Exactly Opposite (On Pause)

Carly: 4

All Carly could think about was taking a nice, long, hot bath. Practice had been excruciating. During the practice run for Fin's new routine, Janice had landed wrong after one of her flips. Even on the mats she'd managed to twist her ankle. It wasn't a sprain, but it was sore enough that she would be out for the next few days.

And that had only been half of it. Carly spent the better part of the evening arguing with Finnessa that her routine was too sexual and needed to be toned down. There would be kids in the audience; she'd tried to reason with her. Carly couldn't believe some of the moves they had been expected to do. This was a cheer-leading squad for Christ's sake, not a strip club.

It helped that several members of the squad agreed with her. She finally got her point across and Fin reluctantly agreed to let her help re-choreograph the routine. One of the jumps involved going from a pike to a back flip. As Janice landed from the pike for her back flip, her left ankle twisted from underneath her.

Carly felt bad for the girl. The way the poor girl had been crying you would have thought she'd broken something. An ambulance had been called and she was rushed to the E.R. It must have been a slow night because just over an hour later they received a call informing them that Janice and her ankle would be fine. Until her mother had called on her behalf, it was like the entire group had been holding their breath and was finally able to breathe a collective sigh of relief.

Now that practice was finally over and she new that Janice was going to be alright, Carly would be able to sleep easy. She dug in her purse for her keys as she crossed the parking lot to her car. She adjusted the duffle bag slung over her shoulder as her fingers curled around the cool metal. She hadn't parked that far from the exit of the gymnasium. She paused when she noticed someone leaning against the driver's side of her vehicle.

"Hey." Gavin greeted as he heard her approach. He pushed off of her car and took a few steps to meet her.

"What's up?" Carly pressed the button to unlock her doors as she greeted him, noting his large Escalade parked beside her, completely dwarfing her car.

"You haven't been answering or returning any of my calls."

Carly paused as she opened her door, slowly sliding her purse and duffle bag off of her shoulder and tossing them in the car. "That's because I don't have anything to say to you."

"Why not? Are you seriously on this 'I need space' shit?"

"What do you want me to say?"

"I want you to say that you miss me like I miss you. Come on. You know you're being ridiculous. You won't even talk to me about what's going on with you." Gavin argued, becoming incensed by her nonchalant attitude. "You won't even tell me why you broke up with me."

"Do I really need a reason?" Carly didn't want to hurt Gavin's feelings. How was she supposed to tell him that he did nothing for her physically, emotionally and certainly not mentally? He fit the casting of a jock perfectly; dimwitted, but talented and cute. They had dated for over a year, but Carly just couldn't do it anymore. Her mother couldn't understand why she broke up with such a promising young man just to be alone. She didn't get that sometimes, alone was easier. "I'm sorry that you're hurting. I really am, but isn't it just enough that I don't want to be with you anymore? Why do you have to make it about something else?"

"Because you don't just go from being happy with someone for over a year to just nothing."

"Who ever said I was happy, Gavin?"

"So what? All of a sudden you never loved me?" He kept pushing, invading her personal space.

"I never lied to you about that. You were always good to me, but I never told you that I loved you." Carly fought not to take a step back.

"So, were you sleeping with someone else? Is that it?" He grabbed her arm, which surprised Carly.

Gavin had never been rough with her. He was acting completely unreasonable. Part of her understood and was willing to forgive him. She broke his heart. Of course, he wanted an explanation; someone to blame. "You're hurting me. Let go." She replied, trying to remain calm, but her calm was only making him even more upset.

"Good! It hurts me every time I think about you with someone else! Was he that good? Was he worth it? Being a slut!" He grabbed her hair and yanked her head back.

Carly could hear shouts of protests as other member of her squad began to exit the building and take notice of her assault, but she'd finally lost her patience and understanding for her ex-boyfriend. She slammed her heel down on his toes. As he released her she brought her knee up and buried it in his family jewels. Gavin bent over from the pain, exposing his neck. Carly clasped her hands together into one large fist and brought them down on the back of his neck. He dropped like a ton of bricks.

Fin was the first to reach her as Gavin groaned on the asphalt still trying to recover. "Are you okay?" She asked even as she kicked Gavin in the stomach herself.

Carly straightened up, trying to maintain control of her stomach. It wouldn't do any good if she tossed her cookies. She'd never been in a fight before, least of all with someone who was taller by at least a foot and outweighed her by almost a hundred pounds. "I'm fine." She told Fin as she gulped in air. She opened her car door. "Stay the hell away from me Gavin." She gave him a final warning before she hopped in her car and sped off.

*~*~*

Carly drove aimlessly, still in shock after her encounter with Gavin. She hadn't realized that she pushed him that far. Was that what love did to people? God, she hoped not! Of course, she'd read stories in the paper and seen them on the news about crazy people stalking and killing their exes, but she never in a million years thought that she would be one of those people.

Her mind told her that she had plenty of witnesses and if she wanted to press charges she could, but she really didn't want to take it that far. Hopefully he learned his lesson.

She had to pull over to the side of the road as her stomach finally turned on her. She threw up so hard once she'd opened the car door that her throat felt raw.

Carly was disgusted with herself. She could still taste the bile even after she rinsed her mouth out with water. She couldn't make it home with that taste still in her mouth. She dug in her purse for her travel mouthwash but didn't find it.

She growled in frustration, resting her head on the steering wheel. She probably could wait till she made it home after all, but she didn't want to. As she slid her car back into gear she decided she would make a quick detour to the Wal-Mart by her house and pick up some mouth wash. She needed a few other things since she was headed that way anyway.

Once inside the store, she rushed through the aisle until she came to the toothpaste and mouthwash. Carly didn't care what she looked like as she uncapped a bottle and took a swig, swishing it around in her mouth before she swallowed it.

Feeling slightly better about herself, she covered the bottle and continued her shopping. She'd stopped to get a basket as she picked up more items than she could comfortably hold.

Her arm was sore where Gavin had grabbed her so roughly and pouted as she rubbed it, thinking she was going to have an ugly bruise soon. She stepped out of the aisle, thinking she could use some chocolate after the night she'd had when she stopped in her tracks.

Not even two aisles away stood Genesis in a Wal-Mart uniform standing and joking around with another employee. How the hell had she never seen her there before? Carly had never seen Gen give more than a smirk before and couldn't tear her eyes away from the other girl's smile. She was beautiful.

"Do you need help with something?"

Carly jumped and quickly ducked back in the aisle she'd been coming out off. "What?"

A short, thin kid with bad acne stood in the aisle wearing a uniform as well. "Do you need help finding anything?" He tried again. His name tag read 'Allen'.

"No. Thank you though. I think I have everything I need." Carly gave him a weak smile before she tossed a quick glance back over her shoulder then hurried off to the front to pay for her things.