chapter two,
close to home

IT DIDN'T TAKE long for everyone to get back to Sam and Tara's apartment. Sam was in the lobby of the apartment, calming down. Chad was in Tara's room, trying to convince her to go easier on Sam. At the sound of footsteps, Carlyn turned to see a very flustered looking Chad followed by Quinn, Tara and Sam's roommate.

Carlyn narrowed her eyes at him playfully. She knew about his newly developed crush on Tara. She also knew about Tara's newly developed crush on him.

Tara came out of the room shortly after, having changed her clothes. She also looked very flustered which only made Carlyn's teasing smile grow more.

Chad eyes flickered towards Ethan and he motioned between the two. Carlyn rolled her eyes at him and looked away, returning her attention to the movie that Quinn had had on when they got there.

The channel suddenly changed, turning to the news. Breaking News! Victims identified as Blackmore University students. Carlyn's eyebrows furrowed. Chad ran out of the apartment, hollering at Sam to get up there.

"I'm standing in front of the apartment building where the mutilated bodies of two Blackmore University students were discovered," the newsman announced as Sam and and slightly familiar man, who the Carpenter sisters and their roommate had nicknamed Cute Boy, walked into the apartment.

"What's going on?" Sam asked.

"Cute Boy," Quinn pointed to the man behind Sam. "Nice."

"Their names have just been released by police. Jason Carvey and Greg Bruckner. . ."

"Holy shit, that's that chode from our Film Studies class," Mindy turned to Tara. "The one obsessed with Argento."

"Also found at the scene were various Ghostface costumes," the man went on. Carlyn's stomach dropped as she looked over at Chad. "A character popularized by the Stab movie franchise."

"Pack a bag," Sam told Tara before turning and heading into the kitchen. "We leave in 10."

"Sam!" Tara quickly followed after her sister. "Wait, Sam!"

"We're getting out of the city!"

"What?" Cute Boy questioned, moving to look around Chad.

Chad placed his hand on the man's chest and pushed him towards the door. "Thank you very much, suspicious new guy, but I think we got it from here. Have a good night. Get home safe." Chad closed the door behind him and locked it.

Tara desperately tried to get her sister to calm down. "No, wait, let's talk about this for a second. 'Cause this — this might not have anything to do with us."

"Are you serious?" Sam argued.

"It's a big city!" Tara reasoned. "It's Halloween. Everybody's wearing masks! You don't know—"

"Tara—" Sam cut her off. "Tara, this isn't a coincidence. You knew him!"

"Barely!" Tara countered.

Sam turned towards the others. "Chad, Mindy, Carlyn, back me up!"

The three all shared looks, trying to figure out if they were on the same page. Carlyn knew she could be paranoid sometimes — which was why she basically spent more time at Chad and Ethan's dorm than she did her own.

        Carlyn was thinking about it too much, and she could feel herself falling down the same rabbit hole.

        "It is a little bit. . ." Chad started, hesitantly.

        ". . . close to home," Mindy finished.

        Tara and Sam's eyes landed on Carlyn, waiting for her to respond. Ethan lightly nudged her with his leg, making her look up at him as he tilted his head towards their friends. Carlyn looked around, feeling cornered. "I mean. . . better safe than sorry, right?" she offered weakly. "Sorry, T."

        "See?" Sam looked back at her little sister.

        Tara sighed, snapping around towards their roommate. "Quinn, your dad's a cop, right? Can you call him and find out what's going on?" She spun back around, voice raising. "Before you make the unilateral decision to abandon my college education and flee the fucking state!"

        "I'm calling him now," Quinn softly informed them.

        "Thank you," Tara replied, voice still sharp but a lot quieter than it had been before.

        Suddenly, a phone started ringing. Carlyn tensed. She'd had this nightmare too many times before.

        "Who is it?" Tara demanded, looking over Sam's shoulder.

        "Why did everyone just freak out when her phone rang?" Ethan wondered as he looked down at Carlyn, brows furrowing in concern.

        Anika sighed at him. "You gotta keep up, my dude."

Quinn stood up from the couch. "Sam? My dad wants to talk to you. . ."

"Mr. Bailey, hi," Sam greeted, holding the phone up to her ear. "Well, my sister thinks I'm probably overreacting." Sam paced around as she spoke to Quinn's father. "What do you mean? What's going on?" After a few seconds, she handed the phone back to her roommate and went to get her jacket on.

