[ 𝐁 𝐑 𝐔 𝐓 𝐀 𝐋! ]
"𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏,𝒔𝒂𝒅 𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒔?"
Two cigarettes were already lit by the time the sun went down completely. Valentina and Alessia were on the swings of the run-down Southside Park, talking about everything and nothing.
Valentina felt a certain kind of peace sitting there smoking with the blonde again. She didn't have the pressure to act a certain way nagging her brain like with her friends in Jersey.
It had only been an hour since she arrived, and she felt settled for the first time in years. On the other hand, she felt like there were things hidden underneath her happy, spotless exterior, lying on the inside like a stain.
"Thor was so tiny a year ago, now he's a fucking giant!" Alessia giggles as she shows Valentina the most recent picture of the white and brown mutt she found in an alley. She never found out what type of dog he was and has been having growth spurts over the past year.
"Let's just hope he stays like that," Valentina adds, taking the last drag from her cigarette before tossing it to the sand, crushing it with her boot heel.
"Yeah, Dad has been on my ass about having him in the hou-" The blue-eyed girl's phone rings loudly before she can finish her sentence, causing Valentina to flinch at the sudden sound.
Fuck loud noises.
"Hi, Dad," Alessia greets, dragging out the "i" in "Hi" while giving the brunette a look that says both annoyance and, "I told you so."
Alessia's biological father, Daniel, and her stepfather, Andrew, were slightly overprotective of the girl since her mom passed away four years ago. Valentina could remember the day when Alessia called her, sobbing loudly, not able to speak for the first half of the conversation before finally building the strength to tell what happened, that her mother's cancer had won.
It was a very bad few months for the blonde.
The brunette smiled at her before glancing ahead as Alessia spoke to her father. Valentina's eyes stared out ahead as she lifted her right foot and pushed the other into the sand below, making the swing pull her body slowly again.
Her eyes fell on a tall figure on the basketball court. They were leaned against the fence staring up at the sky with what Valentina assumed was a cigarette hanging on the person's lips due to the little ember light in the dark.
Valentina watched the person as she waited for Alessia to finish her call, wondering who it was and why they were out here alone.
The cigarette light moved as the person grabbed it in their fingers. She squinted a bit in an attempt to get a better look at them. Her curiosity nipped at her insides. A shorter, wider-looking figure walked over to the other just as Alessia finished her call.
"Ugh, fine." "I'll be there soon," Alessia sighed, dragging Valentina's attention back to her blonde friend.
"Curfews seem so shitty," Valentina teases jokingly as Alessia stands.
Her brother was never able to give Valentina a curfew without feeling like a hypocrite.
The blonde groans as she stands, tossing her now-burned-out cigarette into the sand, flicking a bit of dirt to completely snuff it out with her shoe.
Valentina laughs, shaking her head as she stands as well, tugging her coat closer as the wind picks up. The girl was familiar with Chicago and its weather mood swings. She glances back to the basketball court to find it empty. The figures disappeared like figments of her imagination.
The girls talk about all the things that happened on the last day of school yesterday for Alessia all the way back to the L, which was Valentina's favorite mode of transportation. No matter how weird the people aboard the train were, the brunette loved it.
Something about watching out the windows as everything outside was blurred.
Alessia got off first, as her house was closer to the park. They said their goodbyes and promised to text each other when they got home quickly, as the train blared about departure soon. As the train moved along, Valentina sat back in her seat alone now, with a sigh. Her peaceful smile dropped away.
The window took all her interest then, and it all blurred into blue, white, and grey.
There was a loud bang towards the back of the train car, causing the brunette to flinch, her eyes flashing upwards to find the source. Some idiot dropped a box of what looked like deli meats.
If her chest wasn't burning, she would've laughed at the strangeness. She looked at the window, trying to focus her mind on something else.
She suddenly missed Alessia's cheerfulness as her head became a cacophony of noise.
Not right now.
Valentina felt hundreds of eyes on her suddenly, causing her to force her eyes shut and attempt to breathe through her nose.
She hadn't had a panic attack in almost a week. She had been fine all day, and now the second she was alone, one loud noise flooded her with anxiety.
Why why
Her lungs ached as her breathing slowly became shallow. The chatter around the train seemed to increase as the brunette dug her nails into her thigh through the rip in her blue jeans, opening her eyes when she realized it wasn't helping to keep them shut.
Breathe Valentina You've just got to breathe.
She breathed in sharply through her nose again, looking away from the window as she glanced around the train to ease her panic that no one was actually looking.
But somebody was.
Her breathing paused altogether and a chill ran up her spine, making her lean back into the seat as blue-green eyes framed with dark lashes and a streak of trouble within met hers.
On their own accord, her eyes devoured every detail they could catch of the boy around her age sitting across the train from her.
From his hypnotic colored eyes to the faint freckles on his nose and forehead, down to his plump lips that were busted yet pulled into a smirk, all the way up to his luscious, perfectly messy brown hair.
Her mind paused all noise and her breathing eased back to normal when she met his eyes again.
His eyes moved carefully over her face then, like it was his turn, and had her wondering how both the colors in his eyes kept perfect pigment yet balanced so perfectly.
She never hated her plain mud pie-colored eyes more.
He suddenly leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.
"You're new."
Valentina blinked, taking in the rasp and silkiness of his voice.
Wake up, Valentina!
She shrugged, "Technically, I guess."
He tilted his head a bit curiously, "What's your name then, sad eyes?"
She tenses at his words. He saw her on the brink of a panic attack.
Of course, he fucking saw.
"Valentina"
He wasn't going to ask?
The boy raised a brow, waiting for her last name.
"Castro," she added, her stomach jerking with nerves.
Oh God, how the fuck was he so soft-looking but intimidating!?!
The smirk on his lips grew slightly wider, as if pleased to know.
"Carl Gallagher," he states, calm and careless in response.
Valentina's mind shouts abruptly.
Gallagher?
"Are you related to Fiona Gallagher?" She asks, remembering the tall, lanky brunette that used to babysit her when she was five and still lived here.
Carl's eyes gleam with a new wave of curiosity as he nods, "Yeah, she's my older sister."
Valentina smiles softly in remembrance of the girl who taught her how to braid her hair and tie her shoes. "She used to babysit me when I was like five."
"So you're not new, just been gone for a while, yeah?" He asks, putting a few pieces together and wanting confirmation.
Valentina nods when the L suddenly jerks to a stop and a younger, chubby boy comes to sit next to Carl.
"Chucks, say hi to your new aunt." Carl smirks, glancing back at the confused boy.
smooth
Valentina laughs, her ears feeling warm before she remembers she has to get off here.
"Hi?" Carl's nephew says, with the confusion on his face seeping into his voice.
"Hi," Valentina responds as she stands, moving to leave when a large hand catches her wrist.
Tensing again at the unexpected contact, she looks back to find Carl's collar bones before tilting her head up where she met his eyes again.
Those eyes could kill.
"You haven't told me if you're staying around again or just visiting an old haunt."
"Staying"
He wants to see me again.
Carl smirks, "Good."
Valentina glances down at his hand on her wrist, raising a brow for him to let go.
He does and sits back down casually.
"See you around then, Castro."
"See you around, Gallagher"
... I want to see him again too
˖*°࿐
My carl is going to have the amazing fucking arc I wanted for him in the show that stupidly was never given to him so prepared for the sexiness overload.
see you guys in the next (hopefully) chapter! :))