Carrie and Keith 21

The briefest smile flickered across her face. Keith suddenly felt exhausted.

He let Carrie crawl into the bed first. Then he shut off the light and followed her. For a while, they lay stiffly under the covers, not touching. He heard her sigh and then she reached across him and grabbed his arm. She rolled over and pulled him along with her so they lay like spoons in a drawer. She held his arm around her waist and snuggled back against him. He felt her sigh again.

"Carrie, I'm sorry." he said into her damp curls. "I'm an idiot. I know Joey likes to piss me off and I believed his bullshit anyway." She remained silent. "I don't expect you to forgive me. I know that it's over between us. I just want you to know how sorry I am."

He felt her stomach knot. Then she began to cry. Her entire body shook with the sobs. Suddenly, she rolled over and got up on her knees. She pushed Keith on to his back and grabbed the front of his shirt, putting her face right in front of his.

"I've got nothing to lose. Do you understand? And I know I'll never hear this from you, but I don't care. I love you, Keith. I've loved you from the day you asked to read my story. And even when you move on with your life, I will still love you." Carrie laid her face down on top of her fists.

"You love me?"

Carrie sat up again. "Oh my god! Yes! Every time I touched you, I tried to send a message through my hands into you. That's why I slept with you the minute you asked. Not because I do it every day as part of my job but because I would give you anything that you asked for." Carrie pulled the collar of the sweatshirt over her face and sobbed into it.

Keith pushed himself up into a sitting position and leaned back against the headboard.

"Come here to me," he said. Carrie crawled over and he pulled her onto his lap. He held her, breathing in the scent of her warm, damp hair until she stopped crying.

"I'm an asshole and I don't deserve your love or your forgiveness, but I'll take both if you'll take me back. I love you more than life itself."

"I love you more than that," Carrie whispered.