        "Wha — Sam, where are you going?" Tara asked, following her.

        "He said I need to go to the station," Sam answered her, grabbing her keys and shoving them in her pocket.

        "Why?"

        "I don't know," Sam shook her head before opening the door and walking out. Tara sighed and grabbed her own jacket before rushing after her sister.

There were a few moments of silence before Chad look around at his friends. "We should all get going," he decided.

They all gathered their things and said goodbye to Quinn before they left. They dropped Mindy and Anika off at their dorm before heading to Hortense Tower.

"You're staying with us tonight," Chad told her as they walked into the building. She didn't argue because she'd been two seconds away from asking if she could. She knew that the answer would've been yes — the answer was always yes.

       They headed to room 315 and Carlyn walked over to Chad's dresser. She grabbed one of his shirts and a pair of shorts before she looked back at the two boys, who were blankly staring at her. "Turn around."

        Chad's head snapped to Ethan and he smacked the boy's shoulder, turning both of them around. Carlyn smiled, slightly amused, as she shook her head. She reached into the pocket of her costume and took out her knife, placing it on Chad's desk. She slid the astronaut costume off.

        "Okay, you're good," she told them when she was finished getting dressed. She sighed, realizing she'd have to sleep in her makeup for the night because no way in hell was she going back to her dorm room.

"I'm gonna go shower," Chad informed them, mostly Carlyn. "Are you gonna be okay?"

"I'll be fine," she assured him, lightly shoving him as she sat herself down on his bed. "Go shower."

Chad looked at her for a few seconds before he grabbed his shower stuff. "Please put a sock on the doorknob or something if you two decide to fuck so I don't walk in on anything I don't want to see!" he told them, slipping out of the room.

Ethan's face went red and Carlyn flipped the boy off as he closed the door, laughing. "I'm gonna kill him," she whispered, mainly to herself. Her face was hot in embarrassment.

Chad had been very open about his matchmaking idea, and this was not the first (nor what it probably be the last) time he'd made a joke before leaving Carlyn and Ethan alone.

"One of these days, we're gonna get him back," she announced, finally looking over at Ethan who was still extremely red as he reached for his textbook.

        Ethan's eyes flickered up to her. "How?"

        Carlyn thought for a second before a lightbulb practically went off above her head. She stood up from the bed and moved back over to Chad's dresser, pulling out a sock. She held it up to Ethan. "We're gonna fuck with him."

        Ethan smiled and nodded his head, pushing his textbook away from him.

        Carlyn grinned and walked over, opening the door. She peeked out, making sure the coast was clear, before placing the sock on the doorknob. She closed the door and spun around to Ethan. "Now, we wait."

        Carlyn told Ethan the rest of her plan. After about 15 minutes, Chad's voice came from the other side of the door. "Haha, real funny, guys. I know you're not doing anything."

        Carlyn and Ethan exchanged looks as they began rocking his bed, holding back their laughs. The girl reached over and ran her hands through Ethan's hair, making it look messy.

        "Guys?" Chad called out again, a bit of pride and disgust laced in his tone. Carlyn could picture the look on her best friend's face. The door burst open and Chad stepped in, his eyes clenched shut. "Okay, are you decent?"

        Carlyn bit down on the inside of her cheek to stop her from breaking. "Yes."

        Chad opened his eyes, taking in the appearance of the two. "I was stabbed, like, a billion times, and I think this might be more traumatizing."

        Carlyn cocked her head at him. "We were just taking your advice."

        "Yeah," Ethan agreed. "Besides, you're the one who walked in, even with the sock on the door."

Chad rolled his eyes and moved to put his shower stuff away. "Yeah, yeah. Just keep your hands to yourself while I'm in the room, please."

        Carlyn rolled her eyes and got off of Ethan's bed, sending him a playful wink as she moved back over to Chad's bed.

        The twin sized bed was nowhere near big enough to hold the two of them, but neither of them wanted the other to sleep on the floor. Carlyn slept pushed against the wall while Chad slept on the edge of the bed. It wasn't the most comfortable, but they got used to it.

Exhaustion washed over her body when she laid down on the bed and it didn't take her long to fall asleep.

𝒎𝒆𝒍 𝒎𝒆𝒍 !!
i have such a hatred for this chapter but i've rewrote it like 5 times so i'm DONE