--Day Three--
In the Canteen three figures sat around a table that would normally be loud with chatter and laughter, however, was quiet as their own thoughts raged within their heads. Liam’s normally lively impish features were drawn into a scared frown, his hair shone in the light making it look auburn rather than the light brown that it was. Callum ran his hands through his black hair before bringing them down his pale cheeks and allowing them to rest under his strong jaw. Jasper’s dark brown hair – which was in need of a cut as it curled around his ears – hung over his eyes so that it was unclear what his expression was, however, judging by the frown that was tugging at his lips Carly deduced that it wasn’t a happy one.
“Er guys?” Carly said hesitantly, as she sat down in her seat and placed her food tray on the table slowly, “What’s up?”
“Samantha is driving us crazy,” Callum groaned as he brought his hands back up to cover his face.
“Okay?” Carly said with a confused frown.
“She’s been bugging us all day, asking about you every chance that she could get,” Callum continued, sitting back in his seat sloppily, his arms dropping so that they hung limply by his sides.
Carly took a bite of her sandwich, studying Liam and Jasper who still had yet to speak, she nodded towards the two, “What’s wrong with them?”
Callum spared his two friends a glance before grimacing slightly, “Oh well what happened was...”
--Twenty minutes before--
“For the love of God no!” Liam shouted, whirling on a surprised Samantha, “I do not know where Carl is. So can you please dismiss yourself from my presence?!”
Everyone in the corridor turned and stared at Liam’s flushed face in shock, even Jasper’s eyes had widened slightly at the tone Liam had so rarely used in his entire life. Dylan, however, was glaring at Liam as if she was trying to mentally blow his brain up. Liam paled considerably when he saw her advancing towards him.
“I-I-I mean,” He stuttered as he quickly back pedalled and waved his hands in front of him, “I can tell you where he is later.”
Too late. Dylan was already on him; she grabbed the collar of his shirt and the buckle of his jeans and lifted him easily from the ground. She then proceeded to dump him head first into a trash can, a satisfied smirk on her face.
Jasper’s eyes narrowed in anger as he moved forward and placed his hand on her shoulder. It was a bad idea. Jasper didn’t have his hand on Dylan’s shoulder for more than two seconds before he felt himself being lifted from the ground and flipped into the bin that was occupied by Liam. Dylan dusted her hands and walked off as Samantha and Lillian chided her, both of them trailing behind her. Students lingered around the bin that had toppled on the ground due to the two boys struggling. They were saved ten minutes later by a sympathetic Callum.
--Now--
“...So yeah,” Callum finished, rubbing the back of his neck, the same grimace on his face.
Carly’s face was a mixture of two emotions, sympathy and amusement. The straw for her juice box was partly in her mouth, but due to her struggling of keeping a straight face she had not been able to drink from it.
You know what to do with that big fat butt! Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle –
Students closest to the table turned and stared at them as the loud music blared from Carly’s phone. “Liam I swear to God I will-” Carly started as she struggled to get her phone out of her pocket. She cut herself off when she saw the dazed look on his face. Carly opened her mouth to say something but decided against it and instead answered the call.
“Hello?” Carly answered.
“Hey Carly it’s me,” John, Carly’s Dad, said from the phone, “Listen I just wanted to remind you that Sally is coming over today.”
Carly’s eyebrows raised and her mouth made an ‘o’ shape as she remembered the conversation she had yesterday, “Oh yeah, your lady friend,” Carly said, her voice dropping to an almost perverted tone.
“Shut up,” John muttered on the other side, “I was just reminding you okay?”
“Okay Dad,” Carly chuckled, “I’ll see you and your lady friend later.” Again she used the same tone of voice from before, laughing when her Dad cursed.
“Oh and Carly one more thing,” John said, an awkward tone set in his voice, “I found some red stains in the bathroom. Now if you’re having lady problems then I can-”
“What?! No Dad stop!” Carly shouted, “I got to go, lessons are going to start,” She lied quickly hanging up.
“Who was that?” A voice murmured in her ear, causing a strangled yelp to come from Carly’s mouth and for her to hit whatever was near her face. Unfortunately, what was close to her was Callum’s face and Carly could only watch with a sheepish grimace as Callum groaned and rubbed his cheek.
“What the Hell,” Callum moaned as he covered his sensitive cheek.
“Sorry,” Carly said, placing her hands up in a defeated gesture.
“It’s okay,” Callum muttered, “Was that your Dad?”
“Yeah,” Carly said as she stuffed her phone back in her jeans, a hard chore as she was wearing skinny jeans.
“Who’s the lady friend?” Liam asked with a sigh as he placed his chin on his hand.
“You guys remember Sally right?” Carly said, Liam and Callum nodded while Jasper remained in his own isolation of anger and humiliation, “Yeah she’s coming over today.”
Liam nodded, a guarded expression on his face, “Oh she is is she?”
