Minutes later Deanna was opening the passenger side door for Carly, who crawled out excitedly and began walking in the complete opposite direction of the store. Shaking her head, Deanna ran after her and grabbed her hand.
"This way," Deanna laughed. Carly held onto her hand tightly, skipping behind Deanna with an excited smile on her face. Deanna led them both into the store, ignoring the confused stares from the other customers when Carly continued to skip once they were inside.
Deanna grabbed two of the bowls from the counter and handed one to Carly. "Do you know how to do this?"
Carly looked at her blankly and Deanna sighed. "Here, I'll show you," she led Carly, who was still holding her hand, over to the wall of self-serve yogurt.
"These are the flavors," she nodded to the pictures at the top of the machines. Carly nodded and studied each one intently. Deanna let go of her hand so she could hold her bowl underneath the machine that dispensed Cookies&Cream flavored yogurt.
"See, you just pull the lever and—," Deanna paused when she turned around and saw Carly already filling up her cup with banana flavored frozen yogurt. She ran over and stopped the lever just before Carly's cup overflowed.
"That's enough for now," Deanna laughed. Carly pouted.
"Again," she pointed to the machine, going to fill up her cup even more. Deanna shook her head quickly and pulled Carlt over to the Cookies&Cream machine.
"Here," she handed Carly her empty cup. "You can fill up mine with this one."
Carly nodded happily, taking Deanna's bowl but walking over to a different machine. Before Deanna could stop her, Carly was filling her cup with Raspberry flavored yogurt. Deanna shook her head, sighing and accepting the cup back from a satisfied Carly.
"There's toppings over there," she pointed to the counter next to them. Deanna grabbed Carly's hand before she could run over and followed her. "Don't use too many."
Carly nodded, bending down and studying all of her different options. Deanna was adding strawberry slices into her cup when Carly tapped her on the shoulder and proudly held up her frozen yogurt, which was now covered neatly with banana slices.
"You really like bananas, don't you?" Deanna asked, laughing softly.
"Yes, Yellow," Carly nodded. She smiled proudly, and Deanna led her over to the cashier. They set their cups down on the scale and Deanna paid. She sent a warning glare to the man behind the counter when he began eyeing Carly, who was clapping her hands in excitement. He quickly gave her the change and she thanked him.
Deanna handed Carly a spoon, walking over to one of the tables. Carly saw down, crossing her legs underneath her in the small chair. Deanna laughed, sitting down across from her and taking a bite of her ice cream. She hadn't expected to like the Raspberry flavor, but it was actually pretty good.
Carly started eating her ice cream by picking the bananas off and popping them into her mouth one by one. Deanna watched as Carly happily chewed on her food. She looked up from her bowl and smiled widely at Deanna
"Is it good?" Deanna asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yellow," Carly nodded, as if it were a completely reasonable answer. By now, Deanna had realized that it was to Carly.
"Pink," Deanna pointed to her cup. Carly nodded excitedly, smiling at Deanna as if she'd just unlocked one of the deepest secrets of the world. Deanna liked that feeling.
Carly finished half of her ice cream before she looked up at Deanna nervously. Noticing this, Deanna pointed to her cup. "Are you full?"
Carly nodded slowly. Deanna just nodded and took both of their cups, throwing them away. She saw the smaller girl sigh in relief, wondering why it bothered her so much to tell her when she was full.
"You don't have to be scared of me, y'know," Deanna broke the silence as they were walking back to the car. Carly was walking beside her, looking straight up at the sky and watching the clouds.
"I know," Carly turned to look at Deanna. "You are Didi. You have a big heart," she reached out and touch on Deanna's chest, as if to show her that her heart was there. Deanna's breath caught in her throat and all she could do was nod.
Once they reached the apartment, Carly skipped inside and looked around happily. Deanna checked the time, realizing they'd been out for longer than she thought. Rushed footsteps came down the stairs and Deanna turned around to find Eya studying them both.
"You found her?" Eya glanced at Carly, who was now sitting on the floor and flipping thought one of the magazines from the coffee table. Deanna nodded. "What took so long?" The other girl plopped down on the couch.
