memory. When I told dad I was sexually active, I told him Diane was my first... then he put me on birth control."

"Wait!" Carma chuckled a little. "You too?"

"Yeah. As a boy, that was a humbling hospital visit. At least you got to go with mom."

"So why don't you and Kamil get along anymore?"

"When I finally asked her to be my girl she told me she didn't feel that way about me and that she just wanted to have sex."

"Ouch!"

"Yeah," he nodded. "At least Stevie likes you,"

"Huh? Likes me?"

"Of course." Chase shrugged. "Everyone knows. But I'll be honest. Don't know if he'll stop being a hoe but-"

"I know he won't," Carma's voice got sad again. "Blu already told me he needed sex to be interested. Then she went behind my back and took him,"

"Huh? Blu? When did- ah shit," Chase rolled his eyes as he remembered the Instagram post Blu uploaded of She and Stevie at a concert. It all came together. "She told you to have sex with Stevie?"

"Yeah. She said if I didn't he'd lose interest. So I did it and he still-"

"No!" Chase shook his head then turned Carma's face to his. "You definitely got played. But it wasn't by Stevie. Blu likes Stevie. Not the other way around,"

"He doesn't?"

"No. We just had this conversation in New York! He said she's pretty but not his type. He mentioned that mom is his type meaning... you're his type."

"Mom?"

"Yeah, I don't even- forget I even said it. Blu played mind games with you because she knows you're a threat."

"Why would she do that? I'm so nice to her, Freckles, I swear!"

"I don't know." He shrugged. "I guess she's just super desperate. But please know that not everyone has a reason to be evil. Some people are just mean. either way, this wasn't your fault,"

Carma nodded then leaned back over, resting her head on his shoulder again. "What would you do if you were me?"

"Talk to him. I don't think he knows you like him. It's not in Stevie's character to play with people's feelings. That picture is old and he's probably not even thinking about it. But he can't know you're bothered by this if you don't tell him."

"Did you ever talk to Kamil?"

"After she told me she used me for sex? Nah. But your situation is a little different. This will probably work out."

"Even though we broke code, would you support us?"

"Of course. I love you both. Even if it doesn't happen and Stevie isn't ready for something serious, please don't feel like it's something you did wrong. Like I said, Stevie likes you. He just might not be ready to commit yet."

".... Do you still like Kamil?"

"Nope," he sighed. "I'm in love with her."