Ken's room is spacious and plain. Slightly messy with an overflowing laundry bag, multiple snack wrappers, and a pile of gaming consoles, but nothing repulsive. An ocean blue color covers the walls and he even has a small balcony through a pair of glass double doors.

Carter closes the door, turning the loud noise of the party into muffled background sounds.

I reach for the small box of his gift which sits on Ken's table, consciously twirling with the top bow. My thoughts are running a mile a minute and anxiety is surging through me. I have to tell Carter and the guilt feels crippling.

I decide to hand him his present before I begin talking. He sits on Ken's bed and accepts it with dancing eyes and a grateful nod.

"I think I saw Sam by the door when we were coming upstairs." I toy with my nails.

"Oh, that's cool. We'll meet up with her when we go back downstairs." He opens the box, completely oblivious to the dread in my voice.

"Have you noticed something off with her?" I teeter towards a confession with what I hope is careful stepping.

"There are several things off with her. She misses her son, she may lose custody, her job is demanding. It's a lot, but you know what? I'm really proud of how she's handled it. She's doing everything in her power to maintain her calm. We've really come a long way."

His hope makes me want to sink into the deepest pits of the ocean and drown before I break his heart. He has no clue, how am I gonna break this to him?

He lifts the custom silver necklace out of the box, analyzing the square ruby gem. He turns it around and reads the initials I engraved on the back.

"S.R. Sofia Reyes, right?" He asks, already knowing the answer.

"Yes." I confirm. "And the ruby is-"

"The ruby is my mother's birthstone." He gives me a look of gratitude so immense that it washes an ounce of the anxiety away. "Thank you, Summer."

I help him take the glowing neon necklace off and put this one on instead. He kisses the gem, then pulls me into his lap and further thanks me with his lips.

"Before we go back downstairs," I say.

"The party is great but let's take a small break up here, yeah? Just some quiet time to ourselves."

"Okay." I agree, all my courage diminishing. I'll tell him before we leave this room. Like right before we leave, not during the hour we waste away kissing and deeply discussing the events of the slew of shows we've started watching together.

I didn't even notice that so much time has passed. When I'm with him, no matter what we're doing, time just flies by, conversations just flow, and our connection blossoms so great that it blocks everything else out. That's what I love so much about us, that's what I love about him.

It's unfortunate we're pulled out of our secret world when Ken's door is turned open. Thankfully, he's the one who enters and not a drunken couple looking for an empty room to get busy in.

"You guys are still up here. Great." Ken sounds just how I sounded an hour ago, full of dread.

This time Carter actually notices it on him and stands up, inquisitive "What's going on?"

"It's out of control, man. I was in way over my head." He paces back and forth across the room, biting on his thumb. "It's absolute shit downstairs. You two should probably just stay up here until we kick everyone out. That's what I'm gonna do, kick them all out."

"Maybe that's for the best," I say, honestly relieved things are coming to an end.

"Absolute shit." Ken continues, still pacing with jittery energy. "I mean, I just got done physically pulling some drunk ass red-haired chick off the roof. She climbed up as a dare to jump into the pool. I don't know if being a senior is snapping me into responsibility, but can you believe it? These people have a death wish."

Red hair. Did he say a red haired girl attempted to jump off of a roof into the pool? I must be hearing wrong, or there must be a group of death defying girls with red hair who crashed the party unlike Sam.

"When you say red do you mean like a ginger?" I try my hand at willful ignorance for the sake of stalling the inevitable.

Ken shakes his head. "Hot, bright-red. It's not a natural color it has to be—"

"Dyed." Carter finishes for him, voice devoid of all emotion. His face turns as the realization hits him. "Sam still had her red hair when you saw her earlier, right?" He doesn't turn to speak to me, his gaze is trained on the door and he's turned white as a ghost.

"Yes." I bite my lip, suddenly wishing I'd stuck to the pre-party and called it a day.

"Who's Sam?" Ken looks back and forth at the both of us with confusion at our expressions.

Carter marches past Ken and heads for the door, completely ignoring him. "I need to check on her."

I scurry after him, unable to catch up due to his determined pace and the throng of party-goers who must have multiplied since we've hidden in Ken's room, and gotten twice as wild at the same time.

Every corner, every inch of space, is occupied by some random person who surely hadn't gotten an invitation. There's no room to move, barely any room to breathe. This big frat house suddenly feels as small as a tiny shack.

The chatters are loud and the music is even louder. It's useless to attempt to get them to part way for you to get through, you just have to squeeze your way past and give them a smile that says you don't mean any harm.

One of the uninvited guests seems to not take too kindly to my passing. He takes a drag of his vape pen and blows a long string of smoke straight into my face.

Normally I'd react but right now, I'm way too on edge trying to keep my speed up with Carter so I don't lose him in the crowd.

I make it down the stairs and find him speaking to Miles, who's still perched by the front entrance as if he hasn't done a terrible job of maintaining security. A for effort, I suppose.

He walks away from Miles and passes through the living room to the dining area, turning his head in all directions to search with no issue. Carter doesn't need to squeeze his way through people, as soon as they see him coming, they willingly make way for him.

Those damn athletes and this damn athlete obsessed school.

As I catch up to him in the dining area, I realize Ken really didn't do a good job of handling the issue in the kitchen. The bottles of alcohol that never should've set foot in this house are spread out in all areas, from the dining room to the kitchen. Almost every person here holds a red solo cup and from the way they brazenly dance and socialize, it's safe to say they've added at least a few shots to their fruit punch.

