On the first weekend after break started, the day before Christmas Eve, Carter sat at his desk when someone opened his bedroom door unannounced.

"Knock, knock."

"You should knock before you open the door," Carter grumbled as Bella closed the door after entering his room. "And you're supposed to ask before inviting yourself in," he added.

Bella crossed her arms with a huff. "Look, I came holding a metaphorical white flag, but you seriously need to get over yourself for this to work."

Carter let go of the pencil he was using to solve Calc problems and turned to face her with a frown. "What do you want?"

Bella walked over to his bed and took a seat. Carter raised his eyebrows, unimpressed, and she huffed again.

"May I sit here?" She cooed with an eye roll.

"What if I said no?"

"Then you could fuck off."

"Your white flag seems a little grayish," Carter noted.

Bella took a deep breath in, exhaling slowly through her mouth. She was wearing a Rolling Stones top again. Carter tried not to think about Seth, despite the fact the logo reminded him of his childhood best friend.

Thinking of Seth in Bella's presence made him think of the two of them tangled up in each other on Bella's bed. And that brought something akin to anger to his chest.

"I have two things I need to say to you," Bella told him calmly.

"Who says I want to hear it?"

"The first is an apology," Bella started, ignoring Carter's rhetorical question.

"Come again?"

Bella glared. "I will not," she asserted. "But—I am aware I might have been a bit of a bitch to you, on occasion."

Carter scoffed. "A bit? On occasion?"

"Seriously, get off that fucking gold pedestal and listen," Bella scolded.

Carter sunk back into his chair, looking at her. Bella took another deep breath, before starting again evenly, her eyes down on her jeans.

"I know I'm not the easiest person to live with. Not to you, at least. And you probably didn't deserve it all. I just..." She looked up with a somewhat exasperated look. "I have six brothers, man, I didn't really need another one. And don't get me wrong, your mom is great and I love how happy the old man is around her..."

Carter's interest spiked. "But?"

"But she's not my mom," Bella stated plainly. "And again, I love that my dad loves her. I never wanted him to live in grief and loneliness for the rest of his days, but she's still not my mom." She shrugged. "I don't know if you've noticed, but my brothers get a lot from my dad. Like, practically everything. But there's a lot of shit I got from my mom. Like not being a morning person, or being a zero in the kitchen, and...the photos..."

Carter shifted awkwardly when she trailed off, her eyes lowering again. The truth was he wasn't even too sure what she meant. He didn't know Bella that well, and he knew close to nothing about Tony's first wife. He also didn't expect Bella to come into his room and try to talk to him. Ever.

Being annoyed to see her when she first walked in without knocking had been easy, but sitting through her genuine effort toward communication was proving unbelievably uncomfortable.

"I just," Bella tried again, catching his gaze. "There were a lot of things I shared with my mom that I'll never share with anyone else. And your mom is great, but she's not her. And you..."

Carter sighed when Bella trailed off again. "What? What have I ever done to you?" He asked.

"Nothing, per se..."

Carter shot her an impatient look of annoyance.

"Look, you just—Do you have any idea how you come across to people?" She questioned. She didn't even give him time to react before rolling her eyes with a dismissive humorless laugh. "Stupid question, because I kinda know you don't. But you really come off as this totally unapproachable, unattainable jackass that people go out of their ways to impress and you don't even care."

Carter opened his mouth to object, but Bella kept talking.

"I know now it's not so much that you don't care as it is that you don't notice. Because you're not a jackass, you're just incredibly clueless."

Carter shook his head. "You really suck at apologies."

"I don't have a lot of practice, so bear with me."

Carter shrugged. "Okay, so... What you're saying is that you didn't like me because you chose to judge me on the general idea people have of me, before you even knew me?"

Bella rolled her eyes. And that sight somehow made Carter feel more comfortable than the honest Bella avoiding eye contact and struggling to find the right words.

"Seriously, get the fuck over yourself. Are you any different?"

"Excuse me?"

"Have you ever tried to get to know me?" Bella countered. "Did you even know I like photography? Or that my favorite food is tacos? Or that I loathe any kind of physical activity that isn't basketball? Because we've been living in the same house, for months."

Carter thought on it for a second. "I guess not," he admitted. "But you didn't make yourself come across as the most approachable."

"You mean I didn't go out of my way to ask you about your life," Bella shot back. "Like my dad, who obviously wanted you to like him because he wanted to marry your mom. Or my brothers, who are just overall attention whores."

"I guess...there was never a great effort from my part either," Carter confessed.

Mel's words came to his mind then. That he was used to people immediately liking him, and instantly trying to make him like them. That he tended to assume a lack of clear effort to reach out to him meant someone didn't like him. Which made him shut off.

