Pulling out of her thoughts, Raleigh heard a soft "hey" behind her. Turning around, Raleigh was a little surprised to see Carly standing there, looking incredibly nervous.

"Hey." Carly began fidgeting as she became more and more nervous. She knew Raleigh had to be furious with her and she couldn't blame her. She had asked her repeatedly to not bring up the abortion, but she refused to. She had been just plain foolish to bring up the subject at the carnival when Josh could have been anywhere, even directly behind them, which he had been. The way he found out was simply horrible and Carly couldn't help but to feel horrible about it because she had basically put that hurt and anger in his cool blue eyes. Blue eyes had never struck her as a firey color for eyes, but when Josh was hurt and upset, that's all that could be said about them. "what are you doing here?"

"I uh...I just came to see how you were doing."

Raleigh let out a little chuckle and shook her head sadly. "I'm doing just fine."

The way she had laughed and how she was careful not to meet Carly's eyes, she knew Raleigh was lying threw her teeth. Plus too, it didn't take a rocket scientist to know after what had happened at the carnival, nobody would be "just fine."

"Are you?" For the first time since she walked in, Raleigh met her best friend's gaze. She could never lie to her.

Shaking her head sadly, she said in a weak voice, "Not really." It was obvious she wasn't going to say anymore so Carly decided to speak up.

"I am so sorry Ray. I should have listened to you. I had no right to keep bringing it up the way I had been."

"Carly, you had every right." Raleigh cut her off. She could feel the tears begin to pool in her eyes once again as memories flashed through her mind. "I keep looking back on the past seven months trying to figure everything out. What did I do to make Josh break it off, what was I really thinking when I found out I was pregnant and made that appointment? It just plays over and over in my head and I wish now more than anything that I could go back and tell him that I was pregnant and let us figure things out together, but I cant and now Josh hates me. He can't even look at me and it's all my fault." Raleigh shook uncontrollably and she tried desperately not to cry. But she failed and tears soon streamed down her face faster than she could wipe them away.

Carly's heart broke for her best friend. You never got over your first love, and she wasn't sure their time was up just yet. "Josh doesn't hate you, hon. He's just hurt and upset. Give him some time. He loves you, we all know it, Ray. He wants to be with you more than anything."

"I love him, Carly. I never stopped loving him. I tried....I really did. But I always came full circle and found myself loving him more than I could ever hate him."

"I know, Ray. I know." Carly let Raleigh cry into her chest as she rubbed her back soothingly. It was hard seeing her this way. She could only hope things would settle down and go back to the way they were sooner rather than later.

Deb's heart broke as she listened to her daughter cry her heart out to Carly. Of course she hated what Josh had done to her baby girl, sure she and Raleigh fought a majority of the time, but Raleigh was still her little girl and she loved her no matter what. Seeing her hurting that badly just made it that much harder for a mother to let go of her children. Once they are let go, then they can get hurt. That's why she had been so upset with her for sneaking out to be with Josh. It would only end in heart break, which it had. While thinking back, Deb realized she couldn't find one memory that didn't involve Josh in her daughter's life in some way, shape or form. They had plans to run away together and get married in the first town they came to when she had turned sixteen and he was seventeen. But they had only made it a few short miles before Deb and her husband, Keith, caught them and brought them home. Raleigh hated her for that, but a mother had to do what was best for her child in the long run, no matter how she had felt about her. And no matter what Raleigh and Josh had gone through, Deb was certain that they were both still those two kids who were madly in love and wanted nothing more than to run away and be together always and forever. It had just been a bumpy road. True love never dies, it will always make it through.

~*~

Seeing Josh walking down the road into town by himself, Justin figured now would be as good a time as any to try and talk to him. It had been five days since the night at the carnival, and he knew Josh wouldn't come to talk to him on his own. He was stubborn.

"Hey, is it safe to talk to you yet?" Whipping around to see who had come up beside him, Josh let out a breath when he saw it was Justin. He had been lost deep in thought and the last thing he had expected was to be snuck up on.

"Oh, hey J. Yeah, its safe for you to talk to me."

"Good. I talked to your brother yesterday. He said you were thinking of going back to New York early.

"Yeah, I was. But my mom tried so hard to get me home for the summer, I couldn't leave early on her. I mean don't get me wrong, after everything went down, I just wanted to get as far away from here as possible. My mom's lucky I love her." Josh chuckled softly as he kicked a stone in the road.

"That's good ‘cause, you know, we were thinking it'd be ok for you to stick around a little while longer before we want to get rid of you."

"Yeah yeah. Always a smartass." Josh said, pushing Justin a little.

"You know you love me!" Justin teased.

"Yeah, I guess I did miss you and the guys. Plus too, it is kind of lonely in New York."

"I know. That‘s why we didn‘t want you to leave. There are perfectly respectable schools right in Memphis! But no, you had to go all the way northeast to the big bag city."

"Shut up, dude." Josh pushed Justin again. He was like the annoying little brother Tyler was, but he was his best friend and he wouldn't change that for anything. Before either of them could think to do anything else, they heard a high pitched yell. "Oh you gotta be kidding me." Josh said as he closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. This was just what he needed to make the perfect summer.

