#goodbye!!!!!!!!!

Carmen gulped slightly, blinking back tears as her fingers slowly traced the scar.

“You ever think I did it?”

She blinked. “What?”

“Midge. Did you think I killed her?”

“No.”

“The thought never even crossed your mind?”

Carmen frowned. “No, of course it didn’t. I knew it wasn’t you.”

“How? All of your friends believed it was me,” Fangs raised his eyebrows. “Reggie was so convinced it was me that he was willing to shoot me if Midge’s mom hadn’t done it first.”

“Well first of all, Reggie’s a dick so that was enough to convince me that you had nothing to do with Midge’s death,” Carmen scoffed. “But… Sweet Pea told me you didn’t do it. He just… knew. I trusted him,” she murmured.

She remembered that night so clearly. She knew Fangs had been taken in by the sheriff for Midge’s murder and she knew the town was going to hell that night. When Sweet Pea had called her from the hospital, he sounded so broken. So unlike the boy she knew, and it had scared her. She had wanted to leave them, to grab her jacket and go to the hospital to be with him, but her parents wouldn’t let her leave the house. It was for her own safety, they had said. It didn’t matter that her friend could be dying. She wasn’t allowed to go.

“He damn near lost his mind that night,” Carmen whispered with a sad smile. “When we thought… When FP told him you’d-… I thought he was going to kill someone. It was the only time I’ve ever been afraid of what he might have been capable of.”

“Hmm,” Fangs hummed, unsure of what he should say. He knew Carmen well enough by now to know that she was just thinking out loud, and that she didn’t always need – or want – a reply. He watched her carefully, her eyes still fixed on his scar from where the bullet had ripped into his flesh. “What’s on your mind, baby?” he asked, his fingers squeezing her hips as Carmen shrugged in reply.

“I almost lost you,” she told him, her voice hoarse as she sniffled and refused to look up at him. “I didn’t even have you, and I almost lost you. What if you didn’t make it? What if you’d really- if you would have-”

“…Died?” Fangs’ tone was cautious. “I didn’t, though. I’m fine. Practically – no, literally – bulletproof.”

“Stop,” Carmen admonished lightly, poking his stomach as he grinned at her. “I just- I can’t imagine not having this with you and it scares me that someone almost took you away. We never would have had this, Fangs.”

“But we have.”

“Yeah, but-”

“No buts,” Fangs shook his head. “That’s the past. It doesn’t matter anymore, and it’s not gonna happen again. We’re together, we have time. All the time we need.”

Carmen look down at him with a pout. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” he chuckled, grabbing the hem of her t-shirt and pulling her down until his lips met hers. Carmen sighed happily, resting her head on Fangs’ as he wrapped his arms around her back and pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

“Fangs?”

“Hmm?”

“We don’t have to go to school today."