“Yeah,” Carly said with a frown as she stared suspiciously at Liam’s face.
“Oh ok,” Liam said with another nod, trying to hold up an innocent face.
Carly dismissed Liam’s strange behaviour and just blamed it on the fact that he was a natural weirdo. She continued to eat her food and helped along with the guys to stop the frown that was on Jasper’s face, by the end of lunch they had successfully returned his features to the stoic look he normally carries.
***********************
“So what time did she say she was coming over?” Carly asked, as she rolled up the chequered sleeve of her shirt.
She looked up in time to see John attempting to fix his hair while using a spoon as a reflection. She opened her mouth in a shock-amused state, her Father only now realizing that she was standing in the doorway of the kitchen. He quickly whipped the spoon behind his back in an attempt to hide it but it was in vain as Carly hunched over, laughter spilling from her mouth.
John grumbled something as he placed the spoon back in its designated place and leaned on the kitchen counter, a frown etched on his brows and his arms crossed over his chest. Carly walked drunkenly towards him, still spluttering with laughter, she latched her hands onto his arm and hung from him as she continued to laugh. John only stood there an un-amused expression on his face as he stared straight ahead.
“Dad I swear you’re so cute,” Carly cooed, reaching up to squeeze his cheeks.
John grumbled again and pried Carly’s fingers from his cheeks; he looked down and studied her attire, “Is that what you’re wearing today?”
Carly was wearing the clothes that she had been wearing in school, a black t-shirt under a blue and black chequered shirt, black skinny jeans, with black and white converse sneakers and a navy beanie was on her head with the wig. She had tried to persuade her three friends into letting her not wear the wig today, unfortunately they couldn’t be swayed.
“Yeah,” Carly said as she pulled the black t-shirt.
“Oh okay,” John nodded. Accept it, accept it, accept it, he chanted.
“How come you haven’t made the main dish?” Carly asked as she studied the roast potatoes and the boiled vegetables. She could smell the chocolate cake that was keeping its heat in the warm oven.
“Oh she wanted to make the main course,” He said rubbing the back of his neck nervously.
“Do you know what it is?” She asked as she heaved herself up onto the counter, her legs swinging slightly.
“No, she wanted to keep it a surprise,” He said with a strained smile.
“Dad, you need to chill,” Carly said placing her hands on his shoulder, the counter giving her some leverage in height, “You look fine, Hell you could come down with sweat pants on and she’d still be happy. You got that whole tall dark and handsome thing going on, so please, stop fussing.”
John chuckled, running his hands through his black hair and scratching his chin, which had a slight beard. He breathed out a heavy sigh and hugged his daughter, “Yeah you’re right,” He chuckled.
Carly slapped his arm, “It couldn’t kill you to be a little modest,” She chided.
John laughed heartily picking his daughter up and placing her on the ground. His laughter came to an abrupt halt when the doorbell rang. The two of them looked towards each other their eyes widened slightly. Carly patted her Dad’s back and pushed him forward towards the door, “Go get ‘em tiger.”
Carly trailed behind and watched as her Dad stopped in front of the door, giving a last tug on his favourite black shirt and a confident intake of breath he opened the door. Sally looked up, her blue eyes catching the light from the hallway and her short, wavy, red hair shone and blew in the slight breeze. She was beautiful, her slim figure and her female assets made her draw a fair number of male eyes in her direction. She smiled sweetly at John, a blush covering her face as she picked nervously at the foil wrapped around a dish.
“Hello John,” She said softly.
“Hey Sally,” John replied, a look of awe on his face.
There was silence as they both stared at each other, Carly grinning with amusement as she looked at their faces, “And I’m Carly,” She said waving her hand.
The two of them jumped as they snapped out of their stare, taking in the forgotten teenager by their side.
“Oh!” Sally said as she took in Carly’s form, “You must be Carly! It’s so nice meet you.”
Carly smiled, moving forward and taking the dish from her hands, “It’s nice to meet you too, would you like to come in?” Carly said, cocking her head inside.
“That would be lovely,” Sally said, stepping into the hallway.
“Here let me get your coat,” John said as he moved forward and took the collar of her peacock blue coat.
“Thanks,” She said twisting sideways so that she could smile at him.
“No problem,” John said as a small blush coated his cheeks.
Carly glared out at the bushes that were situated under her living room window. She closed the door and walked into the kitchen, calling over her shoulder, “Are you two love birds going to hurry it up?”
John groaned as Sally giggled prettily, patting his arm reassuringly. There was a sudden squeal from the kitchen and both adults exchanged a worried glance before rushing towards it, only to see Carly jumping up and down and glee.
“Spaghetti Bolognese! Spaghetti freaking Bolognese!” Carly cheered much to the amusement of her watchers, “Dad marry her or I will!”
John spluttered and turned an alarming shade of red, while Sally burst into laughter clutching onto John’s arm for support.
