Yes Please || c.g. {complete}

Carla

51

.Layla.

Stella and I picked up Chinese and brought it back to my apartment. On the way, I explained what had happened with Carl, so Stella was up to speed.

She hadn't said much, just nodded.

When we pulled up, Debbie was leaning against the wall near the door. We hugged and greeted her and the three of us headed upstairs.

"How are you doing?" Debbie asked, hugging me again in the kitchen.

I sighed. "Shitty."

We got forks and brought the little white takeout boxes over to the coffee table before sitting on the couch.

"How's Carl?" I asked Debbie nervously.

She sighed and shook her head. "I've never seen him like this."

I hung my head. "He really wants me to keep the baby."

"I think it's sweet," Stella said quietly.

I shot her a look that said, 'You're supporting me, remember?'

She just shrugged and picked up her orange chicken. Traitor.

Debbie smiled. "I want you to know that coming from personal experience, I support your right to choose."

I sighed in relief. At least one person here was siding with me.

"I just also hope you know how much Carl loves you, and that he would be an awesome dad," Debbie added.

What the fuck? Now I had no one? I rolled my eyes and sighed angrily.

"We're friends, Layla, and I'm here as your friend. I just can't help that I'm also Carl's sister. He's a really good person, Layla," she said gently. As if I didn't fucking know that.  "Probably the best person in our family."

I rolled my eyes. She was laying it on thick right now.

"Do you know how much he did for our useless father growing up?" she half laughed. "He helped him out whenever Frank had some stupid scheme, because all Carl ever wanted was to please our shithead dad. Frank convinced Carl he had terminal cancer once, because he saw a way to get something out of it. When Frank was dying and needed a liver transplant, only Carl gave a shit. He tried to find Frank a donor. He was furious with the rest of us for our indifference. He was the only one who would visit him." She took a moment to breathe.

It made a lot of sense why Carl wanted to be a dad; because he'd had such a horrible one. He wanted to be better than the one he'd had; the one he'd tried so hard to please. I wiped the stubborn tears that fell from down my cheeks. That didn't mean he needed to be one right now.

Debbie put her arm around me. "When Ian came out, Carl and I were little, but he was so supportive of him," she said. "When my uncle tried to evict us from our house, Carl tried to stop him." She paused. "Although, his methods were a bit...unorthodox."

I sighed. "Debbie, I know Carl is a good person. Trust me, I do. This isn't ab-"

"I want to hear," Stella quietly interjected.

Now I shot her a look that said, 'Bitch, are you for real right now?'

She shrugged, averting her eyes as she sipped her iced tea.

Debbie patted my leg. "You know what he did to his junk for his stupid ex." She and I laughed a little. "He let another girl and her gang of siblings crash at our house for days because their home life sucked worse than he thought ours did." She shook her head and looked serious. "When we were about to lose our house again a few years ago, Carl bought it. He was fourteen."