"Didi got ice cream," Carly spoke up, smiling widely and holding up the yellow plastic spoon that she'd saved from the store. Eya raised an eyebrow at Deanna and smirked.
"What?" Deanna shrugged, sitting down on the couch next to the other girl. She tried to play off the time she spent with Carly as merely something she had to do, but she was starting to realize that she enjoyed the company of the younger girl.
"Nothing," Eya gave Deanna a knowing smirk. The older girl rolled her eyes, pulling her phone out of her pocket and checking the time. She sat up quickly when she realized she had classes the next day.
"Shit," Deanna shook her head, groaning. She was supposed to turn in three sketches for her first class tomorrow. She had finished them all, until Carly got to them with a marker. Eya raised an eyebrow at her, silently asking for an explanation.
"I have some... homework I need to work on," Deanna said, trying not to let Carly know that she had inconvenienced her by ruining her sketchbook. Eya looked at her questioningly, but didn't say anything, allowing Deanna to disappear up the stairs and leave Carly under Eya's watchful eye.
The rest of Deanna's night was spent sprawled out on her bedroom floor, trying to recreate the sketches she had planned to turn in. After multiple hours of frustrated groans and crumpled up pieces of paper, Lauren finally produced three sketches that she considered mediocre, but she was too exhausted to try again. Telling herself they were good enough, she changed into an old shirt to wear to bed.
Just as she was about to turn her light off, a noise in the hallway caught her attention.
"No," Carly's voice rang out. Deanna heard footsteps and then her doorknob jiggled, but it stopped moments later.
"Carly, my room is this way," Eya huffed, trying to pull the other girl in the direction of the other door.
"Nooooo," Carly groaned, shaking her head and reaching for Deanna's doorknob once more. "Didi."
"She doesn't want you in her room, Carly," Eya sighed in frustration.
Unable to listen to their power struggle for any longer, Deanna got up from her bed and opened her door slightly.
"Didi!" Carly smiled widely, wiggling out of Eya's grip and walking over in front of Deanna's door. "Knock knock."
Deanna raised an eyebrow. "Who's there?"
Carly stared at her blankly. Deanna and Eya exchanged glances, then Eya grabbed Carly's wrist, trying to pull her away from Deanna's door.
"Nooooooooo," Carly mumbled. She shook her head and tried to pull away.
"Carly, I swear, s—," Eya started.
"It's fine," Deanna sighed, opening her door wider and motioning for Carly to come in. Eya looked shocked, and Deanna just shrugged. "If you want sleep, this is the only way you're going to get it."
Obviously not buying her excuse, Eya smirked and winked at Deanna. Clapping her hands excitedly, Carly ran into Deanna's room and dived onto her bed. Deanna quickly picked her art supplies off of the floor and hid them in the top shelf of her closet where Carly wouldn't find them. When she turned back into her room, Carly was rummaging through her dresser.
The small girl held up a yellow shirt that Deanna had gotten from a school fundraiser. She tilted her head to the side. "Yellow?"
"You can wear it, yeah," Deanna sighed, walking over to her bed and sitting down. Carly nodded, tugging off her shirt and revealing the same bruises Deanna had seen the night before. The thought of someone doing that to Carly made her sick to her stomach, so Deanna tried to tell herself they were probably just from volleyball.
"Do they hurt?" Deanna asked before she could stop herself. Carly looked at her, tilting her head to the side. The older girl stood up and ran her fingertips over one of the bruises on Carly's shoulder. "These, the bruises, do they hurt?"
Carly looked at her arm and bit her lip. She blinked a few times, trying to remember if they hurt or not. "Once upon a time they did," she looked back up to Deanna, trying to explain as best as she could.
Deanna nodded softly. "Did someone do this to you?" she asked, being driven by general concern for the younger girl. She saw Carly's face drain of color and instantly regretted it, but before she could apologize, the smaller girl spoke.
"Bedtime," Carly nodded once, keeping her voice calm. Deanna decided not to push anything else, and helped Carly pull the shirt on over her head. Both girls crawled into bed, and Carly lay in the same spot as the night before, staying as close to Deanna as she could without actually touching her. It was as if there was some invisible barrier between them. Deanna fell asleep fairly quickly, exhausted from a long day of chasing Carly around.