“I think it’s time we set the table,” John muttered warily as he started pouring out the food into plates.
Watching from outside Callum, Liam and Jasper crouched under the window sill of the living room, the bush that surrounded it allowed them to stay camouflaged. Carly’s house was pretty open, meaning that you could see through the living room and into their dining room. And it was with this view that the three males watched their female friend set the table with her Father and his girlfriend.
“Okay we’ve seen that she’s wearing the boy’s clothes, can we go now?” Liam whined.
“Oh come on, let’s just watch for a few more seconds,” Callum whispered.
Jasper remained silent, watching as the three members smiled and conversed with each other. He frowned slightly at the urge of going back home to his own Mom and Dad. Something about this warm aura made him crave his Mom’s cooking.
Carly retreated back into the kitchen, taking out her phone from her pocket. She dialled a number and held the phone to her ear. Outside Callum’s phone rang in his pocket, he frowned and took it out clicking the answer phone he answered, “Hello?”
“Callum get out of my bush and please go home,” Carly said calmly while she inspected her nails, “And please take Liam and Jasper with you.”
Callum groaned, “How did you know?” He asked, as he turned and leaned his back on the wall, the other two following his actions.
“I saw your stupid shoes poking out from under the bush,” She answered smoothly, “Now go home.” With that last order she ended the call.
Callum sighed and pocketed his phone, “The old lady found us out. So...do you guys want to get some pizza and call it a night?”
Carly walked back into the dining room and took her seat at the table. “So Carly,” Sally started, as they dug into their food, “I have to say I really do love your sense of style.”
Carly wiped her face with a napkin, ridding her face of spaghetti sauce, “Really?” She asked with surprise.
“Yeah, I’m a fashion designer,” Sally informed, “I kind of love the whole female wearing guys clothing. It’s what my next assignment is based on. In fact, you would make the perfect model for some of my designs.”
Carly’s eyebrows shot up, “Me? Are you serious?”
Sally nodded, “Yeah, you’ve got the perfect physique.”
Carly blushed slightly, “Thanks,” She murmured, taking another slurp of the spaghetti.
“What other clothing have you gone into?” Carly asked.
“Oh there’s the Kellen clothing line I just finished-” Sally started, only to be cut off as Carly took in a sharp intake of breath.
“You worked on the Kellen project?” Carly gasped momentarily forgetting about her food.
“Yeah,” Sally said, “I assume that you like it?”
“Like it, I love it!” Carly exclaimed, “I love the whole vintage taking-us-back-in-the-past fashion.”
“I love it too,” Sally said with an excited look on her face, “I mean, if you go back throughout history you can see some really beautiful designs and intricate patterns that are really good starting bases for our fashion today.”
The two of them carried on with their deep conversation as John sat back in his seat, his mouth open in slight shock, “I exist too,” He said, raising his hand pathetically.
The two females took no notice of his failed attempt at stating his existence and, instead, carried on with their conversation. John chuckled and continued to eat the spaghetti watching the two with amusement.
*********************
“That was fun,” John said, as he placed the last plate in its draw.
Sally had long since gone, offering to help clean up but John and Carly had furiously refused it, practically pushing her out of the door.
“Dad Sally is so awesome,” Carly said with a giddy smile, “She’s so freaking fun.”
John chuckled, “I’m surprised that you actually like her.”
Carly tilted her head to the side in confusion, “What do you mean?”
“You kind of get really pissed off whenever I bring home a woman,” He answered.
Carly snorted, “I do not.”
John gave an are-you-serious look, “That time you spilled wine by “accident” on my dates lap.”
“That was an accident, you know how clumsy I can get,” Carly lied, waving her hands.
“Oh and I guess it was your clumsiness that caused another’s coat to set on fire,” John said sarcastically.
Carly couldn’t help but let a small laugh escape her mouth; she quickly clamped her hand over her lips to muffle the rest of it. She shot a glance towards her Father, who was giving her a disapproving look, “Oh come on that one was pretty funny,” Carly tried to amend.
“What I don’t understand is why you didn’t give the same treatment to Sally. What makes her so different?” John asked, leaning on the counter opposite from the one Carly was seated on.
“With the other dates I always got this sense that they were just after your money and your looks and not about you yourself,” Carly shrugged, “I never got that from Sally.”
“Weird how you’re saying that as if you’ve met her more than once, when in fact this is your first meeting with her,” He mused.
Carly spluttered, “I-I-I no...I-just-” Carly stuttered.
“Calm down,” John chuckled, “I saw you and your three friends in that restaurant. It made me smile that you were worrying about me.”
“Whatever,” Carly mumbled, as she hung the tea towel on a hook, “I’m heading to bed.”
“Oh make sure you-” John started.
“Lock the windows. I know, I know,” Carly finished waving her hand lazily as she walked up the stairs sluggishly.
John chuckled still stood next to the kitchen counter. Today really was a fun day...