Because of Carly

Surprise, Surprise (Last Part)

A week. It had been a week since Carly and Keith last talked and the first party. Carly was at another party by the end of the day, and Hannah had dragged her there. Carly stood at the edge of the kitchen drinking a cup of Pepsi, watching Hannah dance with a guy she had just met. At least that one could dance. Carly laughed as she watched them together. They reminded her of herself and Keith. She shook her head at the thought of him. She made a promise to herself that she wouldn't be the one to break down and call this time. He would call or he would just leave her alone when she went back for the weekend break if he even went home. She was leaving that Saturday, and it was Thursday night. She had already bought a smaller bag to carry back and packed it with everything she needed excluding daily necessities. She knew she missed him like crazy and it was killing her that they weren't being themselves. She remembered the promise he made at the pool the first day they opened it up. He had told her that nothing would change except they had a little distance between them. He was wrong. Everything changed, and it didn't start with the distance. She decided to go dance with Hannah and the random guys surrounding her so she could stop thinking about her infuriating love life for a while. They danced for what seemed like hours, before finally leaving for their dorm.

"That was so fun!"

"It was no different than the last." Carly said, teasing her. Hannah playfully smacked her shoulder.

"Party-pooper."

"I'm kidding. It was fun. Plus, my figure is even better than when I came here from all that dancing."

"You're welcome." Hannah said.

"For?" Carly asked as she took off her shoes and finally sat down.

"Taking you to these parties that are helping your sexy figure." Hannah said, giggling.

"Oh, whatever." Carly laughed.

An hour later, they were both laying on Carly's bed with a bag of popcorn between them watching The Little Mermaid. They sang along to the all songs, especially Kiss the Girl. By the end of the movie, Carly was holdiing back tears.

"Honey, what's wrong?"

"I miss Keith." Carly said. And then she felt arms around her trying to comfort her. Carly was grateful, but the only one that could've truly made her feel better was Keith.

Carly woke up the next morning with popcorn in her face and hair. She had fallen asleep with it and she noticed Hannah was still beside her. She then heard an annoying knocking noise and moaned. She thought it would stop so she swiped all of the popcorn off the bed telling herself she would pick it up later. The knocking didn't stop and she realized it was the door. "Carly?" She heard his voice through the door and jumped up. She ran into the bathroom, brushed through her hair, wiped off the smudged make up and straigtened her clothes. She flipped her head upside down then back up again to make it look messier. She opened the dorm door slowly. There he was, standing in front of her and all she said was, "Oh."

"Carly... I don't even know how to apologize for all I put you through. You were right. You didn't get a proper goodbye. But here's a proper hello." Before she could protest, he pulled her closer and kissed her deeply. She kissed back, but pulled away.

"You can't just come in and kiss me and expect me to forgive you. I don't." Carly crossed her arms over her chest.

"Who is it?" Hannah moaned from the bed.

"Keith." Carly responded.

"Oh. Hey jerkface!" Hannah said, then she was snoring again.

"I deserve that. Carly, I am really sorry babe. I... didn't know how to deal with saying goodbye to you. And that obsessive thing... it's not true. I hated myself after I said that. I never meant to hurt you..."

"You did though."

"I know. And I promise, I'll make it up to you."

"How Keith? A kiss? A lot of kissing? Kissing doesn't solve everything!"

"Well that too, but no you're right. I transferred."

"Transferred what?" Carly asked, suddenly confused.

"To this college. I couldn't stand being apart from you. It was driving me insane. And I called you obsessive? Look at me." He scoffed, scratching the back of his neck, nervously.

"YOU WHAT?" Carly was smiling now. "Are you serious?"

"Duh." Keith shrugged, laughing at her cute shocked face.

"Oh my gosh! Get in here." She pulled him into dorm room and kissed him deeply. She thought she knew how much she had missed him, but kissing him, she realized she had missed him way more than she thought. He kissed her back eagerly and picked her up, holding her tightly against him.

"So do you forgive me? I really am sorry for everything."

"Won't ever happen again?"

"Nope. Never." Keith answered, his eyes hopeful.

"Then I forgive you." She kissed him one last time and hopped down. Hannah was suddenly up and walking to the bathroom. She smiled at them and shook her head.

"Oh boy... I have a love sick puppy living with me."

"Oh shut up. By the way that's Hannah." Carly looked from Keith to Hannah.

"Nice to meet you."

"You too." Hannah shut the bathroom door and sighed. She was happy for Carly. Though now, she really wanted to fall in love like that. The way they looked at each... it was true, deep, passionate, unconditional, strong, forever-kind of love.

"So babe, want to go out tonight?"

"Yes." Carly responded with no hesistation. "I missed you like crazy."

"I missed you too. This college is much better anyway. Here, I only have one roommate when there I had three. Talk about a stinky bathroom..."

"Please stop there." they laughed and collapsed on Carly's bed, cuddling. "Want to know something?" 

"Always willing to learn." Keith chuckled at her response. She knew how to make him smile.

"Because of you, Carly, I can now look forward to a life of being loved unconditionally and I am now officially a love struck fool. I wouldn't have it any other way though. I love you."

"Awee, you're going to make me cry, Keith. I wouldn't have it any other way either. I love you back." They kissed once more and Carly smiled at him. He smiled back and kissed her forehead before they fell asleep together. Hannah watched them together and smiled. She grabbed Carly's phone and took a picture and set it as the wallpaper.

"Yeah, definietly the forever kind of love."