* 𝕪𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕘 / 𝓼𝓸𝓾𝓵𝓼 .

KARTER: what can i say? i love gossip

KARTER: you're really on your dumb bitch shit these days aren't you?

KARTER: good. try to ice it when you can

KARTER: in the mean time, i'm gonna call you cyclops

CALEB: trust me, it's not as fun when u're the topic of it

CALEB: dumb bitch... cyclops... what else u got for me ??

CALEB: and dw, i've been icing it

𝒗𝒂𝒍  :  u  know  if  i’m  going  to  be  making  any  profit  from  what  i  sell  ,  i  can’t  just  give  people  a  discount  that  aren’t  worthy  of  one  . 𝒗𝒂𝒍  :  i’m  sure  u  know  of  a  couple  things  u  could  do  to  make  me  change  my  mind  though  ?

while she probably would have pieced things together eventually with a quick glance at her messages, she’s grateful for both the memory jog and the confirmation that her roommate made it back safe and sound, though she’s still a bit fazed by his decision to go the extra mile and spend the night. but the shock of seeing caleb here is negligible compared to the earlier bombshell of him being on the receiving end of someone else’s fit of rage, an admission that seems to slip under the radar at his command. “she’s doing okay, right?” she asks sincerely, though the tone of her voice edges very close to frustration over his undermining of what seemed like a pretty big deal. this time, she gives him a chance to respond, but she skirts back to the elephant in the room— or rather, the black eye in the room. “let me get this straight, rafe did this to you?” utter confusion appears on her face through knitted brows and a slightly tilted head, her vision straining as she inches towards him for closer inspection. she can vaguely recall her protective instincts flaring after rafe’s threat to fight luca at the party, but for him to come after caleb sounds completely absurd— or at least it sounded completely absurd until now, with the swelling of her friend’s eye proving otherwise. “jesus, caleb…” she lifts a hand in his direction, her index finger nearly poking at his bruises before settling for a very gentle swipe of the damaged skin. “what the hell did you do to piss him off?” 

"yeah, she’s okay,” he reassured her with a small smile, but when she persisted to look at him with the same confused expression, the smile on his face quickly faded. “wait a second.” eyebrows knitted together, trying to figure out whether or not they were on the same page. it was apparent she seemed a bit perplexed as to why he was here in the previous night’s clothes. “are you thinking what i think you’re thinking ... because ... if you’re thinking that we ... ” he let out a nervous chuckle, shaking his head as he denied any speculations she may have had. “no, we didn’t.” he figured it must have seemed a little odd, so he continued to explain, “i wasn’t sure if you were going to be coming back or spending the night with luca, so i thought i’d just crash here in case anything happened to her in the middle of the night, y’know? i didn’t wanna just leave her alone.” as the topic of their conversation shifted to one that he’d been anticipating, his demeanor immediately changed. he nodded his head in response to her clarification, muscles tensing at the mention of the other male. he winced at the brief initial contact and elicited a quiet hiss of pain. “let’s just say i got between him and gi when i shouldn’t have ... remind me to never to that again,” he scoffed bitterly, head turning to the side as eyes scanned the room. “got any ice for me?” 

𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒏𝒚𝒎𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅: jk can I nurse your eye?

you’re really playing with my emotions here, but i’m not gonna say no to being taken care of. come on over — you get bonus points if you bring me food. 

val, is that you? nice try, but the answer’s still no — i will not have sex with you.

i made the dean’s list both semesters of my freshman year ... i’m smart enough to know i shouldn’t be answering this. at least not right now. 

don’t tell me rafe’s paying people to pester me now. 

alright, so in no particular order, i’d have to say georgie, frankie, eiley, sav, and wes. gi’s my ride-or-die, i know for a fact she’d take a bullet for me. my life here would be extremely boring without frankie, we do the funnest shit together. eiley is just... something else. i think she’s actually the most caring person i’ve ever met. sav keeps me in check and i know i’d be lost without her. and wes, my boy, i’d date him if he wasn’t so infatuated with frankie. 

an audible groan slipped from his lips as previously closed orbs slowly opened, reality settling ( a little harsher than usual this morning ). the bruise under his eye was a taunting reminder of what happened and as appealing as the alcohol was last night, it only seemed to add to the slight nausea this morning. glancing down at the head of light-brown tresses that rested on his chest, he quickly came to comprehend why he wasn’t in his own bed and instead, awakening at the kappa theta house. he doesn’t want to wake her, but their position makes it difficult as he attempted to ease out from under her. she stirred slightly and he stilled, hoping he hadn’t disturbed her slumber, but he knew he’d failed when he caught crystalline irises slowly opening. looking down at her with a sheepish grin, he murmured, “sorry, didn’t mean to wake you.” 

