Post by Charlotte Steele on Nov 13, 2021 12:20:01 GMT -5
Charley shook her head as he tried to walk away. They hadn’t made any progress towards anything, she wasn’t going to let their conversation be over yet. ”It will go over far better than if you keep lying to him. He knows something is up and who can say what he’ll interpret from all the deceit he knows is going on?” she asked. ”Like I said, if you don’t tell him I will.”
Post by Carter Steele on Nov 13, 2021 12:24:24 GMT -5
Carter heard his sister and the turned to look at her from the top step. "I'll think about it," He said to her as he unlocked the front door. His 'I'll think about it' meant that he probably wouldn't tell Josh, at least not right now. He needed to think of a way to tell him. He also had a major fight coming up that he was going to win big if he beat the guy. So he needed to be on his A game and didn't need anyone telling him not to fight. "I'm going to go shower and take a look at these bruises." Carter stepped inside the house and groaned as he made his way up the stairs. His back was stiff and it hurt a lot.
Post by Charlotte Steele on Nov 13, 2021 21:10:55 GMT -5
Charlotte sighed deeply but let her brother walk away. It wasn’t like he was going to sneak out in his condition. She would have plenty of time to knock some sense into him later. For now she needed to call backup. She fidgeted with her phone as she tried to decide who would be the most useful. Their mother had the most authority, but Charley would rather keep her out of this. It could make things more messy if she felt a stronger need to keep an eye on them. So then…. Josh. Carter should listen to Josh, even if he seemed like he wanted to keep things from him. Josh, could you come over? I need help dealing with Carter she texted, purposefully leaving out the specific problem. She still felt that Carter should be the one to tell him.
Post by Carter Steele on Nov 14, 2021 16:44:18 GMT -5
Carter went up to the bathroom after depositing his bag in his room. He shut the door over and shrugged off his shirt. He glanced at his body and he winced as he saw the bruising. He's had worse bruising but this time, it hurt more than it had ever hurt before. He turned on his shower and he glanced at his face. He grabbed the alcohol wipes and got to work cleaning up the dried blood. Once the shower was warm enough, he stripped off his clothes and got in, sighing as the warm body ached his sore muscles.
At home, Josh was watching TV with his little sister. He heard his phone ding and he read the message from his boyfriend's sister. Yeah give me 5 minutes and I'll head over Carter sent. He got off the couch and let his mom know where he was going before he left the house. He headed over to the Steel household and he knocked on the door, shoving his hands in the pocket of his jacket.
Post by Charlotte Steele on Nov 14, 2021 19:35:41 GMT -5
At the knock at the door, Charley made her way over and opened it. She didn't know what she was going to say, so she said the first thing that came to mind. "He's upstairs. He's in a bad condition but don't freak out he's..." she sighed and shook her head. "Well, you'll see for yourself I suppose."
Post by Carter Steele on Nov 14, 2021 20:23:53 GMT -5
Josh glanced up at Charlotte at the door. "Bad condition?" Josh frowned as he stepped inside. "Should I wait to go up? Sounds like he's in the shower..." Josh had no problem going into the bathroom while Carter was in there. It wasn't like he hadn't seen any of that before. "I just don't want him to get mad."
Post by Charlotte Steele on Nov 14, 2021 21:06:47 GMT -5
Charley sighed and shook her head. "Yeah you're right you should wait." she replied. "He'll be pissed at me no matter what, he didn't want me to tell you anything."
Post by Carter Steele on Nov 14, 2021 21:08:40 GMT -5
Josh looked at her. "So you know what's going on with him? Why he's being so distant?" Josh asked her concerned. "Is he breaking up with me? Is he seeing someone else?" Josh ran a hand through his hair. "I just want to be mentally prepared for when he comes down."
Post by Charlotte Steele on Nov 14, 2021 21:14:10 GMT -5
"I do," she nodded. "And it's nothing like that. It's not about you guys he's just... Well he's being an idiot and he can't see it and I don't know what to do about it, he won't listen to me."
Post by Carter Steele on Nov 14, 2021 21:18:13 GMT -5
Josh heard what she said and he breathed a sigh of relief as he heard the shower shut off.
"Charley!" Carter called from the bathroom. He had a towel wrapped around his waist. There was a cut on his side that was bleeding but he needed her to make sure it was totally clean before he bandaged it. "Can you come here please?!"
Post by Charlotte Steele on Nov 14, 2021 21:22:09 GMT -5
"You should probably come too," she sighed before heading upstairs to check on Carter. She knocked on the bathroom door and called. "Carter, Josh is here." It seemed like it was only fair to give him some warning
Post by Carter Steele on Nov 14, 2021 21:26:18 GMT -5
Josh heard what Charley said and he gnawed on his lower lip. He followed her up the stairs to the bathroom. The door was shut and he didn't know what to expect when the door opened.
Carter heard the knock and then what his sister said. He froze. Josh was outside with her. "Are you shitting me right now?" Carter asked gripping the counter. He groaned as the skin pulled around his cut. He knew that he needed to get it bandaged so he was going to have to open the door. He unlocked the door and opened it. HIs eyes met Josh before looking at Charley. "I need you to clean this..."
Josh looked at Carter, his eyes wide. "What-Carter what happened to you?!" Josh asked, concern lacing his voice.
Post by Charlotte Steele on Nov 14, 2021 21:36:29 GMT -5
Charley braced herself as the door opened, ready for the anger she was sure she'd be faced with. Surprisingly, that wasn't the scariest thing of the scene that appeared before her. She'd known he had gotten hurt pretty badly but this... It always looked worse after the fact. For a brief moment she remembered the fights Jasper would get into and the horror scenes that resulted from those. As quickly as it appeared she put the memory out of her mind. Jasper was many things, but he wasn't deserving of her pity. Carter, on the other hand...
"Sit. And talk. I told you, I'm not going to support you lying to him." she said, crossing her arms over her chest. She wasn't going to help with the wound until Carter started filling Josh in.
Post by Carter Steele on Nov 14, 2021 21:45:03 GMT -5
Carter heard his sister. "So what? You called him here to corner me into talking to him?" Carter asked, his eyes flashing dangerously before he swayed slightly.
Josh reached forward. "Sit..." Josh said quietly helping Carter to the closed toilet seat. Josh knelt down and looked at Carter. "What are you doing? What happened to you?" Josh whispered to him. "You know you can trust me with whatever is going on... I can't help you if you don't tell me..."
Carter looked at him. The way Josh was looking at him was making his heart hurt. He hated lying to Josh especially since Josh was nothing but kind to him. But this was something he loved doing, even if he got hurt. "I've been fighting and winning money..." Carter muttered. "Tonight was just not a good night. I still won but got the shit beat out of me."
Post by Charlotte Steele on Nov 14, 2021 21:54:07 GMT -5
Charley met her brother's gaze. She wasn't going to be the one to give. She wasn't in the wrong and she couldn't support what he was doing. She remained silent and listened to Josh and Carter talking as she went to the supply cupboard to grab some gauze and disinfectant.
Charlotte scoffed. "What I watched wasn't a fight. It's like you didn't want to win." She knew she should try to be more empathetic, especially considering the condition Carter was in, but she was still pissed that he'd been lying and that he wouldn't listen to her. "Carter, there's no winning that sort of thing. It's a lose lose situation." She knelt down to examine the wound more carefully. It wasn't the worst she'd seen so at leas there was that.