"What the hell was that?" Justin said, looking in the direction of the disturbing noise. "Who is that?"

Turning around, Josh fought hard to not roll his eyes at the tall, skinny blonde running his way wearing clothes that could not have been tighter. "Erin, hi. What are you doing here?" Justin looked at his best friend confusedly. How did he know this girl?

"Looking for you silly! I have been everywhere trying to find you! I forgot your addy and I just couldn't go around door to door asking people if JC lived there. Everyone would think I'm crazy. So I figured I'd just come into town and hope that I'd eventually run into you." Looking next to Josh, the smile dropped from her lips. "Who are you?"

"I'm Justin, Josh's best friend. Who are you?"

"Oh, um, J, this is Erin O'Toole. A friend from school." Turning back to the girl, Josh tried not to let his annoyance show. "So uh, what exactly are you doing ehre? In Tennessee? I thought you were visiting your mom this summer?"

"I was but I got fed up with her new boyfriend and badgering so I left. I didn't know where my dad was and I did not want to go back to school, so then I remembered you saying you were coming home, so here I am. You really weren't kidding when you said Shelby was a small community. Only one hotel."

"You could have stayed in Memphis. I'm sure there's more hotels that are more up to your standards. Nothing like New York, but still pretty nice. Better than the Shelby Inn."

"I didn't want to be that far from you." Josh visibly cringed when Erin looped her arm in his.

"Well, I'd love to hang out with you guys today, but I promised Carly I'd go visit her at work."

"No, Justin...."

"Field at dusk right? Ok, see you then." Justin walked away briskly and Josh was incredibly annoyed. He had to put up with this girl at school and now he was forced to put up with her on his vacation. Could things get any worse?

"So, just you and me, JC. What you wanna do?" Looking at Erin, Josh sighed in defeat.

"You want to just go to the mall in Memphis?"

~*~

Going into The Landing, Tully saw Raleigh crying to Carly and her heart broke. She had been there along with everyone else so she of course knew what had happened. It was just hard witnessing first hand what it did to the people involved.

Feeling a little uncomfortable, Tully cleared her throat hoping they would hear her. She just didn't know what to do.

"Oh, Tully. Hi." Raleigh said, wiping the tears away from her cheeks.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you guys."

"Oh it's ok. I was just talking things out with Carly here. Anyway, I'm almost done with my shift so we can get going ." Raleigh said before wiping down the table and taking the dishes back into the kitchen.

"Did you want to come with us, Carly? We're just going to go get a late lunch and then a movie."

"No, I can't. I'm just on break so I need to be getting back to the store."

"Oh, ok." Turning to Raleigh as she re-entered the dining hall apron less, Carly wrapped her arms around her once more. "It'll be alright, I promise. I'll see you guys at the field tonight, ok?"

"Yeah."

"Bye. Have fun with your movie. What are you going to see anyway?"

"I don't know. Probably the new Pirates Of The Caribbean. I want some Johnny Depp." Tully said, trying not to smile. She had a big thing for Johnny Depp that only Raleigh and Carly knew about.

"And of course I'm stuck working. Bye guys." Carly teased before leaving the café.

"Bye, Car." Raleigh waved to her friend one last time before telling Tully she'd be right back. She had forgotten her purse in the back room. Something she needed if they were going out to lunch and a movie.

~*~

Taking her gaze off the rack she was stocking with CD's, Carly glanced to the front of the store just in time to see Justin walk in. A smile immediately graced her face as she got his attention.

"Hey baby."

"Hey. Its good to see you. What are you doing here? I thought you were going to go and try to talk with Josh?"

"I did talk to him. Everything's cool. Well, it was until some New York hoochie ran up to us screaming and talking a mile a minute."

"What? J, you completely lost me here." Carly gave him a look of pure confusion and Justin sighed, trying to slow the running thoughts in his head.

"Ok, I was walking down Main with Josh when we heard this squeal. I personally thought someone was torturing a baby pig." Carly let out a little chuckle as she continued to stock the shelves while listening to him. " Anyway, it was this skinny bimbo from Josh's school back in New York. I guess they lives in the same dorm and she came here to finish out the summer with Josh. The way she was all over him was sickening, she even has her own little nickname for him. JC."

"Oo, clever." Carly rolled her eyes at the thought of someone calling Josh, JC. "Why do I feel trouble brewing already for tonight?"

"Because you know she's probably going to be coming to the field with him tonight." Shaking her head slightly, Carly's mind went rapid as she tried to process everything that had happened in the past five days.

Looking down at the floor, she spoke in a low voice. "I know what Raleigh did was wrong, but am I the only one who understands why she did it?"

Running his hands up and down her arms comfortingly, Justin shook his head. "No, we all understand why. But it's different when you're the father."

"Yeah. I know." There was a short silend before Carly cleared her throat and pulled away from Justin's loving embrace. "I have to get back to work. But I'll see you tonight, ok?"

"Ok. Bye baby." Justin gave her a quick peck on the lips before leaving her to her work at the store. She tried to think of anything except the events she was sure were going to go down tonight, but she just couldn't. Raleigh was going to see Josh with this New York chick and completely break down again. It was not going to go well.