               laughter  simply  perceived  from  the  others  choice  of  words;  rafe  was  definitely  someone  who  forgave  hard,  even  when  he  was  wrong  (  which  the  tainted  mark  over  the  others  expression  proved  that  he  was  )  “  than  you  shouldn’t  have  came  in  the  first  place.  ”  shoulders  jet  upward,  hard  headed  as  ever  he’s  standing  just  inches  away  from  the  other;  a  similar  sight  from  where  they  had  been  just  the  night  before.  “  see  you  still  don’t  get  it.  ”  as  he  moves  out  of  the  kitchen,  stopped  at  a  hallway,  leaning  against  the  door  frame.  “  it  isn’t  what  you  said  to  gi,  i  don’t  give  a  SHIT  about  that.  ”  he  mustered  out,  “  it’s  the  fact  that  you’re  two  faced  as  fuck.  said  you  think  we  need  to  get  our  shit  together  &  get  back  together,  but  than  go  say  that.  ”

"wow, you really are more stubborn than i thought,” he murmured his thought out loud. if it wasn’t for the other’s girlfriend, who also happened to be one of his best friends, caleb wouldn’t have been here. discarding his own ego to be here right now, it was ridiculous he was the one offering the other an apology when he was the one who had a bruise on his face that attracted curious stares and questions from friends and strangers alike. he turned to watch rafe make his way out of the kitchen, tension still high and lingering in the air. “i’m aware of the things i said, thank you very much,” he stated, arms crossing over his chest. “you think i’m two-faced? fine. you’ve got your opinions about me and i’ve got mine about you. but right now, i’m telling you i’m sorry. so you can either choose to accept my apology or continue thriving off of that ego of yours. up to you, man.” 

♡ C A L E B . ♡

tired eyes shot open at the sound of a firm knock on her door. normally after parties, eiley was slightly hungover, but it was different this time. she had already been up earlier, but was already back in bed to try and sleep off the gnarly hangover she infringed upon herself the night before. “hellooooo,” she finally greeted, big framed glasses peeking out from around. as soon as her eyes fully focused on caleb, her soft expression turned to one of concern. “jesus, caleb,” she paused, now touching the side of his face. her thumb grazed over the bruise as her eyes scanned the rest of his face for any other injuries before eventually stepping aside to let him in. “what the hell happened? was this from last night? i knew there was a fight, but i had no clue you were involved.”

seeing eiley almost immediately lifted his spirits, especially when he noticed those frames she wore. he winced at her touch, the contact drawing a sharp inhale of breath from him, but he tried his best to mask the pain. her concern was made apparent by the look of distress in her eyes as well as the way her grazing thumb attended to his bruise, but he didn’t want her to worry too much. “i’m surprised you haven’t heard,” he spoke candidly. “yeah, that fight was rafe and me,” he gave her a small shrug, straight to the point with his explanation about what happened; he didn’t really feel like reliving it through details. stepping inside once she let him in, he was quick to switch up the mood. “so i know this makes me look like a complete badass, which probably turns you on and all...” his gaze met hers and he gave her a coy smile. “but you do know how to cover it up, right? getting a lil tired of people just staring at me.” 

KARTER: people talk caleb of course i know who

KARTER: i wanna know the why

KARTER: did you ice that monstrosity on your face yet?

CALEB: ok, lil miss curious

CALEB: what happened was i said some things that came to bite me back in the ass

CALEB: i blame the alcohol 😤

“  i’m  literally  the  best  .  making  sure  you’re  not  stuck  in  here  wallowing  in  self  pity  and  everything  .  ”  she  tells  him  with  a  grin  ,  “  no  it  really  looks  like  something  bob  ross  could  have  painted  .  ”  she  assures  him  ,  giving  his  shoulder  a  little  pat  as  she  walks  by  him  .  “  i  already  know  .  i  am  concerned  and  you  know  i’ll  fight  that  coward  for  you  ,  just  say  the  word  .  ”  she  told  him  with  a  laugh  ,  as  if  rafe  wasn’t  twice  her  size  and  also  a  football  player  ,  so  that  would  be  shortest  fight  ever  .  “  i  just  figured  you’d  be  tired  of  talking  about  it  ,  so  i  came  with  distractions  .  ”

“you really think i’d be wallowing in self pity? never,” he scoffed at her words, although the look in his eyes gave him away, feigned self-assurance betrayed. “i’m more of a van gogh kinda guy but i’ll settle for bob ross ... i’d say it did help there was already a pretty darn good-looking canvas to begin with,” he gave her a playful smile as she walked by him. “you know i love you and all, fran, but i’d much rather we don’t twin with this whole black eye look. i doubt you’d be able to pull it off,” he responded with a light chuckle, appreciating the thought regardless. “exasperated, actually,” he agreed, plopping down on the couch. “so what’d you get me?” head nodded at the tubs of ice cream she’d brought. 

KARTER: so

KARTER: you wanna tell me who decided to rocked your shit??

KARTER: 'cause you look like ass

CALEB: wth ... when and where did u even see me

CALEB: i'm surprised u didn't hear who