His face was cleaned up, the swelling was beginning to subside and a frozen pizza was tossed into the oven. He didn't have the energy to try to make the ambiance of his home special and besides, he doubted any amounts of scented candles or fresh rose petals could make up for their disaster of a night. As the pizza baked, Carson flicked on the light in his spare bedroom. Luckily, his house cleaner had been in earlier in the week and no one had slept in the bedroom since then. The sheets were clean, the bed was made, and the room still smelled like the vanilla Febreeze that had been sprayed in there days before. He knew that expecting to spend another night in bed with Shay was pushing his luck. Even if he thought it could be just as innocent as the night before, he wasn't going to expect it or even hope for it at this point. He wasn't even thinking about the fact that Alexandra had been the last girl to sleep in that bed but he was too exhausted to care, and he had a feeling that Tinashé would be just as worn out as he. His day had been bad. Being sucker punched by his best friend and having the horrible act he committed exposed to everyone didn't look good in any light. He felt like Shay had it worse, though. While he was relaxing at the beach, she was dealing with Ariana and Alexa. She had not one, but two emotional fights today and neither of them had ended in her favor. Owen showed up to their night out, only hours after the first fight, with the girl who had sent Shay's blood pressure skyrocketing in the first place. Then, she had to be thrown into the mess that he so badly wished he could have kept just between himself, Owen and Alexandra. Why did he have to kiss her in that moment?!
At the last minute, he decided to ditch his jeans for a pair of sweatpants and just as he got his last leg in, the timer on the oven went off simultaneously with his apartment bell. He told the girls to just buzz themselves in, but it was apparent by the way that it buzzed again only a few seconds after the first, that it was Colette doing the buzzing. The impatient and demanding nature of the girl caused him to smile half-heartedly as he headed back into the living room and buzzed them in. He liked his pizza a little crispy, so he didn't rush towards the oven. When he did take it out, it looked as good as a frozen pizza could, and normally it would have taken him thirty minutes to devour the whole thing. In a move that was unthinkable for Carson, he was beginning to question whether he was actually even hungry or not. He had really only tossed it into the oven to make himself think he was preparing for Shay, but with a swollen lip and sore face, he wasn't as excited as he wanted to be for the plate of cheesy deliciousness. Maybe Shay would be hungry, he decided, as he ripped the oven mitts off his hands and stuffed them back into a drawer.
Carson's apartment was only on the second floor, so it didn't take long for the duo to arrive. Shay didn't look bad appearance wise. Even after a traumatic night, every hair on her head seemed to be in place and her outfit was still on point, but the glow in her face was missing and her eyes seemed empty and distant. This is all my fault. Colette, on the other hand, looked just as aesthetically pleasing, but more annoyed than upset. "You're here," he said after clearing his throat. Thank you, Captain Obvious. "Are you... hungry?" He was going to ask Tinashé if she was okay, but was that even a question? Of course she wasn't. How could she be after Owen tore her character to shreds when she had done nothing wrong? Without even listening to her response, he busied himself with sliding a slice of pizza onto a plate. "Do you want something?" he looked back at Colette. Did she say she was staying too? He couldn't remember. He was tired and suddenly nervous, and nothing else, he needed pizza for himself to keep him from saying anything stupid, or more so, anything blunt enough to break the fragile emotions in the room.