"Sam! Sam, where are you?" Carter hurriedly searches every person he passes trying to recognize Sam in their face.

"Carter, wait up." I try to get his attention to no avail. He needs my support at this moment, I know he does. I want him to know I'm by his side, I'm here to search every inch of this house until we find Sam and get her the help she needs.

I bump into Darren and Aleena who are whispering into each other by the table full of the snacks and harmless games that were supposed to make up the fun of our night.

Aleena grabs my arm and momentarily distracts me from my quest. "We were just about to look for you and Carter, girl. This party is getting a little crazy, we're thinking of calling it a day, is that okay?

"Of course you can leave if you want. We're getting ready to go too, I'm sure," I say, trying to act like everything's fine. "Have you seen a girl around my height with bright-red hair?" I ask Darren.

"Sam?" Darren says. "Yeah, me and Ken had to keep her from jumping off the roof. Last time I saw her she was in the backyard swimming in the pool. I tried to stop her but she was determined to get in."

"Is she in trouble?" Aleena says.

"That's what we fear. She has a history of substance abuse, she's not supposed to drink." I hate telling Sam's business, but she's pretty much told the whole house with that roof stunt.

"Let's go to the backyard. If she isn't there we'll break up and search the whole neighborhood if we have to," Darren says.

I nod, grateful for the added support in this moment.

We rush to the backyard to find Carter crouched by the pool. A group of people are splashing around in the water without a care in the world and Sam is one of them. While some are in bikinis or have stripped down to their underwear, Sam weaves around fully clothed.

"Sam, come on. Let's get you out of this water and go home." Carter pleads.

Sam tips back her cup and finishes whatever drink is in it before flinging it absently towards the far side of the pool.

"I don't want to go, I'm having fun with my friends." She laughs and leans her head on a random guy who only shrugs at her proximity.

I join Carter's side and crouch down with him.

He lets out an exasperated sigh and tries again. "How much have you had to drink? How did this even happen? Don't you want to get out and change into some dry clothes?"

"No, I don't want to get out. You're mad at me cause I had a little drink. I'm not supposed to have a drink, I know but I'm tired. I'm so tired and I miss my son. The drink makes the pain go away, I'm sorry but it's the only thing."

Carter turns to me, eyes red and face exhausted. "Should I just dive in and pull her out?"

I shake my head and turn back to Sam. "You wanna see Jake, right? Well, let's go see him."

She quirks up at this. "See him, we can go see him?"

I feel like utter crap, is she on more than alcohol? This is all my fault. A party at a frat house with a bunch of athletes, what did I expect?

"We can go see him, but only if you get out of this pool and come home with us," I say.

Her face lights up with newfound joy and I'm certain the sight will haunt me for a while. I'm lying to an inebriated grieving mother. I don't know what else to do, we have to get her out of here, the sooner the better. I'm sure she'll appreciate it when she's sober again.

"Okay, let's go." She lifts her arms up.

Carter grabs her and pulls her out of the water with one swift movement. When he places her down, she wobbles trying to catch her footing and giggles when she takes one step and falls to the ground. "Oopsie daisy." She continues to laugh

Carter and I, along with Darren and Aleena— who have respectfully stood by the side to let us talk to Sam—all come rushing towards her to help her up. Once she's standing, I keep my arm on her right side while Carter keeps his on her left to assist her out of the backyard door towards Carter's truck on the next block. Her soaked hair, t-shirt, and jeans drips water onto me and I can hear the sploshing sounds from her wet sneakers with every step she takes.

"Can we help you guys with anything?" Darren asks as he and Aleena follow us down the street.

"No, we'll handle this. You can go home." Carter speaks for us as we make it to his car and Sam drops her head on his shoulder, groaning with sickness.

"Alright, but if you need any help, promise you'll hit us up," Darren says.

"I promise." Carter agrees, using his free hand to give him a fist bump.

"Call me if you need anything." Aleene reiterates to me and gives me a side hug.

They take each other's hand and give us one last look before heading back up the street.

Carter unlocks his door and we help Sam lay down in the backseat.

"My head is spinning." She rubs her temple. "I-I can't wait to see my little peanut. I want a peanut butter sandwich."

Carter watches her with sinking eyes and shakes his head in disbelief. "Let's get out of here."

He speeds back to Sam's off campus apartment and we manage to make the four fights without raising suspicion. By the time we unlock her door and get her to her room, she already begins to doze off into sleep.

My focus the entire time has been shifting from ensuring I'm helping to hold Sam up properly, and watching for any signs of Carter unraveling. Sam remains secure in our hands and Carter keeps his composure the whole way through.

He focused on his task of getting Sam back to her room with so much diligence that his vacant eyes and silence makes it seem as though he's wiped every other concern and matter out of his brain.

"Carter, Carter." I have to call him multiple times before he lowers Sam onto her bed. "We should change her out of these damp clothes first.

"Huh?" It takes a second for him to realize I've even said anything. "Oh, change her. Yeah. Um, we should put her into warm clothes."

"How about I get her changed and into bed, and you go out and get yourself a glass of water?"

"I don't know," he says, and I can see the lines of distrust embedded on his face. After all we've been through, it's a punch to the gut.

"Do you want to strip her naked and do it yourself?" I purposefully phrase my delivery to convey a twinge of jealousy to hide the hurt.

I regret it as soon as it's out. In a moment like this, I shouldn't be so selfish, so entitled. I'm here to support, that's my job.

"No, I don't strip Sam naked." He's physically taken aback. " Forget it, just help her change. I'll be in the living room if you need anything."