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Harold said yes at the salanced at one another My heart nearly leaped out of hed weakly "Don’t worry He’s a lot ht stuff, I pro at one another, Harold had a twitchy eye and Marlena was holding tight the pearls around her neck The aard meter went up by a thousand, I think

"Excuse us for a minute," Marlena then said with a hesitant smile They stood up and walked to the other side of the roo in hushed tones that did little to make me feel like I’d convinced the to catch some words while I studied their facial expressions

"Maybe you should go and vouch for us," I spoke to Rome

"It would help if your friend here was a bit ued Carter

"Oh, I hadn’t noticed between your glares and crappy attitude"

"You’d notice the difference the second I punched your fucking face in"

"Carter!" I pinched his arm and leaned into his side "You do not just threaten to punch the son of parents you need help from!"

"I don’t need help from anybody," he retorted defensively

"What’s your problem, man?" Rome hissed with furrowed brows "You don’t have to be such an asshole Think of what Leah’s doing for you She doesn’t have to try so hard for you Wherever you go, she goes Think on that Would you rather a roof over her head, or would you rather her sleeping under soe ‘til you find soood people You wouldn’t need to worry about her safety"

For once, Carter went silent He didn’t say anything, but his face softened instead of tensing like I thought it h his disheveled hair and sighing heavily

"I’er You’ve just forced a job on ht I had I frowned and whispered back, "I’et used to it, Carter People are going to love you"

"I don’t care about people loving me I don’t care about the attention I don’t want that"

"Well, as your best friend I don’t want you to waste your talent singing by a creek for the rest of your life You have no idea what you have and it’s time you let the world see it, even if it’s just in a daht"

He considered that, and Roe, softened too He leaned over the table and stared evenly at Carter

"Dude," he started, "I don’t even remember why I hate you so much, so how about we put our past behind us and just start over? I can play the druood as Leah has alent on that you are, I’d be iveto do, and I won’t be too much of an ass to you"