i love you » carl gallagher

13 - never stop loving

noel

Once Daniel's dad had arrived to pick us up, I gave Travis a huge hug and thanked him for making my day before heading out with Daniel.

We got into the car, me taking shotgun and Daniel sitting in the back with his sister.

"Noel just got asked to homecoming," Daniel said right as he stepped into the car.

"Shut up," I mumbled loud enough for him to hear as I rolled my eyes and got into the car.

"Oh, really? That's great," Mr. Hyde cheered. "Carl, right? Don't you usually walk home with him?"

"Dad-" Daniel started, but I didn't let him finish.

"Carl and I broke up," I told him, my smile fading.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, sweetie. If I would've known I wouldn't have brought him up," he said to me, giving the top of my head a little rub.

"It's okay, really," I faked a smile as I put my seat belt on and Mr. Hyde drove off.

"Well, may I ask who the lucky guy is," he asked me, pointing to the poster board and teddy bear in my lap.

"Travis," I smiled. "I don't know if you've met him yet, but he's a good friend of mine."

"No, but Daniel is having a little get together at our house after homecoming on Saturday. I'm sure I'll meet him there," Mr. Hyde said looking back at Daniel through the rearview mirror.

"I haven't invited anyone yet, but, yeah, you and Travis can come if you want," Daniel said.

"I'll be there," I told them as we had pulled up infront of my house. "Thank you so much for the ride," I said to Mr. Hyde, giving him a big hug. "Bye, Audrey, and text me all the details for Saturday, Daniel."

"Will do," Daniel half yelled as I stepped out of the car. "See you later." Daniel waved at me as they drove off and I turned, making my way up my porch steps when I noticed a sticky note on the front door.

El,
I'm taking the night shift at work. Your dad should be home around 7. I love you <3
-Mom

I shrugged, taking the post it note off of the door and stepping inside. As soon as I walked in, Bomber came running to me from upstairs.

"Hi, Bomber," I threw my bookbag to the ground and knelt down infront of him where he just licked my face. "You wanna go outside?!" Bomber stopped licking my face and got even more excited as he ran to the front door. I just giggled as I grabbed the leash, connected it to his colar, and opened the door where he ran into our front lawn.

I kept a hold on to the leash as I sat down on the front porch. I know it seems strange to have him on a leash when the front gate is shut and locked. However, our gate is in some serious need for some fixing, and until it's fixed, dad wants me to keep Bomber on a leash.

My eyes wondered across the street to the Gallaghers' house. I saw Lip come outside with a cigarette in his mouth. He made eye contact with me and began walking over to me. As soon as he walked through the front gate, Bomber ran up to him. Bomber loves Lip. I can't blame him though, it's hard not to love Lip.

"Hey," he said, walking up the porch and sitting next to me. "Where's Carl?"

"I don't know," I shrugged, looking down at my feet.

"What happened? I know he walked you to school today," he asked me.

"We broke up this morning," I told him. Lip didn't say anything for a good second. He took a drag from his cigarette and sat there for a second looking away from me.

"He was excited to see you this morning," he started. "Came downstairs talking about how he wanted to make everything right with you. He was really nervous, too. He didn't want to fuck anything up... you know?"

I sat there and thought for a second about this morning and how Carl was acting. He didn't seem excited or nervous. He was just quiet, he barely talked to me the entire time.

"That's not what it seemed like," I said to Lip just as we saw Carl walking down the street. "I'm gonna get inside and start on my homework." Lip nodded his head and gave my shoulder a rub before we both stood up.

"Don't be afraid to come around, El. We all still love you, especially him," Lip looked me dead in the eyes as he said this. I didn't get a chance to say anything else before he began making his way back across the street. I didn't look back as I headed back inside with Bomber.

I grabbed my bookbag off of my floor and grabbed a bag of chips before heading up to my room. Bomber was already in his little bed next to mine, chewing on his favorite chew toy.

I hopped onto my bed, unloading all of my honework, when my phone vibrated in my back pocket.

Carl: saw travis asked you to hoco..

El: yeah ??

Carl: congrats.. i didn't think you'd move on that fast.

El: it's just a homecoming date, carl.

Carl: yeah okay.

El: please don't do this..

Carl: why not?

El: because you know i still love you.
i'll never stop loving you..
it's impossible.

Carl: you'll forget all about me in a month.

El: i'm not doing this with you right now, i have other shit to do.
bye carl.

I rolled my eyes as I aggressively threw my phone to the other side of my bed. And that's when I couldn't hold it in any longer. Tears began pouring out of my eyes onto my cheeks. After hearing what Lip told me, I'm starting to think everything was just in my head and I was actually the problem.

Before I could finish any thoughts, my phone began to ring. I look over at who it was that was calling me and it was Travis wanting to FaceTime.

"Fuck," I mumbled under my breath. If I don't answer him now he's just going to keep calling me. I ran over to my mirror and wiped my tears, making sure it looked like I wasn't balling my eyes out just two seconds ago. Once I thought I looked presentable enough I quickly answered the phone call. "Hey," I said once the call connected and his face appeared on my screen.

"Hey, princess," he said with a smirk on his face. "What's up?"

"The sky," I joked, causing him to roll his eyes.

"Wow you're so funny. I was calling to discuss our homecoming outfits," he stated.

"What about them," I asked, popping a chip into my mouth.

"I want to know what color your dress is, so we can match," he said as if it was obvious.

"Oh, right," I chuckled. "Um, I don't have my dress yet, but I'm thinking red."

"Alright, so I'll wear red and black," he agreed.

"Yeah, that sounds fine," I nodded, feeling the awkward silence build up in the poorly timed FaceTime call. "Is there anything else you wanted to talk about? I have a shit load of homework to do."

"I don't think so," he answered.

"You know, you could've just sent that in a text instead of calling me," I told him.

"I guess I could've done that, but I like hearing your voice so..."

"Yeah, right," I said sarcastically. "I'm gonna go do my homework. Bye, Trav."

"Aw, bye, princess. I'll see you tomorrow." I ended the FaceTime call and set my phone to the side.

I've decided that the only thing I'm going to worry about this week is finding a homecoming dress... and Carl.

-

a/n: yeahhhhhhh i lied about the whole christmas thing hahahahaaa
but i finally updated again & i hope you guys like it !!!