𝘽𝙍𝙐𝙏𝘼𝙇 • 𝘾. 𝙂𝘼𝙇𝙇𝘼𝙂𝙃𝙀𝙍

𝑪 𝑯 𝑨 𝑷 𝑻 𝑬 𝑹 𝑭 𝑶 𝑼 𝑹 𝑻 𝑬 𝑬 𝑵

"You're aggravatingly pretty," she mumbled, unaware she had said it aloud until he smirked and she felt the rumbles of laughter from his chest.

"Pretty, huh?" He teases, leaning to give her a peck, only for her to block him with her hand.

"Shut up!" She laughs at his confused blinking eyes through the gasps of her fingers.

He squints at her before she feels his tongue slide across her palm, making her instantly pull her hand away with a cringe.

"Now that's just foul Gallagher." A familiar voice comments, taking the words out of her mouth, before making the pair break from their own little bubble and look up.

An amused Kai and Alessia were walking towards them, having just gotten on the train and sitting down on the chairs in front of them.

Valentina raises a brow while wiping her hand on Carl's chest, making him grumble something, when she and Alessia make eye contact, flickering her eyes from her to Kai and back again.

Alessia blushes and mouths "I'll tell you later" as Kai and Carl greet each other.

But Valentina had no patience at all, maybe because she wanted to push to see what the two had going on. She watched the way Kai had their arm on the back of Alessia's chair.

"I'm starting to think you're planning to steal my best friend, Kai."

Kai smirks at the brunette: " I wouldn't dream of it, V."

Their glance at the blonde says otherwise.

"Right," Valentina dragged out, playfully enjoying Alessia's blush as much as she liked the glare she was receiving.

"So does this mean you were with Carl all night?" Alessia throws out in an effort to shift the teasing back at Valentina.

Valentina smirks at her attempts and says, "No."

"But she will be tonight."

The brunette's ears heat up, and he receives an elbow in the ribs, making him faintly wince.

"Oh?" Kai pushes, joining the little battle of teasing. "Date night?"

"We're not dating." The pair reply simultaneously, almost too quickly.

They glance at each other; Carls' tapping on her collarbone slows her down slightly. If they knew how to read each other's eyes better, they'd see the same question,

are we?

"Right," Kai says in a singsong tone, awkwardly noticing what they've caused.

Valentina looks away first, not wanting to leave poor Kai to struggle in the awkwardness, but nearly jumping out of her skin when the train's intercom blares in warning and says the next stop. It had never been so loud before, as it had come out more like static since the summer. Carl's arm loops her closer to him when he feels her tense as her heart rattles loudly in her ears. Wide brown eyes dart toward Alessia, who's already digging in her bag for something.

Her breath gets stuck in her chest, and the embarrassment of a panic attack ushers it out quicker. She tries to force her breaths out, but they come out uneven and ragged.

"You're fine, sad eyes." He whispers to her, planting his head over hers, his fingers still tapping on her collarbone but at a slower pace, as if to show her how to breathe. "you're okay"

"what's wrong?" Kai asks, confusion spreading across their faces at the sudden shift and Valentina's panicked form. "Why is she-"

"Vald has a thing about sudden loud noises," Alessia explains calmly, pulling out the pair of earbuds she'd been looking for and plugging them into Valentina's phone, setting up one of her Spotify playlists, before handing it to Carl.