****
Deanna broke the barrier.
She was awoken a little after midnight by panicked whimpers. She rubbed her eyes, lifting her head and looking at the trembling girl beside her. Carly was in the same state as she had been the night before when she came into Deanna's room.
"Carly?" Deanna whispered, nudging the girl's shoulder. There was no response.
"Carly, wake up," she said louder, grabbing the girl's face in her hands. Carly's eyes opened instantly, and a look of terror crossed her face. Deanna quickly let go of her, not wanting to scare her. The smaller girl instantly relaxed when she saw who it was, though.
"Didi," her voice trembled. Carly sat up, hugging her pillow to her chest and looking around frantically. "Didi there are bad things," she whimpered. Deanna sat up and shook her head quickly.
"There's no bad things," Deanna reached out and set her hand on Carly's knee, being cautious incase physical touch would scare the girl. Carly looked down at Deanna's hand, gently taking it between her own two hands and bringing it up to her face. She pressed the palm of Deanna's hand against her cheek, causing the older girl to shiver.
"There's nothing to be afraid of," Deanna said after a few moments of silence, Carly was still holding the older girl's hand against the side of her face, and Deanna ran her thumb over Carly's cheek soothingly. "There are no bad things here, I promise."
"Will you keep the bad things away?" Carly asked slowly, as if she were considering each word carefully. Deanna bit her lip and nodded softly. "Promise?"
"Promise," Deanna whispered. She saw Carly attempt a small smile, but it faltered. She could tell the small girl was still scared, and it was killing her. All she wanted to do was figure out what was hurting Carly and make sure it never hurt her again. The smaller girl looked anxiously around the room and her bottom lip began to tremble.
"Carly," Deanna whispered, feeling horrible that she didn't know what was bothering her. The smaller girl continued holding Deanna's hand against her cheek, as if it had some magical healing powers.
"Didi," Carly mumbled, squeezing her eyes shut. Deanna saw how close she was to crying and gave in.
"C'mere," Deanna said softly, using her free hand to pull Carly closer to her. Carly looked up in shock, but quickly crawled closer to Deanna, still looking at her hesitantly.
"You're safe here, okay?" Deanna nodded slowly. Carly nodded, trying to believe the older girl, but she was still trembling in fear. The first tear broke against her waterline and ran down her face.
"Hey, hey, no tears," Deanna shook her head and pulled her hand away from Carly's face. The smaller girl whimpered, but silenced when Deanna wrapped her arms around her waist and Carly was pulled into her lap. The older girl hugged Carly close to her chest, feeling just how fast the girl's heart was beating.
Carly melted into Deanna instantly, knowing Deanna had broken the invisible barrier between them by allowing her to be held. She sniffed, hiding her face in the crook of the girl's neck.
"I don't know what's scaring you so badly, Carly," Deanna sighed, rubbing circles in the younger girl's back. "But if it helps, I'll try and help you get rid of the scary things."
Carly looked up slowly. Deanna's heart broke when she saw the small girl's face. Tears were streaming down her cheeks, but she wasn't making any noises. It looked as if she was trying to cry silently, not to disturb anyone. It made Deanna's heart ache.
"Didi," Carly whispered, reaching out and pressing her own palm against Deanna's cheek. "Didi is good," she nodded, reaffirming the fact to herself. Deanna's breath caught in her throat and she felt her cheeks blush red.
Carly reached up and scratched her face, becoming frustrated when her tears didn't go away. Deanna noticed this and used the sleeve of her hoodie to wipe the tears from the younger girl's cheeks. "Do you want to try and sleep?" Deanna asked after they sat there for a few minutes in silence.
Nodding slowly, Carly sniffed and wiped her eyes just as Deanna had done. The older girl grabbed her phone, turning on soft music in hopes that it wouldd soothe Carly to sleep.
Deanna lay down, only to find Carly curled up against her side moments later, with her legs wrapped around hers. It was as if Carly couldn't get close enough to her. Sighing, Deanna realized she was already in way too deep.
Both girls feel asleep very easily, comforted in knowing that the other was right beside them.
—
***TO BE CONTINUED****