He sighed, running a hand down his face. "I think I've been so focused on how big of a change this has all been for me, I didn't stop to consider your side," Carter concluded.

He was the one who had to move to a new house, got seven new step-siblings and watched his family of two turn into a family of ten. But Bella's home dynamics also changed drastically. She was used to being in a full house, but she'd grown up with her dad and her brothers. Carter was new. As was his mother. It was all new, for everyone involved.

Bella nodded. "Yeah. So, there you have it. I'm sorry for being a jerk, but you're no saint either."

Carter raised his eyebrows. "On a typical apology, people would've just left it at the part that concerns them and let the other person say the rest for themselves."

Bella narrowed her eyes into a glare. It didn't feel like she truly meant it though.

"I have one more thing to say."

Carter crossed his arms, waiting for her to proceed.

"This might sound familiar to you," she started, "but get the fuck over yourself."

"Excuse me?"

"I'll excuse you, but this isn't about me," she retaliated. "It's about Seth."

Carter's face fell. "What about him?"

Bella shot him another exasperated look. "Honestly, he's kind of miserable without you. It really suck to see him like that. And you haven't exactly been a delight either," she said. "You're friends since fucking kindergarten. Are you seriously going to flush that down the toilet, because of a little something he kept from you?"

Carter opened his mouth, but she pointed a finger at him with a warning look.

"Which we only did," she continued, "because he knew you'd get your panties all twisted over it, even though it has nothing to do with you."

Carter scoffed. "How doesn't this have anything to do with me?"

Seth was his best friend. Bella was his stepsister. They lied to him.

"It just doesn't," Bella stated simply. "What Seth and I have is between me and him. You're his friend. Your only role in this is to support his relationship, or not if you wanna be like that."

Carter gulped. Everything Bella said made sense. Still, he couldn't shake that unpleasant feeling that struck him for the first time when he caught them together.

"I know," he muttered. He'd probably always known it.

"Then what is it?" Bella asked, leaning forward. "Is this because we hid it from you? That wasn't personal either. We didn't tell anyone. Neither one of us is good at being in committed relationships and we didn't want anyone feeling like they get to weight in."

Carter took a couple of seconds to process Bella's words. "Committed relationship?" He repeated. "Big words," he mused. "I'm not even sure they're on Seth's vocabulary."

Bella smiled a little, shrugging one shoulder. "They haven't been on mine either, until now."

Carter stared back at her, nodding in understanding. The truth was he really didn't know Bella that well. He knew nothing about what had happened between her and Seth. Mostly because he and Seth had been off for a while.

"You really like him?"

Bella looked a little surprised at his question. "I do," she admitted quietly. "I wouldn't if I could help it, but this shit happens without asking for permission."

Carter laughed at that. "That's painfully true," he agreed. His mind wandered to Johnny, unauthorized, for a fraction of a second, almost as though trying to prove a point.

"Not so much painful as it is terrifying," Bella said. "If you do it right at least."

Carter gave her a skeptical look. "Deep thoughts for someone who claims she sucks at relationships."

Bella cackled. It was loud and ungracious, and very Bella.

"Not my words," she told him. "Lauren's. That girl is a relationship guru. She has to be, to handle Roy."

Carter laughed, remembering his Calculus class partner and his dopey grin. Bella joined in, until there was a knock on the door. Carter told whoever to come in, in between laughs, and Mike's head peaked inside his room.

"Everything okay in here?" He asked, warily.

"Why? Is the old man outside with 911 ready to dial, in case I was hurting golden boy over here?"

Mike grinned. "No Dad. He and Abby took Charlie out," he said. "I was the one with 911 ready to dial."

"I'm good," Carter assured him.

Mike nodded. "I also wanted to let you know I'm leaving in a while to pick Richie up from the airport. Might swing by the grocery shop for last-minute Christmas emergencies. Do you need anything?"

"I'd take twenty bucks," Bella said.

Mike shot her an unimpressed look.

"Ten?"

"If you need money, ask dad."

Bella huffed. "You could help me out. That Swear Jar really sucks me dry."

Carter smiled. "You could just not swear at home."

Bella tilted her head like a confused puppy. "How would communication even work without swearing?"

Carter laughed and Bella grinned. Mike raised his eyebrows in silent surprise, but made no comments.

Carter turned to his stepbrother and sat up a little.

"Would you mind giving me a ride somewhere?" He asked. "It's kind of on your way."

"Sure. I leave in ten."

"Where are you going?" Bella asked, standing up from Carter's bed while Mike closed the door.

Carter took a deep breath in and exhaled slowly through his mouth.

"Morningtide Mental Hospital."